Oakland Police Shoot Driver Who Tried to Flee Stop, Striking Officers, OPD Says
Oakland Fines Property Owners Nearly $1 Million for Cutting Down Protected Trees
Alameda Relies on Bridge Tenders for Safety on Land and Sea
Oakland Police Kill Man Who Was Reportedly Pointing Gun at People in the Street
Oakland Laborers Allege Over $300,000 in Wage Theft at Public Housing Redevelopment
Oakland Unified Has ‘No Plan’ for Financial Future, Top Alameda County Schools Chief Warns
Alameda County Public Defender: ‘Right to Counsel Is Dead’
Alameda County DA Encourages Potential Eric Swalwell Victims to Come Forward
Bay Area Nature Camp Wins Key Approval for New Home After Fighting ‘Bureaucracy and NIMBYism’
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/oakland-police-department\">Oakland police\u003c/a> shot a driver who tried to flee during a traffic stop early Friday, dragging one officer and pinning another against a parked car, authorities said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both officers and the suspect were taken to the hospital and are in stable condition, according to Oakland Police Department officials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Around 3:15 a.m., the department said, officers conducted a traffic stop on the 1200 block of 9th Avenue, near International Boulevard. According to OPD, a firearm was in plain view in the suspect’s vehicle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the driver tried to flee, injuring the officers, police officials say an officer then shot the suspect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The officers have been placed on paid administrative leave, and OPD said the incident was under both criminal and administrative investigations by the department. The Alameda County district attorney’s office and the Community Police Review Agency are also conducting independent investigations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The shooting is the second by Oakland police this year, following a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12081584/oakland-police-kill-man-who-was-reportedly-pointing-gun-at-people-in-the-street\">fatal shooting last month.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/oakland\">Oakland\u003c/a>’s City Council voted Tuesday to fine a couple nearly $1 million for removing 38 legally protected trees on and around their Claremont Avenue property.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fine comes after weeks of contentious back-and-forth over ecological conservation, environmental equity and the enforcement of Oakland’s tree protection laws — and years after city officials first warned the property owners about removing trees without permits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Matthew Bernard, who owns a hillside lot of more than 11,700 square feet with his partner, Lynn Warner, said in the City Council meeting that some of the trees removed from his property nearly four years ago were “dead, dying, leaning,” or in “hazardous condition.” Bernard also unsuccessfully asked the city for a resolution that would allow him to replant trees after construction on the undeveloped lot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Around 20 public speakers, however, including a mix of residents and conservation advocates, argued that the old-growth coast live oak trees that were clear-cut from the property were irreplaceable parts of the city’s ecosystem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Trees of that size are not commercially available for replacement. Even with replanting, it will take decades, even centuries, to restore the ecological and protective functions that were lost,” said \u003ca href=\"https://www.oaklandparks.org/staff/blog-post-title-three-3gjwy\">Erys Gagnez\u003c/a>, a community tree specialist with the Oakland Parks and Recreation Foundation, a nonprofit that supports public park access. “The scale of the fine reflects this reality.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city fined Bernard and Warner $915,135.40 and placed a lien on their property that will prevent them from developing or selling the land until the fine is paid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082348\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12082348\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260504-OAKLANDTREES-05-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260504-OAKLANDTREES-05-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260504-OAKLANDTREES-05-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260504-OAKLANDTREES-05-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A ‘Notice of Application’ sits on the hillside of a property on Claremont Avenue across from Garber Park in Oakland on May 4, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Councilmembers Janani Ramachandran, Noel Gallo, Kevin Jenkins, Zac Unger and Charlene Wang voted for the fine. Rowena Brown, Carroll Fife and Ken Houston voted against.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qhYIRczBrlIstIAy3DHqYByWmNC8zm7u/view?usp=sharing\">Public records \u003c/a>show that city workers responded to the site on a steep slope in the Oakland hills five times for reports of illegal tree-cutting between Feb. 2, 2021, and May 17, 2022, and that Bernard received verbal and written warnings from city employees and police for the unpermitted removals. The area is residential, but otherwise forested.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At a previous discussion on April 14, the council failed to reach a consensus on what penalty the couple should face. The vote ended in a tie that Mayor Barbara Lee declined to break, but Gallo was not present and was counted as a “no.” On Tuesday, his “yes” vote broke the tie.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the April hearing, Ramachandran said she would refuse to approve of anything less than the full penalty. While other councilmembers considered lowering the fine, Ramachandran asserted that a lesser consequence would undermine city law.[aside postID=news_12079903 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/05/GettyImages-1247572601-1020x680.jpg']“We are called ‘Oakland’ for a reason,” Ramachandran said during the meeting. “ We have less than 4,500 oak trees in this city right now, because of the destruction and development over the decades.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The April hearing drew over a dozen members of the public to the podium.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among them was Saumitra Kelkar, a biologist and science educator whose Instagram posts about the removals have garnered thousands of views. He said the native oak trees in the city’s hills create a unique microclimate that holds onto moisture and resists burning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This was a natural shaded fuel break, which was going to severely impede the ability of a wildfire to travel through that area,” Kelkar said. Now that the trees are gone, he said, it’s going to be“much easier for a much faster fire to burn much hotter, and cause a lot more destruction.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kelkar, who recalled coming to the location as a college student to forage for edible mushrooms and spot native wildlife like salamanders, said it was “gut-wrenching” to revisit the site in advance of the April hearing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>”Even if Matthew Bernard is required to reforest that entire hillside, it’s going to take decades or centuries for the populations of [wildlife] to actually return,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Public works staff determined the fine based on species and the diameter of the tree stumps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082347\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12082347\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260504-OAKLANDTREES-03-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260504-OAKLANDTREES-03-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260504-OAKLANDTREES-03-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260504-OAKLANDTREES-03-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A property on Claremont Avenue across from Garber Park in Oakland on May 4, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Bernard and Warner would also be responsible for compensating the city for costs. The trees felled included several in a neighbor’s yard, and one on government-owned land.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Almost all of these were native trees. City laws prevent these plants from being cut down within city limits based on size and species, even on private property.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city does permit the removal of protected trees for construction, but documents from the city’s Public Works department show that the couple did not complete the required process before beginning to remove the trees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ramachandran told KQED that since the meeting, she’s received a flurry of messages from constituents responding to what happened. She said that out of the hundreds of messages received from Oakland residents, “not a single email, not a single phone call, not a single DM, not a single text message” favors “anything less than the full fine” for Bernard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12038313\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12038313\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/001_Oakland_JananiRamachandran_06262021_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/001_Oakland_JananiRamachandran_06262021_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/001_Oakland_JananiRamachandran_06262021_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/001_Oakland_JananiRamachandran_06262021_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/001_Oakland_JananiRamachandran_06262021_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/001_Oakland_JananiRamachandran_06262021_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/001_Oakland_JananiRamachandran_06262021_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Janani Ramachandran speaks with campaign organizers in Oakland on June 26, 2021. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Bernard and Warner declined KQED’s requests for interviews.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But during the April hearing, Bernard told the council that he and Warner did “everything in [their] willpower” to follow the law in the plan to develop the property. Ramachandran was not convinced.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This was a knowing violation of our Tree Protection Ordinance, and we need to comply with our existing law and fine him the amount as recommended by city staff,” she told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the hearing, Fife pushed back on whether the tree protection law was being enforced fairly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fife asked, “Why a Black man should be the first to receive consequences for things that white people have been doing for centuries,” referring to the region’s history of racial segregation based on legal measures, like redlining.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12052245\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12052245\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250814-OAKLANDPUSHBACK-17-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250814-OAKLANDPUSHBACK-17-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250814-OAKLANDPUSHBACK-17-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250814-OAKLANDPUSHBACK-17-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Councilmember Carroll Fife speaks during a press conference at Oakland City Hall in Oakland on Aug. 14, 2025, condemning President Trump’s recent remarks about Oakland. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Bernard is a Nigerian immigrant. Earlier, his partner, Warner, had alleged to the council that when they initially purchased the property, other residents in the neighborhood had made racist comments and threats to Bernard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I did not want to bring up race, but goddamn it, it is a part of what we’re discussing,” Fife said, though she clarified that she did not agree with Bernard’s actions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fife was not available for comment before publication.[aside postID=news_12080889 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260422-SFAFFORDABILITYHEARING00587_TV-KQED.jpg']Ramachandran agreed that the situation and Oakland’s historical context presented racial equity issues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have a very racist history in the hills. I certainly would not have been able to be [a] councilmember of this district as of not that long ago,” she told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, she said, the city council should uphold the law as it’s written, and she stands by her commitment to the full penalty.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m Indian, my husband’s Nigerian, and our son is both,” Ramachandran continued. “And the three of us would not be able to live in my district at all, given the legacy of redlining. That doesn’t mean that we should give a pass to people that look like us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ramachandran told KQED she’s considering revisions to the tree protections with the rest of the council — including a statute of limitations to help the city address violations in a timely way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ I really do think that city staff messed up and dropped the ball back in 2021 when they had first found out,” she said. “Right then and there, they should have issued this notice of violation and brought it to council and brought forward the charges.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/emanoukian\">\u003cem>Elize Manoukian\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "To tree or not to tree: More than 20 residents at a public hearing demanded enforcement of Oakland's tree protection laws, arguing the leafy canopies are necessary for wildfire prevention, public health and environmental equity. ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/oakland\">Oakland\u003c/a>’s City Council voted Tuesday to fine a couple nearly $1 million for removing 38 legally protected trees on and around their Claremont Avenue property.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fine comes after weeks of contentious back-and-forth over ecological conservation, environmental equity and the enforcement of Oakland’s tree protection laws — and years after city officials first warned the property owners about removing trees without permits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Matthew Bernard, who owns a hillside lot of more than 11,700 square feet with his partner, Lynn Warner, said in the City Council meeting that some of the trees removed from his property nearly four years ago were “dead, dying, leaning,” or in “hazardous condition.” Bernard also unsuccessfully asked the city for a resolution that would allow him to replant trees after construction on the undeveloped lot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Around 20 public speakers, however, including a mix of residents and conservation advocates, argued that the old-growth coast live oak trees that were clear-cut from the property were irreplaceable parts of the city’s ecosystem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Trees of that size are not commercially available for replacement. Even with replanting, it will take decades, even centuries, to restore the ecological and protective functions that were lost,” said \u003ca href=\"https://www.oaklandparks.org/staff/blog-post-title-three-3gjwy\">Erys Gagnez\u003c/a>, a community tree specialist with the Oakland Parks and Recreation Foundation, a nonprofit that supports public park access. “The scale of the fine reflects this reality.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city fined Bernard and Warner $915,135.40 and placed a lien on their property that will prevent them from developing or selling the land until the fine is paid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082348\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12082348\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260504-OAKLANDTREES-05-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260504-OAKLANDTREES-05-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260504-OAKLANDTREES-05-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260504-OAKLANDTREES-05-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A ‘Notice of Application’ sits on the hillside of a property on Claremont Avenue across from Garber Park in Oakland on May 4, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Councilmembers Janani Ramachandran, Noel Gallo, Kevin Jenkins, Zac Unger and Charlene Wang voted for the fine. Rowena Brown, Carroll Fife and Ken Houston voted against.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qhYIRczBrlIstIAy3DHqYByWmNC8zm7u/view?usp=sharing\">Public records \u003c/a>show that city workers responded to the site on a steep slope in the Oakland hills five times for reports of illegal tree-cutting between Feb. 2, 2021, and May 17, 2022, and that Bernard received verbal and written warnings from city employees and police for the unpermitted removals. The area is residential, but otherwise forested.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At a previous discussion on April 14, the council failed to reach a consensus on what penalty the couple should face. The vote ended in a tie that Mayor Barbara Lee declined to break, but Gallo was not present and was counted as a “no.” On Tuesday, his “yes” vote broke the tie.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the April hearing, Ramachandran said she would refuse to approve of anything less than the full penalty. While other councilmembers considered lowering the fine, Ramachandran asserted that a lesser consequence would undermine city law.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“We are called ‘Oakland’ for a reason,” Ramachandran said during the meeting. “ We have less than 4,500 oak trees in this city right now, because of the destruction and development over the decades.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The April hearing drew over a dozen members of the public to the podium.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among them was Saumitra Kelkar, a biologist and science educator whose Instagram posts about the removals have garnered thousands of views. He said the native oak trees in the city’s hills create a unique microclimate that holds onto moisture and resists burning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This was a natural shaded fuel break, which was going to severely impede the ability of a wildfire to travel through that area,” Kelkar said. Now that the trees are gone, he said, it’s going to be“much easier for a much faster fire to burn much hotter, and cause a lot more destruction.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kelkar, who recalled coming to the location as a college student to forage for edible mushrooms and spot native wildlife like salamanders, said it was “gut-wrenching” to revisit the site in advance of the April hearing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>”Even if Matthew Bernard is required to reforest that entire hillside, it’s going to take decades or centuries for the populations of [wildlife] to actually return,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Public works staff determined the fine based on species and the diameter of the tree stumps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082347\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12082347\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260504-OAKLANDTREES-03-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260504-OAKLANDTREES-03-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260504-OAKLANDTREES-03-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260504-OAKLANDTREES-03-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A property on Claremont Avenue across from Garber Park in Oakland on May 4, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Bernard and Warner would also be responsible for compensating the city for costs. The trees felled included several in a neighbor’s yard, and one on government-owned land.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Almost all of these were native trees. City laws prevent these plants from being cut down within city limits based on size and species, even on private property.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city does permit the removal of protected trees for construction, but documents from the city’s Public Works department show that the couple did not complete the required process before beginning to remove the trees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ramachandran told KQED that since the meeting, she’s received a flurry of messages from constituents responding to what happened. She said that out of the hundreds of messages received from Oakland residents, “not a single email, not a single phone call, not a single DM, not a single text message” favors “anything less than the full fine” for Bernard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12038313\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12038313\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/001_Oakland_JananiRamachandran_06262021_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/001_Oakland_JananiRamachandran_06262021_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/001_Oakland_JananiRamachandran_06262021_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/001_Oakland_JananiRamachandran_06262021_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/001_Oakland_JananiRamachandran_06262021_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/001_Oakland_JananiRamachandran_06262021_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/001_Oakland_JananiRamachandran_06262021_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Janani Ramachandran speaks with campaign organizers in Oakland on June 26, 2021. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Bernard and Warner declined KQED’s requests for interviews.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But during the April hearing, Bernard told the council that he and Warner did “everything in [their] willpower” to follow the law in the plan to develop the property. Ramachandran was not convinced.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This was a knowing violation of our Tree Protection Ordinance, and we need to comply with our existing law and fine him the amount as recommended by city staff,” she told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the hearing, Fife pushed back on whether the tree protection law was being enforced fairly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fife asked, “Why a Black man should be the first to receive consequences for things that white people have been doing for centuries,” referring to the region’s history of racial segregation based on legal measures, like redlining.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12052245\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12052245\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250814-OAKLANDPUSHBACK-17-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250814-OAKLANDPUSHBACK-17-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250814-OAKLANDPUSHBACK-17-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250814-OAKLANDPUSHBACK-17-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Councilmember Carroll Fife speaks during a press conference at Oakland City Hall in Oakland on Aug. 14, 2025, condemning President Trump’s recent remarks about Oakland. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Bernard is a Nigerian immigrant. Earlier, his partner, Warner, had alleged to the council that when they initially purchased the property, other residents in the neighborhood had made racist comments and threats to Bernard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I did not want to bring up race, but goddamn it, it is a part of what we’re discussing,” Fife said, though she clarified that she did not agree with Bernard’s actions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fife was not available for comment before publication.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Ramachandran agreed that the situation and Oakland’s historical context presented racial equity issues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have a very racist history in the hills. I certainly would not have been able to be [a] councilmember of this district as of not that long ago,” she told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, she said, the city council should uphold the law as it’s written, and she stands by her commitment to the full penalty.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m Indian, my husband’s Nigerian, and our son is both,” Ramachandran continued. “And the three of us would not be able to live in my district at all, given the legacy of redlining. That doesn’t mean that we should give a pass to people that look like us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ramachandran told KQED she’s considering revisions to the tree protections with the rest of the council — including a statute of limitations to help the city address violations in a timely way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ I really do think that city staff messed up and dropped the ball back in 2021 when they had first found out,” she said. “Right then and there, they should have issued this notice of violation and brought it to council and brought forward the charges.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/emanoukian\">\u003cem>Elize Manoukian\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "alameda-relies-on-bridge-tenders-for-safety-on-land-and-sea",
