Public Policy
In over 40 years working at the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, Mike Martin, now Alameda County battalion chief, has never seen anything like October 20, 1991 in the hills east of Oakland and Berkeley. “Extreme fire conditions, high-velocity wind,” Martin recalls. The 20 to 30 miles per hour winds, with gusts of up to 40, blew west through narrow East Bay canyons stricken by drought and a heavy frost the previous winter that killed thousands of non-native…
A major report on urban health in America has given Oakland mixed grades.
In an abbreviated meeting on Tuesday before Thanksgiving, the East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) unanimously passed a proposal to change their short-term financing in order to reduce long-term risk. EBMUD will be moving from “extended” back to “traditional” commercial paper, according to Dari Barzel, EBMUD’s principal management analyst. What does that mean? “Commercial paper is by far our lowest-cost financing,” Barzel told the directors, citing a 30-day interest rate of about 0.09 percent. “You can’t beat it.” Commercial paper…
Demonstrators marched through downtown Oakland last Saturday to demand a global reduction in the use of fossil fuels in advance of the global climate conference in Paris.
On Tuesday, Alameda County became the first county in California to implement new regulations on controversial spying devices used by police.
The Alameda County Sheriff’s Office has agreed to stop requiring female inmates who are arrested and booked into Alameda County jails to take pregnancy tests. This agreement, reached on October 28, comes as an out-of-court settlement to a lawsuit that was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Northern California.
Oakland City Council approved a funding increase for legal support for unaccompanied minors seeking asylum in the U.S., authorized the creation of a “Director of Race and Equity” staffing position within the city government and received a report from the Oakland Police Department about funding for a gun tracing program.
Department officials believe that, with more personnel and better equipment, they will be able to streamline their workflow and stay on top of which guns need to be traced.
Hundreds of fast food and other low-wage workers gathered outside Oakland City Hall Tuesday evening demanding a higher minimum wage of $15 per hour. The demonstrations were part of a wider national campaign, Fight For 15, which has seen over 270 cities participating in similar protests.