Development

Diesel fuel spills into Lake Merritt from storm drain

A cleanup crew worked to clean up diesel fuel that spilled into Lake Merritt from a storm drain on Tuesday evening. Fuel could be seen on the water’s surface in the area by the storm drain located near the corner of Harrison Street and Grand Avenue, across from Children’s Fairyland. About four to five acres were originally contaminated, Oakland Fire Battalion Chief Darin White said, but firefighters were able to pare down the contaminated area to two acres using an…

Oakland City Council to face six budget proposals tonight

Just a few days before Oakland limps into the new fiscal year, the city now has six budget proposals. Last Friday, three budget scenarios, in addition to the three previously issued by Mayor Jean Quan in April, were introduced by three factions of the city council.

BART pushes back talks on pilot project for later trains on Friday nights

On Thursday BART directors postponed the discussion of a demonstration project that would allow trains to run one hour later on Friday nights. Under the proposed six-month tryout plan, which was presented to the BART board of directors on April 28, the last trains on Friday night would depart at 1 a.m. instead of 12 a.m., extending the service for all 44 stations for one hour.

Oakland City Council delays budget talk

More than 200 people showed up to Tuesday night’s Oakland City Council meeting at City Hall in downtown Oakland, only to find that all budget-related items were removed from the meeting agenda at the last minute.