"title": "Alameda Relies on Bridge Tenders for Safety on Land and Sea",
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"headTitle": "Alameda Relies on Bridge Tenders for Safety on Land and Sea | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"#Viewthefullepisodetranscript\">View the full episode transcript.\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like many people who travel to and from the city of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/alameda\">Alameda\u003c/a>, Sarah Reid, one day, found herself facing a bridge that was temporarily disconnected.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Park Street Bridge, a forest green drawbridge, about the length of a football field, had split open, casting the four-lane bridge at a 70-degree angle in the air so a boat could pass underneath.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The opening and closing of Alameda’s drawbridges is a familiar ritual for people who travel to the Bay Area’s island city. Alameda is connected to the rest of the Bay Area by six bridges, as well as two underwater tunnels. All but two of the bridges are required to open 24 hours a day, sometimes on very short notice, in order to let ships travel down the Oakland Estuary, which separates Alameda and Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With nothing to do but to wait, Reid peered through her windshield and noticed a little tower connected to the bridge, with a room full of windows at the top. She wondered if someone was inside that room, and what they did up there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I remember wondering, does someone just sit there all day? And what is that like?” Reid said. “What’s a good day look like? What’s a bad day? What’s the weirdest thing that’s ever happened?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12070402\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011526_ALAMEDABRIDGES_GH_020-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12070402\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011526_ALAMEDABRIDGES_GH_020-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011526_ALAMEDABRIDGES_GH_020-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011526_ALAMEDABRIDGES_GH_020-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011526_ALAMEDABRIDGES_GH_020-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The High Street Bridge begins to lift over the Oakland-Alameda Estuary on Jan. 15, 2026, in Alameda. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>There was, in fact, a bridge tender in the control tower of the Park Street Bridge that day, just as there has been for decades. Bridge tenders are the workers responsible for safely opening and closing the bridges, so that people both on land and on water can move through the area. It’s a job that comes with life -or-death public safety risks, stunning views, ample alone time, and a strong connection to the history of the island city itself.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A public service job with risks\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>“ It’s the best job in the world,” said John Williams, a bridge tender for Alameda County Public Works Agency, who has held the job for 16 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Williams was the bridge tender on duty at the Park Street Bridge on a sunny winter morning earlier this year. From his perch inside the control tower, Williams could see up and down the estuary, with Berkeley and downtown Oakland in the distance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12081386 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260423-CONCORD-MOUNDS-MD-08-KQED-3.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One end of the room is all business: with a control panel for operating the drawbridge, a maritime radio, security cameras, a log book and a laptop. In a corner of the other side of the room is a little kitchenette. On that particular day, there was a French press and an avocado sitting on the counter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because the bridges are staffed 24/7, with bridge tenders working day, swing and graveyard shifts, each bridge control tower has its own kitchenette and bathroom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Williams said the perks include beautiful sunsets, great wildlife viewing and dedicated colleagues. But he also takes pride in being a public servant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our first job is to make sure no one gets hurt while we’re operating these massive machines,” Williams said. “You could crush a car or kill somebody if you’re not following procedure properly.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said being a bridge tender requires constant vigilance, ensuring nobody is in harm’s way when the bridge is moving. Still, there have been accidents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People will run on the bridge while it’s moving, and I think twice we’ve had people run their cars through the barrier,” Williams said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s just the terrestrial side of his worries. The bridge also needs to be opened in a timely manner so that a boat doesn’t hit it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You’ll get a call and tug and barge is coming in with 20 tons of gravel, and a fat tide and wind behind them, and you have to open the bridge because it’s very hard for them to stop,” Williams said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Boats can schedule openings ahead of time or call to request one. The bridges don’t open during the morning and afternoon rush hour unless a boat captain makes an appointment at least two hours ahead of time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Williams is relaxed and friendly in his downtime at work, but when it comes time to open the bridge, he gets intensely focused. When opening the bridge, the first thing he does is open all the blinds in the control tower, so he has full visibility. He stops speaking to anyone else around so that he can concentrate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He activates an alarm bell as he makes an announcement over a loudspeaker, telling the public to stand clear. Then he drops the gates that block the road and sidewalk leading to the bridge. He double and triple checks the security cameras and walks out on a little catwalk adjacent to the tower to verify that nobody is on the bridge. Then he initiates the opening.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Metal locks underneath the bridge disconnect, an electric motor deep in the bowels below the bridge begins to whir, a massive counterweight sinks into a pit and the bridge begins to rise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12070399\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011526_ALAMEDABRIDGES_GH_008-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12070399\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011526_ALAMEDABRIDGES_GH_008-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011526_ALAMEDABRIDGES_GH_008-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011526_ALAMEDABRIDGES_GH_008-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011526_ALAMEDABRIDGES_GH_008-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A flock of pigeons flies near the Park Street Bridge over the Oakland Estuary on Jan. 15, 2026, in Alameda. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For second-generation bridge tender Damon Wallace, it’s a special moment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re these giant machines, and you don’t realize it until you’re up in the tower the first time and you press that button, and then your world starts to tilt sideways,” Wallace, whose father and uncle worked as bridge tenders, said as he gazed up at the bridge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For a minute, you get to just sit there and watch this amazing, surreal thing happen right in front of you. It’s one of my favorite things,” Wallace said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the bridge reaches its apex, Williams repeats the process in reverse until the bridge is back together, and the traffic on the bridge resumes again.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The chaotic past of Alameda’s bridges\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Ever since early European settlers founded the city of Alameda, its residents have had to navigate getting across the strip of water and marshland separating it from Oakland, and bridge tenders have been part of that history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The problem started in the 1870s when people on the west end of Alameda complained, ‘Oakland’s right there, we sure would like to get over there,” Alameda historian Dennis Evanosky said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12080794 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260408-baycurioustacobell01913_TV.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Back then, Alameda wasn’t yet an island, but connected to Oakland by a marshy stretch of land at its eastern end. Years later, in 1902, the Army Corps of Engineers would finish work dredging that channel, flooding the area connecting Oakland’s inner harbor with San Leandro Bay, making Alameda an island.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, even before that, crossing the marshy stretch of land connecting it to Oakland wasn’t easy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first bridge to connect Alameda to Oakland was the Webster Street bridge, built by Alameda County in 1871. It’s now long gone. And pretty much from the get-go, it had its fair share of tragedies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Webster Street Bridge was a disaster,” Evanosky said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It wasn’t a drawbridge, but rather a swing bridge that could turn 90 degrees, out of the way of ship traffic. This was the design of most early Alameda bridges. Evanosky said it was hit by ships multiple times, and in 1900 was the site of a tragic train accident in which 13 people were killed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Webster Street bridge couldn’t catch a break. It was destroyed and rebuilt three more times, and its successors were the site of more ship collisions, a fire, and an attempted bombing, according to Bernard C. Winn, the author of \u003cem>California Drawbridges\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>County officials made the decision to dismantle the bridge in 1928, after the construction of the Webster Street Tube, an underwater tunnel connecting Oakland and Alameda, made it obsolete. This is the pattern most of Alameda’s bridges have followed. Some don’t exist anymore, but the ones that do have been rebuilt at least once.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12070403\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011526_ALAMEDABRIDGES_GH_021-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12070403\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011526_ALAMEDABRIDGES_GH_021-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011526_ALAMEDABRIDGES_GH_021-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011526_ALAMEDABRIDGES_GH_021-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011526_ALAMEDABRIDGES_GH_021-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Vincent Cerletti, the High Street Bridge operator with the Alameda County Public Works Agency, sits at the controls used to raise and lower the drawbridge over the Oakland-Alameda Estuary on Jan. 13, 2026, in Alameda. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But it hasn’t been all ship strikes and disasters. Alameda residents have had some fun along the way. Evanosky said early Alameda residents used to “ride the bridges,” clinging on as the bridges swung open and taking them for a ride.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>People even did this on the current version of the Park Street Bridge. Clinging on as the drawbridge raised open.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s pretty dangerous. So they put a stop to that,” Evanosky said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cities of Alameda and Oakland commemorated the opening of the current version of the Park Street Bridge in 1935, with a wedding between a woman from Alameda, Edith Bird, and a man from Oakland, Edward M. Drotloff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newspaper clippings from the time describe it as a huge party. There was a parade, marathon runners from Oakland, and the mayors of the two towns clasped hands as hundreds came out to see the new bridge.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What it takes\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At the High Street Bridge control tower, just a half-mile down up the estuary from the Park Street Bridge, Vincent Cerletti strummed his ukulele in a moment of downtime during his shift.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ Part of the job is to stare out the window and the ukulele accompanies it pretty good,” Cerletti said. “You have to have somewhat of a little hobby to pass the time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12070401\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011526_ALAMEDABRIDGES_GH_018-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12070401\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011526_ALAMEDABRIDGES_GH_018-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011526_ALAMEDABRIDGES_GH_018-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011526_ALAMEDABRIDGES_GH_018-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011526_ALAMEDABRIDGES_GH_018-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Vincent Cerletti, the High Street Bridge operator, looks out from the bridge’s operator tower on Jan. 15, 2026, in Alameda. The Miller-Sweeney Bridge is visible in the distance. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>He said other bridge tenders paint watercolors or fix small electronics between bridge openings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cerletti has been a bridge tender since 2014, and said the stability of working for Alameda County has been great, he said. But the job can get a little lonely.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ You have to be able to be comfortable with yourself sitting up here too, because you can get go a little stir crazy being alone all the time,” Cerletti said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Generations of bridge tenders\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The work of being a bridge tender has seeped into Damon Wallace’s bones. Wallace fondly remembers moments from his youth, like when he greeted his father at the door in the morning after a graveyard shift, noticing the smell of oil, grease and work his father would bring home with him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ I started working here and I was like, ‘oh, that’s that smell,’ I get it now,” Wallace said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12070400\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011526_ALAMEDABRIDGES_GH_013-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12070400\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011526_ALAMEDABRIDGES_GH_013-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011526_ALAMEDABRIDGES_GH_013-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011526_ALAMEDABRIDGES_GH_013-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011526_ALAMEDABRIDGES_GH_013-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Steel beams and the roadway deck are seen as the Park Street Bridge lifts over the Oakland-Alameda Estuary on Jan. 15, 2026, in Alameda. The double-leaf bascule bridge spans 372 feet and is raised to about 70 degrees for most openings. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Even the sound of rubber car tires driving on the bridges’ metal road deck, a sort of ever-present drone around the bridges, has become soothing for him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ Over the years, I’ve gotten to actually look and put hands on these things and understand what they are for and why they’re here. My childhood became my adulthood, and my world got bigger somehow,” Wallace said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said he’s started to bring his children to work with him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ It’s honest work, and it’s kind of a special thing, this sort of infrastructure, this kind of machinery, this sort of job,” Wallace said. “There’s not a lot of it left, and I’m proud to be part of it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[baycuriousquestion]\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"Viewthefullepisodetranscript\">\u003c/a>Episode transcript\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Hey everyone! This is Bay Curious. I’m Olivia Allen-Price. Crossing bridges can be essential to getting around the Bay Area. No matter what side of the water you live on, odds are, you’re probably going to use a bridge sooner than later. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And for the people who live, work or just hang out in the City of Alameda, crossing a bridge is almost non-negotiable. The island is connected to the rest of the Bay by six drawbridges, as well as two underwater tunnels, that span the Oakland Estuary. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When those bridges open to let a boat pass, everybody has to wait. One day, Sarah Reid was in her car, watching the Park Street bridge open, when she noticed a little room attached to one of the bridges. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sarah Reid:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> And I remember looking up at those little rooms wondering, does someone just sit up there all day? And what is that like, \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> She also wants to hear some stories …\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sarah Reid:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> What’s a good day look like? What’s a bad da y? What’s the weirdest thing that’s ever happened \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Turns out – yeah! There’s a bridge tender sitting in that little room 24/7. And they’ve seen a lot! KQED’s Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman has the story.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003ci>Cars on Bridge Noise\u003c/i>\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Car tires hum against the steel deck of the Park Street Bridge. This hypnotic drone is the bridge’s soundtrack. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Damon Wallace: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I grew up on these bridges. Um, the sound of the cars going overhead is, is soothing to me. It’s like a, it’s a comfort thing. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That’s Damon Wallace, he’s a bridge utility worker for Alameda County’s Public Works Agency.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Damon Wallace: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’ve been doing that for about two years, and prior to that I was a bridge tender. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Bridge tenders are the people that operate Alameda’s drawbridges. It runs in his family, his father and his uncle both held the job when he was a kid. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Damon Wallace: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">My dad 25 years. Uh, my uncle, uh, a little bit less than that. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We’re standing in the machinery room underneath the Park Street Bridge…its a large concrete bunker full of tools and the giant electrical motor that opens and closes the bridge\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s like a little Home Depot in here, just for the bridge, they’ve got everything they need to keep the bridge running which is essential because The Park Street Bridge is the busiest of Alameda’s bridges. Around 40,000 vehicles travel across its four lanes on an average weekday. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Up on the deck of the bridge, which is about the length of a football field we can see Berkeley, downtown Oakland, and ships at the Port of Oakland. We walk up to the bridge tower. It’s fixed on the Alameda side of the bridge, and almost looks like a little miniature clock tower. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Carl Speaker:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Knock, knock. Hello. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>John Williams:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Come on up. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Carl Speaker:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> How you doing, John? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>John Williams:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Good. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We head up a spiral staircase to the top floor. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>John Williams: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Welcome to Park Street Bridge, uh, Alameda County Public Works Agency. How you doing? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">John Williams is the bridge tender on duty right now. He’s got a big white beard and his orange public works shirt tucked into his work pants. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>John Williams:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> It’s the best job in the world, you know, I mean, I, it’s really an excellent job \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The top floor is just one room with windows all around, giving the operator a 360 degree view of the bridge and the Oakland estuary. One end is all business: with a control panel for operating the drawbridge, \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman (in scene): \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Wow. There are a lot of big red buttons there, \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>John Williams: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">right? There are. And you don’t just randomly push them either. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman (in scene): \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Oh, that’s too bad. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There’s also a maritime radio, security cameras, a log book and a laptop. In a corner of the other side of the room is a little kitchenette, there’s a french press and an avocado sitting on the counter. