Business
The federal government has been collecting the Harbor Maintenance Tax from port customers for years with the specific purpose of port maintenance and dredging. When the government increased the tax in 1990, it did so with the explicit promise that all dredging needs would be met with funds collected from the tax, according to Port of Oakland’s spokesperson Marilyn Sandifur. Today, in the long, drawn-out battle over port funds, Port of Oakland officials claim the government has not released sufficient funds for maintenance over the years, and the proof is in the channels’ depths.
Image Comics changed the face of the industry with the success of titles like “Spawn” and the “Walking Dead.” At Image, the idea was to create a company where comic creators could bring new ideas to the table and the creators would own their intellectual property without worrying about being underpaid. Spencer Whitney tells us the story of the Berkeley-based Image Comics and how they became the largest independent comic book publisher in the industry.
Scott Oliver can tell you a lot about Lake Merritt. He can tell you that it’s not really a lake but a tidal lagoon. He can tell you that this place used to be named Lake Peralta and that, for a while, it was Oakland’s sewer. He can tell you that the white pelican who hangs out year-round is called Hank. And no, he does not buy into the rumors about a Lake Merritt monster. Now, Oliver hopes to bring the story of Lake Merritt to anyone with headphones and an audio player.
The Oakland Food Policy Council is an organization dedicated to developing a local food system that can feed all citizens of the city in a healthy, sustainable way. The 21-seat council, which was established in 2005 with seed money from the city, meets monthly to work on initiatives that address some of Oakland’s most pressing food concerns, like poor nutrition, access to fresh produce and antiquated laws.
If you live in the Bay Area, there’s one question you’ve probably asked at some point: why on earth doesn’t BART run past midnight? Over Presidents’ Day Weekend, it did.
Rozlyn Steele offers a morsel of lemon chess pie to a customer at the Grand Lake farmer’s market in Oakland. She stands proudly behind a neatly checkered table displaying stacks of golden cookies, seasonal pies, and flaky biscuits from Little Ladybug Bakery. But before Steele started renting commercial kitchen space from a catering company, she was one of a number of renegade food entrepreneurs who sold baked goods “illegally” prepared at home.
In it’s tenth consecutive year, the 2012 Oakland International Film Festival starts today and runs through Sunday with an exciting line-up of films, many of them created in Oakland. Two new local filmmakers, one who directed a 6-minute comedy and another who produced a documentary on a legendary Oakland piano bar, will be premiering their films on Saturday as part of the festival.
Rebecca Kaplan was once a rabbinical student, and the Oakland City Councilmember still knows her scripture well. On Wednesday afternoon, Kaplan quoted the books of Isaiah, Leviticus and Exodus while speaking during a teach-in about the city’s bond debt with Goldman Sachs at Allen Temple Baptist Church in East Oakland.
Medical marijuana dispensaries often strive to keep a low profile, but this has been even more the case after federal agents raided Oaksterdam University and the home of founder Richard Lee on Monday. Half a dozen East Bay dispensaries responded with “no comment” when asked about how their organization was reacting to the raid, and others ignored voicemails. To date, there are no known closures of dispensaries in the East Bay as a reaction to Monday’s raid, and for many dispensaries, such as Harborside Health Center and the Berkeley Patient’s Care Collective, it’s business as usual.