Election 2014
Over $6 million: That’s how much money flowed into the war chests of Oakland candidates and PACs in the November election for mayor and city council seats.
In a packed home in the Grand Lake neighborhood, supporters of Mayor Libby Schaaf and her campaign’s volunteers nibbled on quesadillas and checked back and forth between CNN and the front door to see when the candidate would arrive. Everyone from Jon Sarriugarte, the artist who designed the now-famous snail car, to city hall officials like District 3 Councilmember Lynette Gibson McElhaney, waited under orange and blue streamers. Schaaf’s older sister, Chris Schaaf, even drove in from Castro Valley to…
In her first appearance as Oakland’s mayor-elect, Libby Schaaf held a press conference wearing a striking red dress, a necklace of the Oakland tree, a bamboo earrings and riding — unforgettably — in a fire-snorting snail-shaped chariot. All of these were made in Oakland, and all of them had a story.
The Jules Verne-ish, Dr. Doolittle-ish, 12’6 foot high, 18 foot long, 3000 pound, glow-in-the-dark, fire-blowing, motorized, iron snail, was built atop the skeleton of a 1966 VW Bug. But it came from a dream — literally.
The Alameda County Registrar of Voters recently released a map that casts a new light on the recent mayoral race in Oakland, which suggests that the outcome was more complex than a simple winner and loser.
To determine how much the Oakland mayoral candidates spent to earn your first-choice vote, Oakland North analyzed what they spent and how many votes they got in this year’s election.
Oakland Unified School District welcomes three unofficial new school board directors.
Oakland North followed the journey of a ballot on Election Day and the intricacies that take place behind the scenes at the Alameda County Registrar of Voters Office in order for votes to become election results.
As election results rolled in after the polls closed last night, advocates for several major policy changes celebrated victories at the state, county and local levels, including a statewide initiative that reduced penalties for certain non-violent offenses, an increase in Alameda County’s sales tax and a raise for Oakland’s minimum wage. Alameda County residents agreed to double a transit-funding sales tax to one percent last night by passing Measure BB. (Voters defeated the similar Measure B two years ago.) The…