Public Policy
BART is gearing up plans to relocate its Police Department to new headquarters in downtown Oakland in 2026, after receiving a $150 million federal loan to fund construction. BART police are vacating their current headquarters at 800 Madison St. in Oakland to make room for a new BART development project, which will include affordable housing units, shops and parking. The new headquarters will be about a mile away, at 2000 Broadway. In a competitive market, the new facility could help…
The Alameda County Reparations Commission held its first meeting this week to address the impacts of slavery and racial discrimination on the county’s Black residents. The meeting on Monday came about eight months after the Board of Supervisors approved a reparations commission to hold listening sessions, conduct research and draft a plan for repairing these impacts. “The fact that you’ve accepted this appointment and stepped forward to serve is admirable. Our hope is that you will be able to accomplish…
A month after the district attorneys in Contra Costa and Solano counties declined to file charges against Oakland police Sgt. Lee French and his wife, Richmond police Chief Bisa French, his status on the Oakland force remains unclear. The couple was accused in October of assaulting a family member and threatening that person’s boyfriend, in a case that was being investigated in Contra Costa and Solano counties. Contra Costa district attorney’s assistant Bobbi Mauler confirmed recently that the Frenches would…
In the 19th and 20th centuries, Oakland’s industrial zone bustled with canneries, metal works and warehouses. As the global economy changed, industries moved out and artists moved in. The low-rent buildings, with their vaulted interiors, were suitable for live-work studios. Over the years, landlords looked the other way as tenants nested in spaces that were never coded for housing. On Dec. 2, 2016, the deadliest fire in Oakland history broke out in the Ghost Ship, a former warehouse in Fruitvale…
Oakland’s labor unions say they should have been involved in a draft mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy that would apply to the city’s 4,500 or so employees as a condition of employment. “Unions aren’t against vaccines at all,” said Elizabeth Ortega, executive director of the Alameda Labor Council. “But we do want to stay at the table.” Ortega said that the 135 unions that ALC represents received notice of the mandate only a few hours before the draft was released. She…
Housing advocates in Oakland are warning that the current tenant protections enacted and expanded during the COVID-19 pandemic contain loopholes that leave renters vulnerable to evictions and even lawsuits. The Alameda County Board of Supervisors issued a temporary eviction ban to protect residents from being evicted in March. It covered renters, homeowners and those living in mobile home parks throughout the county. A few days later, California governor Gavin Newsom announced a temporary statewide eviction ban. However, exceptions in the…
Oakland residents await the enforcement of the city’s recently adopted encampment management policy.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1876 into law on September 10, guaranteeing full-time and part-time employees sick leave in California.
2019 brought a new group of student reporters to Oakland North from across the country and the globe. We covered a city that is always changing, but where tensions about city finances, policing, housing and the fate of the public schools run deep. We also produced three new episodes of our Tales of Two Cities podcast, which covers audio stories from Oakland and Richmond in collaboration with our sister site, Richmond Confidential. Click here to check out all episodes of the Tales of…