Community
Equipped with whistles, banners and plastic noisemakers, hundreds of people crammed into the City Council Chambers on Thursday evening to voice their concerns about the city’s proposed budget cuts at a special hearing held by the city officials. The crowd was so large that many had to be relocated to another hearing room for safety reasons.
Across from Highway 880, a non-descript five-story beige building with few windows sits on a corner in downtown Oakland. For years, this was the place where many foster children and their biological parents would have to meet if they wanted to visit each other. Now, there’s a new visitation center in Alameda County–called the Gathering Place–and it had its grand opening on Wednesday.
This is isn’t your grandma’s acting company — well, it might be — but its reputation is much more lively than apple pie and wool-knit sweaters.
Oakland North is continuing with our feature. Every Wednesday, we will publish a photo submitted by one of our readers. This week’s photo is by Tonya Love.
Oakland North is continuing with our feature. Every Tuesday, Oakland Animal Services will spotlight an “Animal of the Week” that’s up for adoption at their facility. This week it’s Wilson the rabbit.
Oakland library supporters crawled down Telegraph Avenue Saturday evening in their zombie finest to protest the potential closure of 14 of the 18 city libraries. The living dead groaned “Zombies need brains, keep libraries open!” to passerbys in cars, restaurants, and at Oakland’s Uptown galleries.
Local agencies that serve Oakland’s low-income residents joined community members at Saturday’s 6th Annual Walk to End Poverty, which is designed to draw national attention to the issue of poverty. The day was hosted by the Oakland Community Action Partnership and United Way of the Bay Area, which reports that one in five families in the Bay Area are living in poverty. That number includes 76,000 Oakland residents who are struggling to make ends meet.
The Creative Growth Art Center, located north of downtown Oakland, has been serving artists with developmental, physical and mental disabilities for over 35 years. Located right next door to the studio is the exhibition space — the first of its kind dedicated to people with disabilities.
Oakland North readers, we want to know — who has the coolest job in Oakland? There’s so much to do here, and so many interesting people at work, but one of them must have the absolutely best job. Let’s find out who that is!