Economy
Oakland library supporters crawled down Telegraph Avenue Saturday evening in their zombie finest to protest the potential closure of 14 of the 18 city libraries. The living dead groaned “Zombies need brains, keep libraries open!” to passerbys in cars, restaurants, and at Oakland’s Uptown galleries.
What do you get when you have a taco truck but take away the gasoline and one wheel? El TacoBike! This new meal on wheels hit town last week serving up fresh and authentic Mexican taqueria food like tacos de canasta (steamed tacos) and tortas diabolicas (meatball sandwiches) via a three-wheeled bicycle.
Local agencies that serve Oakland’s low-income residents joined community members at Saturday’s 6th Annual Walk to End Poverty, which is designed to draw national attention to the issue of poverty. The day was hosted by the Oakland Community Action Partnership and United Way of the Bay Area, which reports that one in five families in the Bay Area are living in poverty. That number includes 76,000 Oakland residents who are struggling to make ends meet.
Oakland officials including Mayor Jean Quan and Council President Larry Reid return from a trip to china meant to encourage trade. As China’s capital grows, more and more investments will be made in the U.S., said Quan, and “We’d like a share of those.”
The controversial AB 376, a bill that would make possession and trade of shark fins illegal in California, was amended on Thursday. State Assemblymember Paul Fong (D-Cupertino), who introduced the bill in February, wants to “grandfather in” restaurants and distributors which are already selling shark fin products by pushing back the bill’s effective date for those sellers from 2012 to 2013.
The Creative Growth Art Center, located north of downtown Oakland, has been serving artists with developmental, physical and mental disabilities for over 35 years. Located right next door to the studio is the exhibition space — the first of its kind dedicated to people with disabilities.
Oakland International Airport is the first airport in Northern California and the second in the nation to install chargers for electric cars, which drivers can use for free.
More than two years after a recession-induced merger, People’s Federal Credit Union is striving to break even. To sustain the cost of providing financial services for West Oakland’s low income residents, People’s must revive its sluggish loan income, says Self-Help Federal Credit Union of North Carolina, the parent company helping West Oakland’s only thrift back to health.
On a hot spring afternoon, Javier Delgado Jimenez kneels on the grass in Mountain View Cemetery. He is poised over a flat gravestone wearing a gas mask, knee guards, long work gloves and a white hood with a clear plastic visor. With intense concentration, he aims a rod attached to a round metal canister at the face of the gravestone and plumes of red dust billow into the air.