Public Policy
BART convened a public forum Thursday seeking feedback from riders regarding the next BART police chief.
Amid escalating burglaries and gun violence in North Oakland, City Council President and North Oakland representative Jane Brunner announced last night that a ballot measure is necessary to avoid laying off more than 100 city police.
In an effort to balance a budget facing an estimated $57 million deficit, the AC Transit Board of Directors last night approved an 8.4 percent cut in bus services throughout Alameda and Contra Costa counties.
After controversy earlier this fall, Oakland’s parking conflicts have quieted considerably in recent months. But they could flare up again, as the Oakland City Council moved last Tuesday toward passing an increase in annual residential parking permit fees.
After three hours of public comment and discussion yesterday, the BART Board of Directors voted 7 to 1 to approve the $492 million Oakland Airport Connector (OAC) elevated rail line. Construction is scheduled begin in mid-2010 and be completed by 2013.
Mayor Ronald Dellums and members of his staff appeared before the City Council Tuesday night to present a report on the status of federal stimulus dollars Oakland has received through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Gangs are a complicated reality in Oakland, a city haunted by violence and the negative reputation that comes with it. But this fall, the nationwide broadcast of “Gang Wars: Oakland” added a new layer of complexity to many viewers’ already complicated feelings about what that violence means and how outsiders perceive it.
Out of the Closet, a chain of second-hand stores, marked Tuesday’s World AIDS day by offering on-the-spot HIV tests at all its locations, including the five Bay Area shops. “In a clinic setting, people are nervous,” one of the test counselors said in Oakland. “This is more casual–it’s kind of better for the community.”
Members of the BART Police Department Review Committee raised questions Wednesday about the police practices at the West Oakland BART station on Nov 21 that resulted in the arrest and injury of an intoxicated train passenger.