Voices & Sources
Local voices worth following, and every source this site uses
Volunteer civic group and Oakland’s most-used voter guide. Focus: public safety, housing, schools, economic vitality.
Why included: The go-to nonpartisan resource every election cycle.
Nonpartisan research, education, and candidate vetting.
Why included: Holds city government accountable on safety, public works, and spending.
Tenant organizing and housing justice.
Why included: Ground-level organizing that shapes Oakland’s tenant-protection policy.
Affordable-housing coalition.
Why included: The coalition behind Oakland’s major affordable-housing and anti-displacement wins.
Racial-equity org centered on Deep East Oakland.
Why included: Brings East Oakland perspectives often missing from City Hall debates.
Business community voice on economy, jobs, development.
Why included: The business counterweight in Oakland policy debates.
Steven Falk on structural governance fixes.
Why included: Deep expertise on the charter questions that shape how Oakland runs.
Steve Tavares, City Hall insider reporting.
Why included: The insider access and institutional memory no other outlet matches.
Guest commentaries from a range of viewpoints.
Why included: Publishes the debate itself, not just one side of it.
Nonprofit newsroom; deepest City Hall coverage.
Why included: Founded 2020, now Oakland’s most essential local newsroom.
Granular Council/boards reporting.
Why included: Covers the meetings nobody else does.
Regional public media, Bay Area’s NPR/PBS affiliate.
Why included: State and regional context that local outlets miss.
UC Berkeley J-school, neighborhood coverage.
Why included: Student journalists digging into neighborhood stories.
Spanish-language, immigrant communities.
Why included: Voices the English-language press rarely reaches.
Black press.
Why included: Decades of Black community journalism in Oakland.
Community/neighborhood storytelling.
Why included: Neighborhood storytelling by residents, not reporters.
Regional newspaper.
Why included: Supplementary metro coverage and investigative resources.
oakinfo.org pulls meeting data directly from Oakland Legistar (the city’s official legislative system) and verifies it against published agendas and minutes. News items are attributed to their publisher and linked to the original — we summarize, we don’t republish. “Verified” means pulled from an official government system and stated as fact. “Reported” means journalism, attributed to its outlet. We do not use anonymous sources.
A listing is not an endorsement. These voices span the spectrum — pragmatic, progressive, business, neighborhood. We link them so readers can hear the argument directly.