Community

Temescal merchants frustrated after recent robberies and break-ins

In the last few years, the Temescal District has been heralded as one of the most culturally diverse communities in the city. Its growing popularity has resulted in increased interest from business owners and residents who are vying for a space within the community. But over the last few months, the number of robberies and thefts that have been reported to the Temescal Telegraph Avenue Community Association and the Temescal Merchants’ Association has shown an increase, the members of those associations say, leaving local merchants frustrated and asking for more help from the police and the city.

Adoptable animal of the week: Rover

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 dog named Rover.

Oakland celebrates local musicians and artists at Art and Soul festival

Thousands of Oaklanders filled downtown Oakland this weekend to shake a tail feather, boogaloo, rock ‘n’ roll, or do the Harlem Shuffle during the city’s annual Art & Soul festival. The two-day outdoor festival—which closed several busy streets—featured jazz, rock, gospel, punk, honky-tonk, metal, folk and Latin musicians from the Bay Area.

Bandwidth: Get to know some of the East Bay’s best new bands

Over the last year, Oakland North has profiled nearly a dozen up-and-coming East Bay bands as part of our mini-documentary video series called Bandwidth. Check out a few of the highlights here, and meet some of the faces you’ll see performing around town. • The California Honeydrops, an Oakland-based band, got their start playing at local East Bay haunts like the Cheese Board Collective in Berkeley and BART stations four years ago. They have now gone on to perform across…

SF Mime Troupe brings a play about Occupy to Oakland

It’s Wednesday night, and just over a hundred people had filed into Lakeside Park—just off of Bellevue Avenue—to see The San Francisco Mime Troupe perform “For The Greater Good, or The Last Election” during it’s annual run through the city. The play transformed the Occupy protests into a melodrama. Its narrative, filled with the tensions of Occupy—protests, an encampment, and death—also played on morality and the nature of fate.

Audit finds OPD lost nearly $2 million on failed technology projects

The Oakland Police Department has announced plans to adjust its operations and hire a full-time Information Technology manager after a recent audit of its technology department found that the city spent nearly $2 million on failed policing information technology projects with at least three Bay Area start-ups that have since gone out of business.