Community
There was talk of chickens and pigs at North Oakland’s Niebyl-Proctor Marxist Library on Friday night, but it wasn’t a discussion of Animal Farm. Jordan Ruyle named the barnyard critters while calling out square dance steps as part of a monthly event he puts on with his wife’s quartet, the Squirrelly Stringband.
Members of the public burst into applause at the Oakland City Council’s Tuesday meeting when council members unanimously agreed to allow use of eminent domain to bring a large grocery store to West Oakland. “I’m tired of Oakland residents continuing to subsidize the surrounding cities at our expense,” councilmember Larry Reid said.
It’s become an increasingly common scenario this fall: a parent loses his job, and his child suddenly stops showing up at school. Oakland United School District officials say this is largely due to a recent policy change at AC Transit.
The sun was shining this weekend as Swim A Mile swimmers of all ages, colors, shapes, and sizes donned swimsuits, swim caps, and goggles in rainbow colors and dove into the sparkling blue water of the pool. At the Mills College Trefethen Aquatic Center, the event arena, the large outdoor pool was able to accommodate the 400-plus participants swimming throughout the weekend.
On October 15, the Howie Harp Multi-Service Center at San Pablo and 18th Street will close. For the last 21 years, Howie Harp has served homeless people diagnosed as mentally ill. The clients’ conditions run the gamut from schizophrenia and narcotics abuse to manic depression and diabetes, and Harp has provided such services as housing referrals, anger management, counseling, hygiene kits and meals. Watch the photo slideshow and hear from the people who have sought aid from the center for so many years.
Listen to how Oakland residents spent a day surveying conditions of the city’s parks and other recreational areas, many of which have fallen into disarray.
Major League Baseball had all but given up on pitchers Justin James and Bobby Cramer, who joined the Oakland Athletics in September at the unusually old (for baseball) ages of 29 and 30. But the A’s, known for their unconventional scouting, saw their potential, not their ages.
After October 30, the more than five million Americans born on the island of Puerto Rico—1.4 million of them on the US mainland, the rest still living in Puerto Rico— will have to reapply for their own birth certificates.
While visual art enthusiasts usually stick to the galleries during the Oakland Art Murmur, this Friday the film-heads in the crowd may want to linger in front of the Great Wall of Oakland for “Behind the Pixar Screen,” a nod to the artists who work at the beloved Emeryville animation studio.