The new medical respite center for homeless elderly on McKay Avenue, is finally open. Bonnie Wolf is the consultant who led the project on behalf of the Alameda Point Collaborative which championed it and fought every bureaucratic and social obstacle to realize it. She salutes Alameda for stepping up to defend it against a spiteful minority that opposed it for years. She also explains how healing the beach setting will be for patients at Arnold's Place.

Podcast host: Laura Thomas

For more about the Wellness Center/Arnold Place's history use this link:
https://islandcitybeat.com/episodes/place-holder-for-next-episode

Island City Beat looks back with Malia Vella on her service on Alameda City Council. She reviews some of the important issues facing the city. And, she tells us why she is running for Mayor of Alameda.

Island City Beat's new art critic, O K Boomer, visits the Frank Bette Center for the Arts to review its 20th Annual Alameda on Camera show. We get some insight into the vision and execution of these camera-based exhibits from some of the 48 participants themselves and learn how much this local competition encourages the city's artistic expression.

A civil rights attorney and the son of Chinese immigrants, Oliver Ma is running for the post of Lieutenant Governor. He spoke to us here in Alameda about his platform promoting the basic needs of Californians for housing, health care and relief from the predations of the fascist Trump regime -- as well as his aim of tackling policies responsible for the wealth disparities that have made life in California so precarious for so many.

Podcast host: Laura Thomas

Last fall, the venerable Alameda Food Bank, founded by concerned citizens in 1977, moved into a new facility on West Ranger Avenue at Alameda Point and opened a free grocery store called the Island Community Market. Director Teale Harden tells us about how it differs from other food bank operations while serving 12 percent of Alamedans and how it's preparing to do so much more.

Podcast host: Laura Thomas

Alameda will be electing a new mayor this fall as Marilyn Ashcraft finishes her second term in office. City council member Tracy Jensen, who is finishing her first term, has decided to run for the job. She spoke to Island City Beat recently about the issues that concern us: housing, food security, police surveillance, the threat of federal invasion, climate change and more.

In the coming weeks, we will put similar questions to other candidates for mayor, which may include current council member Tony Daysog and former member Malia Vella. Stay tuned!

The City of Alameda and Christ Episcopal Church jointly fund the 'AWS' at Parish Hall - Grand at Santa Clara streets which provides our unhoused neighbors with a warm, dry, caring place to sleep, with dinner and breakfast. A limited shower and clothing program is also available. Today we speak with two of the many people who make this lovely effort happen.

https://sites.google.com/view/alamedawarming/home?authuser=2

In Part 2 of our interview with the authors of "Motown: The Making of Working Class Revolutionaries," we explore with Jerome Scott and Walda Katz-Fishman the question of what revolution means, are we in a revolutionary process and how do we engage in actions that force our current political structure to shift its focus and make technology serve - not profit from - a more just and equitable society.

Podcast host: Laura Thomas