Development

New air quality guidelines get mixed response

When it comes to the interests of low-income people, affordable housing and clean air advocates usually work side by side in Oakland and the Bay Area. However, the issue of impending air quality guidelines for new or renovated affordable housing sites has caused disagreement between the two groups.

Oakland’s newest sex shop is cut from a different cloth

Feelmore510, Oakland’s newest adult store, opened—somewhat appropriately—on Valentine’s Day this week, but it has not been universally welcomed. When Nenna Joiner applied for permits to open the store two months ago, opponents complained that Feelmore510’s Uptown location would put it within 500 feet of several major gathering places for young people, including Youth Radio, a foster housing agency called First Place for Youth, and Oakland School for the Arts. But not everyone objects to the store.

Brewing beer with Oakland’s Linden Street Brewery

Perched above a steaming stainless steel cauldron, Adam Lamoreaux rhythmically stirs the contents with a large metal oar. Inside, a thick amber-colored concoction of cracked grains and hot water simmers. As he continues to stir, a sweet malty smell fills the air. Lamoreaux looks down into the vat and studies his mixture, then says, “For the first two years of my daughter’s life, she thought I made oatmeal.”