By Carla Thomas

Families, residents and community organizations gathered at the Parker Community Resource Center on Saturday, Sept. 12, for the 40×40 Neighborhood Empowerment Day, transforming the site of a recent tragedy into a space for healing, resources, connection and joy.

Hosted by the 40×40 Council, the free, family-friendly resource fair featured health and wellness services, workshops, children’s activities, food, giveaways and local Black-owned businesses. Residents also connected with community organizations working to strengthen East Oakland.

The gathering came six weeks after a fatal shooting occurred at the Ney Avenue center on July 31. The violence happened shortly before 9 a.m. on the campus of the adult education center and claimed the life of 25-year-old Kimarii McLemore. A second person was injured.

McLemore was attending what was supposed to be her final day in an adult education carpentry class. The shooting deeply affected her family and traumatized students, staff members and residents who had viewed the center as a safe place where community members could pursue education, career training and a better future.

Neighborhood Empowerment Day offered residents an opportunity to return to the center in a spirit of unity and reclaim the space as an important neighborhood resource.

“Reclaiming the space after a tragedy means creating opportunities for people to gather, connect, experience joy and feel a sense of community once again,” said Tim Zenor-Davis, program manager at Roots Community Health. “After a trauma occurs, we see what happened, we acknowledge its impact, and we are continuing to show up.”

Throughout the afternoon, children and families participated in activities while residents received information about health, wellness and other community services. The event also gave local entrepreneurs and service providers an opportunity to connect with the community.

Complimentary meals included grilled burgers and tacos while a DJ played popular music. 

Guests received blood pressure and eye-sight checks. A space to exercise on yoga mats was provided while headphones with guided meditation offered a moment to slow down and reflect.

The 40×40 Council includes the Black Cultural Zone, Brotherhood of Elders Network, East Oakland Youth Development Center and Roots Community Health. Together, the organizations have worked to address community violence and the deeper systemic conditions that have affected generations of East Oakland residents.

The council’s work has extended beyond responding to individual tragedies. As part of the broader Rise East initiative, the collaborative has focused on reversing decades of economic disinvestment, systemic poverty, health disparities and the displacement of Black legacy residents.

The 40×40 area stretches from Seminary Avenue to the San Leandro border and from MacArthur Boulevard to the Bay. More than 30,000 Black residents live within the area, which contains Oakland’s largest concentration of Black residents.

Organizers said the area has continued to demonstrate resilience despite experiencing community violence, declining investment and a significant life-expectancy gap compared with wealthier parts of the region.

The council seeks to help reshape East Oakland into a vibrant, multigenerational community where Black residents can remain, return, heal, prosper and build power. 

Families, residents and community organizations gathered at the Parker Community Resource Center on Saturday, Sept. 12, for the 40×40 Neighborhood Empowerment Day, transforming the site of a recent tragedy into a space for healing, resources, connection and joy.

Hosted by the 40×40 Council, the free, family-friendly resource fair featured health and wellness services, workshops, children’s activities, food, giveaways and local Black-owned businesses. Residents also connected with community organizations working to strengthen East Oakland.

The gathering came six weeks after a fatal shooting occurred at the Ney Avenue center on July 31. The violence happened shortly before 9 a.m. on the campus of the adult education center and claimed the life of 25-year-old Kimarii McLemore. A second person was injured.

McLemore was attending what was supposed to be her final day in an adult education carpentry class. The shooting deeply affected her family and traumatized students, staff members and residents who had viewed the center as a safe place where community members could pursue education, career training and a better future.

Neighborhood Empowerment Day offered residents an opportunity to return to the center in a spirit of unity and reclaim the space as an important neighborhood resource.

“Reclaiming the space after a tragedy means creating opportunities for people to gather, connect, experience joy and feel a sense of community once again,” said Tim Zenor-Davis, program manager at Roots Community Health. “After a trauma occurs, we see what happened, we acknowledge its impact, and we are continuing to show up.”

Throughout the afternoon, children and families participated in activities while residents received information about health, wellness and other community services. The event also gave local entrepreneurs and service providers an opportunity to connect with the community.

Complimentary meals included grilled burgers and tacos while a DJ played popular music. 

Guests received blood pressure and eye-sight checks. A space to exercise on yoga mats was provided while headphones with guided meditation offered a moment to slow down and reflect.

The 40×40 Council includes the Black Cultural Zone, Brotherhood of Elders Network, East Oakland Youth Development Center and Roots Community Health. Together, the organizations have worked to address community violence and the deeper systemic conditions that have affected generations of East Oakland residents.

