Politics
Mayoral candidate Joe Tuman joined local business owners and residents to voice support for reducing parking meter costs and parking fines in Oakland.
The sounds of cheering, clapping, and whistling filled the air outside Oakland mayoral candidate Libby Schaaf’s campaign headquarters Monday as California Governor Jerry Brown was introduced on a small stage in the backyard. “This is so exciting, I may have to run for mayor again,” Brown joked as he took position in front of the microphone to address the 140-plus people packed into the yard. “I’m here to endorse Libby Schaaf,” said Brown, after talking about his admiration of Oakland. …
The mayor, who is running for re-election in November, was one of 12 mayoral candidates at the roundtable event hosted in East Oakland by Alameda County’s Community Food Bank.
It’s easy. It’s convenient. These two reasons repeatedly cited by voters, county election officials, voter advocacy groups and other organizations may account for the growing number of Oakland residents planning to vote early this year, by mail, instead of going to the polls on Election Day. Jamie Israel, 26, a server who works late shifts at a restaurant in Berkeley, is giving early voting a try for the first time this fall, after eight years living and voting in Oakland….
Oakland has received a $1.87 million grant from the Department of Justice to fund the hiring of 15 new police officers over the next three years. With these officers, the department will be on course to reach its highest level of officer staffing since 2010.
The sidewalk at Telegraph and 27th Avenue was lined with signs reading, “Got Drugs?” and, “¿Tiene drogas?” The bilingual placards marked the site of the nation’s ninth National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day, where the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the Alameda County District Attorney’s office worked with Oakland and three other Alameda County cities on Saturday to take possession of old, unused and unwanted drugs until the DEA could destroy them. Nationally, drug take-backs have collected and destroyed about 4.1…
The American Planning Association recognized Oakland’s Uptown neighborhood as one of the “Great Places in America” in a ceremony yesterday. In the warm afternoon sun, APA Board of Directors member Kurt Christiansen and Hing H. Wong, president-elect of the organization’s California chapter, lauded the neighborhood’s homegrown artistry, entrepreneurialism and diversity. They also praised its revitalizing planning efforts, which have been 15 years in the making. “As a teenager, I lived less than a mile from this location and have seen…
The number of uninsured California residents has dropped from 22 percent to 11 percent. But challenges remain for the Affordable Care Act, especially for families with mixed immigration status.
The campaigners were part of a fall neighborhood-by-neighborhood effort, organized by the volunteer organization that calls itself the Lift Up Oakland Coalition, to persuade voters to approve Measure FF, which would raise the minimum wage in Oakland to $12.25 per hour as of March 2, 2015.