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>John Williams: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’ve seen a lot of wildlife out here over, over the years. You know, way l one time, lot of otters now and then, um, a lot of seabirds.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Some great sunsets too. John says he found the job on Craigslist. Besides the perks, he says this job has some big responsibilities. Public safety is their number one concern. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>John Williams:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Our first job is to make sure no one gets hurt while we’re operating these massive machines.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A normal opening of the bridge splits the road deck in half, tons of concrete and steel lift into the sky at a 70 degree angle, about 143 feet in the air. The process requires constant vigilance and double, triple checking.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>John Williams: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Cause people will run on the bridge while it’s moving. They’ll go underneath the barriers. I think twice we’ve had people run their cars through the barrier. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And that’s just keeping the PEOPLE safe. The bridge also needs to be opened in a timely manner so that a boat doesn’t hit it.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>John Williams: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">You get a call and tug and barge is coming in with like, you know whatever, 20 tons of gravel, you know, with a, a fat tide behind them pushing ’em in, in wind, and you have to open the bridge. You can’t not open the bridge. It’s very hard for ’em to stop. Really hard for ’em to stop.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">All but two of Alameda’s drawbridges are staffed around the clock because ships, including the nearby Coast Guard base, need to be able to travel up and down the estuary at all hours. On a busy day, the Park Street bridge might open and close 14 different times. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>John Williams: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I could be in a crowd of a thousand people and if somebody on the other side of that crowd said Park Street Bridge, I would hear them. Because I’m trained to hear it, you know, the radio call.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Boats can schedule openings ahead of time, or just call to request one. The bridges don’t open during the morning and afternoon rush hour unless a boat makes an appointment\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">John comes off pretty relaxed and friendly, but when it comes time to open the bridge, he gets intensely focused. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Right now, there isn’t a ship passing, this is an operational check, that the tenders do from time to time, to make sure everything is working as it should. John starts by opening all the blinds in the little tower room. He wants full visibility. And he stops talking to me. He says he needs to concentrate. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>John Williams (in scene): \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">St and clear for bridge opening. Please stand clear for Park Street Bridge opening\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">First he drops the gates and barriers to keep cars and pedestrians off the bridge, and makes sure all the traffic is stopped. Then he walks out on a little catwalk extending out from the tower, and double checks that nobody is in harms way.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sounds of birds\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Just then, recordings of birds play underneath the bridge, in an attempt to shoo nesting pigeons away. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And then it gets pretty quiet. The hum of traffic stops, and the bridge begins to rise. You can hear the electrical motors whirring. For Damon, the second generation bridge worker, it’s a special moment.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Damon Wallace:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> It’s these giant machines, and you don’t realize they’re machines until you’re up in the tower the first time and you press that button and the your world starts to tilt sideways.\u003c/span>\u003cb> \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He says there’s something magical about it. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Damon Wallace:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> For a minute you get to just sit there and watch this amazing, surreal thing happened right in front of you. And it’s, it’s, it’s one of my favorite things, you know? It always has been. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">With the bridge sticking straight up in the air, John checks again before letting it down. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>John Williams:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Okay, you guys. All right?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Voices: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">good!\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>John Williams: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Coming down.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And then, John guides the bridge slowly back down, metal locks click back together underneath the road deck, and the traffic starts again. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s clear the bridge tenders are essential. But in this world of technological innovation, especially artificial intelligence, I wonder, how much longer will these jobs be around? I put that question to John Medlock, he’s the Deputy Director of Maintenance Operation for Alameda County, PublicWorks Agency.\u003c/span>\u003cb> \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>John Medlock: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">At some point in time, you know, maybe, maybe everything needs to be replaced. We’ll probably find new technology or, or new way of spanning the, uh, the estuary. But right now that’s what we have and love it or hate it. If that’s what we have. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He thinks the bridge tenders, will be around for the foreseeable future. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> When we return – some history of these drawbridges. And the unique ways bridge tenders pass the time. Stay with us.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>SPONSOR MESSAGE\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Nowadays Alameda’s bridges are a reliable way to get on and off the island. But it wasn’t always that way. Here’s Azul again…\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ever since early European settlers founded the city of Alameda, its residents have had to navigate getting across the strip of water and marshland … separating it from Oakland. And bridge tenders have been part of that history. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Dennis Evanosky: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The problem started in, in the, in the 1870s when people on the west end of Alameda complained, ‘Boy Oakland’s right over there. We’d like to get over there.’\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That’s historian Dennis Evanosky. The first bridge to connect Alameda to what’s now Oakland was the Webster Street bridge, built by Alameda County in 1871. It’s now long gone. And pretty much from the get go, it had its fair share of tragedies. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Dennis Evanosky: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Webster Street Bridge was a disaster. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It wasn’t a drawbridge, but rather a swing bridge, that could turn 90 degrees, out of the way of ship traffic. This was the design of most early Alameda bridges. But Evanosky says it was hit by ships multiple times, and in 1900 was the site of a tragic train accident. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Dennis Evanosky: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">They misunderstood a signal and, and the, the whole train dumped into the estuary.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Thirteen people were killed. The Webster Street bridge couldn’t catch a break. It was destroyed and rebuilt 3 more times, and its successors were the site of more ship collisions, a fire, and an attempted bombing. The bridge was dismantled for the last time, shortly after the construction of the Webster Street Tube in 1928., the tube is an underwater tunnel connecting Oakland and Alameda. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And that’s kind of the story of all of Alameda’s bridges. Some don’t exist anymore, but the ones that do have been rebuilt, at least once.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Dennis Evanosky: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So each of the bridges has two lives. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And it hasn’t been all ship strikes and disasters. Alameda residents have had some fun along the way. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Dennis Evanosky: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And then the people, uh, who, who were really close by when they heard the boat toot for permission, they’d all run down there and they’d ride the bridge.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">…Climbing on the bridge as it swung open and taking it for a ride. People even did this on the current version of the park street bridge. Clinging on as the drawbridge raised open. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Dennis Evanosky: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That’s pretty dangerous. So they, they, they put a stop to that. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The cities of Alameda and Oakland commemorated the opening of the latest Park Street Bridge in 1935, with a wedding between a woman from Alameda and a man from Oakland.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Voice over reading newspaper clip: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Miss Edith Bird of Alameda became Mrs. Edward M. Drotloff of Oakland yesterday afternoon. The ceremony that united them as they stood at the site of the newly-completed Park Street Bridge symbolized the uniting of the two cities by the huge structure. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It was a huge party. There was a parade, marathon runners from oakland, and the mayors of the two towns clasped hands as hundreds came out to see the new bridge. The same one that stands today. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Today, there are 14 bridge tenders that work the Alameda bridges, and they switch between all 6 of the bridges. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When I go to visit the High Street Bridge, Vincent Cerletti is the bridge tender on duty. He’s wearing orange alameda county coveralls, and a psychedelic trucker hat for a disc golf supply company. This bridge sees less traffic, so has a calmer vibe.. Across the water I can see houseboats bobbing up and down. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Vincent Cerletti:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> There’s a lot going on out there. It’s peaceful. The birds. Oh man. When you get these huge flocks that come flying in here and settle into the estuary, it’s like a, like a painting.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Vincent has been a bridge tender for more than ten years. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Vincent Cerletti:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s the first regular thing that I got into that gave me a stability working for the county, which has been awesome. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And he’s seen some things. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Vincent Cerletti:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Like a guy with a couch once came down with a, a, you know, like the small little trolling motor on the back? I think he was floating on, on a piece of a dock with a couch on it. A little motor. He’s fishing. He was having a good time. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He says that in order to be a bridge tender, you have to be ok with spending a lot of time by yourself.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Vincent Cerletti:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Some guys paint, paint, little, uh, pictures, you know, watercolors of the boats and stuff. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He says one bridge tender fixes electronics to pass the time. Vincent, likes to bring his Ukelele. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Vincent Cerletti:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Yeah. So I just, uh, yeah. Sit here and.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>(Ukelele Music)\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Vincent Cerletti: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And when you’re here on like, you know, Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve and Thanksgiving, I worked all those holidays this year. I dunno, you gotta have somewhat of a little hobby to pass the time. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Do you ever feel lonely? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Vincent Cerletti:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Sure. Yeah, it’s kind of hard to have a relationship if you’re doing graveyards, you know, seven nights of the month and you’re on swing shift. So you take off at two o’clock and get home at 11. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Being a bridge tender can be tough, but its also rewarding. Here’s Damon, the bridge tender we heard from in the beginning. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Damon Wallace: \u003c/b>It’s honest work. It’s, uh, and it’s kind of a special thing, these sort of infrastructure, this kind of machinery, this sort of job. It, it does. There’s not a lot of it left, and, uh, I’m proud to be part of it. I am.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He says he’s started to bring his kids to work. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> That was KQED’s Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">If you want to learn more about Alameda, including how it isn’t actually a natural island – hit up our show notes where we’ve linked some other Bay Curious episodes you might enjoy.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Bay Curious is gearing up for KQED Fest – an all-day open house at KQED’s headquarters in San Francisco. It’s a block party with educational activities, live music, food, and more! I’ll be doing a fireside chat about how we make Bay Curious at 11:15 a.m. Tickets are free, but you do need to register. You can do it at \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"http://kqed.org/live\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">KQED.org/live\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Bay Curious is made by Christopher Beale, Katrina Schwartz and me Olivia Allen-Price.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We get extra support from Katie Sprenger, Maha Sanad, Jen Chien, Ethan Toven-Lindsey and everyone on Team KQED.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Our show is made in San Francisco at member-supported KQED. Big thanks to all our members out there who help keep Bay Curious going. If you aren’t a member yet – please consider joining at \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"http://kqed.org/donate\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">KQED.org/donate\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’m Olivia Allen-Price. Have a good one. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Alameda’s bridge tenders work around the clock ensuring safe travel around the Bay Area’s island city. The job comes with some great perks and serious consequences. ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"#Viewthefullepisodetranscript\">View the full episode transcript.\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like many people who travel to and from the city of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/alameda\">Alameda\u003c/a>, Sarah Reid, one day, found herself facing a bridge that was temporarily disconnected.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Park Street Bridge, a forest green drawbridge, about the length of a football field, had split open, casting the four-lane bridge at a 70-degree angle in the air so a boat could pass underneath.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The opening and closing of Alameda’s drawbridges is a familiar ritual for people who travel to the Bay Area’s island city. Alameda is connected to the rest of the Bay Area by six bridges, as well as two underwater tunnels. All but two of the bridges are required to open 24 hours a day, sometimes on very short notice, in order to let ships travel down the Oakland Estuary, which separates Alameda and Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With nothing to do but to wait, Reid peered through her windshield and noticed a little tower connected to the bridge, with a room full of windows at the top. She wondered if someone was inside that room, and what they did up there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I remember wondering, does someone just sit there all day? And what is that like?” Reid said. “What’s a good day look like? What’s a bad day? What’s the weirdest thing that’s ever happened?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12070402\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011526_ALAMEDABRIDGES_GH_020-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12070402\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011526_ALAMEDABRIDGES_GH_020-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011526_ALAMEDABRIDGES_GH_020-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011526_ALAMEDABRIDGES_GH_020-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011526_ALAMEDABRIDGES_GH_020-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The High Street Bridge begins to lift over the Oakland-Alameda Estuary on Jan. 15, 2026, in Alameda. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>There was, in fact, a bridge tender in the control tower of the Park Street Bridge that day, just as there has been for decades. Bridge tenders are the workers responsible for safely opening and closing the bridges, so that people both on land and on water can move through the area. It’s a job that comes with life -or-death public safety risks, stunning views, ample alone time, and a strong connection to the history of the island city itself.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A public service job with risks\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>“ It’s the best job in the world,” said John Williams, a bridge tender for Alameda County Public Works Agency, who has held the job for 16 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Williams was the bridge tender on duty at the Park Street Bridge on a sunny winter morning earlier this year. From his perch inside the control tower, Williams could see up and down the estuary, with Berkeley and downtown Oakland in the distance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One end of the room is all business: with a control panel for operating the drawbridge, a maritime radio, security cameras, a log book and a laptop. In a corner of the other side of the room is a little kitchenette. On that particular day, there was a French press and an avocado sitting on the counter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because the bridges are staffed 24/7, with bridge tenders working day, swing and graveyard shifts, each bridge control tower has its own kitchenette and bathroom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Williams said the perks include beautiful sunsets, great wildlife viewing and dedicated colleagues. But he also takes pride in being a public servant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our first job is to make sure no one gets hurt while we’re operating these massive machines,” Williams said. “You could crush a car or kill somebody if you’re not following procedure properly.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said being a bridge tender requires constant vigilance, ensuring nobody is in harm’s way when the bridge is moving. Still, there have been accidents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People will run on the bridge while it’s moving, and I think twice we’ve had people run their cars through the barrier,” Williams said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s just the terrestrial side of his worries. The bridge also needs to be opened in a timely manner so that a boat doesn’t hit it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You’ll get a call and tug and barge is coming in with 20 tons of gravel, and a fat tide and wind behind them, and you have to open the bridge because it’s very hard for them to stop,” Williams said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Boats can schedule openings ahead of time or call to request one. The bridges don’t open during the morning and afternoon rush hour unless a boat captain makes an appointment at least two hours ahead of time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Williams is relaxed and friendly in his downtime at work, but when it comes time to open the bridge, he gets intensely focused. When opening the bridge, the first thing he does is open all the blinds in the control tower, so he has full visibility. He stops speaking to anyone else around so that he can concentrate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He activates an alarm bell as he makes an announcement over a loudspeaker, telling the public to stand clear. Then he drops the gates that block the road and sidewalk leading to the bridge. He double and triple checks the security cameras and walks out on a little catwalk adjacent to the tower to verify that nobody is on the bridge. Then he initiates the opening.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Metal locks underneath the bridge disconnect, an electric motor deep in the bowels below the bridge begins to whir, a massive counterweight sinks into a pit and the bridge begins to rise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12070399\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011526_ALAMEDABRIDGES_GH_008-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12070399\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011526_ALAMEDABRIDGES_GH_008-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011526_ALAMEDABRIDGES_GH_008-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011526_ALAMEDABRIDGES_GH_008-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011526_ALAMEDABRIDGES_GH_008-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A flock of pigeons flies near the Park Street Bridge over the Oakland Estuary on Jan. 15, 2026, in Alameda. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For second-generation bridge tender Damon Wallace, it’s a special moment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re these giant machines, and you don’t realize it until you’re up in the tower the first time and you press that button, and then your world starts to tilt sideways,” Wallace, whose father and uncle worked as bridge tenders, said as he gazed up at the bridge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For a minute, you get to just sit there and watch this amazing, surreal thing happen right in front of you. It’s one of my favorite things,” Wallace said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the bridge reaches its apex, Williams repeats the process in reverse until the bridge is back together, and the traffic on the bridge resumes again.