Japan quake tsunami: Little effect likely for Oakland
Article by Amy Gahran.
Last updated at Fri, 11 Mar at 9:47am.

Filed 6:45 am: The earthquake that struck the northeast coast of Japan last night has sent tsunami waves surging across the Pacific ocean, leading to tsunami warnings along the US west coast -- including the San Francisco Bay Area.

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Local filmmaker showcases Oakland's charm to weary travelers
Article by Amy Gahran.
Last updated at Fri, 24 Dec at 9:41am.

Oakland filmmaker Mateen Kemet has a lovely vision of Oakland - and he plans to share it with everyone who passes by the 25-foot media wall in the Southwest Airlines baggage claim at Oakland International Airport.

Three years ago Kemet received seed money from the Port of Oakland for a short film, "Oakland B Mine."  Here's the story, and how you can help support the completion of this public art project.

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How Oakland social justice groups convinced feds to yank Airport Connector stimulus funds (City Translator)
Article by The City Translator.
Last updated at Tue, 2 Feb at 12:48pm.

The controversial Oakland Airport Connector project may be delayed, and possibly derailed, by a civil rights complaint filed by three Oakland social justice groups.

In a Jan. 15 letter, the head of the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) said the agency would withdraw $70 million in crucial stimulus funding for this project unless BART and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) can -- by March 5 -- prove that the Connector would benefit poor people, too. This came in response to a federal complaint filed by Urban Habitat, TransForm, and the interfaith group Genesis.

In this City Translator article, Oakland Local shows how this happened, and considers what might happen from here. Could that $70 million go to fund other local transit needs?...

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City Council supports Oakland Airport Connector as good for local economy
Blog entry by Susan Mernit.
Last updated at Fri, 9 Oct at 6:00am.

Last night was a long, drawn-out and critically important meeting of the Oakland City Council on the fabulously expensive and not at all worth the cost Oakland Airport Connector, planned long ago, at a time when the idea of a 3.2 mile shuttle seemed wise.  The tweets were flying fast and furious, with v.smoothe doing a great job of almost realtime tweeting, and Bart Diaries, among others, posting summaries of the night's discussion.

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