Berkeley

Persistent Residents Keep Fighting for a Bus Stop

Published

10 years ago

March 17, 2016

By Pamela Drake

It is one of the features of life today in Oakland that bus stops the community needs disappear without explanation, and residents find themselves having to join forces and complain for months for anyone to hear them.

Ignored by the mayor and city staff, it seems their concerns may have finally found a champion in Councilmember at Large Rebecca Kaplan.

At the Oakland City Council Rules and Legislation Committee on March 10, community activists asked to schedule a report on the restoration of the 30th Street and Broadway bus stop, which was removed last July at the request of the city administration.

The bus stop originally was removed due to construction of the now-opened Sprouts Farmers Market Grocery Store.

AC Transit had expected the removal would only be temporary and a new stop would be placed in front of Summit Bank’s small Oakland office. The bus stop is regularly used by riders to get to nearby medical appointments and is an important connection for them, many of whom are seniors or disabled.

When the bank demanded that the city remove the stop, which they claimed made their customers feel unsafe, the city complied against the wishes of AC Transit, which runs the 51A line on Broadway to downtown Oakland and Alameda.

Since that time, Riders for Transit Justice, a member group of the Alliance for Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE), has been pleading with the bank to relent and requesting that the mayor’s office intervene to restore the stop.

The activists have organized demonstrations including Christmas cards and caroling at the bank in December and Valentine cards in February with the theme: “We Luv Our Bus Stop.

These mostly elderly peaceful protesters have been met with police vans, but there have been no arrests or citations.

The activists include members of the Block by Block Organizing Network, the Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club, the Sierra Club and AC Transit Board President Christian Peeples, himself a disabled rider.

The transit justice group has attended meetings of the Planning Commission and the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee. They sent letters to Mayor Libby Schaaf outlining the problem.

However, they received no response until they spoke at Open Forum of a City Council meeting.

According to the group’s leader, community volunteer Kit Vaq, the removal of this stop has created a real hardship for seniors, disabled and others who depend on the bus to get to their doctors’ appointments or shop at the new grocery store.

“The removal of our bus stop is another example of gentrification in the Uptown Oakland neighborhood,” she said.

The Riders for Transit Justice never received a response from the mayor’s office, but the City Council expressed shock after speakers talked at Open Forum, pointing out that there had been no public process when this stop was abruptly removed.

Council Member at Large Rebecca Kaplan, a former AC Transit director, promised to see the bus stop returned.

She is working with AC Transit, and says the city’s Public Works Committee, which she chairs, will discuss the issue on April 12.

”Broadway and the Broadway/Valdez District Specific District Plan are designated as transit corridors,” said Kaplan. “We are supposed to be adding transit there, not removing it.”

Oakland Post

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Bay Area

UC Berkeley Named Top Public University in the U.S. and No. 7 in the World by ‘U.S. News’

Berkeley has been consistently awarded the distinction of the U.S.’s top public university since the Best Global Universities list was first published in 2014. “A strong position in the Best Global Universities rankings recognizes a school’s profound commitment to world-class research and cross-border academic excellence,” said LaMont Jones, managing editor for education at U.S. News.

Published

4 days ago

June 24, 2026

Oakland Post

Photo by Keegan Houser/UC Berkeley.

The 2026 Best Global Universities rankings evaluated 2,250 research institutions from more than 100 countries

By Lila Thulin

U.S. News & World Report has ranked UC Berkeley No. 7 in its 2026 list of the best global universities, which assesses more than 2,250 research institutions worldwide.

Berkeley also claimed the honor of top public university in the U.S.

Released on Monday, the list evaluates universities from more than 100 countries on 13 metrics such as global and research reputation (as reported by academics and peers) and number of highly cited scholarly papers.

Berkeley has been consistently awarded the distinction of the U.S.’s top public university since the Best Global Universities list was first published in 2014.

“A strong position in the Best Global Universities rankings recognizes a school’s profound commitment to world-class research and cross-border academic excellence,” said LaMont Jones, managing editor for education at U.S. News.

The rankings also assess a university’s strength in various subject areas; these assessments are separate from U.S. News’ 2026 Best Graduate Programs rankings released in April.

This year, Berkeley was named in the top three nationally in seven subject areas – environment/ecology, ecology, water resources, physics, computer science, chemistry, and engineering – and in the top five for a total of 17 subjects. Subject rankings are based heavily on scholarly publications and citations as well as reputation.

In September, U.S. News also released its 2026 Best Colleges list, in which Berkeley was also named the No. 1 public institution among American universities.

