Community
With no public libraries of its own, Piedmont depends on Oakland for its books—not to mention its groceries, and access to the outside world. But the most recent contract granting Piedmonters access to Oakland’s libraries expired in 2008, and representatives of the two cities have been negotiating a new contract ever since. Though a long-term agreement is still far off, this week officials did manage to settle on one thing: a price for last year’s service
Much to many Oakland’s residents’ chagrin, over the past few months the CVS superstore on Broadway and Pleasant Valley has been packing up its wares. This colossal neighborhood general store, which has been around since the 1960s, carries everything from motor oil to shoe racks to extensive gardening equipment. The shopping center’s master leaseholder, Safeway, notified CVS in 2009 that it would not renew its lease in order to make way for a shopping center redesign. The mega-drugstore was initially slated to close this June.
Oakland North is continuing with our new feature–every Wednesday, we will publish a community photo. This week’s photo is by Oakland North’s Dara Kerr.
If you go to the California Department of Water Resources’ drought Web page, you’ll only find this message: “The DWR Drought Web site has been shutdown due to no longer being in an official drought.” Water supply has always been a tough issue in California and residents have long been warned to conserve. But this year has been one of the biggest years of precipitation since 1970, according to the Department of Water Resources.
Volunteers from all over the Bay Area kicked off Earth Day weekend by participating in a Habitat for Humanity East Bay Build-a-thon. By the end of the four-day event, eight new homes in the Tassafaronga Village on 81st Avenue in East Oakland will be framed.
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 Tori the cat.
On an early evening, the city of Oakland is brimming with the hustle and bustle of the 9 to 5 work group. Runners, bikers, and families hug the perimeter of Lake Merritt as they squeeze in time for fitness and relaxation. The sounds of rush hour traffic fill the air but on the lakefront, all is still. “It’s peaceful out here,” said Angelino Sandri, owner and gondolier for Gondola Servizio in Oakland. He smiles as he skims across the surface…
This past weekend, Oakland celebrated Earth Day a bit early with 79 volunteer sites set up all around the city. We were out gathering photos, but we couldn’t be everywhere, so send your Earth Day pictures to lillian.mongeau@oaklandnorth.net and we’ll publish them in our second annual community photo slideshow on the “official” Earth Day, Friday, April 22.
As you walk into the main gallery at the Oakland Museum of California you might hear a faint flicking noise—it’s the sound of tiny pieces of dried alphabet-shaped macaroni flying through the air and hitting the ground. Periodically spewing out of a delicate wooden structure that looks like an old train bridge mounted on the wall, these dried noodles are beginning to pile up. In a few months, 500 pounds of macaroni will be heaped onto the floor.