Development

Nine candidates have their say at forum

After public complaints about a plan to include only the front-running candidates for Oakland mayor, the Sierra Club Wednesday hosted nine of the ten candidates at a forum on the environment and the upcoming election.

School board opener brings harsh budget news

Despite many heartfelt pleas to keep arts programs and continue running early childhood development centers, Superintendent Tony Smith told the audience at Wednesday night’s school board meeting that there just isn’t enough money for all the programs people care about. “If we can’t pay for it,” he said, “we can’t have it.”

Disabled parking placards in downtown Oakland; are they legit?

Placard fraud costs the city income in meters and parking tickets. Furthermore, because cars bearing placards have unlimited time and don’t need to be moved every hour or two, fraud prevents parking turnover; that can severely limit parking options for everyone, disabled or not.

Down-home cuisine at Tacos Sinaloa

Looking up into the small ordering window of Tacos Sinaloa’s bright orange and chrome taco truck, Ernesto Vilchis asks for a serving of marinated tongue, crispy tripe and cow’s cheek tacos. Tacos Sinaloa is one of the most popular taco trucks in East Oakland; and not only does it serve up traditional Mexican tacos like tripe and cow’s cheek, it also has items for the less faint-of-heart, such as barbecue pork and carne asada.

New free Broadway shuttle cruises downtown

If you’ve been downtown this past week, you may have noticed a big green bus driving up and down Broadway. It’s Oakland’s new shuttle, which tours between the six major downtown commercial districts and is free for the public to ride.

Childhood development centers get a month’s reprieve

Teachers searching for new jobs and parents looking for new childcare options got some last-minute good news—the seven childhood development centers slated to close last Friday due to budget cuts will remain open for another month. The Oakland Unified School District announced it was allocating $400,000 in federal stimulus money to keep the centers running through the end of August.

Eight Childhood Development Centers set to close Friday

Judy Lee has already begun packing her boxes. Full of art supplies and Shel Silverstein books, the boxes sat neatly stacked near the wall of her spacious classroom at the Piedmont Avenue Early Childhood Development Center on Wednesday, a telltale sign of the center’s imminent closure.