That honor joins other accolades judging campus to be the best public university in the country, such as those from Forbes, The Wall Street Journal and Times Higher Education.

Oakland Post

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Arts and Culture

Farwest Region Deltas Celebrate Centennial With “September Breakfast” Honoring Vivian Osborne Marsh

The region was established in 1925 under the leadership of Vivian Osborne Marsh, who became its first Regional Director. Marsh was a pioneering scholar and civic leader, earning recognition as the first Black woman to receive both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in anthropology from UC Berkeley.

Published

10 months ago

September 14, 2025

Oakland Post

Farwest Regional Director, Kimberly Usher, Mayor Barbara Lee, US Representative Lateefah Simon, and Farwest Regional Representative, Radiya Ajibade. Photo courtesy of Farwest Regional Photographer Vicki P. Love.

By Antoinette Porter

Hundreds of members of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., and their guests gathered at the Martin Luther King Jr. Student Union at the University of California, Berkeley, to mark the 100th anniversary of the sorority’s Farwest Region.

Marsh went on to serve as Delta Sigma Theta’s 7th National President, where she launched the sorority’s National Library Project to expand access to books in underserved Black communities in the South. During her presidency, the organization also became a prominent voice in the civil rights movement, lobbying Congress to pass anti-lynching legislation.

Bak in the Bay Area, Marsh devoted her career to advancing educational opportunities, mentoring young people, and strengthening community life. That commitment continues to shape the region, which supports initiatives in education, social justice, and economic development. Current projects include raising scholarship funds for students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities, voter education campaigns, and health and wellness programs.

A century after its founding, the Farwest Region of Delta Sigma Theta remains active across California and other western states, carrying forward Marsh’s vision of service and advocacy.

Oakland Post

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Arts and Culture

Cal Performances Presents Angélique Kidjo & Yo-Yo Ma in Sarabande Africaine at UC Berkeley Greek Theatre on Aug. 30

On Saturday, Aug. 30, the pair will debut the Bay Area premiere of Sarabande Africaine, joined by pianist Thierry Vaton, percussionist David Donatien, and special guest Sinkane. The program illuminates centuries of musical interplay between African traditions and Western classical forms, using the Baroque sarabande dance, and its African ancestor, the Congolese spirit dance Zarabanda, as a gateway to exploring the deep, interconnected roots of global music.

Published

10 months ago

August 25, 2025

Oakland Post

Angelique Kidjo and Yo-Yo Ma. Wikimedia photos.

By Carla Thomas

On Labor Day weekend two of the world’s most celebrated musicians and cultural ambassadors, Grammy Award–winning vocalist Angélique Kidjo and legendary cellist Yo-Yo Ma join forces for an evening of music, history, and cultural dialogue at UC Berkeley’s historic Hearst Greek Theatre.

Both Kidjo and Ma have built careers not only as great performers but as passionate advocates for cultural understanding. Sarabande Africaine is as much a conversation about shared heritage as it is a musical performance, blending genres, geographies, and histories.

“Every day there are moments when all of us can feel we are on the inside of something and also when we feel we are on the outside of something,” said Yo-Yo Ma. “To be able to understand both at the same time and oscillate between the two gives us a larger perspective on the world.”

“If your mind is open, and there is no fear, it’s easier to listen, and to question yourself,” said Kidjo.

The upcoming performance is presented within Cal Performances’ Illuminations: “Exile & Sanctuary” series for the 2025–26 season. The production explores exile as more than just physical displacement, but a disruption in identity and belonging, while sanctuary represents both refuge and the creative space where new connections and communities can take shape.

Cal Performances’ Illuminations bridges performances with UC Berkeley’s academic research, pairing the arts with conversations about urgent global issues.

Kidjo’s continued partnership with Cal Performances includes her 2021–22 artist-in-residence, premiering her music-theater work Yemandja, set in 19th-century West Africa during the transatlantic slave trade.

She also participated in the Bias in Our Algorithms and Society panel alongside campus leaders like Jennifer Chayes, and joined the Black Studies Collaboratory for a dialogue on music, diaspora, and the world.

She has since returned to Berkeley for multiple performances, most recently in 2024 at Zellerbach Hall.

Yo-Yo Ma’s history with Cal Performances spans decades, beginning in 1997. One notable project includes the 2018 performance of Bach’s complete cello suites at the Greek Theatre, a testament to his devotion to creating “transformative concert experiences in iconic spaces.”

For tickets and more information, visit calperformances.org.