Mark your calendar for the Oakland Service Festival on August 13th
If you had four hours and a whole bunch of helping hands, what would you do in your neighborhood? The Ella Baker Center for Human Rights wants...
Greg McConnell: Is Oakland Worth It?
This guest post was written by Gregory McConnell, President and CEO of the Jobs and Housing Coalition, which represents major businesses in Oakland. Many Oakland business people are asking whether Oakland is still a good place to invest. As...
MOBN: Oakland needs a comprehensive public safety strategy, not piecemeal public safety proposals
This guest post was written by Michael Ferro, Frank Castro, and Bruce Nye of Make Oakland Better Now!. On Tuesday night, Oakland’s City Council will address the City’s growing crime problems the way it approaches most problems: reactively....
Celebrate 100 years of suffrage on Sunday
There is way too much crazy fun stuff going on in Oakland this weekend! Tonight, we’ve got grown-ups night at Fairyland plus The Coup is playing at the Oakland Museum. Saturday is the Black Cowboy Parade and Oaktoberfest. But don’t...
Greg McConnell: Oakland Shines at Jobs and Housing Coalition Legacy Event
This guest post was written by Gregory McConnell, President and CEO of the Jobs and Housing Coalition, which represents major businesses in Oakland. Oakland shined at the September 21st Jobs and Housing Coalition’s Legacy Event at the beautiful...
Marathon headaches for bus riders during the Oakland Running Festival
At tonight’s meeting, the AC Transit Board of Directors will continue their ongoing discussions about hiring a permanent General Manager (PDF), adopt a timeline and plan for their redistricting process (PDF), and consider adopting a fueling...
News from Elsewhere
Scenes from 14 Hours, 14 Branches: A Read-In to Save Oakland Libraries
On the way to work this morning, I stopped by City Hall to catch a little bit of the read-in I wrote about last week. It was wonderful! The event,...
Bluegrass for the Greenbelt: a reason to trek up to the hills
When was the last time you visited the Dunsmuir-Hellman Historic Estate? I don’t make it out there often — it’s way up in the...
Oakland MTC seat moves forward
Back in January, Becks wrote on Living in the O about a proposal from Alameda County Supervisor and MTC Commissioner Scott Haggerty that would...
Older Posts
Marathon headaches for bus riders during the Oakland Running Festival
At tonight’s meeting, the AC Transit Board of Directors will continue their ongoing discussions about hiring a permanent General Manager (PDF), adopt a timeline and plan for their redistricting process (PDF), and consider adopting a fueling hedging program (PDF) to help mitigate uncertainty in their budget process. As important as all of these subjects are, [...]
Is Good Vibrations a good fit for Lakeshore?
Remember the fireworks last December when an application for an adult entertainment shop in Uptown came before the Oakland Planning Commission? KTOP viewers have a sequel in store tomorrow! At their meeting tomorrow night, the Oakland Planning Commission will consider a conditional use permit to allow a Good Vibrations to open up on Lakeshore. The [...]
Rethinking Parking this week in Oakland
So, as I mentioned yesterday, the most interesting item on the City Council Committee agendas was the Community and Economic Development Committee’s discussion of the City’s follow-up to the aggressively unflattering Alameda County Grand Jury report about Oakland’s Building Services division. I wasn’t able to attend the meeting in person, but I rushed to download [...]
Oakland City Council returns from summer break
Wow. I can’t believe how fast summer went by! It feels like recess just started a week ago. Alas, in reality, it’s been quite a bit more than one week. Recess is over, and starting today, the Oakland City Council is back to their normal business of infuriating any resident misguided enough to watch them [...]
Ralph Cooke: Oakland City Attorney should remain an elected position
“The City Attorney is to be elected by the people. This is a guarantee that the legal head of government will be able to fearlessly protect interests of all San Diego and not merely be an attorney appointed to carry out wishes of council or mayor.†-  Excerpt from a 1931 election brochure, which asked voters [...]
Still no decision on the budget
The Council didn’t pass a budget last night, but hopefully will do so at their meeting on Thursday. There isn’t really much to say beyond that. There was a suggested compromise budget, and of course tons of great tweets, though. Read on for the highlights. LWV Statement requesting the Council to preserve transparency For a [...]
Zac Unger: Details on the firefighter union concessions
Last night, zac left a very helpful comment in the Open Thread detailing the agreement reached between the firefighters union and the City. To make it easier for people to find, and also to avoid overburdening the Open Thread with conversation on one topic, I’m putting up the comment as its own post here, and [...]
Grand Jury blasts Oakland building services
Arnie Fields must be feeling vindicated. The Alameda County Civil Grand Jury released its 2010-11 final report (PDF) today, and it is none too favorable towards the City of Oakland. Oakland Building Services The report includes a lengthy and extremely harsh indictment of Oakland’s Building Services division (PDF): Building Services’ code enforcement inspectors have aggressively [...]
Finally, Council silence on the budget ends
In the nearly two months since the Mayor released her three proposed budget scenarios, Oakland residents concerned about service cuts have waited and waited and waited to hear how the Council will react. Today, we finally got some information about alternatives the Council will be discussing at the special Council meetings being held on Tuesday [...]
The zoo, taxis, and libraries: Last night’s #oakmtg on Twitter
The other day, I was reading this article about Twitter, and how although most people know about it, a relatively small number actually use it. I understand that Twitter isn’t really for everyone. There’s a lot of things on Twitter that don’t really interest me very much. I don’t follow celebrities, I don’t care about [...]
Council considers Zoo expansion
At tonight’s Oakland City Council meeting, the big issue will be, of course, the budget. The public will have another opportunity to make the case to save their preferred services, and Councilmembers may ask questions of staff, but it looks like a vote on the budget will have to wait for next week. But before [...]
Oakland Public Library supporters host bike ride, read-in to protest cuts
I’m assuming that everyone who reads this blog is already aware of the proposed destruction of the Oakland Public Library system in Oakland Mayor Jean Quan’s budget. Right? (You’d think I wouldn’t need to ask, but I continue to encounter people on a daily basis who don’t know anything about it.) If you’re just tuning [...]
Get Updates
Newest Comments