Labor unions at odds over West Oakland hotel development

Every theater seat was occupied in Oakland’s city council chamber on Tuesday night, with more community members spilling into the hallway, as members of two of the city’s biggest unions turned out to take opposite sides on a proposal to build a hotel in West Oakland. In November 2016, Architectural Dimensions, an Oakland architecture and…

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Oakland City Council gives schools $1.2 million in one-time funding for the school year

Hundreds of Oakland students protested budget cuts at a school board meeting in March. Last week, Oakland City Council restored funding for student programs affected by those cuts. Photo by Nikka Singh.

Last Tuesday, the Oakland City Council passed a resolution to provide $1.2 million in funding for the Oakland Unified School District’s (OUSD) restorative justice program, foster youth case manager positions, and school libraries. All three programs were at risk of enacting widespread layoffs or reductions to the services they provide following the Oakland school board’s…

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Oakland City Council backs teachers; doesn’t vote on rent protections

Liz Ortega, Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the Alameda Labor Council, implores the Oakland City Council to pass a resolution in support of OUSD teachers.

The Oakland City Council meeting ended in confusion and shouts of anger Tuesday night after a legal issue delayed a vote on an ordinance that would have extended rent control protections to tenants living in own-occupied duplexes and triplexes.   “What’s the issue?” shouted attendee Reisa Jaffe at new Council President Rebecca Kaplan (at-large). “I’d like…

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As early returns trickle in, Oakland voters and candidates wait

In a packed home in the Grand Lake neighborhood, supporters of Mayor Libby Schaaf and her campaign’s volunteers nibbled on quesadillas and checked back and forth between CNN and the front door to see when the candidate would arrive. Everyone from Jon Sarriugarte, the artist who designed the now-famous snail car, to city hall officials…

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Electric scooters: covering the first and last mile in Oakland

Love them or hate them, electric scooters are now a regular sight on city streets across the nation. Since they first came to Oakland this summer, they’ve been operating in a legal gray area—there was no legislation in place to regulate them. That changed in September, when the Oakland City Council passed an ordinance to develop permits for scooter companies.

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