Community
For many of Alameda County’s nearly 75,000 veterans, this Veteran’s Day was more than just an opportunity to fire up the barbecue. It was a time to reflect on the role their military service has played in their lives. Oakland North reporters Roberto Daza, Nicole Jones and Teresa Chin asked four former servicemen to share their stories for this multimedia presentation.
About once a month, the Paramount Theatre on Broadway hosts a Movie Classics night, at which patrons can enjoy old favorites at the right price: $5. The movie night began thirty years ago, and has long been a favorite of local cinema junkies and Paramount staff. The theater screened its second-to-last classic of 2010 on Friday night, with another tentatively schedule for December. A January film is already lined up, and as far as general manager Leslee Stewart is concerned, the series will go on indefinitely.
Each year, Oaklandish, a non-profit organization that focuses on arts promotion and community building, gives out eight grants known as Innovator Awards. The recipients are Oakland-based groups and individuals working to improve city residents’ quality of life. Though this year’s honorees were named earlier in the year, Oaklandish celebrated the winners on Thursday night at The New Parish on San Pablo Avenue with a reception and concert.
About 200 people attended the long delayed launch celebration for the Africa Channel-a digital station that focuses entirely on Africa programming- Tuesday night at Oakland’s Chabot Space Center. At the event, an Africa Channel executive announced the results of DNA tests revealing the ancestries of three African-American attendees.
Hundreds of residents, workers, and commuters who visited the downtown fair during the busy work lunch hour. Community members representing a dozen East Bay Area nonprofit organizations had set up informational tables in the center’s walkway area to encourage residents to volunteer and make donations. Participating groups included the Alameda County Community Food Bank, Girls Incorporated of Alameda County, Habitat For Humanity of the East Bay, and Reading Partners, a national organization that uses volunteers to tutor children.
With construction on the Caldecott Tunnel’s long-awaited fourth bore almost a year underway, on Monday night City Council President Jane Brunner and several other city officials met with a group of Oakland residents just three miles from the tunnel to weigh the merits of a series of smaller construction projects they hope will ease any increase in traffic resulting from the tunnel’s expansion.
Oakland North is continuing with our new 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 Zahara the rabbit.
Combine two parts jazz music with one part history and a dash of visual stimulation. Toss it together and you have a Bay Area vocalist’s multimedia performance, paying tribute to female singers and songwriters of the Tin Pan Alley era.
The Chabot Space and Science Center will take on climate change in a big way this month when it opens a new exhibit with the help of a little scientific star power. Science educator Bill Nye, popularly known as “Bill Nye the Science Guy,” came to Chabot on Friday to introduce the new “Bill Nye’s Climate Lab,” which opens to the public on November 20.