Politics
The City of Oakland’s Citizen’s Police Review Board met Thursday night for the first time since postponing a forum that was scheduled for Feb. 9 on police response to Occupy Oakland. But the board did not hold the much-anticipated forum, and instead discussed why the meeting was postponed, where a suitable location for the forum would be, what would be discussed, and when.
Oakland-based chef, author and activist Bryant Terry has a way with food. In his newest cookbook, “The Inspired Vegan,” he continues a longtime quest to bring flavor-intense but nutritionally rich eats to a larger audience, and to have a little fun while he’s at it.
On Wednesday morning, Oakland hills resident Terry Galloway finished installing a third rain barrel on his property, a 305-gallon tank that is attached to the back of his home and connected to the gutters on his roof, as part of an event to promote the City of Oakland Rain Barrel Program.
Among Protestant churches with fewer than 1,000 people in attendance, only 7 percent are multiracial, says Michael Emerson, a scholar on race and religion at Rice University. But in Oakland, Imani Community Church and Piedmont Community Church are two congregations, one predominantly black, the other predominantly white, that have developed a sisterhood.
On Tuesday, members of the First African Methodist Episcopal Church in North Oakland participated in a bank “transfer day” in conjunction with Occupy the Dream, a campaign for economic justice inspired by the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The church asked people throughout the Oakland community to move at least $30 from a conventional banking institution to a minority-owned bank or credit union.
From 1914 when it opened until its closure in 2006, the Oakland Civic Auditorium—re-named the Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center in 1984 after a $15 million renovation—was at the center of civic life in Oakland. But for the last half-decade, the place has sat vacant and empty of life, slowly deteriorating.
Oakland Mayor Jean Quan has had a tumultuous first year in office. Since her first day one year ago, the mayor has been faced with overseeing severe budget cuts and scores of layoffs of city workers, as well as the resignation of the city attorney and the chief of police, battles with Occupy Oakland, an undermanned police force that is close to federal receivership and is battling a debilitating crime problem, and not one, but two efforts to recall her from her job.
But through it all, Quan said she’s “optimistic” about what’s in store for the city during her State of the City address at City Hall on Wednesday night.
During another contentious meeting Tuesday night, the City Council deadlocked over a resolution aimed at increasing the policing of protests. The resolution would have made protests that block streets without a permit illegal, and allowed the city administrator to use “whatever lawful tools” required to prevent protesters from hindering everyday business operations.
A federal appeals court declared California’s Proposition 8 unconstitutional today, overturning the statewide ban on same-sex marriage that had been approved by voters in 2008. In a 2-1 ruling, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled that Proposition 8 unfairly took away rights from a minority group.