Community
Oakland Unified School District may soon have to consider one of the least popular moves a school district can make: closing schools. In short, the district has room for 10,900 more students than it’s serving, and not a single extra dollar to spend on maintaining empty space.
An intimate gathering was held Thursday night to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Khadafy Washington Foundation for Non-Violence, an organization founded by heartbroken parent turned community leader, Marilyn Washington Harris. In August 2000, Harris’ 18-year-old son Khadafy Washington was shot and killed. In 2001, she started the foundation to meet the needs of homicide victims’ family members.
Alameda County Superior Court Judge Robert Freedman heard testimony from three more witnesses on Wednesday about the proposed Fruitvale gang injunction. There’s still no end in sight as to when the hearing will conclude and the judge will decide whether to impose the injunction against 40 alleged Norteño gang members in the Fruitvale neighborhood.
On Wednesday, the International Community School put on a Dr. Seuss pajama party—with the help of local PBS affiliate KQED—during the time when their after school program normally meets. The party started out with an appearance by a costumed avatar of the Cat in the Hat (the real deal if you ask any of the students) and branched off into story time in each of the Kindergarten through fifth grade classrooms.
With key city planning issues up for public comment, Tuesday’s city council meeting offered heated debate over public transportation, zoning, and cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
Oakland North is continuing with our new feature. Every Wednesday, we will publish a photo submitted by one of our readers. This week’s photo is by Blake Von Knopka.
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 Carl the dog.
Last October, Oakland City Attorney John Russo proposed a gang injunction against 40 alleged members of the Nortenos gang in the Fruitvale neighborhood. This is Oakland’s second proposed gang injunction. It’s a controversial legal theory that says gang activity is a public nuisance that prevents non-gang members from enjoying peace in their communities.
As part of a new collaborative effort between Oakland North and its partner site Richmond Confidential, we’ve started a new series called Bandwidth to profile fresh music coming out of these two East Bay cities. The first profile is about a hip-hop duo called the DIME who are from Richmond but often record and perform in Oakland.