Economy
On May 7, people gathered in Oakland’s Fruitvale district to celebrate Cinco de Mayo, commemorating the Mexican Army’s victory, despite the odds, against the French at the Battle in Puebla in 1862. The event, hosted by Oakland City Councilmember Noel Gallo (District 5) and the City of Oakland, began with a Mother’s Day mural dedication.
How the high cost of housing is affecting refugee resettlement in Oakland
Last Thursday, The Town Kitchen was awarded the “Most Community-Oriented Employer” at the Work Local Awards party. The award aims to recognize and celebrate the best employers in the Bay Area.
Proposition 39, also known as the “Smaller Classes, Safer Schools and Financial Accountability Act,” was passed by voters in 2000, and requires all California school districts to provide equivalent facilities to charter schools and the students who choose to attend them. The ballot initiative was based on the premise that students who attend charter schools would have otherwise attended district schools, so the district should have planned to accommodate those students with space and resources. To be “equivalent” means that the district must provide resources and facilities to a charter school that match what they provide children at schools in the same part of the district, and according to the proposition’s text, they must be “contiguous, furnished and equipped, and shall remain the property of the school district.”
The proposed tax would charge an extra 1 cent per fluid ounce of sugary beverages, just like the one approved in Berkeley in 2014. The revenues from the tax would go to the city’s General Purpose Fund and are estimated to range from $6-12 million annually.
National Public Radio’s Morning Edition, one of the top drive-time radio shows in the country, recently came to Oakland and host David Greene worked out of the downtown studios of Youth Radio to broadcast the show and report daily news to the nation.
Making space for more people without forcing out existing residents is a key dilemma of the housing crisis, affecting cities across the Bay Area. While large apartment buildings can take years to go up, advocates say tiny houses can go in now.
Under the Maximum Family Grant Rule, if a woman has a baby ten months after becoming a CalWORKs recipient, she will not receive additional cash aid for the infant. Exceptions to the rule include pregnancies resulting from rape, incest, or the failure of specific types of contraception like an IUD, often considered a more invasive form of birth control.
Today in Los Angeles, Governor Jerry Brown signed off on a new minimum wage bill that will make California the state with the highest in the country at $15 an hour by 2022. The bill cleared the state legislature last Thursday.