Meg Tanaka
Oakland firefighter Zac Unger made a strong showing in early returns Tuesday, with more than three-quarters of the votes for the District 1 City Council seat at 9 p.m. He is running against Len Raphael, an accountant and owner of a bicycle store and auto repair shop, and Edward Frank, a homemaker led early in…
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A tax that would fund wildfire prevention in Oakland was winning in early returns Tuesday night, with 70% of the votes. Measure MM would fund efforts in Oakland’s Wildfire Prevention Zone, an area most acutely at risk for wildfire damage, through an annual parcel tax of $99 per single-family home and $65 per multifamily unit…
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The Richmond Progressive Alliance has held a majority on the City Council since 2020 and held at least half of the seats for the past 10 years. This year, there were three seats up for election, which has the potential to flip the council. Early returns showed two RPA candidates — incumbent Claudia Jiménez and…
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As polling wrapped up Tuesday night, Richmond voters talked about what issues swayed their vote. Gloria Space said her concern was about local rent control getting more affordable, low-income housing. “They need to focus on the reform of landlords, so tenants are not treated any kind of way,” she said. The need for affordable housing…
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While most of the attention on Election Day will focus on Vice President and East Bay native Kamala Harris’ attempt to make history and become the nation’s first woman president, Oakland North will focus on the races that will change the makeup of the Oakland City Council. Shortly after the polls open at 7 a.m.,…
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Candidates seeking to lead the Oakland Unified School District faced a barrage of tough questions one recent evening — an interrogation led by an enthusiastic group of new voters suddenly endowed with political power: 16- and 17-year-old high school students. In a first for California, teens in two Alameda County school districts, Berkeley and…
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The infamous wall at the U.S.-Mexico border was visible in the distance at Joe Orduño Park in San Luis, Ariz., and the sun was just beginning to set beyond it when the organizer of the music festival climbed onto the stage on an evening in October. Esau Torres, co-founder of the group Grita. Canta.…
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Kristina Garfinkel is an activist and Santa Rosa resident who said she treasures Sonoma County’s rural, farm-based culture. Still, for the past year, she’s been one of the lead organizers of an initiative that many say could upend farming in Sonoma County. Measure J is on the ballot for residents of Sonoma County and has…
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Some say rent control is necessary, while others say it will hurt the economy and stifle housing construction. As Presidential candidate Kamala Harris has repeatedly talked about the high cost of housing on the campaign trail, and residents in the Berkeley neighborhood where she grew up offered mixed views on a California ballot initiative,…
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But proponents of the measure say those estimates are overblown, and that measure will protect animals and the environment. “This measure is designed to ban farming in Sonoma County — period.” That is the view of Mark Weber, owner of Sunrise Farms LLC, a major poultry farm in Sonoma County and one of…
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