Bay Area
Electric Bikeshare and Carshare Debut in the San Joaquin Region
The University of the Pacific hosted San Joaquin Council of Governments and its partners as they launched the Stockton Mobility Collective at a Rise ‘N’ Ride event Saturday. Stockton Mobility Collective project brings clean, affordable transportation to serve economically disadvantaged communities through its nonprofit electric bikeshare and carshare programs.

By Harika Maddala
Bay City News
The University of the Pacific hosted San Joaquin Council of Governments and its partners as they launched the Stockton Mobility Collective at a Rise ‘N’ Ride event Saturday.
Stockton Mobility Collective project brings clean, affordable transportation to serve economically disadvantaged communities through its nonprofit electric bikeshare and carshare programs. The project also includes mobility incentives and a workforce development program – to train Stockton residents in marketable fleet management and operational skills.
Part of the Rise ‘N’ Ride event, the program’s electric cars and bikes were showcased to the community with a chance to test-ride the bikes. The program, funded by a $7.4 million California Air Resources Board Sustainable Transportation Equity Project grant.
The carshare program is managed by nonprofit electric vehicle carsharing service ‘Miocar’. “We are currently working on bringing 30 vehicles for the whole program, and they will be available in different locations across Stockton,” said Christine Tran, assistant regional planner at SJCOG.
Tran said, as of April 1, there are two sites available to pick up cars in Stockton – one at Conway Homes in South Stockton and another on Grand Canal Boulevard near Chic-Fil-A on West March Lane.
Users can access the cars through the Miocar Networks application of App Store and Google Play Store. The account requires driver’s license and a payment method, with an initial charge of $20 which will be credited back to account to use after booking a vehicle.
The bikeshare program called ‘Bike Stockton’ is managed by the San Joaquin Regional Transit District. “Right now, we’re at phase one launch, and we have five stations across Stockton, with 40 bikes out,” said Nathan Schultz, director of operations at Bike Stockton.
Schultz said Bike Stockton aims to have 10 to 12 bike stations with 105 bikes in 2023.
The bikes are available to rent through the ‘Bike Share’ application on App Store and Google Play Store. A bike can be unlocked with a payment of $1, and the rider will be charged $0.15 per minute. The app also offers an annual pass for $40, with riders getting 30 minutes of free ride time per day and will be charged $0.05 per minutes after the free 30 minutes ride time.
Jessica Bilecki, sustainability director at UoP, said the university is hosting one of the e-bike stations by the library patio off of David Brubeck Way.
“It’s a huge benefit for students,” Bilecki said “It gives them more affordable options for getting to and off campus to access resources.”
Many students took the opportunity to ride the bikes, taking turns getting back on them for a second ride across the campus. “It’s very fast, you barely hit the pedal and you just go,” Olivia Mitchell said of her first time experiencing riding an e-bike.
The bikes ride at a maximum speed of 16 mph.
“Those things are very fast here. Yeah, I didn’t expect them to be that fast,” said Shawn Chatrath, digital media manager for Downtown Stockton. “But that’s good. You know, you can get around really, really quickly around this whole city.”
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Activism
Community Opposes High Rise Development That Threatens Geoffrey’s Inner Circle
City Council chambers were full for the May 17 Planning Commission hearing, and almost all the 40 speakers who had signed up to make presentations talked about the importance of the Inner Circle as part of Oakland and Geoffrey Pete as a stalwart community and business leader who has served the city for decades.