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The chaotic past of Alameda’s bridges\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Ever since early European settlers founded the city of Alameda, its residents have had to navigate getting across the strip of water and marshland separating it from Oakland, and bridge tenders have been part of that history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The problem started in the 1870s when people on the west end of Alameda complained, ‘Oakland’s right there, we sure would like to get over there,” Alameda historian Dennis Evanosky said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Back then, Alameda wasn’t yet an island, but connected to Oakland by a marshy stretch of land at its eastern end. Years later, in 1902, the Army Corps of Engineers would finish work dredging that channel, flooding the area connecting Oakland’s inner harbor with San Leandro Bay, making Alameda an island.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, even before that, crossing the marshy stretch of land connecting it to Oakland wasn’t easy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first bridge to connect Alameda to Oakland was the Webster Street bridge, built by Alameda County in 1871. It’s now long gone. And pretty much from the get-go, it had its fair share of tragedies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Webster Street Bridge was a disaster,” Evanosky said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It wasn’t a drawbridge, but rather a swing bridge that could turn 90 degrees, out of the way of ship traffic. This was the design of most early Alameda bridges. Evanosky said it was hit by ships multiple times, and in 1900 was the site of a tragic train accident in which 13 people were killed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Webster Street bridge couldn’t catch a break. It was destroyed and rebuilt three more times, and its successors were the site of more ship collisions, a fire, and an attempted bombing, according to Bernard C. Winn, the author of \u003cem>California Drawbridges\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>County officials made the decision to dismantle the bridge in 1928, after the construction of the Webster Street Tube, an underwater tunnel connecting Oakland and Alameda, made it obsolete. This is the pattern most of Alameda’s bridges have followed. Some don’t exist anymore, but the ones that do have been rebuilt at least once.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12070403\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011526_ALAMEDABRIDGES_GH_021-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12070403\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011526_ALAMEDABRIDGES_GH_021-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011526_ALAMEDABRIDGES_GH_021-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011526_ALAMEDABRIDGES_GH_021-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011526_ALAMEDABRIDGES_GH_021-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Vincent Cerletti, the High Street Bridge operator with the Alameda County Public Works Agency, sits at the controls used to raise and lower the drawbridge over the Oakland-Alameda Estuary on Jan. 13, 2026, in Alameda. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But it hasn’t been all ship strikes and disasters. Alameda residents have had some fun along the way. Evanosky said early Alameda residents used to “ride the bridges,” clinging on as the bridges swung open and taking them for a ride.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>People even did this on the current version of the Park Street Bridge. Clinging on as the drawbridge raised open.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s pretty dangerous. So they put a stop to that,” Evanosky said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cities of Alameda and Oakland commemorated the opening of the current version of the Park Street Bridge in 1935, with a wedding between a woman from Alameda, Edith Bird, and a man from Oakland, Edward M. Drotloff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newspaper clippings from the time describe it as a huge party. There was a parade, marathon runners from Oakland, and the mayors of the two towns clasped hands as hundreds came out to see the new bridge.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What it takes\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At the High Street Bridge control tower, just a half-mile down up the estuary from the Park Street Bridge, Vincent Cerletti strummed his ukulele in a moment of downtime during his shift.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ Part of the job is to stare out the window and the ukulele accompanies it pretty good,” Cerletti said. “You have to have somewhat of a little hobby to pass the time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12070401\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011526_ALAMEDABRIDGES_GH_018-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12070401\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011526_ALAMEDABRIDGES_GH_018-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011526_ALAMEDABRIDGES_GH_018-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011526_ALAMEDABRIDGES_GH_018-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011526_ALAMEDABRIDGES_GH_018-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Vincent Cerletti, the High Street Bridge operator, looks out from the bridge’s operator tower on Jan. 15, 2026, in Alameda. The Miller-Sweeney Bridge is visible in the distance. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>He said other bridge tenders paint watercolors or fix small electronics between bridge openings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cerletti has been a bridge tender since 2014, and said the stability of working for Alameda County has been great, he said. But the job can get a little lonely.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ You have to be able to be comfortable with yourself sitting up here too, because you can get go a little stir crazy being alone all the time,” Cerletti said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Generations of bridge tenders\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The work of being a bridge tender has seeped into Damon Wallace’s bones. Wallace fondly remembers moments from his youth, like when he greeted his father at the door in the morning after a graveyard shift, noticing the smell of oil, grease and work his father would bring home with him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ I started working here and I was like, ‘oh, that’s that smell,’ I get it now,” Wallace said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12070400\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011526_ALAMEDABRIDGES_GH_013-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12070400\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011526_ALAMEDABRIDGES_GH_013-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011526_ALAMEDABRIDGES_GH_013-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011526_ALAMEDABRIDGES_GH_013-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/011526_ALAMEDABRIDGES_GH_013-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Steel beams and the roadway deck are seen as the Park Street Bridge lifts over the Oakland-Alameda Estuary on Jan. 15, 2026, in Alameda. The double-leaf bascule bridge spans 372 feet and is raised to about 70 degrees for most openings. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Even the sound of rubber car tires driving on the bridges’ metal road deck, a sort of ever-present drone around the bridges, has become soothing for him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ Over the years, I’ve gotten to actually look and put hands on these things and understand what they are for and why they’re here. My childhood became my adulthood, and my world got bigger somehow,” Wallace said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said he’s started to bring his children to work with him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ It’s honest work, and it’s kind of a special thing, this sort of infrastructure, this kind of machinery, this sort of job,” Wallace said. “There’s not a lot of it left, and I’m proud to be part of it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"Viewthefullepisodetranscript\">\u003c/a>Episode transcript\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Hey everyone! This is Bay Curious. I’m Olivia Allen-Price. Crossing bridges can be essential to getting around the Bay Area. No matter what side of the water you live on, odds are, you’re probably going to use a bridge sooner than later. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And for the people who live, work or just hang out in the City of Alameda, crossing a bridge is almost non-negotiable. The island is connected to the rest of the Bay by six drawbridges, as well as two underwater tunnels, that span the Oakland Estuary. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When those bridges open to let a boat pass, everybody has to wait. One day, Sarah Reid was in her car, watching the Park Street bridge open, when she noticed a little room attached to one of the bridges. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sarah Reid:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> And I remember looking up at those little rooms wondering, does someone just sit up there all day? And what is that like, \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> She also wants to hear some stories …\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sarah Reid:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> What’s a good day look like? What’s a bad da y? What’s the weirdest thing that’s ever happened \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Turns out – yeah! There’s a bridge tender sitting in that little room 24/7. And they’ve seen a lot! KQED’s Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman has the story.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003ci>Cars on Bridge Noise\u003c/i>\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Car tires hum against the steel deck of the Park Street Bridge. This hypnotic drone is the bridge’s soundtrack. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Damon Wallace: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I grew up on these bridges. Um, the sound of the cars going overhead is, is soothing to me. It’s like a, it’s a comfort thing. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That’s Damon Wallace, he’s a bridge utility worker for Alameda County’s Public Works Agency.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Damon Wallace: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’ve been doing that for about two years, and prior to that I was a bridge tender. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Bridge tenders are the people that operate Alameda’s drawbridges. It runs in his family, his father and his uncle both held the job when he was a kid. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Damon Wallace: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">My dad 25 years. Uh, my uncle, uh, a little bit less than that. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We’re standing in the machinery room underneath the Park Street Bridge…its a large concrete bunker full of tools and the giant electrical motor that opens and closes the bridge\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s like a little Home Depot in here, just for the bridge, they’ve got everything they need to keep the bridge running which is essential because The Park Street Bridge is the busiest of Alameda’s bridges. Around 40,000 vehicles travel across its four lanes on an average weekday. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Up on the deck of the bridge, which is about the length of a football field we can see Berkeley, downtown Oakland, and ships at the Port of Oakland. We walk up to the bridge tower. It’s fixed on the Alameda side of the bridge, and almost looks like a little miniature clock tower. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Carl Speaker:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Knock, knock. Hello. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>John Williams:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Come on up. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Carl Speaker:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> How you doing, John? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>John Williams:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Good. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We head up a spiral staircase to the top floor. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>John Williams: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Welcome to Park Street Bridge, uh, Alameda County Public Works Agency. How you doing? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">John Williams is the bridge tender on duty right now. He’s got a big white beard and his orange public works shirt tucked into his work pants. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>John Williams:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> It’s the best job in the world, you know, I mean, I, it’s really an excellent job \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The top floor is just one room with windows all around, giving the operator a 360 degree view of the bridge and the Oakland estuary. One end is all business: with a control panel for operating the drawbridge, \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman (in scene): \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Wow. There are a lot of big red buttons there, \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>John Williams: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">right? There are. And you don’t just randomly push them either. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman (in scene): \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Oh, that’s too bad. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There’s also a maritime radio, security cameras, a log book and a laptop. In a corner of the other side of the room is a little kitchenette, there’s a french press and an avocado sitting on the counter. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>John Williams: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’ve seen a lot of wildlife out here over, over the years. You know, way l one time, lot of otters now and then, um, a lot of seabirds.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Some great sunsets too. John says he found the job on Craigslist. Besides the perks, he says this job has some big responsibilities. Public safety is their number one concern. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>John Williams:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Our first job is to make sure no one gets hurt while we’re operating these massive machines.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A normal opening of the bridge splits the road deck in half, tons of concrete and steel lift into the sky at a 70 degree angle, about 143 feet in the air. The process requires constant vigilance and double, triple checking.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>John Williams: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Cause people will run on the bridge while it’s moving. They’ll go underneath the barriers. I think twice we’ve had people run their cars through the barrier. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And that’s just keeping the PEOPLE safe. The bridge also needs to be opened in a timely manner so that a boat doesn’t hit it.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>John Williams: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">You get a call and tug and barge is coming in with like, you know whatever, 20 tons of gravel, you know, with a, a fat tide behind them pushing ’em in, in wind, and you have to open the bridge. You can’t not open the bridge. It’s very hard for ’em to stop. Really hard for ’em to stop.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">All but two of Alameda’s drawbridges are staffed around the clock because ships, including the nearby Coast Guard base, need to be able to travel up and down the estuary at all hours. On a busy day, the Park Street bridge might open and close 14 different times. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>John Williams: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I could be in a crowd of a thousand people and if somebody on the other side of that crowd said Park Street Bridge, I would hear them. Because I’m trained to hear it, you know, the radio call.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Boats can schedule openings ahead of time, or just call to request one. The bridges don’t open during the morning and afternoon rush hour unless a boat makes an appointment\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">John comes off pretty relaxed and friendly, but when it comes time to open the bridge, he gets intensely focused. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Right now, there isn’t a ship passing, this is an operational check, that the tenders do from time to time, to make sure everything is working as it should. John starts by opening all the blinds in the little tower room. He wants full visibility. And he stops talking to me. He says he needs to concentrate. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>John Williams (in scene): \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">St and clear for bridge opening. Please stand clear for Park Street Bridge opening\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">First he drops the gates and barriers to keep cars and pedestrians off the bridge, and makes sure all the traffic is stopped. Then he walks out on a little catwalk extending out from the tower, and double checks that nobody is in harms way.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sounds of birds\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Just then, recordings of birds play underneath the bridge, in an attempt to shoo nesting pigeons away. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And then it gets pretty quiet. The hum of traffic stops, and the bridge begins to rise. You can hear the electrical motors whirring. For Damon, the second generation bridge worker, it’s a special moment.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Damon Wallace:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> It’s these giant machines, and you don’t realize they’re machines until you’re up in the tower the first time and you press that button and the your world starts to tilt sideways.\u003c/span>\u003cb> \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He says there’s something magical about it. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Damon Wallace:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> For a minute you get to just sit there and watch this amazing, surreal thing happened right in front of you. And it’s, it’s, it’s one of my favorite things, you know? It always has been. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">With the bridge sticking straight up in the air, John checks again before letting it down. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>John Williams:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Okay, you guys. All right?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Voices: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">good!\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>John Williams: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Coming down.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And then, John guides the bridge slowly back down, metal locks click back together underneath the road deck, and the traffic starts again. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s clear the bridge tenders are essential. But in this world of technological innovation, especially artificial intelligence, I wonder, how much longer will these jobs be around? I put that question to John Medlock, he’s the Deputy Director of Maintenance Operation for Alameda County, PublicWorks Agency.\u003c/span>\u003cb> \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>John Medlock: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">At some point in time, you know, maybe, maybe everything needs to be replaced. We’ll probably find new technology or, or new way of spanning the, uh, the estuary. But right now that’s what we have and love it or hate it. If that’s what we have. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He thinks the bridge tenders, will be around for the foreseeable future. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> When we return – some history of these drawbridges. And the unique ways bridge tenders pass the time. Stay with us.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>SPONSOR MESSAGE\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Nowadays Alameda’s bridges are a reliable way to get on and off the island. But it wasn’t always that way. Here’s Azul again…\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ever since early European settlers founded the city of Alameda, its residents have had to navigate getting across the strip of water and marshland … separating it from Oakland. And bridge tenders have been part of that history. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Dennis Evanosky: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The problem started in, in the, in the 1870s when people on the west end of Alameda complained, ‘Boy Oakland’s right over there. We’d like to get over there.’\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That’s historian Dennis Evanosky. The first bridge to connect Alameda to what’s now Oakland was the Webster Street bridge, built by Alameda County in 1871. It’s now long gone. And pretty much from the get go, it had its fair share of tragedies. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Dennis Evanosky: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Webster Street Bridge was a disaster. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It wasn’t a drawbridge, but rather a swing bridge, that could turn 90 degrees, out of the way of ship traffic. This was the design of most early Alameda bridges. But Evanosky says it was hit by ships multiple times, and in 1900 was the site of a tragic train accident. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Dennis Evanosky: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">They misunderstood a signal and, and the, the whole train dumped into the estuary.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Thirteen people were killed. The Webster Street bridge couldn’t catch a break. It was destroyed and rebuilt 3 more times, and its successors were the site of more ship collisions, a fire, and an attempted bombing. The bridge was dismantled for the last time, shortly after the construction of the Webster Street Tube in 1928., the tube is an underwater tunnel connecting Oakland and Alameda. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And that’s kind of the story of all of Alameda’s bridges. Some don’t exist anymore, but the ones that do have been rebuilt, at least once.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Dennis Evanosky: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So each of the bridges has two lives. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And it hasn’t been all ship strikes and disasters. Alameda residents have had some fun along the way. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Dennis Evanosky: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And then the people, uh, who, who were really close by when they heard the boat toot for permission, they’d all run down there and they’d ride the bridge.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">…Climbing on the bridge as it swung open and taking it for a ride. People even did this on the current version of the park street bridge. Clinging on as the drawbridge raised open. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Dennis Evanosky: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That’s pretty dangerous. So they, they, they put a stop to that. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The cities of Alameda and Oakland commemorated the opening of the latest Park Street Bridge in 1935, with a wedding between a woman from Alameda and a man from Oakland.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Voice over reading newspaper clip: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Miss Edith Bird of Alameda became Mrs. Edward M. Drotloff of Oakland yesterday afternoon. The ceremony that united them as they stood at the site of the newly-completed Park Street Bridge symbolized the uniting of the two cities by the huge structure. