Public Policy
With the apparent victories of District 1 city council candidate Dan Kalb and at-large councilmember Rebecca Kaplan still not technically complete, voting officials said Tuesday—a week after the polls closed—that there are still roughly 20,000 ballots left to count.
Veterans Day ceremony honors Alameda Country military families and veterans.
Oakland North looked into political spending for three recent local races, breaking down what candidates spent, per voter, for the District One City Council race, the at-large seat and for City Attorney.
After months of fundraising, campaigning and speeches all around the city, five new faces will join the Oakland City Council and the city’s school board. Some of them have never held public office before; others have previously held other roles in local government.
Beginning January 2013, single-use plastic carryout bags won’t be allowed at most stores selling packaged food in Alameda County, and customers will have to pay for their paper bags at the checkout counter. The Reusable Bag Ordinance, adopted by Alameda County Waste Management Authority in January of 2012, is an effort to reduce waste in the county and targets stores that traditionally distribute a high volume of single-use plastic bags.
In a federal court document filed Thursday, city officials rejected a motion by local attorneys for a federal takeover of the Oakland Police Department, pushing instead for the creation of two new positions that would monitor the department’s progress in enacting the last 10 of 51 reforms ordered by a federal judge in 2003.
Voter registration went up between 2008 and 2012, but voter turnout dipped slightly in Alameda County. Use of provisional ballots steadily increasing.
Prop 30 and its effects explained in an Oakland North infographic.
Although voters in Alameda County were in favor of Prop 37—a statewide ballot measure that would have required the mandatory labeling of genetically engineered foods—the proposition failed to gather enough votes statewide and was rejected on Election Day.