Economy
Oakland Mayor Jean Quan has had a tumultuous first year in office. Since her first day one year ago, the mayor has been faced with overseeing severe budget cuts and scores of layoffs of city workers, as well as the resignation of the city attorney and the chief of police, battles with Occupy Oakland, an undermanned police force that is close to federal receivership and is battling a debilitating crime problem, and not one, but two efforts to recall her from her job.
But through it all, Quan said she’s “optimistic” about what’s in store for the city during her State of the City address at City Hall on Wednesday night.
During another contentious meeting Tuesday night, the City Council deadlocked over a resolution aimed at increasing the policing of protests. The resolution would have made protests that block streets without a permit illegal, and allowed the city administrator to use “whatever lawful tools” required to prevent protesters from hindering everyday business operations.
Two groups of protesters gathered in Frank Ogawa Plaza on Monday afternoon—one in support of Occupy Oakland, the other made up of people who said the ongoing protest is a drain on city resources.
There actually is a verb for keeping warm, but it’s in a dead language, one that’s close to Latvian, said Kristine Vejar, the owner of the Golden Gate district shop that goes by that name.
On January 19, Suneal Kolluri received an envelope in the mail from the California Attorney General’s office. Inside was the official title and summary for the College for California ballot initiative, a proposal to give every Californian a free college education, that was drafted by the high school students he teaches in East Oakland. The clock started ticking: Kolluri has 150 days to get 807,615 signatures.
With the dissolution of the Oakland’s redevelopment agency, the city is looking at a $28 million budget shortfall. In an effort to fill that hole, the city council passed a new budget Tuesday evening that includes dramatic cuts to city staff, scales back city services and consolidates several departments. (A full list of eliminated positions can be found here.) The new budget will save the city about $8 million during the remainder of fiscal year 2011-2012 and $20 million the…
The Oakland City Council passed a budget Tuesday night that will eliminate 80 city jobs. But thanks to a last-minute proposal from four councilmembers, funding for art and culture programs that had been on the chopping block was spared.
About 20 concerned citizens, activists and advocacy leaders debated the mayor’s new budget proposal Monday night at a town hall meeting organized by Councilmembers Patricia Kernighan and Nancy Nadel.
Nearly 400 people were swept up in mass arrests at an Occupy Oakland protest on Saturday night, according to a city of Oakland press release, including six local journalists.