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It was a huge party. There was a parade, marathon runners from oakland, and the mayors of the two towns clasped hands as hundreds came out to see the new bridge. The same one that stands today. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Today, there are 14 bridge tenders that work the Alameda bridges, and they switch between all 6 of the bridges. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When I go to visit the High Street Bridge, Vincent Cerletti is the bridge tender on duty. He’s wearing orange alameda county coveralls, and a psychedelic trucker hat for a disc golf supply company. This bridge sees less traffic, so has a calmer vibe.. Across the water I can see houseboats bobbing up and down. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Vincent Cerletti:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> There’s a lot going on out there. It’s peaceful. The birds. Oh man. When you get these huge flocks that come flying in here and settle into the estuary, it’s like a, like a painting.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Vincent has been a bridge tender for more than ten years. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Vincent Cerletti:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s the first regular thing that I got into that gave me a stability working for the county, which has been awesome. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And he’s seen some things. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Vincent Cerletti:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Like a guy with a couch once came down with a, a, you know, like the small little trolling motor on the back? I think he was floating on, on a piece of a dock with a couch on it. A little motor. He’s fishing. He was having a good time. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He says that in order to be a bridge tender, you have to be ok with spending a lot of time by yourself.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Vincent Cerletti:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Some guys paint, paint, little, uh, pictures, you know, watercolors of the boats and stuff. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He says one bridge tender fixes electronics to pass the time. Vincent, likes to bring his Ukelele. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Vincent Cerletti:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Yeah. So I just, uh, yeah. Sit here and.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>(Ukelele Music)\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Vincent Cerletti: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And when you’re here on like, you know, Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve and Thanksgiving, I worked all those holidays this year. I dunno, you gotta have somewhat of a little hobby to pass the time. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Do you ever feel lonely? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Vincent Cerletti:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Sure. Yeah, it’s kind of hard to have a relationship if you’re doing graveyards, you know, seven nights of the month and you’re on swing shift. So you take off at two o’clock and get home at 11. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Being a bridge tender can be tough, but its also rewarding. Here’s Damon, the bridge tender we heard from in the beginning. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Damon Wallace: \u003c/b>It’s honest work. It’s, uh, and it’s kind of a special thing, these sort of infrastructure, this kind of machinery, this sort of job. It, it does. There’s not a lot of it left, and, uh, I’m proud to be part of it. I am.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">He says he’s started to bring his kids to work. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> That was KQED’s Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">If you want to learn more about Alameda, including how it isn’t actually a natural island – hit up our show notes where we’ve linked some other Bay Curious episodes you might enjoy.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Bay Curious is gearing up for KQED Fest – an all-day open house at KQED’s headquarters in San Francisco. It’s a block party with educational activities, live music, food, and more! I’ll be doing a fireside chat about how we make Bay Curious at 11:15 a.m. Tickets are free, but you do need to register. You can do it at \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"http://kqed.org/live\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">KQED.org/live\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Bay Curious is made by Christopher Beale, Katrina Schwartz and me Olivia Allen-Price.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We get extra support from Katie Sprenger, Maha Sanad, Jen Chien, Ethan Toven-Lindsey and everyone on Team KQED.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Our show is made in San Francisco at member-supported KQED. Big thanks to all our members out there who help keep Bay Curious going. If you aren’t a member yet – please consider joining at \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"http://kqed.org/donate\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">KQED.org/donate\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’m Olivia Allen-Price. Have a good one. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/oakland-police-department\">Oakland police\u003c/a> fatally shot a man in the Webster neighborhood on Monday afternoon, according to a spokesperson for the department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just before 4 p.m., the Oakland Police Department said it responded to multiple reports from residents in the area of Auseon Avenue and Olive Street, who said the man was standing in the street, pointing a handgun at pedestrians and motorists.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officers found the man a block west and said he pointed a firearm at them as they approached. He continued moving west, to a yard on the next street, and again pointed his firearm at officers, according to OPD.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Multiple officers then shot him, according to interim Police Chief James Beere. He was taken to a hospital, where he died.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officers “were able to initially make contact with the suspect, but as said, he ended up pointing the firearm at the police officers as well, at which point they discharged their firearms and struck the suspect,” Beere told reporters on Monday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not clear how many officers fired at the man, or whether he discharged his weapon. OPD said those involved will be placed on paid administrative leave.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The department has launched a criminal and administrative investigation, and the Alameda County district attorney’s office and Community Police Review Agency are conducting their own.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Monday’s shooting was the first by Oakland police so far this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/oakland-police-department\">Oakland police\u003c/a> fatally shot a man in the Webster neighborhood on Monday afternoon, according to a spokesperson for the department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just before 4 p.m., the Oakland Police Department said it responded to multiple reports from residents in the area of Auseon Avenue and Olive Street, who said the man was standing in the street, pointing a handgun at pedestrians and motorists.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officers found the man a block west and said he pointed a firearm at them as they approached. He continued moving west, to a yard on the next street, and again pointed his firearm at officers, according to OPD.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Multiple officers then shot him, according to interim Police Chief James Beere. He was taken to a hospital, where he died.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officers “were able to initially make contact with the suspect, but as said, he ended up pointing the firearm at the police officers as well, at which point they discharged their firearms and struck the suspect,” Beere told reporters on Monday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not clear how many officers fired at the man, or whether he discharged his weapon. OPD said those involved will be placed on paid administrative leave.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The department has launched a criminal and administrative investigation, and the Alameda County district attorney’s office and Community Police Review Agency are conducting their own.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Monday’s shooting was the first by Oakland police so far this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "oakland-laborers-allege-over-300000-in-wage-theft-at-public-housing-redevelopment",
"title": "Oakland Laborers Allege Over $300,000 in Wage Theft at Public Housing Redevelopment",
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"content": "\u003cp>In East Oakland, several construction workers allege that they are owed more than $300,000 in total wages for their roofing \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/labor\">labor\u003c/a> on a large, publicly funded affordable housing development.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Partially funded by the Oakland Housing Authority, the renovation project took place last year at Lion Creek Crossings, which has hundreds of affordable housing units near the Coliseum BART station.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At least 21 workers said that they were underpaid for weeks, and in some cases months, by Milestone Roofing, a subcontractor of Alameda-based Saarman Construction Ltd. Since last October, more than 10 of those laborers have filed complaints with the California Labor Commissioner’s Office to try to recover pay, according to a legal aid group assisting them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At a press conference on Monday, organized by the nonprofit Trabajadores Unidos Workers United, some of the workers said they struggled to support their families and were forced to deplete their savings while receiving partial or no paychecks from Milestone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was extremely difficult when rent came due — especially when it came to paying for gas just to get to work,” said Jesus Martinez, 32, in Spanish. “At the same time, it was incredibly frustrating not having an income — particularly because I was dependent on this job.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Martinez, the father of a 9-year-old girl, estimates his due wages at $18,000.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12081538\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12081538\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260427-CONSTRUCTIONWORKERS-22-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260427-CONSTRUCTIONWORKERS-22-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260427-CONSTRUCTIONWORKERS-22-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260427-CONSTRUCTIONWORKERS-22-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Construction workers and supporters march through Oakland to the Lion Creek Crossings, an affordable housing complex, on April 27, 2026, as part of a demonstration calling for more than $300,000 in unpaid wages from Bay Area contractors Milestone Roofing and Saarman Construction. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>His father, 54-year-old Eusebio Martinez, a foreman in the project, said he himself lost sleep and saw his diabetes worsen because of the alleged wage theft. Despite fielding questions from other roofers who were not receiving their full paychecks, Martinez said he got no clear answers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The stress made me sick…. I had such severe anxiety that the doctor prescribed medication for it,” said the elder Martinez, who has worked as a roofer for 25 years. “Wage theft is unfair; it is undignified. I felt frustrated. I had no money to bring home.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As part of Monday’s announcement, more than a dozen workers and supporters marched to Saarman’s offices to deliver a follow-up letter demanding they be properly paid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, a Milestone Roofing representative said the Tracy-based company is investigating the accuracy of the workers’ allegations.[aside postID=news_12046137 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250626-OAKLAND-DAY-LABORERS-MD-06-KQED.jpg']“Negotiations with Saarman Construction, the contracting party, are ongoing,” the spokesperson said, adding that the company is “not in a position to offer further comment” until those matters are settled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>General contractor Saarman Construction said the workers alleging underpayment were hired by its subcontractor Milestone Roofing, not Saarman. The construction firm, founded more than 40 years ago, said that it’s also reviewing the allegations against Milestone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We take wage compliance on all our projects seriously and expect all our subcontractors to do the same,” the company said. “We are working to verify the facts and are engaging with counsel for the workers to address their claims.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A spokesperson with the Labor Commissioner’s Office, which is tasked with enforcing labor laws, confirmed it has received complaints involving Saarman Construction and Milestone Roofing, but declined to comment further.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The roofers worked in two phases of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.relatedcalifornia.com/our-company/properties/lion-creek-crossings\">Lion Creek Crossings\u003c/a> project, involving 261 affordable housing units at the site of an older public housing complex called Coliseum Gardens. The transit-oriented development now features a large public park and community center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alexx Campbell, a senior staff attorney with Legal Aid at Work who represents some of the roofers claiming unpaid wages, said the city referred their query to the project’s private developer, Related California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Campbell said that Related California seems to have deflected any responsibility to Saarman, which oversaw the project, and its subcontractor Milestone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12081535\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12081535\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260427-CONSTRUCTIONWORKERS-06-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260427-CONSTRUCTIONWORKERS-06-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260427-CONSTRUCTIONWORKERS-06-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260427-CONSTRUCTIONWORKERS-06-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Construction workers and supporters march through Oakland to the Lion Creek Crossings, an affordable housing complex, on April 27, 2026, as part of a demonstration calling for more than $300,000 in unpaid wages from Bay Area contractors Milestone Roofing and Saarman Construction. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>He added that the workers, undertaking difficult and often dangerous roofing tasks, were entitled to a prevailing wage of $74.78 per hour that they failed to receive. Employers in public works projects are required to pay \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/public-works/prevailing-wage.html\">prevailing wage\u003c/a> rates set by state regulators, which are higher than the minimum wage for all other workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Campbell pointed to the publicly funded nature of the project, saying that “it used taxpayer money, and when that happens, it’s even more important that the employers who hire workers to work on that kind of project follow the law.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Oakland Housing Authority said in a statement that projects like Lion Creek Crossings provide meaningful job opportunities for Oakland workers and hundreds of affordable homes, adding that its development partners hire construction firms that operate separately from the housing authority.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Oakland Housing Authority (OHA) takes concerns about wage compliance seriously and expects all contractors and subcontractors working on developments that receive public funding to follow all applicable labor laws,” the statement said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12081534\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12081534\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260427-CONSTRUCTIONWORKERS-01-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260427-CONSTRUCTIONWORKERS-01-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260427-CONSTRUCTIONWORKERS-01-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260427-CONSTRUCTIONWORKERS-01-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Construction workers and supporters march through Oakland to the Lion Creek Crossings, an affordable housing complex, on April 27, 2026, as part of a demonstration calling for more than $300,000 in unpaid wages from Bay Area contractors Milestone Roofing and Saarman Construction. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Saarman and Milestone have been involved in previous worker complaints, including other public works projects, Campbell said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2023, Saarman Construction agreed to pay a $150,000 settlement to resolve a 2018 lawsuit, filed in San Francisco Superior Court by three workers who alleged that the company failed to pay them and others both prevailing and overtime wages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I would think that the city of Oakland, the Oakland Housing Authority, would want to see workers on a project like this, on a public housing project, be paid properly,” Campbell said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "More than 20 workers said they received partial or no pay over the course of weeks and months, with one complainant estimating $18,000 owed for his roofing labor.",
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"title": "Oakland Laborers Allege Over $300,000 in Wage Theft at Public Housing Redevelopment | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>In East Oakland, several construction workers allege that they are owed more than $300,000 in total wages for their roofing \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/labor\">labor\u003c/a> on a large, publicly funded affordable housing development.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Partially funded by the Oakland Housing Authority, the renovation project took place last year at Lion Creek Crossings, which has hundreds of affordable housing units near the Coliseum BART station.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At least 21 workers said that they were underpaid for weeks, and in some cases months, by Milestone Roofing, a subcontractor of Alameda-based Saarman Construction Ltd. Since last October, more than 10 of those laborers have filed complaints with the California Labor Commissioner’s Office to try to recover pay, according to a legal aid group assisting them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At a press conference on Monday, organized by the nonprofit Trabajadores Unidos Workers United, some of the workers said they struggled to support their families and were forced to deplete their savings while receiving partial or no paychecks from Milestone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was extremely difficult when rent came due — especially when it came to paying for gas just to get to work,” said Jesus Martinez, 32, in Spanish. “At the same time, it was incredibly frustrating not having an income — particularly because I was dependent on this job.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Martinez, the father of a 9-year-old girl, estimates his due wages at $18,000.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12081538\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12081538\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260427-CONSTRUCTIONWORKERS-22-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260427-CONSTRUCTIONWORKERS-22-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260427-CONSTRUCTIONWORKERS-22-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260427-CONSTRUCTIONWORKERS-22-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Construction workers and supporters march through Oakland to the Lion Creek Crossings, an affordable housing complex, on April 27, 2026, as part of a demonstration calling for more than $300,000 in unpaid wages from Bay Area contractors Milestone Roofing and Saarman Construction. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>His father, 54-year-old Eusebio Martinez, a foreman in the project, said he himself lost sleep and saw his diabetes worsen because of the alleged wage theft. Despite fielding questions from other roofers who were not receiving their full paychecks, Martinez said he got no clear answers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The stress made me sick…. I had such severe anxiety that the doctor prescribed medication for it,” said the elder Martinez, who has worked as a roofer for 25 years. “Wage theft is unfair; it is undignified. I felt frustrated. I had no money to bring home.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As part of Monday’s announcement, more than a dozen workers and supporters marched to Saarman’s offices to deliver a follow-up letter demanding they be properly paid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, a Milestone Roofing representative said the Tracy-based company is investigating the accuracy of the workers’ allegations.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“Negotiations with Saarman Construction, the contracting party, are ongoing,” the spokesperson said, adding that the company is “not in a position to offer further comment” until those matters are settled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>General contractor Saarman Construction said the workers alleging underpayment were hired by its subcontractor Milestone Roofing, not Saarman. The construction firm, founded more than 40 years ago, said that it’s also reviewing the allegations against Milestone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We take wage compliance on all our projects seriously and expect all our subcontractors to do the same,” the company said. “We are working to verify the facts and are engaging with counsel for the workers to address their claims.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A spokesperson with the Labor Commissioner’s Office, which is tasked with enforcing labor laws, confirmed it has received complaints involving Saarman Construction and Milestone Roofing, but declined to comment further.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The roofers worked in two phases of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.relatedcalifornia.com/our-company/properties/lion-creek-crossings\">Lion Creek Crossings\u003c/a> project, involving 261 affordable housing units at the site of an older public housing complex called Coliseum Gardens. The transit-oriented development now features a large public park and community center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alexx Campbell, a senior staff attorney with Legal Aid at Work who represents some of the roofers claiming unpaid wages, said the city referred their query to the project’s private developer, Related California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Campbell said that Related California seems to have deflected any responsibility to Saarman, which oversaw the project, and its subcontractor Milestone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12081535\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12081535\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260427-CONSTRUCTIONWORKERS-06-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260427-CONSTRUCTIONWORKERS-06-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260427-CONSTRUCTIONWORKERS-06-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260427-CONSTRUCTIONWORKERS-06-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Construction workers and supporters march through Oakland to the Lion Creek Crossings, an affordable housing complex, on April 27, 2026, as part of a demonstration calling for more than $300,000 in unpaid wages from Bay Area contractors Milestone Roofing and Saarman Construction. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>He added that the workers, undertaking difficult and often dangerous roofing tasks, were entitled to a prevailing wage of $74.78 per hour that they failed to receive. Employers in public works projects are required to pay \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/public-works/prevailing-wage.html\">prevailing wage\u003c/a> rates set by state regulators, which are higher than the minimum wage for all other workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Campbell pointed to the publicly funded nature of the project, saying that “it used taxpayer money, and when that happens, it’s even more important that the employers who hire workers to work on that kind of project follow the law.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Oakland Housing Authority said in a statement that projects like Lion Creek Crossings provide meaningful job opportunities for Oakland workers and hundreds of affordable homes, adding that its development partners hire construction firms that operate separately from the housing authority.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Oakland Housing Authority (OHA) takes concerns about wage compliance seriously and expects all contractors and subcontractors working on developments that receive public funding to follow all applicable labor laws,” the statement said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12081534\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12081534\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260427-CONSTRUCTIONWORKERS-01-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260427-CONSTRUCTIONWORKERS-01-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260427-CONSTRUCTIONWORKERS-01-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260427-CONSTRUCTIONWORKERS-01-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Construction workers and supporters march through Oakland to the Lion Creek Crossings, an affordable housing complex, on April 27, 2026, as part of a demonstration calling for more than $300,000 in unpaid wages from Bay Area contractors Milestone Roofing and Saarman Construction. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Saarman and Milestone have been involved in previous worker complaints, including other public works projects, Campbell said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2023, Saarman Construction agreed to pay a $150,000 settlement to resolve a 2018 lawsuit, filed in San Francisco Superior Court by three workers who alleged that the company failed to pay them and others both prevailing and overtime wages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I would think that the city of Oakland, the Oakland Housing Authority, would want to see workers on a project like this, on a public housing project, be paid properly,” Campbell said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "oakland-unified-has-no-plan-for-fiscal-solvency-top-alameda-county-schools-chief-warns",
