Community
The Wheels of Justice cyclery, nestled in the foothills of Montclair, is a community-oriented bike shop whose aim is to create a welcoming atmosphere for families and give back to the children of the bay area. Daniel Watson and Justice Baxter (from whom the store draws its name) opened the store in 2003 because they wanted kids in the area to have opportunities that they lacked when they were young.
Several fat books stacked on Deborah Cunningham’s lap spilled over the edges of her wheelchair. As an aide wheeled her away, the dark-haired, elderly woman, a retired English professor in her mid-eighties, grasped them tightly. She is one of ten or eleven repeat customers at Mercy Retirement and Care Center that look forward to the monthly Bookmobile visits from the Oakland Library system. The Bookmobile, a large, multicolored bus that traverses Oakland streets two days a week to visit under-served…
Books? No, give me a wrench, ask many Oakland residents who use the Temescal Library. The branch holds 29,000 books, and rents out 4,000 books, CDs and movies a month. Its Tool Lending Program, started in 2001, checks out 3,000 tools a month and that number is growing.
Last Sunday afternoon, Matt Siee dressed in knee high socks with a wool white top picked up a 42-ounce ash bat to play baseball circa 1886.
Produced by AYAKO MIE
By Samson Reiny/Oakland North Ever wondered what Oakland’s Lake Merritt sounds like at 4am? Without being there, you could have listened any time of the day if you were within a mile’s range and tuned in to 87.9 FM from April to July of 2007. Normally a jangle of static on the dial, the frequency was temporarily the site of “Talking Homes,” a radio program where 12 to 15 residents living near Lake Merritt volunteered to set up low-power transmitters…
The incessant rain didn’t stop over a thousand immigrant workers, youth and families, and their supporters, from taking to the Oakland streets Friday afternoon in commemoration of May 1st, International Workers’ Day. Skipping over puddles, completely drenched, the marchers made their way from Fruitvale Plaza to City Hall in a little under two hours.
May Day: Youth Prepare from Betty Bastidas on Vimeo. Watch as youth from Oakland prepare banners and other artwork for tomorrow’s May Day march and rally in to support workers’ and immigrant rights.
In easy view of crisscrossing highways and towering industrial parks, dozens of people marched through East Oakland’s flatlands wearing white surgical masks on Saturday. Families pushing strollers, men in suits, and kids with skateboards walked from Tassafaronga Recreation Center to Acorn Woodland Elementary School to celebrate ‘Love Yo Mama’ Earth Day and to call attention to environmental degradation in inner city neighborhoods.