Safety

Squatter used empty Montclair home to hide stolen goods

The Oakland Police Department released a statement this morning describing an unusual twist in the department’s ongoing efforts to crack down on burglaries — on May 3 an officer responding to a trespassing call regarding an unoccupied home on Valley View Boulevard in Montclair found a squatter living inside with what appeared to be a vast collection of stolen items taken during at least 10 local burglaries.

And North Oakland’s worst pothole is…

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.

Is Oakland ready for its next big earthquake?

Oakland is overdue for a major earthquake. The Hayward Fault, which runs along Highway 13 at the foot of the Oakland hills and streams through the Oakland Zoo and Mills College, has produced a significant earthquake on average every 140 years for nearly the past millennium. The last substantial earthquake caused by this fault was in 1868 … that was 143 years ago.

Trauma experts meet in Oakland to share practices for youth violence prevention

During a two-day conference last week, Youth ALIVE! hosted the third annual National Network of Hospital-based Violence Intervention Programs National Conference at Oakland’s Preservation Park. Over 120 representatives from non-profits across the country met to discuss strategies on how to stop the “revolving door” of young gunshot victims who are treated at urban emergency rooms, only to return later.

Oakland’s pothole repair blitz begins

The City of Oakland kicked off its annual month-long pothole overhaul on Tuesday. Workers in florescent-orange jackets set down cones on Telegraph Avenue at 56th Street in North Oakland, then sprayed a sticky black substance called asphalt emulsion to delineate the culprit area, which contained several wide, shallow potholes.