"title": "Oakland Unified Has ‘No Plan’ for Financial Future, Top Alameda County Schools Chief Warns",
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"headTitle": "Oakland Unified Has ‘No Plan’ for Financial Future, Top Alameda County Schools Chief Warns | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>After Alameda County officials again called out \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/oakland-unified-school-district\">Oakland Unified School District\u003c/a> for lacking a long-term financial plan last week, dozens of district principals raised their own concerns in a letter to the school board on Friday, questioning its ability to govern the district effectively.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The letter, signed by more than 40 school leaders and sent to interim Superintendent Denise Saddler and the school board, urged the district to renew its search for a permanent superintendent and take up the issue of school closures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As educators, we are concerned that recent decisions — negotiated by Talent and Legal and supported by the Board — have neglected informed stakeholder input, sidelining important voices from across our system,” the letter reads. “We want to work in partnership with a superintendent and a board of directors who are unequivocally committed to creating the conditions that will foster the academic progress of our students, create transparency in decision-making, and achieve fiscal stability.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The letter comes after Alameda County Superintendent Alysse Castro offered sharp criticism of the district’s financial decision-making last week. On Thursday, Board President Jennifer Brouhard confirmed the board had delayed its search for a permanent superintendent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the district has said it is on track to balance its 2026-2027 budget, it still needs to identify tens of millions in cuts to bridge a significant shortfall. Long term, Castro said, OUSD lacks a plan for stability.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The district appears to have moved directly to balancing the budget with a series of cuts, without the intermediary step of adopting a coherent fiscal solvency plan,” Castro wrote. “While much better than inaction in the face of insolvency, a series of cuts is not the same thing as a plan for fiscal solvency.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12037997\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12037997\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250428-OUSD-OFFICE-FILE-MD-01-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250428-OUSD-OFFICE-FILE-MD-01-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250428-OUSD-OFFICE-FILE-MD-01-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250428-OUSD-OFFICE-FILE-MD-01-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250428-OUSD-OFFICE-FILE-MD-01-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250428-OUSD-OFFICE-FILE-MD-01-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250428-OUSD-OFFICE-FILE-MD-01-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Oakland Unified School District Offices in Oakland on April 28, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The principals echoed this concern, noting that 70% of OUSD students currently read below grade level.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If the district is unable to adopt a balanced budget for the 2026-2027 fiscal year, we will face additional reductions that will not allow us to combat our academic gaps,” the letter reads. It goes on to call the district’s current “stabilization strategy” — which relies on redistributing some supplemental funds to cover more standard expenses — “an example of flawed short-term, hasty decision-making.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last summer, OUSD exited state oversight, more than 20 years after it declared bankruptcy and was bailed out by a $100 million loan from the state. But even before the district officially regained local control, county officials began warning that the school board needed to make long-term financial changes in the face of a budget crisis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In recent years, the district has plugged growing budget holes through rounds of short-term budget cuts and spending down reserve funds from more than $115 million in 2025 to just under $30 million this spring. Without about $93 million in cuts over the next two school years, which Castro said in her letter, OUSD has yet to identify, the district’s fund balance could dip into the negative in the coming years. [aside postID=news_12067547 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250428-OUSD-OFFICE-FILE-MD-04_qed.jpg']Castro said that OUSD has made “major financial decisions — like layoffs, budget cuts, and labor agreements — without fully knowing or showing their total cost. Because of this, there is no single clear picture of the district’s finances right now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since February, the district has approved plans to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12074794/oakland-schools-teachers-union-reach-deal-avert-strike\">cut nearly 400 staff positions\u003c/a> through early retirement buyouts, elimination of vacant positions, and layoffs for an estimated savings of about $11 million annually. It also reached new contract agreements with its two largest labor unions, the Service Employees International Union and the Oakland Education Association, which could add tens of millions of dollars to its payroll.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district agreed to 11% raises for most educators, as well as other demands like class size caps, to avert a potential strike. OUSD has estimated that the raises could cost more than $55 million alone. Board member Mike Hutchinson believes that the SEIU deal will cost another $17 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, he said, “it’s true that it still hasn’t been fully costed out.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It is not the first time the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12055977/ousd-just-got-control-of-its-finances-back-from-the-state-its-already-in-major-trouble\">county superintendent has told OUSD in writing \u003c/a>that patterns of dysfunction could drive it back into receivership. For years, she and district officials have warned that it — like many across the state and Bay Area — needs to make significant changes to its year-over-year spending, as enrollment declines and operational and personnel costs rise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since 2023, the school board has directed district officials to come up with three different budget balancing plans to eliminate its structural deficit, which has included possible school closures, resource consolidations and staff reductions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12042892\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12042892\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-026_qed-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-026_qed-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-026_qed-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-026_qed-1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-026_qed-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-026_qed-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-026_qed-1-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Oakland Unified School District Board listens to public comment during a meeting at La Escuelita Elementary School in Oakland, California, on Dec. 11, 2024. Students, families, educators, and community members raised their concerns about a proposed merger of their schools. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>None of those initiatives have been implemented. In 2023, the board reversed a plan to close schools; in 2024, it failed to take any action on another merger proposal; and last year, it reneged on $95 million in ongoing budget cuts through layoffs and service reductions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The district has a pattern of initiating and discontinuing major planning efforts,” Castro wrote. “The absence of a stable, consistently implemented plan undermines long-term fiscal stability and community trust.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In their letter, the principals said that the district “can no longer afford to postpone difficult decisions,” including about how many schools it operates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a rare and unpopular move, they called on the school board to take up the issue of school closures directly: “The experts have been clear with us: we operate too many schools for a district of 33,755 students … If we neglect this work, we will continuously starve our schools of the resources we need,” they wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12029339\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12029339\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-013_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-013_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-013_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-013_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-013_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-013_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-013_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Alexandria Poole, right, comforts Navie Davis, left, as she becomes emotional while making a public comment to the Oakland Unified School District Board about a proposed merger during a meeting at La Escuelita Elementary School in Oakland, California, on Dec. 11, 2024. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The principals also noted in their letter that they had not received any update on the permanent superintendent search or that it had been delayed, despite the board seemingly reaching that decision months ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In a time of transition and fiscal crisis, hiring leadership with a depth of experience in fiscal crisis management is tantamount,” the school administrators wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12037315/oakland-school-board-votes-remove-superintendent-sparking-worries-instability\">longtime superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell\u003c/a> departed the district suddenly, seemingly forced out two years before her contract was set to end. In the fall, the district’s top budget officer, Lisa Grant-Dawson, resigned days after interim Superintendent Denise Saddler — backed by the teachers’ union and a slim board majority — appeared to undermine her budget-balancing proposal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district originally planned to hire a new permanent superintendent before next fall, and contracted with a search firm in November, but that plan has stalled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12041367\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12041367\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-18_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1316\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-18_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-18_qed-800x526.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-18_qed-1020x671.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-18_qed-160x105.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-18_qed-1536x1011.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-18_qed-1920x1263.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oakland Unified School District board president, Jennifer Brouhard, speaks during a meeting at Metwest High School in Oakland on April 23, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Board President Jennifer Brouhard said the board now plans to begin its recruitment process next fall, ahead of the 2027-2028 school year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Brouhard, when the board began discussing the superintendent search in January, “most of us felt that we really needed to pay attention to the budget work,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“No work was done, no money has been paid for the work [to] the search firm for the superintendent search,” Brouhard continued. “Hopefully, we’ll be resuming that in the early part of the fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Saddler’s current contract expires in June of this year and is likely to be extended.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Castro also pointed to conflicts among the school board as adding to district instability: “Recent board actions related to fiscal oversight have frequently been decided by narrow 4-3 votes, reflecting a significant divide on key decisions.”[aside postID=news_12078453 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260402-OakTeacherHousing-32-BL_qed.jpg']A four-member majority aligned with the teacher’s union has voted together on key decisions last year, including removing Johnson-Trammell as superintendent, hiring \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12042255/oaklands-school-board-picks-crisis-tested-leader-as-interim-superintendent\">Saddler in May\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12064579/oaklands-school-district-must-cut-100-million-its-proposed-plan-doesnt-get-close\">adding strict guidelines\u003c/a> around the district’s budgeting process. That majority includes Brouhard as well as Vice President Valarie Bachelor, Rachel Latta and VanCedric Williams.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are poised to be the first district anyone’s ever heard of to regain local control and then lose it again within a year,” Hutchinson said. “If we don’t pass a balanced budget, County Superintendent Castro and the state will have no option other than to step in and take over our finances.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Castro’s letter includes a “going concern notice,” which marks an escalation toward financial oversight. It places demands on the district by the end of the month, including that the district must encumber all of its contracts through June, update its expenditures and receivables, and submit two separate two-year cashflow projections from July of last year through June 2027 by the end of this month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It will also need to present a third interim financial report in June, prior to adopting its budget for next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a letter to the board of education Monday, Saddler said, “We take this notice seriously as we continue to develop and implement plans for improvement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, she said, the board has adopted a fiscal stabilization plan, and said the district was “building toward the long-range excellence plan Oakland’s children deserve.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "More than 40 Oakland school principals also joined the chorus Friday, calling on the district to make hard choices and pay its bills. ",
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"title": "Oakland Unified Has ‘No Plan’ for Financial Future, Top Alameda County Schools Chief Warns | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>After Alameda County officials again called out \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/oakland-unified-school-district\">Oakland Unified School District\u003c/a> for lacking a long-term financial plan last week, dozens of district principals raised their own concerns in a letter to the school board on Friday, questioning its ability to govern the district effectively.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The letter, signed by more than 40 school leaders and sent to interim Superintendent Denise Saddler and the school board, urged the district to renew its search for a permanent superintendent and take up the issue of school closures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As educators, we are concerned that recent decisions — negotiated by Talent and Legal and supported by the Board — have neglected informed stakeholder input, sidelining important voices from across our system,” the letter reads. “We want to work in partnership with a superintendent and a board of directors who are unequivocally committed to creating the conditions that will foster the academic progress of our students, create transparency in decision-making, and achieve fiscal stability.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The letter comes after Alameda County Superintendent Alysse Castro offered sharp criticism of the district’s financial decision-making last week. On Thursday, Board President Jennifer Brouhard confirmed the board had delayed its search for a permanent superintendent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the district has said it is on track to balance its 2026-2027 budget, it still needs to identify tens of millions in cuts to bridge a significant shortfall. Long term, Castro said, OUSD lacks a plan for stability.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The district appears to have moved directly to balancing the budget with a series of cuts, without the intermediary step of adopting a coherent fiscal solvency plan,” Castro wrote. “While much better than inaction in the face of insolvency, a series of cuts is not the same thing as a plan for fiscal solvency.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12037997\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12037997\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250428-OUSD-OFFICE-FILE-MD-01-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250428-OUSD-OFFICE-FILE-MD-01-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250428-OUSD-OFFICE-FILE-MD-01-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250428-OUSD-OFFICE-FILE-MD-01-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250428-OUSD-OFFICE-FILE-MD-01-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250428-OUSD-OFFICE-FILE-MD-01-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250428-OUSD-OFFICE-FILE-MD-01-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Oakland Unified School District Offices in Oakland on April 28, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The principals echoed this concern, noting that 70% of OUSD students currently read below grade level.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If the district is unable to adopt a balanced budget for the 2026-2027 fiscal year, we will face additional reductions that will not allow us to combat our academic gaps,” the letter reads. It goes on to call the district’s current “stabilization strategy” — which relies on redistributing some supplemental funds to cover more standard expenses — “an example of flawed short-term, hasty decision-making.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last summer, OUSD exited state oversight, more than 20 years after it declared bankruptcy and was bailed out by a $100 million loan from the state. But even before the district officially regained local control, county officials began warning that the school board needed to make long-term financial changes in the face of a budget crisis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In recent years, the district has plugged growing budget holes through rounds of short-term budget cuts and spending down reserve funds from more than $115 million in 2025 to just under $30 million this spring. Without about $93 million in cuts over the next two school years, which Castro said in her letter, OUSD has yet to identify, the district’s fund balance could dip into the negative in the coming years. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Castro said that OUSD has made “major financial decisions — like layoffs, budget cuts, and labor agreements — without fully knowing or showing their total cost. Because of this, there is no single clear picture of the district’s finances right now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since February, the district has approved plans to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12074794/oakland-schools-teachers-union-reach-deal-avert-strike\">cut nearly 400 staff positions\u003c/a> through early retirement buyouts, elimination of vacant positions, and layoffs for an estimated savings of about $11 million annually. It also reached new contract agreements with its two largest labor unions, the Service Employees International Union and the Oakland Education Association, which could add tens of millions of dollars to its payroll.