Community
Oakland City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved a 45-day moratorium on the approval of data centers in the city, with a provision for extending the measure if needed. Introduced by Councilmember Carroll Fife, the temporary pause will prevent the city from approving land use agreements or entitlements for data center development, while allowing city staff to determine what regulations Oakland needs, conduct community engagement and study potential impacts, including energy and water use, public health and environmental concerns. Supporters of…
For Oakland, AI governance isn’t an abstract and distant policy debate but an urgent issue. Positioned in the backyard of Silicon Valley, Oakland has become attractive to tech companies: from a proposed data center downtown to AI manufacturing startups and Tesla robotaxis in West Oakland’s historic American Steel Blocks building. Technology expansion could reshape land use, power grids and municipal resources. Ensuring local control was a key topic at Oakland Tech Week, which wrapped up over the weekend, after a…
Wearing a hand-crafted fish-themed jacket, James “Jamie” Freid showed off his rainbow-painted ukulele to a group of about 20 onlookers. They smiled at the Kermit the Frog design he painted on the front and elements he woodburned on the back. This art piece was one of several Freid, 31, shared last week as the public toured Creative Growth, an art center in Oakland that supports artists with developmental disabilities. Freid, who has autism, led the tour as part of Creative…
“Black mothers and infants have been dying at alarmingly high levels for far too long.” This statement is the opening line of the California Department of Public Health’s 2023 report on Black maternal and infant health. In California, Black women face the highest pregnancy-related mortality rate. In Alameda County alone, Black women are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than their white counterparts, while Black infants are four times as likely to die before their first birthdays….
Ali Adams dedicates much of her free time to cleaning up trash along Courtland Avenue and Redding Street in Oakland’s Maxwell Park neighborhood. She says the illegal dumping in her neighborhood reminds her of Detroit, where she grew up. “It seems that as time goes on, we’re supposed to be getting better with these things but at a certain point, it’ll tip if people just continually dump,” Adams said. “That’s kind of what I was starting to see here.” Adams…
On the first Friday of the month, Telegraph Avenue fills with the sounds of music, conversation and laughter as crowds move between rows of food stands, clothing vendors and live performances. The smell of grilled meat and fried foods wafts through the air, while children take turns dancing in the middle of the street, drawing cheers from a circle of onlookers. Nearby, vendors greet customers by name, while people stopped to browse colorful displays of Oakland-themed apparel, and handmade art…
On a table against the back wall of Understory Filipino restaurant in Fruitvale, some mourners left a trinket, others a note, a candle or flowers to honor the memory of Bay Area activist Lyle Prijoles, who was killed by the Philippines Armed Forces last month. Prijoles’ photo sat atop the table with those of five others who were gunned down on April 19 in Toboso, Negros Occidental, a remote farming village. The Armed Forces killed 19 that day and people…
With no indoor rinks within 25 miles of Oakland and no dedicated free outdoor skating spaces, roller skaters in the city are using parking lots, cracked sidewalks and basketball courts for the activity. That could change with a plan by skaters to build a free outdoor roller rink at DeFremery Park in West Oakland. The Panther Skate Plaza Project’s mission is to create an inclusive and accessible space for roller skaters of all identities, ages, and abilities — one that…
Ever thought to eat what is commonly considered an invasive weed? That’s exactly what this group of nine Bay Area residents did recently, nibbling away at bright green nasturtium leaves under the guidance of Linh Hoang, who hosted “A New Thanksgiving” at the Lake Merritt Pergola in collaboration with Sunrise Movement Bay Area. Eyes lit up and eyebrows rose as the sharp, radish-like flavor of the leaves burst onto tastebuds. The event combined a potluck dinner with lessons about edible…