By Ken Epstein
An outpouring of community supporters – young, old, jazz lovers, environmentalists and committed Oakland partisans – spoke out at a recent Planning Commission hearing to support Geoffrey Pete and his cultural center – The Inner Circle – an historic Oakland landmark whose future is threatened by a proposed skyscraper that out-of-town-developer Tidewater Capital wants to build in the midst of the city’s Black Arts Movement and Business District (BAMBD).
City Council chambers were full for the May 17 Planning Commission hearing, and almost all the 40 speakers who had signed up to make presentations talked about the importance of the Inner Circle as part of Oakland and Geoffrey Pete as a stalwart community and business leader who has served the city for decades.
The speakers argued passionately and persuasively, winning the sympathy of the commissioners, but were ultimately unsuccessful as the Commission unanimously approved the high-rise to be built either as a residential building or office tower on Franklin Street directly behind Geoffrey’s building.
Mr. Pete has said he would appeal the decision to the City Council. He has 10 days after the hearing to file an appeal on the office building. His appeal on the residential tower has already been submitted.
Mr. Pete said the Planning Department still has not published the boundaries of the BAMBD. “Tidewater’s applications and subsequent applications should not be approved until the Planning Department fully acknowledges the existence of the BAMBD,” he said.
“This (proposed) building poses a grave danger to the historic (Inner Circle) building next to it, arguably Oakland’s most meaningful historic building,” Pete said.
“We’re here to advocate for what’s best for the African American district and community that has gotten no representation, no advocacy, as of yet,” he said. “The (commission) is guilty, the City of Oakland is guilty, and Tidewater is guilty.”
One of the first speakers was Gwendolyn Traylor, known as Lady SunRise, who directly addressed the developers.
“With all due to respect to your business, it’s not a need of this community. I would like to ask you to reconsider the location …What is being (promised) here does not add to the healing of this community,” she said.
Naomi Schiff of the Oakland Heritage Alliance emphasized that Geoffrey’s Inner Circle is a treasure of Oakland’s history.
“Our first concern is the integrity of the historic district, in particular the former Athenian-Nile Club, now Mr. Pete’s equally historic venue, which has been the location of a great number of important community events,” she said. “It would not be OK with us if the integrity of the building were damaged in any way, no matter how much insurance (the developer bought) because it is very difficult to repair a historic building once it’s damaged.”
The Inner Circle was previously owned and operated by the Athenian-Nile Club, one of the Bay Area’s largest all-white-male exclusive private membership club, where politicians and power brokers closed back-room deals over handshakes and three martini lunches.
Cephus “Uncle Bobby X” Johnson pointed out that commissioners and the city’s Planning Department have “acknowledged that you went through the entire design review process without even knowing that the Black Arts Movement and Business District existed.”
The district was created in 2016 by City Council resolution. “At the heart of the opposition to this building is the desire to further the legacy of local Black entertainment and entrepreneurship exemplified by businesses like Mr. Pete’s … a historical landmark and venue (that serves) thousands of people who listen to jazz and other entertainment and hold weddings, receptions, and memorial services,” said Uncle Bobby.
This development is taking place within a context in which the “Black population in Oakland has decreased rapidly … because of the city’s concentration on building houses that are not affordable for people who currently live in Oakland,” he said.
John Dalrymple of East Bay Residents for Responsible Development said, “This project will result in significant air quality, public health, noise, and traffic impacts. He said the city has not adequately studied the (unmitigated) impacts of this project on the Black Arts Movement and Business District.
“This project is an example of what developers are being allowed to do when they don’t have to follow the law, and they don’t have to be sensitive to our city’s culture and values,” he said. The commission should “send a signal today that we will no longer be a feeding ground for the rich.”
Prominent Oakland businessman Ray Bobbitt told commissioners, “Any decision that you make is a contribution to the systemic process that creates a disproportionate impact on Black people. Please do yourself a favor, (and) rethink this scenario. Give Mr. Pete, who is a leader in our community, an opportunity to set the framework before you make any decision.”
Though the City Council created the BAMBD, the 2016 resolution was never implemented. The district was created to “highlight, celebrate, preserve and support the contributions of Oakland’s Black artists and business owners and the corridor as a place central historically and currently to Oakland’s Black artists and Black-owned businesses.”
The district was intended to promote Black arts, political movements, enterprises, and culture in the area, and to bring in resources through grants and other funding.
Activism
Community Meeting on Crime and Violence
Join Oakland City Councilmember Dan Kalb to discuss the uptick in crime and violence in District 1 and across Oakland. Representatives from the Oakland Police Department will be in attendance. This event will be held in-person and online.

Join Oakland City Councilmember Dan Kalb to discuss the uptick in crime and violence in District 1 and across Oakland. Representatives from the Oakland Police Department will be in attendance. This event will be held in-person and online.
Tuesday, May 30, 2023
6:30 p.m. – 8 p.m.
Oakland Technical H.S. Auditorium
300-340 42nd St.
Oakland, CA 94611
For more information, contact District 1 Chief of Staff Seth Steward: ssteward@oaklandca.gov, 510-238-7013.
Bay Area
UniverSoul Circus Opens in Richmond
Described by show organizers as a highly interactive combination of circus arts and theatre that spans musical genres, UniverSoul Circus will feature flipping motorcycles, stilt dancers, Fire Limbo Benders, ancestral carnival characters, clowns, flamboyantly costumed dancers and more “in a celebration of energy.”

By Kathy Chouteau | The Richmond Standard
UniverSoul Circus kicked off its Bay Area run under the Big Top at Hilltop Mall last week with the performances continuing during various times through Sun., June 19.
The UniverSoul Circus is a single ring circus, established in 1994 by Cedric Walker and Calvin “Casual Cal” Dupree, an African American man who had a vision of creating a circus with a large percentage of people of color performing. He began searching for people from all around the world with incredible talents. Richmond police Chief Bisa French and City Manager Shasa Curl were set to be guest ringmasters for the opening night show.
Described by show organizers as a highly interactive combination of circus arts and theatre that spans musical genres, UniverSoul Circus will feature flipping motorcycles, stilt dancers, Fire Limbo Benders, ancestral carnival characters, clowns, flamboyantly costumed dancers and more “in a celebration of energy.”
“Get ready to be amazed and frightened at the terrifying, gravity- defying acrobats on the Wheel of Death or the bold, breathtaking daredevils on the High Wire,” said UniverSoul Circus in a statement about the show.
This season’s theme is, ‘We All Belong,’ according Walker, the circus founder and CEO. “We all belong to one human race. Everyone is coming together, different cultures, different people, a new transcultural fusion, a new generation inclusive and together in a UniverSoul Experience!”
Venue:
Hilltop Mall
2200 Hilltop Mall Rd, Richmond, CA 94806
Showtimes:
Thurs-Fri: 7:00 p.m.
Sat: 11:30 a.m., 3:30 p.m., 7:30 p.m.
Sun: 11:00 a.m., 2:30 p.m., 6:30 p.m.
Box Office Hours:
Tues: 11:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Wed-Fri: 11:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Sat: 9:00 a.m. – 8:30 p.m.
Sun: 9:00 a.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Mon: 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. (Memorial Day)
Tickets range from $27.50 to $60 depending on your seat and you can purchase them on Ticketmaster. Visit www.universoulcircus.com for more info.
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