Development
The BART board listened last Thursday as Oakland residents made some corrections and additions to the draft model for a Citizen Oversight Committee presented by BART. The draft the board presented on Monday called for a Citizen Oversight Committee and an independent auditor. The committee would be made up of 11 members.and an independent auditor who would have subpoena power to talk to any BART police officer and “unfettered” access to police personnel records and police reports once a complaint…
The merchants on Lakeshore plan to hold a General Strike Thursday to protest the city’s parking fee hikes, which they said, are chasing away customers. “If we do not act now, many businesses will fail and our city will be much worse off,” wrote Allen Michaan, the owner of the Grand Lake Theater in a flyer calling for the strike. It’s unclear how many of the businesses on Lakeshore will participate. Bob Jaffe sighed at the sight of the parking…
Non-profit organizations were ready to hand out pay-checks to underprivileged youth in Oakland this summer but were unprepared for the reality checks that went with them. President Barack Obama’s stimulus package last February made it possible for Oakland to hire 1,000 youth this summer, but some agencies said the stringent qualifications narrowed the applicant pool to much. Applicants had to be at risk, which meant being a school dropout, homeless, an offender, pregnant or someone who “requires additional assistance to…
Cyprus Pishdad was excited two months ago when his new T-shirt business, Pure510 on busy Lakeshore appeared to be doing well despite the economy. Then in July, his business started to decline. “The sales were worse than the first week I opened the business. I realized that it coincide with the raise in parking meter,” said the 46-year old business owner, who said his business has dropped 30 percent. Now Pishdad and other angry business owners are talking about the…
After a recent move to the area and a less-than-relaxing experience biking from Berkeley to downtown Oakland along Telegraph, I did what it seemed like any wannabe commuter (and novice biker) would: try to find a better route. I contacted the city last week to learn about some good North Oakland/ Downtown alternatives. Jennifer Stanley, the bicycle and pedestrian facilities coordinator for Oakland, suggested the Webster-Shafter route, which runs from Rockridge to Downtown Oakland. It’s “one of the most popular routes,”…
Concerned about California’s new budget? Think we need criminal justice and prison reform, more green jobs, a safer Oakland? The Ella Baker Center for Human Rights has a campaign for you.
The bold sign over the Greyhound station in Oakland says “BUS” in big letters, each bigger than a man. There are no windows, only doors to buses. The doors lead to terminals where the buses pull in and stop. During the day, the doors are the only source of sunlight. At 7 a.m. on a Wednesday, the station is already warm despite the emptiness. The security guard gets up from his stool. He waves a metal detector over my body…
Safeway supermarkets plans to demolish its Pleasant Valley shopping mall — which at 185,000 square feet is about half the area of the Great Pyramid at Giza — and replace it with one almost two-thirds larger. The new mall would be 304,000 square feet with 1,066 parking spaces, or 50 percent more spaces. Neighborhood critics say the new mall, which would include Long’s Drug and other retailers, would be too big, attract too much traffic and therefore endanger pedestrians accustomed…
After six years of state control, the Oakland Unified School District resumed local control last week and new Superintendent Tony Smith, an Oakland native, was inducted into office. But what exactly does this mean for Oakland residents in terms of change? Not much, apparently. While the OUSD Board will now be in a position to make independent decisions – versus advising a state administrator – the looming budget crisis seems to be tying everyone’s hands. One reason why school officials…