Housing

Protesters rally against Wells Fargo, close their accounts

Holding banners and large withdrawal request forms, about 30 customers gathered on Wednesday in front of Wells Fargo’s main branch in downtown Oakland to announce that they would close their Wells Fargo bank accounts to protest the bank’s foreclosure practices.

Developers plan to revive historic West Oakland train station

Opened in 1912 at 16th Street and Wood Street, the Southern Pacific Train Station in West Oakland used to be one of the three original train stations serving Oakland at the beginning of the 20th Century, bringing goods and people—from coastal workers to jazz musicians—to the region from all over the country.

Program offers homeowners cash rebates for energy-efficiency upgrades

Bay Area residents may soon begin to see ads for a new program that allows homeowners to better insulate their houses while getting a considerable of rebate for doing the upgrade. After an 11-month pilot program, the full version of Energy Upgrade California—a statewide effort to promote energy efficiency—is now going full throttle. Homeowners who hire participating contractors to retrofit their houses as part of the Energy Upgrade California program are eligible for a reimbursement of up to $4,000. The…

Alameda County prepares for influx of inmates as state reduces prison population

Alameda County’s incarceration system may struggle to support the coming influx of inmates this July as California shifts the supervision of its prisoners from state to local facilities in order to meet a court-ordered prison population reduction strategy. In May, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that overcrowding in California’s 33 prisons has caused conditions that amount to “cruel and unusual punishment” in violation of the U.S. Constitution. The ruling ordered California to reduce its prison population by 32,000 over the…

Sungevity program donates cash to non-profits whose members go solar

Oakland-based solar company Sungevity announced on Tuesday that it will partner with the Sierra Club, an environmental organization headquartered in San Francisco, to launch a campaign asking homeowners to install solar panels on their roofs. Sungevity will donate $1,000 to the Sierra Club for every Sierra Club member who leases or purchases a solar energy system from the company.