Economy

Bigger than ever, the Oakland Music Festival is back for nine days

They say if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it but what if your goal is to transform it? After three years of steadily increasing attendance and growing popularity, Oakland Music Festival (OMF) CEO and founder Alfonso Dominguez decided to do something different—change the format of the festively entirely. What started as traditional, one-day music festival has morphed into a nine-day span of performances, panels, workshops and networking events. On Friday, OMF 2016 was officially underway. Over 45 different artists are…

Oakland business owners weigh in on potential to veto plastic bag ban

“I don’t care darling. I just serve my customers. Plastic or paper, I don’t care,” said Nikki Yi, the owner of the Fat Cat sandwich store on Telegraph Avenue in downtown Oakland, while preparing a club sandwich behind the counter. Yi greeted her customers by name and she seemed to know everyone who walked into her store that day.