Community

Gearing up: A look at the OPD consultant panel

In part two of a four-part series that will be published over the course of two weeks on Oakland North, meet the six new police consultants who have just been hired by Oakland to help reduce crime citywide. Each member of the panel has a different task and will be evaluating Oakland for a period of six months and before the panel makes its recommendations to the city. Robert Wasserman Robert Wasserman is a national law enforcement and security expert and the…

Oscar Grant family reaches out to mother of Kenneth Harding

On a Saturday afternoon in July, 2011, Kenneth Harding Jr., 19, lay stomach down in his own blood, fighting for his life on the corner of 3rd Street and Palou Avenue in the heart of the Bay View Hunters Point neighborhood in San Francisco. Some say San Francisco police officers shot Harding after he allegedly evaded his transit fare on the T-line of San Francisco’s Muni system, and then ran from police. The San Francisco Police Department contends that Harding shot…

Adoptable animal of the week: Lancelot

Oakland North is continuing with our feature. Every week, Oakland Animal Services will spotlight an “Animal of the Week” that’s up for adoption at their facility. This week it’s a cat named Lancelot. Our adoptable cat of the week is a beautiful flame-point Siamese named Lancelot. Lancelot was rescued by the caretaker of a local feral colony when he gallantly trotted up to her and decreed that he was in search of his kingdom.  He is approximately 1 to 2…

Every Saturday, SAVE honors one of Oakland’s homicide victims with a march

On a recent Saturday morning in Oakland, a group of residents marched and chanted, “Stop the violence, stop the silence! Do something!” The group calls themselves SAVE, an acronym for Soldiers Against Violence Everywhere. “We are soldiers,” said Theresa Butler, SAVE’s coordinator. “We are here in the rain, cold doing what we do.” SAVE was initiated in 2010 by Pastor Zachary Carey of True Vine Ministries after a member of his church was murdered in Oakland. “One Wednesday night we…

Musical tour offers new approach to exhibits at the Oakland Museum

With its new series, “In-the-Mix: Music Tour,” the Oakland Museum of California is offering a new way for lovers of the arts to experience the works of visual arts, masters and musicians. Each part of the series is the musical tour of the museum’s galleries given by musicians who will stroll through them and interpret the objects and the experience for themselves.

An ancient Japanese tradition lives on in Oakland

You won’t often come across three accomplished koto players in one place—let alone in the same family. But Oakland is home to three generations of musicians who have dedicated their lives to the music of the Japanese harp.