Economy
Restaurants across the city are offering special, fixed-price menus for Oakland’s third annual Restaurant Week. The ten-day event began on Friday and will run until January 27, offering diners an array of choices from seafood to Mexican, Vietnamese or Ethiopian cuisine.
From his dark, cramped second floor office, David Sarber looks out a narrow window to the sales floor below, surveying the final days of the business his family has run for some 50 years. A large sign outside reads: “LIQUIDATION SALE Everything Must Go.” After opening in 1961 and coming to Montclair Village in Oakland in 1964, Sarber’s Cameras will close up shop at the end of January.
Oakland’s new city council members, who were inaugurated at a ceremony at City Hall Monday, set the stage for the elected body’s biggest policy focus of the next four years—public safety. While it’s no secret that crime is Oakland’s number one problem, with the city’s homicide rate reaching 131 on the last day of 2012, councilmembers old and new declared Monday that the council should formally proclaim that combating crime the city’s first priority. That means more than just acknowledging…
When Oakland resident Debi Mason set out to prevent mortgage associates from the Bank of America from foreclosing on her sister Patricia’s Maxwell Park home in 2007, she had only a few friends, neighbors and advocacy groups to help fend off the foreclosure. But last week, Mason, along with thousands of homeowners in Bay Area cities like Oakland and Richmond that have been profoundly effected by foreclosures and the ensuing blight, welcomed the new Homeowner Bill of Rights, a state…
This week will end the tenure of three of the longest-standing members on the Oakland City Council, each of whom has served for nearly two decades. On January 7, three new members who won in the November 2012 election will take over for District 5 Councilmember Ignacio De La Fuente, who gave up his position to unsuccessfully run against Rebecca Kaplan for the at-large seat and District 1 councilmember Jane Brunner, who lost her race for City Attorney to Barbara…
Behind the counter at Nick’s Liquor store in West Oakland, owner Abdullah Albasir tries to calm customers annoyed that they have to pay 10 cents for a bag now that Alameda County’s new regulations on plastic bags have gone into effect. “I don’t got 10 cents,” one customer says loudly, sliding a gallon jug of water and packages of Marie Callender’s TV dinners across the counter. “You charge 10 cents, too?” asks another customer overhearing this conversation. “Damn!” Albasir explains…
Oakland officials have announced a launch date for the city’s new Municipal ID program, which would allow Oakland residents to apply for a city-issued identification card that can also be used as a debit card. Oakland studied other cities that have implemented similar programs, including New Haven, Connecticut, and San Francisco, said Mayor Jean Quan, speaking to a room of reporters gathered at City Hall late Wednesday. But unlike the programs in those cities, Oakland’s identification cards will also include…
A few years ago, developers Garrett Dodge and Ketu Patel were working on a mobile app called Fido Factor, which helps dog lovers find canine-friendly parks and stores. But then one night at a bar Patel realized there was a bigger problem that needed solving. “One of the things that Ketu had noticed was that when you’re using a jukebox, it’s kind of a pain in the ass to walk across the bar and go use that while your friends…
2012 was a year of big changes for Oakland, as the city dealt with its struggling finances, a possible federal takeover of its police department, multiple petitions to recall the mayor and the closure of several elementary schools.