Environment
In addition to being a health, economic and legal issue, Proposition 19 has now become a civil rights issue. According to two reports released within the last week by the Drug Policy Alliance and partnering civil rights organizations, blacks and Latinos are arrested anywhere from 2 to 13 times as often as whites for personal possession of marijuana.
Voting yes on Prop 23 means temporarily suspending (saying no to, that is) Assembly Bill 32. That state legislation, also called AB 32 and the Global Warming Solutions Act, was signed into law in 2006 by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Click through to see an interactive graphic that provides a quick guide to some of the pro and con arguments and predicted effects of this controversial proposition.
Xiao’s current research involves the designing of a new model of tree wells—the area right around the tree root—that are integrated into the city’s drain system. This will allow the tree roots to become the cheapest water purifier. “The new well will save at least 20 percent of water in terms of irrigation as well,” Xiao said.
It’s the First Friday in October, and Art Murmur is in full swing. Local ’zines, art depots and thrift shops are peddling their wares in between galleries packed with inebriated merrymakers. The atmosphere is hardly political, and yet mingling with the crowd is Don Macleay, one of Oakland’s ten mayoral candidates. “Let me tell you,” he says, thrusting fliers into the hands of passersby, “say ‘Hi, I’m a politician,’ and people will shy away from you. But say, ‘Hi, I’m with the Green Party,’ and people will take your card.”
West Oakland residents, business owners and city leaders openly refer to their neighborhood as the city dump. Although the mounds of trash may not be as prevalent as it once was thirty years ago, illegal dumping is still a large problem. Every year, Waste Management, the city’s waste removal company, continues to haul away tons of trash from streets and sidewalks. Although the city has a law that fines dumpers $1,000, it’s difficult to enforce.
Dubbed as America’s worst urban fire since the Great Chicago Fire, Wednesday marks the 19th anniversary of the Oakland firestorm which left 25 people dead, 150 injured and over 3,000 homes destroyed. To honor those who fought and those who were lost, the Firestorm Community Mural Project was erected in 1994. Located outside the Rockridge BART station, the mural features over 2,000 hand-painted tiles. [This video and timeline are no longer available.]
Listen to how Oakland residents spent a day surveying conditions of the city’s parks and other recreational areas, many of which have fallen into disarray.
They squawk, they eat your scraps, they lay your breakfast, they bathe themselves with dirt: what more could you ask from backyard tenants?
The 15th annual Creek to Bay cleanup day drew hundreds of Oakland volunteers Saturday to more than two dozen watery sites, where they yanked weeds, bagged up Styrofoam cups, and pulled golf balls and plastic bags from the water.