Safety
Immigration has become one the most divisive, controversial and compelling topics of our time. It is also one of the most underreported and misunderstood issues in the country. More than half of the Bay Area population is estimated to be foreign-born, according to data by the Census Bureau, which increases the need for more balanced coverage of immigrant communities in our neighborhoods.
The City of Oakland’s Citizen’s Police Review Board met Thursday night for the first time since postponing a forum that was scheduled for Feb. 9 on police response to Occupy Oakland. But the board did not hold the much-anticipated forum, and instead discussed why the meeting was postponed, where a suitable location for the forum would be, what would be discussed, and when.
Howard Jordan was named the permanent Police Chief of Oakland at a press conference on Wednesday morning, and Teresa Reed was named the city’s new Fire Chief.
Occupy Oakland kicked off its “Move-In Day” with a rally Saturday afternoon at Frank Ogawa Plaza followed by a march through the city and several attempts to take over and move into a building. More than 9 hours later, clouds of tear gas once again hung over Oakland, more than 200 protesters had been arrested for unlawful assembly, and an American flag had been burned inside City Hall.
On Saturday afternoon, Occupy Oakland protesters gathered in Frank Ogawa Plaza with a goal: To occupy a building and convert it into a social center to be used for the planned Oakland Rise Up Festival this weekend. But what began as a march with several hundred people quickly turned into yet another turf battle between protesters and the Oakland Police Department.
Following a federal judge’s decision on Tuesday, the Oakland Police Department must now relinquish some of its executive powers to the monitor in charge of overseeing court-ordered reforms within the department.
About 75 Rockridge residents gathered for the monthly meeting of the Greater Rockridge Neighborhood Crime Prevention Council and to hear a presentation from an electronics company representative on video cameras the company makes for residents to place on their property, and in their neighborhood.
Carlos Nava, a 3-year-old, was killed by a stray bullet in a drive-by shooting in East Oakland on August 9. Less than three months later, 23-month-old Hiram Lawrence was shot in the head by a stray bullet in West Oakland on November 28, and died two weeks after that when he was taken off life support. On December 30, 5-year-old Gabriel Martinez was shot and killed by another stray bullet in front of his family’s taco truck in East Oakland. Martinez…
After two years of being threatened with complete funding cutoffs from the state, some of California’s adult day health care centers are finally seeing a ray of hope. In the recent culmination of a lawsuit challenging the funding cutoff, the State’s Department of Health Services has announced a new 2012 adult care program that will close some centers but allow others to stay open with continued state support.