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district agreed to 11% raises for most educators, as well as other demands like class size caps, to avert a potential strike. OUSD has estimated that the raises could cost more than $55 million alone. Board member Mike Hutchinson believes that the SEIU deal will cost another $17 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, he said, “it’s true that it still hasn’t been fully costed out.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It is not the first time the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12055977/ousd-just-got-control-of-its-finances-back-from-the-state-its-already-in-major-trouble\">county superintendent has told OUSD in writing \u003c/a>that patterns of dysfunction could drive it back into receivership. For years, she and district officials have warned that it — like many across the state and Bay Area — needs to make significant changes to its year-over-year spending, as enrollment declines and operational and personnel costs rise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since 2023, the school board has directed district officials to come up with three different budget balancing plans to eliminate its structural deficit, which has included possible school closures, resource consolidations and staff reductions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12042892\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12042892\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-026_qed-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-026_qed-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-026_qed-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-026_qed-1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-026_qed-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-026_qed-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-026_qed-1-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Oakland Unified School District Board listens to public comment during a meeting at La Escuelita Elementary School in Oakland, California, on Dec. 11, 2024. Students, families, educators, and community members raised their concerns about a proposed merger of their schools. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>None of those initiatives have been implemented. In 2023, the board reversed a plan to close schools; in 2024, it failed to take any action on another merger proposal; and last year, it reneged on $95 million in ongoing budget cuts through layoffs and service reductions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The district has a pattern of initiating and discontinuing major planning efforts,” Castro wrote. “The absence of a stable, consistently implemented plan undermines long-term fiscal stability and community trust.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In their letter, the principals said that the district “can no longer afford to postpone difficult decisions,” including about how many schools it operates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a rare and unpopular move, they called on the school board to take up the issue of school closures directly: “The experts have been clear with us: we operate too many schools for a district of 33,755 students … If we neglect this work, we will continuously starve our schools of the resources we need,” they wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12029339\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12029339\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-013_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-013_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-013_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-013_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-013_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-013_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-013_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Alexandria Poole, right, comforts Navie Davis, left, as she becomes emotional while making a public comment to the Oakland Unified School District Board about a proposed merger during a meeting at La Escuelita Elementary School in Oakland, California, on Dec. 11, 2024. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The principals also noted in their letter that they had not received any update on the permanent superintendent search or that it had been delayed, despite the board seemingly reaching that decision months ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In a time of transition and fiscal crisis, hiring leadership with a depth of experience in fiscal crisis management is tantamount,” the school administrators wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12037315/oakland-school-board-votes-remove-superintendent-sparking-worries-instability\">longtime superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell\u003c/a> departed the district suddenly, seemingly forced out two years before her contract was set to end. In the fall, the district’s top budget officer, Lisa Grant-Dawson, resigned days after interim Superintendent Denise Saddler — backed by the teachers’ union and a slim board majority — appeared to undermine her budget-balancing proposal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district originally planned to hire a new permanent superintendent before next fall, and contracted with a search firm in November, but that plan has stalled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12041367\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12041367\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-18_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1316\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-18_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-18_qed-800x526.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-18_qed-1020x671.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-18_qed-160x105.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-18_qed-1536x1011.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-18_qed-1920x1263.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oakland Unified School District board president, Jennifer Brouhard, speaks during a meeting at Metwest High School in Oakland on April 23, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Board President Jennifer Brouhard said the board now plans to begin its recruitment process next fall, ahead of the 2027-2028 school year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Brouhard, when the board began discussing the superintendent search in January, “most of us felt that we really needed to pay attention to the budget work,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“No work was done, no money has been paid for the work [to] the search firm for the superintendent search,” Brouhard continued. “Hopefully, we’ll be resuming that in the early part of the fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Saddler’s current contract expires in June of this year and is likely to be extended.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Castro also pointed to conflicts among the school board as adding to district instability: “Recent board actions related to fiscal oversight have frequently been decided by narrow 4-3 votes, reflecting a significant divide on key decisions.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>A four-member majority aligned with the teacher’s union has voted together on key decisions last year, including removing Johnson-Trammell as superintendent, hiring \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12042255/oaklands-school-board-picks-crisis-tested-leader-as-interim-superintendent\">Saddler in May\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12064579/oaklands-school-district-must-cut-100-million-its-proposed-plan-doesnt-get-close\">adding strict guidelines\u003c/a> around the district’s budgeting process. That majority includes Brouhard as well as Vice President Valarie Bachelor, Rachel Latta and VanCedric Williams.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are poised to be the first district anyone’s ever heard of to regain local control and then lose it again within a year,” Hutchinson said. “If we don’t pass a balanced budget, County Superintendent Castro and the state will have no option other than to step in and take over our finances.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Castro’s letter includes a “going concern notice,” which marks an escalation toward financial oversight. It places demands on the district by the end of the month, including that the district must encumber all of its contracts through June, update its expenditures and receivables, and submit two separate two-year cashflow projections from July of last year through June 2027 by the end of this month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It will also need to present a third interim financial report in June, prior to adopting its budget for next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a letter to the board of education Monday, Saddler said, “We take this notice seriously as we continue to develop and implement plans for improvement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, she said, the board has adopted a fiscal stabilization plan, and said the district was “building toward the long-range excellence plan Oakland’s children deserve.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Public defenders across \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california\">California\u003c/a> wore all black on Thursday to call attention to what they said is a chronic underfunding of their service.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Standing on the steps of the Alameda Courthouse, the county’s top public defender, Brendon Woods, called the current lack of resources for public defenders “a constitutional crisis.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When a judge is able to dictate what our workload should be as public defenders, in my mind, the right to counsel is effectively dead,” Woods said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Attorneys gathered on the steps of the Alameda Courthouse dressed in all black, holding signs depicting a torn image of Clarence Earl Gideon, a man accused of felony breaking and entering in Florida state court in 1961.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After being denied legal counsel and being forced to represent himself, Gideon’s appeal made it to the Supreme Court, solidifying a defendant’s right to be provided a lawyer if they can’t afford one in state felony cases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The right to counsel is protected in the Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since 2023, the public defender’s office reported a 44% increase in new felony files in 2025 — from 3,266 to 4,708.[aside postID=news_12077413 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250224-SFPD-POLICE-COMMISSIONER-PROTEST-MD-23-1020x680.jpg']Across the Bay Area, public defenders have reported that the number of criminal cases filed has been steadily rising, while their offices’ budgets have not.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tensions came to a head in San Francisco last month when Public Defender Mano Raju was \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12075775/san-francisco-public-defender-faces-contempt-charges-after-refusing-new-cases\">held in contempt of court\u003c/a> after refusing to take on new cases one day a week starting last May, citing understaffing and a lack of adequate resources to provide due process. Raju is facing a fine of $26,000 and plans to appeal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Raju’s office highlighted a recent study linking excessive workloads with a violation of court ethics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Woods said he asked the Alameda County Board of Supervisors for more lawyers, investigators and support staff. According to the 2023 National Public Defense Workload Study, Alameda County Superior Court would need to add an additional 104 attorneys to meet the study’s staffing benchmarks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our clients are suffering more, and nobody seems to be listening,” Alameda Chief Assistant Public Defender Aundrea Brown said on Thursday, dressed in all black. “It’s not an ‘us versus them’. If they suffer, we all suffer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Courts in other California cities are experiencing similar strains, including Los Angeles, San Diego and Sacramento.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Public defenders across \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california\">California\u003c/a> wore all black on Thursday to call attention to what they said is a chronic underfunding of their service.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Standing on the steps of the Alameda Courthouse, the county’s top public defender, Brendon Woods, called the current lack of resources for public defenders “a constitutional crisis.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When a judge is able to dictate what our workload should be as public defenders, in my mind, the right to counsel is effectively dead,” Woods said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Attorneys gathered on the steps of the Alameda Courthouse dressed in all black, holding signs depicting a torn image of Clarence Earl Gideon, a man accused of felony breaking and entering in Florida state court in 1961.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After being denied legal counsel and being forced to represent himself, Gideon’s appeal made it to the Supreme Court, solidifying a defendant’s right to be provided a lawyer if they can’t afford one in state felony cases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The right to counsel is protected in the Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since 2023, the public defender’s office reported a 44% increase in new felony files in 2025 — from 3,266 to 4,708.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Across the Bay Area, public defenders have reported that the number of criminal cases filed has been steadily rising, while their offices’ budgets have not.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tensions came to a head in San Francisco last month when Public Defender Mano Raju was \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12075775/san-francisco-public-defender-faces-contempt-charges-after-refusing-new-cases\">held in contempt of court\u003c/a> after refusing to take on new cases one day a week starting last May, citing understaffing and a lack of adequate resources to provide due process. Raju is facing a fine of $26,000 and plans to appeal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Raju’s office highlighted a recent study linking excessive workloads with a violation of court ethics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Woods said he asked the Alameda County Board of Supervisors for more lawyers, investigators and support staff. According to the 2023 National Public Defense Workload Study, Alameda County Superior Court would need to add an additional 104 attorneys to meet the study’s staffing benchmarks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our clients are suffering more, and nobody seems to be listening,” Alameda Chief Assistant Public Defender Aundrea Brown said on Thursday, dressed in all black. “It’s not an ‘us versus them’. If they suffer, we all suffer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Courts in other California cities are experiencing similar strains, including Los Angeles, San Diego and Sacramento.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "alameda-county-da-encourages-potential-eric-swalwell-victims-to-come-forward",
"title": "Alameda County DA Encourages Potential Eric Swalwell Victims to Come Forward",
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"content": "\u003cp>Alameda County District Attorney \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/ursula-jones-dickson\">Ursula Jones Dickson\u003c/a> said her office is ready to assist any potential victims of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12079583/eric-swalwell-ends-california-governor-campaign-after-sexual-assault-allegations\">sexual assault by former East Bay Rep. Eric Swalwell\u003c/a>, but that none have reached out so far.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s my job as DA to protect the rights of victims with everything that I have, so here’s what I need victims of sexual assault to know: You have agency,” Jones Dickson said during a Thursday press conference. “It is unfortunate that you have had to suffer this level of violence, but you have power and agency to make choices about what you do now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Swalwell was a top contender in the California governor’s race until multiple women came forward earlier this month to accuse him of sexual assault in reports published by the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/eric-swalwell-allegations-22198271.php\">\u003cem>San Francisco Chronicle\u003c/em>\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/10/us/eric-swalwell-sexual-misconduct-allegations-invs\">CNN\u003c/a>. One of the alleged assaults reportedly took place in Alameda County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Swalwell denied the accusations and vowed to fight them, but ended his candidacy and resigned from Congress soon after.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Prior to his career in politics, Swalwell worked as a prosecutor in the Alameda County District Attorney’s office, overlapping with Jones Dickson.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you don’t have a victim, you don’t have a case,” Jones Dickson said. But she added that her office would not proactively seek out victims to try to get them to testify because of both legal and ethical concerns.[aside postID=news_12079583 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/GettyImages-2208703970-1020x680.jpg']“There are people that I know personally very well who have just been able to say out loud that they’re the victims of sexual assault after 30 years. So I don’t feel like we have the right to judge how people do what,” Jones Dickson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jones Dickson encouraged victims to speak to a professional and pointed them to the county’s Trauma Recovery Center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If they feel the level of comfort to come at least to the Trauma Recovery Center, to call their therapist, to talk to a medical provider, to talk to a lawyer — it doesn’t have to be the DA’s office — to talk to law enforcement in another jurisdiction, there are all kinds of ways to start that process,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The county prosecutor also warned the public against calling “random hotlines” soliciting the stories of Swalwell’s potential victims. Her comment came as recalled Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price launched a hotline for Swalwell’s victims, alongside a \u003ca href=\"https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5833973-jeanine-pirro-doj-tip-line-swalwell-allegations-dc/\">separate tip line\u003c/a> launched by U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Just know that the information you provide to any hotline that is not a law enforcement hotline is not confidential. Your name is not confidential. That information is not confidential and is not coming to a law enforcement organization for purposes of report,” Jones Dickson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"title": "Alameda County DA Encourages Potential Eric Swalwell Victims to Come Forward | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Alameda County District Attorney \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/ursula-jones-dickson\">Ursula Jones Dickson\u003c/a> said her office is ready to assist any potential victims of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12079583/eric-swalwell-ends-california-governor-campaign-after-sexual-assault-allegations\">sexual assault by former East Bay Rep. Eric Swalwell\u003c/a>, but that none have reached out so far.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s my job as DA to protect the rights of victims with everything that I have, so here’s what I need victims of sexual assault to know: You have agency,” Jones Dickson said during a Thursday press conference. “It is unfortunate that you have had to suffer this level of violence, but you have power and agency to make choices about what you do now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Swalwell was a top contender in the California governor’s race until multiple women came forward earlier this month to accuse him of sexual assault in reports published by the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/eric-swalwell-allegations-22198271.php\">\u003cem>San Francisco Chronicle\u003c/em>\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/10/us/eric-swalwell-sexual-misconduct-allegations-invs\">CNN\u003c/a>. One of the alleged assaults reportedly took place in Alameda County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Swalwell denied the accusations and vowed to fight them, but ended his candidacy and resigned from Congress soon after.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Prior to his career in politics, Swalwell worked as a prosecutor in the Alameda County District Attorney’s office, overlapping with Jones Dickson.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you don’t have a victim, you don’t have a case,” Jones Dickson said. But she added that her office would not proactively seek out victims to try to get them to testify because of both legal and ethical concerns.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“There are people that I know personally very well who have just been able to say out loud that they’re the victims of sexual assault after 30 years. So I don’t feel like we have the right to judge how people do what,” Jones Dickson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jones Dickson encouraged victims to speak to a professional and pointed them to the county’s Trauma Recovery Center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If they feel the level of comfort to come at least to the Trauma Recovery Center, to call their therapist, to talk to a medical provider, to talk to a lawyer — it doesn’t have to be the DA’s office — to talk to law enforcement in another jurisdiction, there are all kinds of ways to start that process,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The county prosecutor also warned the public against calling “random hotlines” soliciting the stories of Swalwell’s potential victims. Her comment came as recalled Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price launched a hotline for Swalwell’s victims, alongside a \u003ca href=\"https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5833973-jeanine-pirro-doj-tip-line-swalwell-allegations-dc/\">separate tip line\u003c/a> launched by U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Just know that the information you provide to any hotline that is not a law enforcement hotline is not confidential. Your name is not confidential. That information is not confidential and is not coming to a law enforcement organization for purposes of report,” Jones Dickson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Bay Area Nature Camp Wins Key Approval for New Home After Fighting ‘Bureaucracy and NIMBYism’",
