Business
“My last trip in the penitentiary, I had to make a decision on what I wanted to do with my life,” said Reggie Bailey, sitting in the swiveling barber chair in his small shop in the heart of downtown Oakland. “I just decided to go to barber college.”
Since California’s Homeowner Bill of Rights, a new law limiting the power of banks to foreclose, came into effect on January 1, homeowners in Richmond and Oakland have taken a more proactive stance in resisting foreclosures, protesting inside banking halls at Wells Fargo’s braches across the East Bay and forcing the bank to reschedule home sales.
“How would you like to have husbands who have testicles that weigh 14 percent of their body weight?” asked Harry Santi to a handful of women at the Oakland Zoo on Friday.
He isn’t talking about any sort of terrifying medical anomaly here. Santi, 81, a docent at the Oakland Zoo, is referring to the tuberous bushcricket, a type of tiny katydid, and one of dozens of animals with unusual, peculiar, or fascinating sex lives that were highlighted at Oakland Zoo’s annual Animal Amore this Valentine’s Day.
When you’re in high school, it can be difficult to envision what you’ll be doing in 10 years, five years or even one year after you graduate. But Oakland Tech parents and teachers wanted to emphasize how important it is for students to start thinking about their futures.
City leaders met with First Friday stakeholders again Tuesday night to discuss the future of the city’s most popular art festival, which could lead to several changes next month’s event.
The East Bay Economic Development Alliance celebrated creativity and innovation at its first annual awards ceremony Thursday. The event, held in Oakland at the Fox Theater, honored East Bay organizations that do work in the fields of clean technology, advanced manufacturing, food, information and communication technology, life sciences, engineering, design and education.
Alameda County shoppers are adjusting, if reluctantly, to the single-use bag ban that went into effect January first. The Reusable Bag Ordinance, passed a year ago by Alameda County Waste Management Authority, is intended to abate waterway pollution by limiting the distribution of single-use carryout bags and coaxing people to opt for a reusable alternative.
Ever find yourself frustrated with the back and forth group messaging, conference calling and group emailing that often precede decision-making in small groups? An Oakland-based startup seeks to end that with a social decision making application they say is designed to deliver “social democracy” in group decision making, based on a concept they call dynamic voting. From small-group decisions about whether to watch the Oakland Raiders or the San Francisco 49ers to more complex political decisions about whether Barack Obama…
Amy Remsen and Blake Joffe—she experienced in the restaurant business and he as a chef—opened Beauty’s Bagels in Oakland last August. For the past few months, the small Temescal shop on Telegraph Avenue has seen a steady flow of customers, with lines occasionally winding out the front door and spilling onto the sidewalk.