The council’s work has extended beyond responding to individual tragedies. As part of the broader Rise East initiative, the collaborative has focused on reversing decades of economic disinvestment, systemic poverty, health disparities and the displacement of Black legacy residents.

The 40×40 area stretches from Seminary Avenue to the San Leandro border and from MacArthur Boulevard to the Bay. More than 30,000 Black residents live within the area, which contains Oakland’s largest concentration of Black residents.

Organizers said the area has continued to demonstrate resilience despite experiencing community violence, declining investment and a significant life-expectancy gap compared with wealthier parts of the region.

The council seeks to help reshape East Oakland into a vibrant, multigenerational community where Black residents can remain, return, heal, prosper and build power. 

By Rebecca Kaplan Special to The Post

On Tuesday, the City of Oakland launched Aerbits, an innovative new program that deploys AI-assisted aerial imaging technology to proactively detect and report abandoned trash on streets and sidewalks – to support timely and effective removal of illegal dumping.

By shifting from a reactive, complaint-based system to data-driven proactive detection, the City can deploy cleanup resources faster, more efficiently, and more equitably to the areas in greatest need. 

Approved by both the Privacy Advisory Commission and the Oakland City Council, Aerbits is the latest addition to Oakland’s comprehensive strategy to eliminate illegal dumping from the Town.

“Oakland residents and businesses deserve clean streets and today we are one step closer to a safer, cleaner, and greener Oakland,” said Mayor Barbara Lee. “Our strategy strengthens eradication, education, and enforcement efforts across every neighborhood.

“Aerbits, which was approved by the Privacy Advisory Commission, uses modern technology and best practices to help our crews clear trash faster and more efficiently, while our targeted outreach and enforcement strategies address the root causes of dumping. Together, we are going to get the job done.”

The impacts of illegal dumping on Oakland are profound, disproportionately burdening historically disinvested communities while threatening public health, safety, and economic vitality.

The City is united in taking action to remedy it – with the mayor, Council, administration, Public Works Department, community groups and more coming together to make change.

In May, the City Council approved the Illegal Dumping Expenditures Action Plan, which approves and funds multiple actions – including Aerbits – to help remedy illegal dumping.

This past June, Oakland secured $9.2 million from the Crankstart Foundation to scale up operations like Aerbits and break the cycle of illegal dumping across Oakland.

The Aerbits aerial imaging system photographs public rights-of-way to pinpoint exact locations, estimate waste volumes, and classify types of debris. This enables City dispatchers to understand the problem and efficiently deploy the appropriate crew and equipment to each site.

Built with privacy at its core, the technology contains no facial recognition, no license plate readers, and uses no personally identifying information. Aerbits takes pictures of trash – not of people.

“I founded Aerbits because I saw a major gap in the data that was available to City crews on the streets, and I wanted our children to have a cleaner environment” said Aerbits Founder Brian Johnson.

“Aerbits enables cleanups to be timelier, more effective, and more equitable. By providing real-time comprehensive data, automating the creation of work orders, and improving closure of cleared tickets, we are removing the problems that occur when relying primarily on a complaint-based system,” he said.

Aerbits is the latest milestone in the series of actions the City is taking to implement the City Council-approved Illegal Dumping Expenditures Action Plan. Recent actions taken by the City include:

• Stricter Enforcement: Enacted a new Illegal Dumping Enforcement Ordinance increasing penalties and holding vehicle owners responsible; hired additional Environmental Enforcement Officers equipped with updated citation technology; and worked alongside State Senator Jesse Arreguin on legislation that allows the City to boot vehicles tied to repeat dumping offences. 
• Community Resources: Reinstated the popular “Bulky Block Parties” offering residents free, convenient ways to get rid of bulky waste, alongside expanded public education campaigns.  
• Expanded Fleet Equipment: Obtained new heavy-duty Lightning Loader trucks that allow us to clean up more volumes of debris faster than ever before. 

Rebecca Kaplan is a former City Councilmember-at-large for the City of Oakland.

It is my belief that the mice set us up. That’s how the bear(s) knew where to go.

On a mountain in Butte County, a wide-ranging crew of Black people have embarked on a mission of land stewardship.

That means if you want that country cottage, you have to build it yourself.

When we first saw the land after our veteran land steward – let’s call her Goldi-Locs for her long locs that are the gold of California hills – asked for help putting up a fence to ward off potential trespassers. What had been lavish green hills of Douglas fir were now covered with dark spires like burnt matches pushing into the sky.