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"content": "\u003cp>Alameda County Supervisors have approved an outdoor education program’s plan to build a permanent campsite for \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/bay-area\">Bay Area\u003c/a> school children in the rolling hills of Castro Valley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For 25 years, the Mosaic Project has been bringing tens of thousands of fourth and fifth graders from different backgrounds together for a week of learning in nature, renting land in Napa and Santa Cruz counties — locations that require long bus rides for the kids.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The organization spent $3 million and 10 years developing plans for a permanent home in Alameda County and hopes to serve up to 100 students per week, for about 130 days out of the year. It applied for a conditional land use permit to replace a former car storage building with cabins, a dining hall and staff residence on a piece of land off Cull Canyon Road.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>School leaders and parents praise its mission of teaching the students to resolve conflicts peacefully, and numerous students inspired by the experience come back as youth leaders or counselors. But the Oakland-based nonprofit faced an uncertain future due to fierce opposition by a small, but influential group of Castro Valley residents over its plans to establish the camp near their rural properties. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We give kids the experience of living in a welcoming, inclusive and joyful community. We’re the only ones that we know of that are doing this, and we’re in danger of not existing because of bureaucracy and NIMBYism,” Lara Mendel, co-founder of the project, said ahead of Thursday’s vote. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Board members voted 3-1 to allow the project to move forward. The only ‘no’ vote came from Nate Miley, the longtime supervisor who represents Castro Valley, an unincorporated community of 66,000 wedged between suburban sprawl and picturesque open spaces. Supporters of the outdoor recreation facility had questioned whether he can vote independently given that he appointed members of a municipal advisory council that unanimously rejected county staff recommendations to approve the project last August. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12080109\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 1014px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12080109\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260415-Mosaic-Project-02-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1014\" height=\"657\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260415-Mosaic-Project-02-KQED.jpg 1014w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260415-Mosaic-Project-02-KQED-160x104.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1014px) 100vw, 1014px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Mosaic Project’s proposed new facility would replace a former car storage building with cabins, a dining hall and staff residence on a piece of land off Cull Canyon Road in Castro Valley. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of the Mosaic Project)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The MAC has, I would say, not very diverse appointments, and amplifies a Castro Valley that I don’t think is Castro Valley writ large,” said Michael Kusiak, a school board member who wants to provide local students convenient access to the program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said the appointees overwhelmingly represent “legacy voices” in the community who want to preserve the status quo in Castro Valley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Those voices tend to get amplified a bit more than others, and that’s frustrating, particularly when you hear people make these comments that makes you go, ‘What are we really talking about here, people? Maybe you want to say what you really mean,’” he said. “I haven’t found the arguments against the project to be very credible.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Miley also nominated the majority of a five-member zoning board that voted against the proposal in December.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://alamedacounty.granicus.com/player/clip/9984?view_id=3&redirect=true\">At that meeting\u003c/a>, members of the governing board said they were worried the facility would increase traffic and wildfire danger in the boxed canyon, as well as strain the local water supply, which depends on wells.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At Thursday’s board meeting, Miley said he wasn’t convinced by expert assessments that the project met fire safety requirements. He also worried about putting children close to a winery where alcohol consumption is permitted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To me it’s important that I put authenticity on the people who have lived in the canyon, who have experienced these issues and concerns, not academically, not by study, but by everyday existence,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Teddy Seibert, vice-chair of the West County Board of Zoning Adjustments, recused herself from voting in the December meeting because she owns a winery that shares boundaries with the Mosaic Project’s property. But in a letter submitted to the board, she called the proposal “a thinly-veiled attempt at urban expansion.” Her husband, Keith Seibert, said in public comments that he feared losing the winery’s license to serve alcohol if a youth facility moved in next door.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12080113\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12080113\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260415-Mosaic-Project-06-KQED-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1706\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260415-Mosaic-Project-06-KQED-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260415-Mosaic-Project-06-KQED-2000x1333.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260415-Mosaic-Project-06-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260415-Mosaic-Project-06-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260415-Mosaic-Project-06-KQED-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">This rendering shows plans for the Mosaic Project’s proposed permanent home in Alameda County, which it hopes will serve up to 100 students per week, for about 130 days out of the year, at a proposed new permanent facility in Castro Valley. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of the Mosaic Project)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Chuck Shipman, a resident of the Sequoians nudist club at the end of the road, said: “I would kind of feel concerned if somebody comes in there and says, ‘Well, I don’t want my kids around a nudist resort.’ That would affect our business also.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another resident worried about additional noise from “100 fourth and fifth graders at an evening campfire or tromping through the hills collecting forest products.” Several others sought to redefine the program as a school, which would violate Measure D, a 26-year-old initiative Miley championed to restrict urban development in rural parts of Alameda County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, the Mosaic Project’s land use attorney, David Smith, said an environmental review and scientific studies by outside consultants have addressed these concerns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said the facility, which would cover just two acres of the 37-acre property, will be built with fire-resistant materials that would create a break in the canyon in the event of a conflagration. Water tanks at the site would be reserved for fire suppression that everyone in the canyon can use.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have put in exhaustive modeling from fire experts of all possible scenarios,” Smith said. “It’s undisputed that the wildfire risk for the canyon as a whole is materially improved with the project than without it.”[aside postID=news_12078183 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/031626_PINNACLESFORTHEDAY-_GH_040-KQED.jpg']Hydrologists also discovered a plentiful and drinkable water source on the site. As for the winery’s concern, Smith pointed out that a state law that refuses alcohol licenses for businesses near youth facilities doesn’t apply to those seeking a renewal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They herald [the Mosaic Project] but say it’s the wrong place for it, because a winery is the right place for parties but not for kids next door? That’s just hard to accept,” Smith said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Email messages seeking comments from the Seiberts, owners of the TwiningVine Estate Winery, have not been returned.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Grace Russell, an eighth grade student at Oakland School of the Arts, said the long rides to the Santa Cruz Mountains created “a lot of anticipating” when she went on her first-ever overnight camp with the Mosaic Project four years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think having Mosaic closer to where most of the schools are [located] would make a big impact because not only is it easier to get there, but then on the first day there’s more time for doing ‘get to know you’ activities, and there’s time on the last day for people to say their goodbyes,” Russell said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Russell plans to return to Mosaic in the fall as a youth leader.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a little bit hard to understand why people don’t want Mosaic in their community, just because of how much it helps people,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mendel said the rental locations also create unsustainable commutes for the staff, who mostly live in the East Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We go away for six weeks, and people give up their life for this,” she said. “We’ve lost amazing staff because they fall in love and they want a family and they can’t be leaving for six, seven weeks a session.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A permanent location in Castro Valley would keep the program going in the long term, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Alameda County Supervisors have approved an outdoor education program’s plan to build a permanent campsite for \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/bay-area\">Bay Area\u003c/a> school children in the rolling hills of Castro Valley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For 25 years, the Mosaic Project has been bringing tens of thousands of fourth and fifth graders from different backgrounds together for a week of learning in nature, renting land in Napa and Santa Cruz counties — locations that require long bus rides for the kids.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The organization spent $3 million and 10 years developing plans for a permanent home in Alameda County and hopes to serve up to 100 students per week, for about 130 days out of the year. It applied for a conditional land use permit to replace a former car storage building with cabins, a dining hall and staff residence on a piece of land off Cull Canyon Road.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>School leaders and parents praise its mission of teaching the students to resolve conflicts peacefully, and numerous students inspired by the experience come back as youth leaders or counselors. But the Oakland-based nonprofit faced an uncertain future due to fierce opposition by a small, but influential group of Castro Valley residents over its plans to establish the camp near their rural properties. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We give kids the experience of living in a welcoming, inclusive and joyful community. We’re the only ones that we know of that are doing this, and we’re in danger of not existing because of bureaucracy and NIMBYism,” Lara Mendel, co-founder of the project, said ahead of Thursday’s vote. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Board members voted 3-1 to allow the project to move forward. The only ‘no’ vote came from Nate Miley, the longtime supervisor who represents Castro Valley, an unincorporated community of 66,000 wedged between suburban sprawl and picturesque open spaces. Supporters of the outdoor recreation facility had questioned whether he can vote independently given that he appointed members of a municipal advisory council that unanimously rejected county staff recommendations to approve the project last August. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12080109\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 1014px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12080109\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260415-Mosaic-Project-02-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1014\" height=\"657\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260415-Mosaic-Project-02-KQED.jpg 1014w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260415-Mosaic-Project-02-KQED-160x104.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1014px) 100vw, 1014px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Mosaic Project’s proposed new facility would replace a former car storage building with cabins, a dining hall and staff residence on a piece of land off Cull Canyon Road in Castro Valley. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of the Mosaic Project)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The MAC has, I would say, not very diverse appointments, and amplifies a Castro Valley that I don’t think is Castro Valley writ large,” said Michael Kusiak, a school board member who wants to provide local students convenient access to the program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said the appointees overwhelmingly represent “legacy voices” in the community who want to preserve the status quo in Castro Valley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Those voices tend to get amplified a bit more than others, and that’s frustrating, particularly when you hear people make these comments that makes you go, ‘What are we really talking about here, people? Maybe you want to say what you really mean,’” he said. “I haven’t found the arguments against the project to be very credible.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Miley also nominated the majority of a five-member zoning board that voted against the proposal in December.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://alamedacounty.granicus.com/player/clip/9984?view_id=3&redirect=true\">At that meeting\u003c/a>, members of the governing board said they were worried the facility would increase traffic and wildfire danger in the boxed canyon, as well as strain the local water supply, which depends on wells.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At Thursday’s board meeting, Miley said he wasn’t convinced by expert assessments that the project met fire safety requirements. He also worried about putting children close to a winery where alcohol consumption is permitted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To me it’s important that I put authenticity on the people who have lived in the canyon, who have experienced these issues and concerns, not academically, not by study, but by everyday existence,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Teddy Seibert, vice-chair of the West County Board of Zoning Adjustments, recused herself from voting in the December meeting because she owns a winery that shares boundaries with the Mosaic Project’s property. But in a letter submitted to the board, she called the proposal “a thinly-veiled attempt at urban expansion.” Her husband, Keith Seibert, said in public comments that he feared losing the winery’s license to serve alcohol if a youth facility moved in next door.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12080113\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12080113\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260415-Mosaic-Project-06-KQED-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1706\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260415-Mosaic-Project-06-KQED-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260415-Mosaic-Project-06-KQED-2000x1333.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260415-Mosaic-Project-06-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260415-Mosaic-Project-06-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260415-Mosaic-Project-06-KQED-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">This rendering shows plans for the Mosaic Project’s proposed permanent home in Alameda County, which it hopes will serve up to 100 students per week, for about 130 days out of the year, at a proposed new permanent facility in Castro Valley. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of the Mosaic Project)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Chuck Shipman, a resident of the Sequoians nudist club at the end of the road, said: “I would kind of feel concerned if somebody comes in there and says, ‘Well, I don’t want my kids around a nudist resort.’ That would affect our business also.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another resident worried about additional noise from “100 fourth and fifth graders at an evening campfire or tromping through the hills collecting forest products.” Several others sought to redefine the program as a school, which would violate Measure D, a 26-year-old initiative Miley championed to restrict urban development in rural parts of Alameda County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, the Mosaic Project’s land use attorney, David Smith, said an environmental review and scientific studies by outside consultants have addressed these concerns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said the facility, which would cover just two acres of the 37-acre property, will be built with fire-resistant materials that would create a break in the canyon in the event of a conflagration. Water tanks at the site would be reserved for fire suppression that everyone in the canyon can use.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have put in exhaustive modeling from fire experts of all possible scenarios,” Smith said. “It’s undisputed that the wildfire risk for the canyon as a whole is materially improved with the project than without it.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Hydrologists also discovered a plentiful and drinkable water source on the site. As for the winery’s concern, Smith pointed out that a state law that refuses alcohol licenses for businesses near youth facilities doesn’t apply to those seeking a renewal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They herald [the Mosaic Project] but say it’s the wrong place for it, because a winery is the right place for parties but not for kids next door? That’s just hard to accept,” Smith said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Email messages seeking comments from the Seiberts, owners of the TwiningVine Estate Winery, have not been returned.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Grace Russell, an eighth grade student at Oakland School of the Arts, said the long rides to the Santa Cruz Mountains created “a lot of anticipating” when she went on her first-ever overnight camp with the Mosaic Project four years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think having Mosaic closer to where most of the schools are [located] would make a big impact because not only is it easier to get there, but then on the first day there’s more time for doing ‘get to know you’ activities, and there’s time on the last day for people to say their goodbyes,” Russell said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Russell plans to return to Mosaic in the fall as a youth leader.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a little bit hard to understand why people don’t want Mosaic in their community, just because of how much it helps people,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mendel said the rental locations also create unsustainable commutes for the staff, who mostly live in the East Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We go away for six weeks, and people give up their life for this,” she said. “We’ve lost amazing staff because they fall in love and they want a family and they can’t be leaving for six, seven weeks a session.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A permanent location in Castro Valley would keep the program going in the long term, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
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"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
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"marketplace": {
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"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
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"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
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"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
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"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
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"politicalbreakdown": {
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"title": "Political Breakdown",
"tagline": "Politics from a personal perspective",
"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
"airtime": "THU 6:30pm-7pm",
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"possible": {
"id": "possible",
"title": "Possible",
"info": "Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm",
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"pri-the-world": {
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"title": "PRI's The World: Latest Edition",
"info": "Each weekday, host Marco Werman and his team of producers bring you the world's most interesting stories in an hour of radio that reminds us just how small our planet really is.",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-World-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"radiolab": {
"id": "radiolab",
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"info": "A two-time Peabody Award-winner, Radiolab is an investigation told through sounds and stories, and centered around one big idea. In the Radiolab world, information sounds like music and science and culture collide. Hosted by Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich, the show is designed for listeners who demand skepticism, but appreciate wonder. WNYC Studios is the producer of other leading podcasts including Freakonomics Radio, Death, Sex & Money, On the Media and many more.",
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"reveal": {
"id": "reveal",
"title": "Reveal",
"info": "Created by The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX, Reveal is public radios first one-hour weekly radio show and podcast dedicated to investigative reporting. Credible, fact based and without a partisan agenda, Reveal combines the power and artistry of driveway moment storytelling with data-rich reporting on critically important issues. The result is stories that inform and inspire, arming our listeners with information to right injustices, hold the powerful accountable and improve lives.Reveal is hosted by Al Letson and showcases the award-winning work of CIR and newsrooms large and small across the nation. In a radio and podcast market crowded with choices, Reveal focuses on important and often surprising stories that illuminate the world for our listeners.",
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},
"rightnowish": {
"id": "rightnowish",
"title": "Rightnowish",
"tagline": "Art is where you find it",
"info": "Rightnowish digs into life in the Bay Area right now… ish. Journalist Pendarvis Harshaw takes us to galleries painted on the sides of liquor stores in West Oakland. We'll dance in warehouses in the Bayview, make smoothies with kids in South Berkeley, and listen to classical music in a 1984 Cutlass Supreme in Richmond. Every week, Pen talks to movers and shakers about how the Bay Area shapes what they create, and how they shape the place we call home.",
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},
"science-friday": {
"id": "science-friday",
"title": "Science Friday",
"info": "Science Friday is a weekly science talk show, broadcast live over public radio stations nationwide. Each week, the show focuses on science topics that are in the news and tries to bring an educated, balanced discussion to bear on the scientific issues at hand. Panels of expert guests join host Ira Flatow, a veteran science journalist, to discuss science and to take questions from listeners during the call-in portion of the program.",
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"snap-judgment": {
"id": "snap-judgment",
"title": "Snap Judgment",
"tagline": "Real stories with killer beats",
"info": "The Snap Judgment radio show and podcast mixes real stories with killer beats to produce cinematic, dramatic radio. Snap's musical brand of storytelling dares listeners to see the world through the eyes of another. This is storytelling... with a BEAT!! Snap first aired on public radio stations nationwide in July 2010. Today, Snap Judgment airs on over 450 public radio stations and is brought to the airwaves by KQED & PRX.",
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},
"soldout": {
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