Search Results: community photo

2010 in Oakland: The year’s biggest stories

2010 was a tumultuous year for Oakland as both the city and state faced a heated election season, the courts weighed the validity of controversial measures passed during previous elections, and the effects of the 2008 financial collapse continued to reverberate throughout the local economy, but it was also a year of new beginnings. Oakland North presents a guide to the year’s top stories.

Plans for a sex shop near a school, youth programs get mixed reactions

Plans to open a sex boutique in downtown Oakland near a school and several youth program offices have caused some mixed reactions among neighboring businesses, although opponents seem unlikely to appeal a recent decision by the Oakland City Planning Commission allowing the shop to operate within close proximity to a school.

Phat Beets Produce launches the Beet Box CSA program

For North Oakland residents who don’t live near a farmers’ market, there’s now a new way to purchase organic produce. Phat Beets Produce, a volunteer-run collective that aims to connect small farmers to urban communities, is now taking orders for their “Beet Boxes.”

Tired of delays, Bordertown’s skaters ride again

Behind a 12-foot-high chain-link fence topped with barbed wire on a dead-end street underneath one of Oakland’s major freeways there is a concrete skate park called Bordertown. This West Oakland spot is the site of a long-standing controversy between the City of Oakland, Caltrans and the skateboarders that illegally built this park here six and a half years ago.

Police identify man shot after car chase, link him to gang activity

The Oakland Police Department has identified the man shot and killed by two officers Monday afternoon in East Oakland after a car chase as 19-year-old Oakland resident Obataiye Edwards. At a press conference Tuesday, Assistant Police Chief Howard Jordan said that the department was trying to prevent a gang-related shooting which officers were informed was set to occur yesterday in a West Oakland neighborhood known as “the ACORN.”

West Oakland group hopes to fight air pollution with cell phones

Circled by three freeways, scattered with industrial factories and a stone’s throw from one of the largest ports in the United States, West Oakland has a high pollution rate. That’s why this neighborhood has become the centerpiece of a new partnership between a local environmental justice group and a high-tech research company to develop a cell phone that can measure pollution.

Oakland group asks for migrants’ protection on International Migrants Day

Twenty years ago the United Nations General Assembly accepted a new international agreement that sought the safety and security of migrants worldwide—the Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families. This weekend, thousands of people globally will celebrate International Migrants Day, December 18, and speak out for the rights of migrants.

Oakland plans to become an environmental leader

One of the City of Oakland’s goals is to become a model green city, according to its sustainability program. For the past year and a half, the city has been hashing out an Energy and Climate Action Plan (ECAP) to identify and prioritize what it can do to lower Oakland’s greenhouse gas emissions and reduce energy use.

You Tell Us: How three unlikely Oaklanders teamed up to solve a crime

A few weeks ago I was in a Temescal neighborhood cafe, seated at the table nearest to the door, typing on my laptop while meeting with a colleague when I felt a presence behind me as if someone was going to give me a hug. Before I knew it a man’s arms reached around me, not for a hug, but to grab my laptop and run out the door.

Mayor-elect Jean Quan announces transitional committee members

Mayor-elect Jean Quan announced at a City Hall press conference Thursday afternoon that she has selected longtime Bay Area government administrator Henry Gardner to chair her transitional committee. Quan also revealed a list of 24 people she has tapped for the transition committee, which included names of other longtime politicians, as well as members of local businesses and non-profit organizations.

At Spice Monkey, last-minute food donations meet goal

A week before Thanksgiving, Spice Monkey Café and Restaurant co-owner Kanitha Matoury had been worried that food donations would fall short of her 1,000 pound goal. The restaurant, located at 1628 Webster Street, hosts one of several food drives in downtown Oakland aimed at stocking the food pantries, soup kitchens, and senior centers served by the Alameda County Community Food Bank.