The Oaklandside

We are a dedicated team of local journalists focused on serving Oakland. Our mission is to elevate community voices, provide reliable information, and explore the underlying issues affecting our city. Every day, we deliver news about Oakland through our nonprofit news platform. You can connect with us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, and don’t forget to subscribe to our weekly newsletter, where we highlight our stories along with other notable reporting. Our newsroom operates based on core values that we established after months of conversations with Oakland residents. We aimed to understand how local journalism can improve their lives and contribute to a more informed and equitable community. You can discover more about our efforts and the insights we gained.

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This week in Oakland: East Oakland Futures Fest and the Summer Open Studios in Jingletown

2 days ago | oaklandside.org | Azucena Rasilla

The event I’m most excited to feature this week is the Friday announcement of the 2025 Oakland Youth Poet Laureate. I had the opportunity to serve as a guest judge to help select the winner, and I look forward to you all discovering who will represent our city as a young ambassador of literacy. If you would like us to consider an event for this weekly list, please email me at [email protected].
Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee’s inaugural fund committee is raising big bucks

2 days ago | oaklandside.org | Eli Wolfe

How much do you like Barbara Lee? Enough to spend $25,000 to support her inauguration party? How about $50,000? Or $100,000? Die-hard Lee supporters can now spend big bucks on a committee that is raising cash for the new mayor’s inauguration celebration. According to a website run by the “Oakland Inaugural Committee Fund 2025,” there will be a party for Lee on June 8 at Jack London Square. The fund is also collecting smaller dollar donations for the event.
Meals, hotels, office supplies: City leaders want to be able to raise more money for ‘officeholder’ expenses

3 days ago | oaklandside.org | Eli Wolfe |Natalie Orenstein

When someone wants to run for a local government office in California, they normally create what’s called a “candidate committee,” basically a special bank account that they can use to raise money. Legally, contributions can be used to pay for things like yard signs and television ads. But there’s another type of political committee, known as an officeholder account.
The Oakland History Center has a new contest for crafty news aficionados

3 days ago | oaklandside.org | Azucena Rasilla

The Oakland History Center at the main branch of the public library (125 14th St.) is offering a crafty opportunity for history and news aficionados to let their creativity flow through the center’s new contest, All the News That’s Fit to Build: Local News Dioramas.
Community mourns Marvin Boomer, Oakland teacher killed after CHP chase

6 days ago | oaklandside.org | Jose Fermoso |Roselyn Romero

Students, teachers, and residents of Oakland’s Clinton neighborhood gathered at 12th Avenue and E. 21st Street Friday evening to remember the life of Marvin Boomer. Boomer was killed Wednesday around 7:45 p.m. when a suspect fleeing from the California Highway Patrol struck a fire hydrant, which broke off and smashed into the Castlemont High School teacher, who was out walking with his wife.
What you need to know to about police chases in Oakland

6 days ago | oaklandside.org | Natalie Orenstein

Oakland is reeling from the death of Marvin Boomer following a California Highway Patrol chase of a suspect who crashed his car into a fire hydrant that struck and killed the 39-year-old treasured educator. This grim tragedy did not occur in a vacuum. It happened right as debate over Oakland’s police pursuit policy has reached a fever pitch, following recent increases in crime and changes to department protocols.
Tacos El Último Baile departing Oakland for SF Ikea food hall

6 days ago | oaklandside.org | Azucena Rasilla

Dominic Prado is relocating Tacos El Último Baile from Oakland’s Fruitvale to Saluhall, the Ikea food hall on Market Street in San Francisco, at the end of June. Prado told The Oaklandside that several factors influenced his decision to relocate from the Fruitvale Public Market, which opened in October 2022. The primary factor is the lack of direct marketing for Fruitvale as a destination, which Prado believes limits the potential for neighborhood businesses.
Alameda County’s recently appointed DA is focused on ‘lifting up victims of crime’

6 days ago | oaklandside.org | Roselyn Romero

The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office is refocusing its attention on prosecutions and “lifting up victims of crime.”That was District Attorney Ursula Jones Dickson’s main message at a press conference in the René C. Davidson Courthouse in Oakland on Thursday. Sworn in as the new DA on Feb. 18, Jones Dickson was selected by the county Board of Supervisors to replace Pamela Price, whom voters recalled in November 2024.
Anger, grief, and petitions at site where Oakland teacher was killed

1 week ago | oaklandside.org | Jose Fermoso

Pastor James Polk of the Greater House of Prayer, a Pentecostal congregation in East Oakland, was leading a prayer at the church Wednesday evening when he got the call. Something terrible had happened outside the house he shares with his wife and mother at the intersection of E.
Man killed after Oakland CHP chase was beloved Castlemont teacher

1 week ago | oaklandside.org | Jose Fermoso

The man killed following a police chase last night in East Oakland was Marvin Boomer, a beloved Castlemont High School teacher and mentor who was described by colleagues as a great leader and colleague with many accomplishments, The Oaklandside has learned. Boomer was walking with his partner on a sidewalk on E. 21st Street at 12th Avenue, in the area between the Clinton and San Antonio neighborhoods when a suspect who was fleeing the CHP crashed into a fire hydrant.