Development
For nearly 20 years, the Oakland Museum of California has operated under a public-private partnership with the City of Oakland and the nonprofit Oakland Museum of California Foundation, sharing the $15 million annual budget and control of operations. But now city officials may remove themselves from that partnership, leaving the nonprofit foundation to run the 41-year-old cultural institution.
In anticipation of the extra traffic that comes with the holiday season, last week Oakland North posed a question: what’s the fastest way to get to Oakland International Airport? To find the answer, on November 18 we pitted four of our most daring reporters against each other in a contest we call the Race to the Airport. Who won? Find out now.
In their first meeting since the November election, Oakland’s school board members reflected somberly on the near-passage of Measure L, the $195 property tax that would have raised $20 million per year for ten years, increasing salaries for school employees.
With Thanksgiving around the corner, many Oaklanders will soon be flocking to the airport to spend the holiday with loved ones across the country. But with the holiday rush clogging traffic, that may be easier said than done. Join Oakland North next week for the Race to the Airport to find out which means of transport will get you there first: car, bus, BART or bike.
Thanks to a $4 million grant from the California State Parks Department, which City Slicker Farms was awarded on November 8, the parcel will soon be transformed into a community farm and park. Although the department allows organizations up to eight years to get their programs established, Finnin estimates that City Slicker Farms will break ground for the community farm at the end of 2011.
Members of the Oakland teachers’ union voted tonight on whether to reaffirm its rejection of the teaching contract imposed by the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) in the spring, and authorize actions up to and including a district-wide strike.
The deck was full of motion. Firefighters were readying each turret, the giant revolving guns that shoot water instead of bullets. The Sea-Wolf has four turrets; one on either side of the boat’s deck, one in the front, and the largest located on top of the boat. The fireboat has the capacity to shoot out 8,000 gallons of water per minute.
Until it burned to the ground, Tiki Tom’s waterfront restaurant and bar, with its giant inflatable rooftop frog and bright yellow exterior, was a difficult place to miss.
As Oakland looks forward to a new mayor in the coming year, it faces giant-sized challenges in employment and business development that would be daunting for any city administration. Unemployment stands at 17.3 percent, compared to a national rate of 9.6 percent, and several large companies have deserted the city, taking hundreds of jobs with them. So business organizations and city officials are focused on strategies to make Oakland a business-friendly environment to attract new companies and new jobs.