People
For the two years since Jean Quan was elected mayor in Oakland’s first ranked-choice voting election, the voice of her administration—through multiple turbulent situations—has been Susan Piper, who retired last month as Quan’s official spokesperson.
Years after serving as education director for then-Mayor Ron Dellums, professor Kitty Kelly Epstein aims to recast the controversial mayorship in a new book. “Organizing to Change a City,” released at the end of August, tells the story from a supporter’s view. It describes the community effort that secured Dellums’ victory and defends his tenure – all part of advancing Epstein’s contention that grass roots change is possible, even in a city as complicated as Oakland.
Despite not attending art school, Derek McDonald’s art has permeated much of the local visual landscape, from gold leafed yacht names in the Emeryville Marina to local bar placards to the vintage signs at Oakland’s Fairyland park for children. At his West Berkeley studio, Golden West Sign Arts, McDonald stays true to the tradition of sign painting without any digital assistance.
Occupy Oakland. A school shooting. The federal raid of Oaksterdam. A police chief’s surprising resignation. A stormy first year in office for the new mayor. The past year has been eventful and memorable for Oakland, and I feel lucky to have been able to cover this city at such an incredible time.
On Friday afternoon, community leaders and over 100 local residents gathered on the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Way and 32nd Street in Oakland to celebrate the life of slain rapper Tupac Shakur and to commemorate what would have been his 41st birthday.
Loved ones and acquaintances attended an event in honor of the late Brandy Martell on Friday in Oakland. Martell, a 37-year-old transgender woman, was killed in downtown Oakland on April 30. Witnesses said she sitting in her car parked at the corner of Franklin and 13th Streets when an unknown suspect shot her repeatedly through the partially open window. While members of the public have raised concerns that this was a hate crime, the Oakland Police Department is still investigating the case.
An 81-year-old Oakland man was among the 42 people who responded to a call to save the life of 14-year-old cancer patient Cynthia Rodriguez, who needs a bone marrow transplant, by showing up at a bone marrow drive on Thursday at Kaiser Permanente’s Oakland Medical Center.
The Oakland Museum of California is hosting the first museum retrospective of comic artist Daniel Clowes. The exhibition, curated by Susan Miller, features all the key artwork in the career of the celebrated cartoonist who is based in Oakland, and includes 100 original pieces from 1989 to 2011.
Through a nationwide marketing campaign and the Family Radio media platform, Oakland-based preacher Harold Camping convinced thousands of people that the world would end on May 21, 2011. As we approach the one-year anniversary of his failed prediction, reporter Megan Molteni takes look at the psychology of Camping’s doomsaying and why so many people fell for it.