Posts Tagged ‘Economy’
Oakland’s Chinatown business owners struggle to weather the pandemic
Business owners in Oakland’s Chinatown find a silver lining in a year filled with numerous obstacles.
Read MoreRestaurants push for indoor dining as county slowly reopens
Restaurants are set to reopen for indoor dining, but owners are divided between health concerns and business interests
Read MoreSchool suspensions cost communities and unfairly affect minorities, experts say
A recent study suggests that not only do suspensions take a toll on students, they place a financial burden on their communities. In March, the California Dropout Research Project at UC Santa Barbara and the Center for Civil Rights Remedies at UC Los Angeles released a study revealing that school suspensions could cost communities across the state a total of $2.7 billion per graduating class.
Read MoreIn Oakland, women take the lead as Airbnb hosts
Cynthia Mackey, a 56-year-old self-employed digital marketer, loves to talk about Airbnb. She laughs and smiles, growing excited as she talks about the joy that comes from opening up her home in Oakland’s Adams Point to a world of strangers. Mackey started hosting for Airbnb, an online international marketplace for booking accommodations, in July, 2013.…
Read MoreSmall businesses call for better communication with Oakland City Council
Next spring, Spoiled Boutique owner Mika McCants’ lease will be up for renewal. She’s already paying $2,000 a month for her 400-square-foot storefront in Uptown Oakland, and she’s unsure how her shop will be affected if her landlord raises the rent. “I have seen the city change significantly in both positive and negative ways,” said…
Read MoreAs Oakland’s minimum wage rises, a mixed reaction from workers and businesses
Oakland workers earning minimum wage will see an increase on their checks next payday due to a citywide wage increase that took effect Monday. The boost from $9 to $12.25 an hour may sound great to employees, but it wasn’t an easy change for some small business owners. The minimum wage increase was initiated by a…
Read MoreTracking the federal stimulus money: Where did Oakland’s $2 billion go?
Among the answers: an airport tower, police officer salaries, and a lot of repaved roads. This end-of-year roundup by reporter Aaron Mendelson examines the trail of the federal stimulus money that arrived three years ago in Oakland–recipient of the tenth largest stimulus grant in the country.
Read MoreOakland residents call for freeze on foreclosures
Oakland residents converged Tuesday on an East Oakland street that has been blighted by foreclosures, calling for a freeze on foreclosures until the Homeowners Bill of Rights comes into effect in January, 2013. California Governor Jerry Brown signed the bill into law on July 2, which and will prevent banks from forcing families their homes while they are still negotiating mortgages settlements.
Read MoreOakland restaurants kick off Restaurant Week with good eats and great deals
Thirty-five Oakland restaurants are participating this week in Oakland’s first Restaurant Week, a project of Visit Oakland, the city’s official marketing organization. Lauren Callahan reports.
Read MoreJobs scarce for released inmates, Oakland’s working poor
When James Smith was released on parole in 2007, the Department of Corrections gave him $200 and pointed him out the door—he had no support, nowhere to go, nothing but the clothes on his back. It had been years since he had been on the outside. In a matter of months, Smith was asking his parole officer whether he could be sent back to prison rather than finish parole. Without a job, life outside proved to be difficult—too uncertain. “I couldn’t find a job,” said the 45-year-old Oakland native. “It’s like being a pariah.”
Read MoreWaiting at the Greyhound bus depot
The bold sign over the Greyhound station in Oakland says “BUS” in big letters, each bigger than a man. There are no windows, only doors to buses. The doors lead to terminals where the buses pull in and stop. During the day, the doors are the only source of sunlight. At 7 a.m. on a…
Read MoreTemescal Library thinking outside the tool box
Books? No, give me a wrench, ask many Oakland residents who use the Temescal Library. The branch holds 29,000 books, and rents out 4,000 books, CDs and movies a month. Its Tool Lending Program, started in 2001, checks out 3,000 tools a month and that number is growing.
Read MoreFinger-picking guitar down at Lake Merritt
I went down to Lake Merritt last weekend with my friend Jack Woodruff to shoot this audio-profile video of him working his recession-time gig as a street musician. He has played acoustic guitar for 12 years. Recently he had shoulder surgery and since he’s having a hard time finding a job in the service industry,…
Read MoreHigh Times in a Rough Economy
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Read MoreOrganic roots: From the rancho to the market
By Diana Montaño/Oakland North The tropical crops of Maria Inés Catalán’s youth don’t grow in Hollister. Instead of winding through the papaya and mango trees of her native Guerrero, Mexico, here, wearing black loafers caked in mud from the past week’s rain, she steps carefully over the kale, broccoli and artichoke plants that thrive in…
Read MoreThe Job Blog: The February numbers
Hey you! Welcome to The Job Blog. My name is Brittney and I am a 23-year-old television student at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism. As I inch toward graduation, I find myself trying to avoid all of the negative news about the economic crisis, as it will decide whether I live in my own…
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