Curiously Direct : Berkeley Art Museum // Architecture of Life
This is the first of an intermitent series of art reviews by Curiously Direct for KGPC Community News.
Black Panther Leader Ericka Huggins
Ericka Huggins was a Black Panther leader for 14 years-- the longest of any woman. She spoke at the College of Alameda on February 25th. For more information, visit http://www.erickahuggins.com.
Merritt College: Home of "The Singing Building"
After the completion of the Barbara Lee Center for Science and Allied Health at Merritt College, faculty, staff, and students started to notice a peculiar phenomenon. On windy days, the building makes what some have described as music or singing, causing people to stop and enjoy a moment before heading off to class or work.
Engineer for the Barbara Lee Building, Robert Johnson, explains what’s happening:
"You have a structure that's perforated. And with that wind passing through the holes at the same time, the velocity of the air causes a whistle. And when there're so many holes put together, it makes the sound."
Clark/Sullivan Construction did not respond to our question as to whether this phenomenon was designed on purpose, or just a happy accident.
Katherine Rae Mondo
Community Members Protest Coal Transport Through West Oakland
On Tuesday, February 16th, community members gathered outside of Oakland’s City Hall to protest coal potentially being transported through West Oakland by Prologis CCIG Oakland Global, LLC. Brittany King was outside with the SF Bay chapter of the Sierra Club.
“Tonight’s city council is going to vote whether or not to hire a consultant to review testimony and documents that they received on September 21st at another hearing. We want to ban coal from coming through the city of Oakland. We believe that West Oakland already has enough health effects and coal is just as bad for the health and safety of the workers and the broader community in West Oakland and in East Oakland.”
Inside, waiting for the council meeting to start, West Oakland resident Mack McCon expressed health concerns for neighborhood children.
“We’re here today to protest and hope that they don’t bring that stuff in. We have a lot of children out there in Oakland West, they’re all different colors-- white, Mexican, black, Filipino. We’re just trying to make sure that nobody don’t get sick. So I hope this meeting tonight will help us not bring the coal into Oakland.”
The City Council heard testimony, but postponed their vote until a later date.
Katherine Rae Mondo
Voter Registration Around the Peralta Colleges
Chances are, if you've been around the Peralta colleges lately, you've been offered a chance to register to vote or sign petitions to get ballot initiatives approved. Nicolas Guillermo was at Merritt College on February 10th with voter registration applications in hand, as well as petitions for 14 different ballot initiatives. He says that the Donor Disclosure Initiative is one that is most important to him:
"I really like the statute, which I find just hilarious. It objectively accomplishes the goal-- if we want to know who's funding a candidate, why not make them wear the identity of the sponsors on their jacket like a Nascar driver? But the strongest one is the constitutional amendment, it's called the Voter's Right to Know Act, and it's located at votersrighttoknow.org. That one is so that the super PACs, which today are allowed to hide where they get their money from, would be audited and exposed."
These are just a few of the initiatives up for the California ballot. You can find more information on other initiatives and make sure you're registered to vote at www.sos.ca.gov. The last day to register to vote in California is May 23rd, 2016.
