Community
On Sunday, hundreds of Oaklanders stepped out into the rain to pay homage to those who’ve passed on. The 14th annual Fruitvale Dia de Los Muertos Festival, put on by Oakland’s Unity Council, was a stunning study in eye-popping color as visitors perused altars set up in booths along E. 12th Street dedicated to the deceased, ate hot churros and watched traditional dances backed by a thunderous chorus of drums. Dia de Los Muertos, which means Day of the Dead, is a Mexican holiday with roots in an Aztec celebration of the goddess Mictecacihuatl, queen of the underworld. The festivities take place on November 2, the day after the Catholic celebration of All Souls Day.
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 Belle the cat.
A little rain didn’t keep Oaklanders away from the first annual East Bay Mini Maker Faire on Sunday. The fair, which was an indoor and outdoor exhibition of over 100 Bay Area businesses and tech projects, was held at Temescal’s Park Day School.
As part of National Crime Prevention Month this October, the Oakland Police Department is collaborating with the city’s Neighborhood Services Coordinators to promote awareness of issues such as victimization, volunteerism and creating safer communities.
Absentee ballots were once used mostly by ex-pats, military families and diplomats strewn across the globe. They voted from far-away locales by filling out ballots at home and mailing them in, while the rest of the population spent a chunk of the day standing in a long line to cast a vote at their neighborhood poll. Now, in California, the mail-in ballot isn’t just for those abroad—it’s for everyone.
Xiao’s current research involves the designing of a new model of tree wells—the area right around the tree root—that are integrated into the city’s drain system. This will allow the tree roots to become the cheapest water purifier. “The new well will save at least 20 percent of water in terms of irrigation as well,” Xiao said.
Oakland mayoral candidate and local businessman Greg Harland hopes to address the majority of Oakland’s problems—high crime, unattended street maintenance, and increased parking fees and fines—using business sense.
The It Gets Better Project serves as a digital chorus of solidarity and support for LGBT adolescents and teens all over the world. The video project, which in less than a month has turned into an international phenomenon, was spearheaded by Seattle-based advice columnist Dan Savage in the wake of a sequence of gay teen suicides in September. Each teen death has been traced to peer bullying, and to the harsh reality of being a gay teenager in America.
It’s the First Friday in October, and Art Murmur is in full swing. Local ’zines, art depots and thrift shops are peddling their wares in between galleries packed with inebriated merrymakers. The atmosphere is hardly political, and yet mingling with the crowd is Don Macleay, one of Oakland’s ten mayoral candidates. “Let me tell you,” he says, thrusting fliers into the hands of passersby, “say ‘Hi, I’m a politician,’ and people will shy away from you. But say, ‘Hi, I’m with the Green Party,’ and people will take your card.”