Community
Hundreds of new baby animals were born at the Oakland Zoo over the last few months in what biologists at the facility describe as one of the zoo’s biggest baby booms in many years. The zoo, a sanctuary for more than 660 native and exotic animals located at the far eastern end of Oakland, has recently become home to more than 200 newborn animals including a squirrel monkey, milk frogs and a giraffe, with a few more births expected in the coming weeks.
West Oaklanders will breathe easier—literally—in the coming months as they start to feel the effects of recently implemented emissions regulations for trucks at the Port of Oakland. The first phase went into effect in 2010, and tougher rules are on the horizon for early 2014. The regulations are applauded by health experts, who link diesel exhaust to high rates of asthma, but others say these strict rules could put thousands of truck drivers out of work.
A two-year search for a bone marrow donor finally brought good news to Pleasanton resident Janet Liang, a leukemia patient of Asian descent who has attracted more than 20,000 potential bone marrow donors to the National Marrow Donor Program’s Be The Match registry since she was diagnosed with the condition in 2009.
Every week, Oakland North will publish a photo submitted by one of our readers. This week’s photo is by Christopher Voss.
Books weren’t the only things flying off the tables at the Temescal branch of the Oakland library on Saturday. In the backyard, boxes full of succulent plums gleamed in the sunshine at the library’s North Oakland crop swap. Gardeners bring their excess yield and set them on the table for others to take. While there, they are free to choose from items on the table that their fellow gardeners have brought to share. Meanwhile, Moms in the basement were giving and getting new ensembles for their kiddos.
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 Betty Boop.
Each year the Oakland Heritage Alliance selects a variety of neighborhoods to visit when it offers its summer walking tours through the city. This year visitors will have the opportunity to visit 16 areas over eight weekends on tours such as the Mountain View Cemetery, Montclair Village and Oakland Walkways and Streetcar Heritage tours. Each trip is led by volunteers for the alliance, who include local history buffs, residents of the neighborhoods, as well as professors and business professionals familiar with the area.
From Cuban exiles to Bay Area salsa fanatics clad in nostalgic Cuban revolutionary gear and chomping the occasional cigar, Oakland’s Splash Pad Park was a crucible of various cultures Sunday as San Francisco-based Cuban salsa outfit, Team Bahia, performed some of its best tracks for a crowd of more than 300 dancers.
Over one hundred people gathered at Splash Pad Park on Sunday for a “Celebration and Convergence for Public Education” concert and rally hosted by the supporters of the Lakeview sit-in and People’s School for Public Education. The park became a home for the People’s School after the volunteer-run program, and the tent city it served, were raided at Lakeview Elementary School in early July.