Crime
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation into law last month that enables speed cameras in Oakland and other cities in an effort to boost traffic safety. The law allows Oakland, San Francisco and San Jose, among others, to use speed cameras to catch dangerous drivers as part of a pilot program until 2032. The cities will place the cameras in different corridors and near schools. The number of cameras in each city depends on its population. Between the middle and end…
Small business owners say Oakland’s city officials are failing to address a serious crime wave. In September, the city did not submit a completed application that would have secured Oakland a portion of a $256 million state grant for police funding. Now, several small business owners in Oakland are asking whether city officials are doing their part. “I just want the people who are given the job to lead Oakland to look at themselves in the mirror and ask themselves…
Dozens of Oaklanders shuttered their shops and businesses for two hours this week to protest what they say is the city’s failure to stem a growing crisis of street crime. Business owners and their supporters gathered outside the once-thriving downtown restaurant Le Cheval, now closing its doors after 38 years due to rising crime. A few minutes after a planned 10 a.m. start on Tuesday, Carl Chan, president of the Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce and lead strike organizer, blamed…
Oakland’s Department of Violence Prevention narrowly avoided a multi-million dollar budget cut in an 11th-hour reprieve by the City Council. Because of a looming $360 million budget shortfall, the cityhad proposed cutting an estimated $5.7 million from the DVP in its 2023-2024 budget. This reduction would have forced the DVP to cut funding from several violence prevention organizations that offer community-building strategies, including juvenile justice reform, youth leadership training, legal literacy training, and voter awareness. With a unanimous vote Sept….
Shots were fired Tuesday morning on the Skyline High School campus, prompting a lockdown and leading to two arrests. No one was injured in the shooting, which happened around 11:20 a.m. Skyline will be closed Wednesday while police investigate the shooting. At a news conference Tuesday afternoon, Oakland police Capt. Jake Bassett said police recovered a handgun and other evidence on campus. He would not say where on campus the shooting occurred, how many shots were fired or if any…
It was quiet in Oakland Chinatown at 3 a.m. on Thursday, March 23. The last two eateries on Eighth Street — Lounge Chinatown and New Gold Medal Restaurant — were wrapping up business for the day. At a quarter past 3, workers at both restaurants locked glass doors and then iron gates. At Lounge Chinatown, wooden doors added to the security. But it wasn’t enough. Ten minutes later, as the street became darker and quieter, burglars broke into the two…
In between bites from a chicken and veggie sandwich, Oakland resident Connor Hunter, 9, read aloud from a poster he had just signed at Lincoln Summer Nights, a community event hosted by a coalition of local organizations. The prompt: “If you were an elected official in Oakland, what would your first act be?” “I wrote that if I was elected mayor, I would give $500,000 to businesses in Oakland because it would help the community and businesses grow. I could…
When Pamela Price takes office next month, she is expected to usher in an era of change and reform in Alameda County, where retiring district attorney Nancy O’Malley held the post for 13 years. The election was historic even before a winner emerged, as both candidates were African American, marking the first time the county would elect a Black district attorney. Price won roughly 53% of the vote, getting about 27,000 more votes than Chief Assistant DA Terry Wiley. “We…
About three dozen people gathered at the Lake Merritt amphitheater on a chilly Friday night to remember the five people who were killed last weekend in a mass shooting at a queer nightclub in Colorado Springs. During the three-hour vigil, people, mostly wearing black, listened to music — some hugging, others crying, and many laughing together, as they tried to care for one another in the wake of continued brutality against queer people in the United States. “Being queer and…