Economy
Some Adult Day Healthcare Centers in Alameda County that were initially relieved to hear that their state funding would not be entirely cut, thanks to a settlement reached between disability rights activists and the State Department of Health Care Services, are now worried. At LifeLong Medical Care in East Oakland, more patients have been found ineligible for the new Medi-Cal subsidized program set to replace adult day healthcare than LifeLong staffers expected.
As the number of homeless and illegal boat dwellers has increased, they say, so has a chronic wave of thefts that has kept marinas on both sides of the Oakland estuary under siege. Meanwhile, they complain, the illegal estuary dwellers are causing a host of environmental problems by disposing of sewage in the water or abandoning their boats, which can leach toxic substances as they disintegrate.
On the Oakland waterfront, in a historic area called“Jingletown” that recalls the sound of full-pockets and big paydays from years ago, an American manufacturing survival story lives on amid big box stores and artists’ residences.
Two Fruitvale area elementary schools denied permission to become charter schools earlier this year had that decision reversed by the Oakland Unified School District board at a special meeting Wednesday night.
The Oakland City Council voted Tuesday night to keep a teen center open, while agreeing to the let the city take control of the center from Councilmember Desley Brooks (District 6), who had helped to establish and run it using funds from her own office. The council also unanimously approved a $3.5 million package to develop hotels, a conference center, a new stadium, and a shopping center in a 750-acre area around the Coliseum in an effort to entice the Raiders, Warriors and A’s to stay in Oakland.
In January, the OUSD board voted to reject charter school applications from two elementary schools, ASCEND and Learning Without Limits. Shortly after the denial by the school board, school and district officials began meeting over a compromise measure that would allow the schools to become charter schools but also have stronger ties to the district than other such schools.
As the Girl Scouts of America kick-off their annual cookie sale, many cookie lovers will be in for a treat. Now, Girl Scouts are accepting credit and debit cards. Byrhonda Lyons spoke to some scouts who are selling cookies in the Bay Area.
Discussions of food, community well being, and employment intersected in West Oakland on Wednesday at the city’s first “Ready, Set, Grow” event, a forum on jobs in sustainable food systems and health. Put on by the Alliance for Oakland’s Food Systems, which is headed up by People’s Grocery, the event brought together a who’s-who of Oakland’s non-profits that are hiring, and people looking for work to help them prepare for and find jobs.
Bradley Roberts picks up a straight-edge razor and leans over his client. The barber’s indigo sleeves are rolled up to expose a map of tattoos that continue even beneath his salt and pepper beard. With precision and focus, he slides the blade along a lathered cheek with a long even stroke. He wipes the metal edge clean and starts again.