Public Policy
From Occupy Oakland activists and anti-war protestors to medical cannabis advocates and people using polar bear mascots to protest against oil drilling in the Arctic, President Barack Obama’s fundraising stop in Oakland on Monday night drew vocal dissent and equally vocal support from different local groups.
A motley crew of 130 software developers, designers, community activists and concerned citizens converged at the Kaiser center on Saturday to compete for their share of more than $5,000 worth of prize money at the second annual Code for Oakland event. The competition challenges teams to develop a prototype application that uses public data, and gives them only a day to do it.
On Friday, over 60 Havenscourt neighborhood residents gathered at Carter Gilmore Park in East Oakland to attend “Friday Summer Nights at the Park,” a weekly series of family-friendly fun nights hosted by Messengers 4 Change, a coalition of Oakland organizations and residents working together to decrease violence. At the same time, a similar party was happening further east at Willie Wilkins Park in the Elmhurst neighborhood. The goal of these Friday night events is to decrease street violence by turning strangers into neighbors.
Protesters demanding the implementation of a jobs creation program disrupted business at President Barack Obama’s campaign office on Telegraph Avenue in downtown Oakland Wednesday, calling for an end to increased military spending, government surveillance of citizens and cuts to education.
“Meet the Candidates” was the theme of the reception and community forum held Monday night in the Council Chambers at Oakland City Hall. Hosted by the Sierra Club in partnership with the Oakland Climate Action Coalition, the event began with an afternoon reception at which community members and city officials met with the individuals who have declared an interest in becoming the new representatives for Districts 1 and 3.
The reception was followed by a two-part panel discussion during which the candidates for each council seat were asked to respond to four questions prepared by the Sierra Club and the Oakland Climate Action Coalition.
Oakland’s dispensary ordinance, which has been on the books since 2004, is lauded by city officials—a staff report from the City Administrator’s Office published in July, 2011, calls it “a role model for the nation”—and is generally well-respected among local dispensary owners who consider it fair to them and the city. It requires that dispensary operators follow certain rules: sharing annual financial audits and personnel records with the city, making sure there’s proper security and safe access for patients, and making sure clients aren’t a nuisance to the neighborhood.
But there could be major changes brewing for how Oakland’s dispensaries are regulated.
After months of discussions, protests from community organizations and residents, on Tuesday night the Oakland City Council voted to end its relationship with Goldman Sachs.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to uphold President Barack Obama’s signature law, the Affordable Care Act, this week came as a lifeline to the most needy in Oakland’s ongoing efforts to provide medical support to AIDS patients.
The tent city at Lakeview Elementary School has been dismantled. At 4 a.m. Oakland Unified School District police and other law enforcement officers raided the encampment where parents, teachers, and community activist had been sleeping for two weeks in an effort to protest the district’s decision to close five elementary schools.