It's time to break out the bikes-your scrapers, your fixies, your mountain, road and playa bikes - and head over to Lake Merritt for the Third Annual Bikes 4 Life Peace Ride.

Lack of economic opportunity, pollution, inadequate schools, substandard housing, limited access to healthcare and healthy foods have led to extreme health disparities within the African American community. Tonight the African People's Education and Defense Fund is sponsoring a presentation and community conversation focusing on these issues.

For the group show Stand Tall, show curator Barrett Moore gave the 20 participating artists a set of simple but rigid rules: keep your aerosol based and keep it inside your 3ft x 9ft section of wall space. Other than that, get wild.

If all is right with the world, in a short time scientists and academics the world over will be adding Oakland's beloved "Hella" to their formal lexicon. As in "that number is a hella big." Cross your fingers.

From the buzz around the Oakland Gang Injunction to Instant Runoff Voting and Dellums' State of the City address there's never a dull moment in Oakland. Here are a few of the most promising cultural events over the next few days along with some other news around The Town.

Tonight filmmaker, writer and Oakland Local contributor Nijla Mumin is screening a working version of her film "BACK UP: Concrete Diaries" for a small audience at The Theater on Telegraph. The film is structured as a series of interviews addressing issues of street harassment. The screening is being hosted by MAAAN UP! an organization dedicated to addressing patriarchy and male privilege, particularly among African American men.

While there is no shortage of talk around ways to help Oakland's youth, this attention is often directly primarily at young men. And while this attention is often justified, young women are sometimes overlooked as they deal with their own particular issues around everything from academics and family life to body images and social skills.

The Bay Area music community suffered a huge loss in January when 24 year old Dewey Tucker was killed driving along Highway 80. Tucker, a well known and respected bass player known for his both his musical skills and his easygoing ways, was on his way to Oakland for band practice.

Thanks to everyone who came out to the Oakland Local meetup last night at TechLiminal.  We met a lot of great new people interested in blogging and contributing to the site and brainstormed a list of really interesting stories for the next few months.  Look for those to start popping up on the site, as well as work from our new contributors. 

According to the most recent reports, over 150,000 people have died in Haiti and while