Environment
Getting around town might get a lot easier, especially for college students in the East Bay. The Metropolitan Transportation Commission wants to subsidize 20,000 annual Bay Wheels passes for community college and public university students across the Bay Area, with the addition of 600 electric bikes and 19 stations in Oakland. The rollout would begin in 2027 if a proposed contract between Lyft and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission comes to fruition. The project is part of the larger Plan Bay Area…
Pam Glassoff wiped a scatter of fresh soil from her hands, basking in the warm afternoon sun in front of the Montclair Branch of the Oakland Public Library. Smiling, she talked about her love of gardening and the excitement of the Earth Day event she was attending. “I’ve never grown from seed, so this would be a whole new experiment for me.” Glassoff has been gardening for 25 years, and has a fondness for tomatoes, rhubarb, and asparagus. With the…
In between bites from a chicken and veggie sandwich, Oakland resident Connor Hunter, 9, read aloud from a poster he had just signed at Lincoln Summer Nights, a community event hosted by a coalition of local organizations. The prompt: “If you were an elected official in Oakland, what would your first act be?” “I wrote that if I was elected mayor, I would give $500,000 to businesses in Oakland because it would help the community and businesses grow. I could…
On his birthday in 2020, Walter Hood planted six trees in front of his house. That same year, he tore out the concrete parking strip and planted a dozen more. Now children come by to pick his lemons. It’s not much, he says, but it’s an investment in Oakland’s future. Hood, a UC Berkeley professor and the creative director of Hood Design Studio, has lived for 25 years in West Oakland, where tree canopy coverage is a mere 5% —…
Nine candidates who want to be Oakland’s next mayor answered questions about gun violence, the environment and quality of life before an audience of about 50 voters Thursday at St. Columba Catholic Church in northwest Oakland. The forum was sponsored by Faith in Action East Bay, the National Coalition of 100 Black Women, the Alpha Nu Omega chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. and the Oakland chapter of the NAACP. The Rev. Ken Hamilton moderated, giving each candidate two…
For many, getting prepared for emergencies is a daunting task, leading them to procrastinate from taking simple preemptive steps to manage critical situations for themselves, their families, and their communities. About 500 people set those fears aside last Saturday to participate in an Emergency Preparedness Day at Chabot Elementary School in Oakland, where they had fun while learning practical steps to take in planning for emergencies. The event normally is held every other year, and last week’s was the first…
Sandra Rose hikes frequently in East Bay Regional Parks and is no stranger to rattlesnakes. Last month, she saw three in one week. “We all heard the hiss as the snake went up the hill.” Rose said, referring to a hike in Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve in Oakland. Rose says she expects to see snakes in the park. “They won’t bother you if you don’t bother them,” she said. “I’m not scared of them, I think they’re fascinating.” Last month,…
The morning of March 8 was beautiful, and Jennifer Pope wanted to let fresh air into her East Oakland home. So, as one often does on a sunny day, she opened all the windows. Suddenly, though, came the odor — what Pope describes as a burnt resin smell. “It came wafting in the house and it just ruined my whole morning,” Pope said. “I can’t even enjoy living in my own home because this odor is so intrusive.” Pope reported…
When they arrived at the Rockridge-Temescal Greenbelt, aka FROG Park, on Saturday morning, Alya Davidman and her 6-year-old daughters Evelyn and Josephine Ellis-Davidman found a group of over 100 volunteers hard at work raking leaves, pulling weeds, and picking up trash across the narrow greenway tucked between a row of houses, the DMV and the Temescal farmers market in north Oakland Josephine and Evelyn, waddling with bright orange trash pickers in one hand and garbage bags as big as their…