People
Many Oaklanders have heard mayoral candidate Joe Tuman talk about politics, but they might not know it. Before he declared himself a candidate in Oakland’s most hotly contested race, he spent over twenty years as a political analyst and a talking head on TV, making him a familiar yet nameless voice in the region’s politics.
Mitchell, a senior at Oakland Technical High School, is just getting started in her role as the 2010-2011 All-City Council student representative on the Oakland school board. Unlike her adult counterparts, however, Mitchell has no official voting power on the school board, a fact that she considers a minor detail in her mission to make sure the voice of the district’s students is heard.
Some people rested. Some traveled. Others played on Labor Day. Many Oakland residents used their extra day off from work or school Monday to create their own sporting events: a bike ride in the hills, steering an unfamiliar water vessel at Lake Merritt. Check out reporter Laith Agha’s slide show and map for a glimpse of city residents finding their own ways to play.
Are you just about done with all the summer squash coming out of your garden? Or been eyeing the neighbor’s plum tree, wishing you had some of your own? There’s a bench in North Oakland’s Mosswood Park where you can trade away your excess harvest and pick up something else you like.
It’s hard to catch Steve Sparkes these days between World Cup games, building a tasting room at Linden Street Brewery in West Oakland, and organizing a week-long free soccer camp for over sixty kids. Now in its third year, the “My Yute” soccer camp offers skills training to young players, while exposing them to the cultural diversity of the game and spreading, Sparkes hopes, his passion for the sport.
With Oakland’s fire season expected to begin within the next few weeks, Oakland North reporter Dara Kerr spoke with Fire Chief Gerald A. Simon about what it means to be the head of Oakland’s Fire Department, what led him to the job, and about Oakland’s unique fire and safety needs.
For nearly 30 years, a con artist named Alan Young has been living the high life around the Bay Area – on other people’s tabs. He pretends to be what he’s not – a member of a famous Motown group, like the Temptations or the Four Tops.
At campaign events during the last week, former State Senate President Don Perata is suggesting that Oakland needs a firmer hand in City Hall and that he’s the one to provide it.
Michael Moore, the Oakland Athletic League’s commissioner, is in charge of one of the oldest high school sports organizations in the state—but it’s also the smallest, and under pressure to combine with larger sections. The league’s future was in doubt until Moore came along and could still face more questions about its status—but Moore wants to keep the league independent.