Economy
On Tuesday night, the council heard reports by working groups created by Mayor Libby Schaff’s Executive Order 2017-1 on January 11, calling for improving building and fire safety in non-permitted spaces while avoiding displacing their residents if code violations aren’t life-threatening. Should tenants have to be relocated, the order calls for the city to provide more relocation assistance. The order also calls for more notice for inspections; strengthening the Just Cause Ordinance, which prohibits landlords from evicting tenants except for specific reasons like failure to pay rent and illegal activities; as well as steps towards legalizing non-conforming spaces and reforming the city’s events permits system.
Protest sends a message about what is happening and how business owners are fighting for people who work for them.
On January 25, President Donald Trump signed an executive order denying federal funds to sanctuary cities, such as Oakland and Richmond. But Bay Area officials are pushing back and affirming the status of sanctuary cities.
The city and the Federal Small Business Administration (SBA) are offering low-interest loans and technical assistance to business owners, nonprofits, homeowners and tenants in the vicinity of the fire. According to Economic Development Manager Aliza Gallo, anyone can apply but must show proof that the fire negatively impacted them physically or economically.
Oakland’s six-month program to provide fundamental public services and housing resources at its first sanctioned homeless encampment is two-thirds complete. Yet with less than two months to go, the city is still left with lots of work to reach its goal.
Uber is relocating its headquarters to Oakland—but the app may be gone from many city residents’ phones before its office opens, thanks to the #DeleteUber boycott.
After 20 years of collaboration, the Oakland Unified School District and Alameda Contra-Costa Transit are now negotiating to find a cheaper way to provide bus services to local students.
As Californians, along with the rest of the nation, brace for a possible repeal of the Affordable Care Act, local residents feel more or less unsafe.
In Oakland, a collective of 15 artists, who were previously complete strangers to one another, are expressing their reaction to the new Trump presidency through a different kind of protest, an art project they are calling 100 Days Action.