Alameda County Board of Supervisors Should Reverse Decision to Cut General Assistance

The Tuesday morning Alameda County Board of Supervisors meeting may be their last opportunity to reverse a decision made last year, on a 3-2 vote, to make extensive cuts to the county’s General Assistance program. 

Security Council resolution seen by local Eritreans as clearing the path for Ethiopian invasion

Members of Oakland’s Eritrean community are gearing up for a worldwide demonstration February 22 as part of a worldwide demonstration against the Dec 23, 2009 United Nations Security Council Resolution 1907, which, in the words of the UNSC, “imposed an arms embargo on that country, in addition to travel restrictions and a freeze on the assets of its political and military leaders.”

Some years ago, author, sociologist and historian James Loewen spent two years surveying American high school history textbooks--only to discover that they amounted to hundreds of pages and several pounds of... something that resembled propaganda more closely than it did educational materials.

We now know that societies where women have access to education and democracy are specifically and monumentally better off, from lower crime rates and lower incidences of violence, to lower birth rates and lower infant mortality, to higher life expectancies for all.

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?...

The most recent hurdle for the contested $492 million Oakland Airport Connector (OAC ) was addressed at a Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) meeting Wednesday morning.  The decision before the commission was whether the $70 million (from federal ARRA stimulus funding) will still be used to help fund the OAC or if it will be div

Every other day, when I peek in at Haiti, my heart starts beating fast… I click through pictures, and I read “nearly 200,000 dead.” And I try to imagine: What would Oakland (where I live now), or Flushing, NY (where I grew up), look like if there were upwards of 200,000 dead people lying in the streets?

I close the screen.

I am once again overwhelmed by that bewildering feeling that I had a little more than four years ago, when Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast. My heart broke then, while I, along with the rest of the world, watched as thousands lost their lives in the aftermath. Ironically, I was on the Island of Hispaniola at the time, though not in Haiti, but rather in the east, on a family vacation in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.

Urban Habitat celebrated its first class of graduates from the Boards & Commissions Leadership Institute last week, holding an event at The David Brower Center in Berkeley. Family, friends and UH staffers listened to speeches by program organizer Laurie Jones Neighbors and Keynoter Bevan Duffy, a San Francisco Supervisor and attorney.

Today, as we once again celebrate the life and example of Martin Luther King, Jr. , the question arises, "Which Dr. King will we honor?"

Given the kind of year we've had, celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King's memory and purpose this weekend in Oakland, CA seems like a pretty good idea.  Deep in the middle of a tough economy, city budget cuts,  a disaster in Haiti, and many local folks having a tough time getting by, celebrating King's purpose and spirit--and our own understanding of his work, might be just the thing.  Oakland Local takes a look at what's happening around town and hopes that at least one of these events can rock your world enough to get you out and into the spirit of the day.

WHEN: Wednesday, January 20, 6:30-9:00 p.m.


WHERE: Asian Communities for Reproductive Justice, 1440 Broadway, Suite 301, Oakland, CA 94612

So, does anyone think that Desley Brooks is getting special treatment for her car breakin?