The City of Oakland has announced new restrictions around city parks. Starting today, Friday, May 15 and through Sunday, May 31, the City is prohibiting vendors (such as food trucks) on the perimeters of city parks. Parking lots at city parks will also be closed during this period.
There are additional restrictions around Lake Merritt, which has been a gathering place. There will be no parking allowed around the Lake on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, and during Memorial Day Weekend (Memorial Day is Monday, May 25, 2020).
As we are nearing our ninth week of sheltering-in-place, people are getting antsy. The city is still encouraging people to walk, run, and bike ride outside, but not gather in groups or drive places. They are encouraging people to use the Slow Streets in their neighborhoods as a way to get outside.
It sounds like city staff as well as Oakland Police will monitor the situation, and will have “face coverings” to hand out to people. The city runs about 130 parks (see list here).
Momo Chang is a freelance journalist based in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is the Oakland Voices Co-Director. Her work focuses on healthcare, immigration, education, Asian American communities, food and culture. She is a former staff writer at the Oakland Tribune. Momo has received journalism awards from the Society of Professional Journalists for investigative reporting and the Asian American Journalists Association, among others. Her work has appeared in the East Bay Express, San Francisco Chronicle, Wired, and The New York Times. Momo is primarily a print journalist who also produces audio and visual stories for documentary film and radio. She is a Senior Contributing Editor for Hyphen and formerly the Content Manager at the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM).
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