Public Policy
Local agencies that serve Oakland’s low-income residents joined community members at Saturday’s 6th Annual Walk to End Poverty, which is designed to draw national attention to the issue of poverty. The day was hosted by the Oakland Community Action Partnership and United Way of the Bay Area, which reports that one in five families in the Bay Area are living in poverty. That number includes 76,000 Oakland residents who are struggling to make ends meet.
The Oakland City Council burned the midnight oil late last night and into Wednesday morning as they passed a measure that will continue to fund gang injunctions as a crime-fighting tool. By a 4-3 vote, the city council voted for the measure, which has cost the city about $1 million to date in court costs and police overtime.
Taking the podium at Oakland City Hall during the Bike-to-Work Day celebration on Thursday morning, city councilmember Libby Schaaf of District 4 started a chant. “When I say ‘bike,’ you say ‘Oakland,’” say announced. “Bike!” she yelled. “Oakland!” the crowd chanted back. It was Oakland’s 18th annual Bike-to-Work Day and record numbers of people hopped on their bikes and commuted to work.
Open up your daily newspaper and there’s no doubt you’ll find a story about a greedy bank, home foreclosure or some aspect of the financial crisis that has left people reeling. But this isn’t one of those stories. It’s a story about banks supporting a project even though they wouldn’t necessarily earn a profit from it, about a community organization helping those in need, and about people coming together and making what seemed like an impossible project succeed.
A hearing about whether to impose a preliminary gang injunction against 40 alleged Norteño gang members in the Fruitvale neighborhood began nearly three months ago. On Friday afternoon, after weeks of exhibiting evidence and bringing forth witnesses, lawyers from both sides presented their final arguments to Judge Robert Freedman.
It is official—Oakland City Attorney John Russo will be the new City Manager of Alameda. In a letter of resignation sent this morning to City Council President Larry Reid, Russo said he will end his 11-year term as Oakland City Attorney on June
After a week of voting on the 16 top offenders, 198 votes have been tallied. You decided which pothole was the best of the worst, the most unholy of the holey — and it won by a landslide.
In honor of this month’s city pothole repair blitz, we asked you to nominate the worst pothole in North Oakland by commenting on this site or on our Facebook page — and oh boy, did you name names!
Get Connected! Oakland aims to introduce low-cost broadband to 10,000 households and refurbish 2,500 computers this year.