Public Policy
Since Occupy Wall Street protests began nearly one month ago in New York, similar actions have erupted across dozens of US cities, including Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco. Since 4 p.m. Monday, nearly 100 Oakland residents have built a tent city on Ogawa Plaza’s grass field.
At a tense press conference at City Hall shortly after delivering his letter of resignation to the City Council, Oakland Police Chief Anthony Batts criticized a bureaucracy that he said failed to “let the Chief be the Chief.”
For roughly 320 days of the year, a 1.5-acre space in Joaquin Miller Park is used as a dog park—for the rest of the time, it is a parking lot.
Dozens of Oakland residents approached the podium at the city council meeting Tuesday night to voice their displeasure with three items on the agenda intended to curb violence in the city – an anti-loitering law, a teen curfew, and more gang injunctions. However, the council deferred voting on these measures by sending them to the public safety committee for more in-depth review. Proponents of these hotly-debated items argue they would be valuable tools for the Oakland Police Department to clamp…
A coalition of Oakland residents is pushing for an initiative that would impose term limits on the city council. Under the proposal, councilmembers could serve up to three four-year terms and then would be forced to step down, which proponents say would help add new voices to the city council and thus improve policy making on crime, budget deficit and other pressing issues in the city.
Forget about being grounded. Beginning next week, Oakland’s young people could be violating city laws if they’re not home on time. In response to the spike in violence by and against youth, the city council will be voting this Tuesday on a proposal to implement a citywide teen curfew.
In vintage crocheted frills and elaborately designed hats reminiscent of early 20th century fashions, on Sunday Oakland women celebrated the centennial anniversary of the passage of women’s voting rights at Lakeside Park with a reenactment of the first suffrage parade.
In Oakland, the city attorney represents the city government, advising its departments on legal matters and ensuring that city officials are constitutionally sound in their practices. When former City Attorney John Russo left his position in June before completing his third term to become the city manager of Alameda, Barbara Parker became the woman for the job. Parker had worked in the city attorney’s office for 20 years, serving as chief assistant city attorney for 10. She is a graduate…
The California Healthy Food Financing Initiative (CHFFI) landed on Governor Jerry Brown’s desk last week, after the state Senate and Assembly both voted to approve it by a wide margin. If signed by the governor, the bill would help bring more grocery stores, farmers’ markets and other sources of produce to under-served communities throughout the state, including West and East Oakland.