Up close, moss and ferns edged out from the bases of blackened tree stumps. A lizard skittered by, the only sign of life. No birds. No squirrels. No mice.

And no bears.

Fast forward five years, and FEMA has done all it will do to clear burned trees. The remaining trees are dead and have to be logged and milled.

The most urgent work is to clear the dirt access roads clogged with dead trees. For shelter while we, I mean, they do that, we bought an old trailer that has seen better days but suits our needs.

My husband has anticipated 99% of our needs – tents, saws, canopies, batteries, shovels, rakes, axes, picks, etc., and Goldi-Locs instructs and reminds us how to get from step A to B, but there is nothing like the experience you gain on your own. Meaning: you don’t how to do it until you do it. No matter what you read, what somebody says, until you do it, you don’t know.

So, I thought I knew what I was doing. It was my job to assist with the cooking and set-up. And the break-down. There are cupboards in the trailer and a refrigerator, so I stored a couple of unopened boxes of spaghetti and an unopened bottle of olive oil, salt (Lawry’s of course), pepper, garlic powder and dried Italian herbs in the cupboard. In the refrigerator, which seals closed like any normal refrigerator I (accidently) left a box of butter.

Two weeks later, we get a call in Oakland from Goldi-Locs that the door of the trailer was hanging off its hinge, visible from her trailer uphill and 150 yards west of ours.

She said she would enlist the help of another (male) neighbor, to investigate.

An hour later, we got the report: No one was in the cabin, but a bear – or bears – had been. Outside, a torn box of spaghetti with just one or two remaining stiff strands lay in the dirt. Inside, the salt, pepper, herbs and garlic oil were an aromatic mess on the floor, while coffee grounds were scattered over the counter (After-dinner coffee?).

Paw prints led to the bathroom and beyond a single, muddy paw print marked the duvet on our bed.

Besides claw marks in the cupboard, and a swipe of dirt on the front and side of the refrigerator, there was no major damage.

Goldi-Locs and G. cleaned up the worst of it and were able to get the door up on the hinge and lock it. The trailer remained unmolested until our return.

In the meantime, some sleuthing – as Nancy Drew would put it – had been done. Visitors to the mountain confessed that they had previously prepared a vegetarian meal of – that’s right– pasta in a red sauce with sautéed garlic, onions, and Lawry’s and Italian herbs.

They ate outdoors. The scent filled the air. Mice have returned to the forest. They know how to get under, over and into trailers. Easy-peasy. They managed to get a little of the Italian meal. The bears wanted some. The mice shrugged their little shoulders and said, “we got everything but the crumbs, but over in the next yard, they have everything you need to MAKE IT YOURSELVES.”

So, it was Yogi, ‘smarter than the average bear, according to himself – and no doubt accompanied by Boo-Boo (the Fool), lumbered over to our unoccupied trailer and gently opened the door. The spaghetti in one cupboard, seasonings in the other, olive oil and look out- butter for bread in the refrigerator.

Yes, everything they needed. The whole recipe, or so the trifling mice said, having omitted fresh onion and bell pepper. The mice had left out the most important part – how to get the job done. Yogi had been given no information on pots, turning on the stove, boiling water, etc.

Disappointed, it was time for a nap, but the bed was neither hard, nor soft, but too small and as their cave was more comfortable, Yogi was of the mind to head home, maybe go fishing on the way in that nice stream up the hill.

Boo-Boo (the Fool), however, was of the mind to spitefully take do what bears do in the woods, but Yogi reminded him that, as it is their forest it is wise not to do that where you eat.

But when Yogi is not around, evidence shows that Boo-Boo routinely returns to the scene of the crime and leaves a little something in the middle of the path to the outhouse. Just because.

The mischievous mice have yet to be apprehended.

By Bo Tefu, California Black Media

Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton is criticizing California’s new replacement-tire efficiency standards, arguing they will limit consumer choice and increase costs for drivers. 

Gov. Gavin Newsom, however, says the regulations will save consumers money.

Hilton protested the standards Aug. 20 outside the California Energy Commission in Sacramento, where he and supporters chanted, “Hands off our tires.” The commission unanimously approved the regulations Aug. 17, making California the first state to adopt energy-efficiency standards for replacement tires.

“We are done with these bureaucrats and these politicians in our state, making everything so insanely expensive,” Hilton said at the protest.

