Beck Klein

Nov 6, 2024 | oaklandnorth.net | Ashley DelCastillo |Inaara Gangji |Kelly Liu |Beck Klein

Emeryville City Council member John Bauters was ahead of Oakland City Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas in the Alameda County supervisors race, early vote tallies showed Tuesday night. Both candidates promised to prioritize housing, homelessness, and public safety. They are running for the seat that Keith Carson has held since 1992. He announced in December that he would be retiring.  The seat represents Albany, Berkeley, Emeryville, Piedmont, and much of Oakland.

Nov 6, 2024 | oaklandnorth.net | Fiona Ulrich |Beck Klein

Incumbent Carroll Fife led a crowded field in the Oakland City Council District 3 race after the first vote counts came in Tuesday night. Fife is seeking a second term against five contenders. Her main priorities have been affordable housing, community safety, improving the city’s economy and environmental justice. She did not respond to requests for an interview.

Nov 6, 2024 | oaklandnorth.net | Beck Klein |Haydee Barahona

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 the returns tuesday night in his efforts to represent the city council District 1 The seat will change hands for the first time since Dan Kalb was elected in 2012.

Nov 6, 2024 | oaklandnorth.net | Beck Klein |Haydee Barahona |Inaara Gangji

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 or condominium. The tax would last 20 years. The measure needs a two-thirds majority to pass. It was put only to voters in the Wildfire Prevention Zone.

Oct 21, 2024 | oaklandnorth.net | Beck Klein |NeEddra James

Around 1:45 p.m. Friday, Benjamin Walker awoke to the sound of firefighters in the backyard of his Sanford Street home. He jumped out of bed, looked outside and saw the oak tree on the fence line of his yard burning. “Holy shit!” he said aloud. Still in a post-nap daze, he scrambled to figure out what to do next. “I’m still waking up. I get my stuff together and get out there,” he told Oakland North Saturday. “The firefighters tell me to turn on my hose. So I started putting out little fires.