Laura McCamy
Recent Posts
How Californians Can Support Community Bicycle Shops
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Community bike shops empower people to build and repair their own bikes. Often located in disadvantaged communities, they usually provide training, shared tools, and a supportive atmosphere.
Packed Meeting About Future of Oakland’s Latham Square Shut Down Early
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After public pressure, the City of Oakland held a second community meeting Wednesday about the design of the Latham Square pilot plaza, where a lane of car traffic was reinstated prematurely at the behest of Planning and Building Director Rachel Flynn. Despite a standing room-only crowd of attendees showing up to weigh in, the meeting was […]
Oakland Planning Director Cuts Off Latham Square Pilot, Lets Cars Back In
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The crowning achievement for Oakland’s new planning and building director so far might be ensuring that cars are being driven through the Latham Square pilot plaza once again. The Latham Square pilot was supposed to last for six months, but after just six weeks, the widely-lauded, one-block plaza at the foot of Telegraph Avenue is no longer car-free. […]
Despite Broad Support, Sunday Streets Berkeley Can’t Grow Without Funding
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In its second iteration, Sunday Streets Berkeley flooded Shattuck Avenue with an estimated 50,000 people last weekend in an even more powerful demonstration of the draw of closing streets to cars and opening them up to people. Since the first event one year ago, political support seems to have only grown, and attendance once again […]
Oakland’s Latham Square: Plaza to the People
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Just two weeks after Oakland’s Latham Square opened on August 16, office workers could be seen arriving in ones and twos at lunchtime. A clutch of high schoolers from the nearby Oakland School For the Arts zoomed in on skateboards and sat together on a big bench in the shade, looking cool and disaffected. The park, which made […]
With Help From Mayor Quan, Oaklavia Returns With a Bang
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When Walk Oakland Bike Oakland hosted the city’s first Ciclovia-style event in downtown Oakland in 2010, onerous city fees meant plans for a second Oaklavia that year proved too ambitious for the small organization. “We thought we wouldn’t be able to do it again,” said Jonathan Bair, WOBO’s Board President. Three years later, the city brought Oaklavia back, closing […]
Thousands Play in the Streets as Oaklavia Transforms Downtown Oakland
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Photo: geekstinkbreath Oaklavia transformed a swath of downtown Oakland to a vibrant streetscape Sunday, in its first ever ciclovia-style event, with café seating in the streets, yoga classes, dancers, musicians, food carts and games. More than two thirds of the estimated 3,000 – 4,000 people who turned out to experience the joy of car-free streets […]
Oaklavia Will Open the Streets of Oakland This Weekend
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Oakland will become the latest city to temporarily liberate city streets from car traffic this weekend with its first ciclovia event. Oaklavia will open the streets from Uptown through Downtown and West Oakland to cyclists, walkers, skaters and strollers, artists and performers. Kids on their first tricycle will wander across the lanes in safety, games […]