Community
The celebration took place on Saturday, April 23, when thousands of visitors flooded through the park’s gates to watch the animals and observe the performance by Trapeze Arts Inc., a circus arts school in West Oakland.
Proposition 39, also known as the “Smaller Classes, Safer Schools and Financial Accountability Act,” was passed by voters in 2000, and requires all California school districts to provide equivalent facilities to charter schools and the students who choose to attend them. The ballot initiative was based on the premise that students who attend charter schools would have otherwise attended district schools, so the district should have planned to accommodate those students with space and resources. To be “equivalent” means that the district must provide resources and facilities to a charter school that match what they provide children at schools in the same part of the district, and according to the proposition’s text, they must be “contiguous, furnished and equipped, and shall remain the property of the school district.”
Travis is the powerhouse behind the Yggdrasil Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, and if it seems like animals have seeped into every aspect of her life, it’s because, well, they have. She and her late husband founded Yggdrasil in 2001. The center takes in orphaned baby animals—especially squirrels, opossums and deer—fosters them, and cares for them until they’re ready to return to the wild. They take in close to 200 Bay Area animals every year. Right now, the middle of the springtime rush of animal births, is Yggdrasil’s busiest season.
Former President Bill Clinton recently came to Oakland on behalf of the Clinton Foundation’s Global Initiative. Volunteers made improvements such as gardening and painting the playground. The Clintons were also joined by Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf and local school officials.
National Public Radio’s Morning Edition, one of the top drive-time radio shows in the country, recently came to Oakland and host David Greene worked out of the downtown studios of Youth Radio to broadcast the show and report daily news to the nation.
On April 17, the Oakland Ballet Company will be hosting the second annual East Bay Dances Showcase. This showcase is meant to highlight the diversity of artistry and dance in the East Bay. The event will feature multiple dance groups from the East Bay including Oakland Ballet, AXIS Dance Company, Diablo Ballet, Jubilee American Dance Theatre, The Milissa Payne Project, Patty Chu’s Chinese Folk Dance, Quicksilver Dance, and Savage Jazz Dance Company. Graham Lustig, the show’s producer and artistic director…
The Oakland Unified School District called a special meeting on Wednesday, voting to approve charter renewals for Vincent Academy and American Indian Charter Schools.
In a meeting Tuesday morning, the Oakland Public Works Committee concluded the southbound bus stop on Broadway and 30th Street, which was removed last year, would be reinstated, but it is still unclear if it will return to its original location or be moved south of 30th Street to be in front of Summit Bank.
Making space for more people without forcing out existing residents is a key dilemma of the housing crisis, affecting cities across the Bay Area. While large apartment buildings can take years to go up, advocates say tiny houses can go in now.