Hilton said that, if elected governor, he would eliminate or defund the Energy Commission. His opposition to the tire standards is part of his broader criticism of California’s high cost of living.

Newsom defended the regulations Aug. 19, citing the commission’s projected savings for consumers.

“I think it was a good choice,” said Newsom. “Save a billion dollars a year in fuel. Talk about an affordability agenda, that makes sense to me.”

The Replacement Tire Efficiency Program sets limits on rolling resistance, which measures how much energy a tire requires to move along a road. Tires with lower rolling resistance can improve a gasoline-powered vehicle’s fuel economy or extend an electric vehicle’s driving range.

The first phase will take effect in 2029, setting a maximum rolling resistance of 9.1 newtons per kilonewton. A stricter limit of 7.2 newtons per kilonewton will take effect in 2033.

The Energy Commission says the standards will ensure that replacement tires are, on average, at least as energy efficient as those installed on new vehicles. The agency estimates the regulations will save Californians nearly $1 billion annually in gasoline and electricity costs while reducing carbon dioxide emissions by two million metric tons a year.

Some tire manufacturers, however, have raised concerns about the effect on prices and product availability. Goodyear estimates that about 70% of replacement tires currently sold in California would not meet the 2033 standard and argues that the regulations could increase costs for consumers.

The Energy Commission estimates the standards will add about $1.50 to the cost of each tire during the first phase and $6.50 per tire beginning in 2033. The commission projects that a driver with a gasoline-powered vehicle could save about $179 in fuel costs over the life of a set of tires meeting the 2033 standard.

The regulations exempt several specialty products, including competition, winter, used, retreaded, motorcycle and certain off-road tires.

Dallas is building its next budget on a strong foundation focused on public safety and government efficiency.

Last Tuesday, the City Manager presented her proposed FY27 budget to the City Council, and it reflects many of the priorities I outlined in July: public safety, a focus on core services, more efficient city operations, and a reduced tax rate.

The proposed budget would accomplish several important goals:

• Put public safety first by keeping police and fire salaries competitive, continuing to fund the Dallas Police and Fire Pension System, and increasing police hiring with a sworn staffing goal of over 3,650 officers by October next year
• Improve and maintain 800 lane miles of city streets with the support of the 2024 Bond Program
• Improve efficiency by eliminating redundancies and maximizing the impact of your tax dollars without compromising on service delivery (for example, shifting Dallas Public Library to a flagship model)
• Continue to streamline zoning and permitting processes by expanding the online DallasNow land management system
• Diversify revenue sources and expand public/private partnerships for Park & Recreation and the Office of Arts & Culture so these services depend less on your tax dollars
• Start construction of the Dallas Love Field Airport expansion and continue the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center redevelopment, with funding for both of these projects coming from enterprise funds rather than your taxes
• Expand the use of artificial intelligence to improve efficiency, optimize the permitting process, and improve public safety

Tax Rate Reduction and Economic Growth

All of the above initiatives are balanced with another tax rate reduction, which has been done every year of my Administration. This is possible because the city continues to grow and develop, expanding the tax base every year. This year, new construction alone accounted for nearly $4 billion in property value growth. Since I took office, Dallas has added over $30 billion in new construction.

This is another reason why development and economic growth, like Y’all Street, are so important: They increase the share of the City’s revenue that does not come from individuals, allowing the City to continue providing quality services without excessively burdening residents.

While the City Manager’s proposal is an excellent start, the budget process is not over. In the coming weeks, the City Council will refine the budget before final adoption on September 16. The council’s next budget workshop will take place this Wednesday, August 19, and council district budget town halls will be held through August 25. Some council members have already advocated for raising taxes, but I will fight to keep the City Manager’s proposed rate cut.

Supporting Southern Dallas Parks

As noted above, Dallas continues to expand its world-class urban park system with funding that doesn’t rely on your taxes, including public-private partnerships and grants. Last week saw a prime example of this as Congressman Marc Veasey presented the city with $2 million in federal funding for the Five Mile Creek Greenbelt.

Led by the Trust for Public Land, the Five Mile Creek Greenbelt is a transformative greenspace project in southern Dallas that includes three new parks and 17 miles of trail. Once complete, it will provide access to close-to-home greenspace for nearly 200,000 southern Dallas residents. With supporters like Congressman Veasey, Dallas is expanding park access for all residents and becoming an even greener and greater city.

That’s everything for today. Have a blessed week!

Until next time,

Based on reporting by Texas Metro News.