Like many other neighborhoods in Oakland, Laurel suffered some small business casualties during the pandemic, but in recent years, the strip has welcomed a slew of new places that have helped reinvigorate the strip. Laurel is easily walkable, whether you live in the neighborhood, take public transit, or drive in and leave your car parked while you roam around the different shops.
I think it brings a lot of benefits," District 3 Councilmember Anthony Tordillos, a key backer of the reforms, told San José Spotlight. "It means that we can build multifamily housing on more small parcels - close to downtown, close to our transit networks - that are currently really difficult to build under the current building codes.
A historic survivor, 5311 Golden Gate Ave. in Oakland 's sylvan Upper Rockridge neighborhood has been listed for the first time in over 40 years. The 1940s abode was built for one of Oakland's most popular and influential mayors. Now, with an asking price of $2.995 million and less than three weeks on the market, this home is already pending.
On Thursday, Big Y announced that it's opening grocery stores in Fairhaven and North Dartmouth. One market will be located at Fairhaven Plaza in a building formerly occupied by Big Lots. In North Dartmouth, a market will open at the former location of a Christmas Tree Shops store in Faunce Corner Center. Both retailers went out of business after filing for bankruptcy in recent years.
City staff recently told us that we cannot have the Telegraph Holiday Fair or the Juneteenth Festival at their usual locations because of the fire code's 26-foot rule, which says streets with buildings more than 30 feet high must have at least 26 feet of clear roadway to accommodate emergency vehicles. Berkeley's Juneteenth Festival and a popular holiday market on Telegraph Avenue must move from their longtime homes, as the city mulls big fee increases and steps up fire code enforcement.
The city council held the joint study session with the planning and heritage preservation commissions. Saratoga retained Lisa Wise Consulting, an urban planning and economics firm that specializes in walkable, transit-oriented communities. The goal of the meeting was to take the Village Design Guidelines from 2019 and turn them into objective design standards that would support the addition of housing in accordance with state law.
In a city of about 120,000 residents, it takes only about 50 to trigger the process. If that designation is issued on the grounds that the site has some historic value, future attempts to alter the property become much more challenging. It's a tool councilmembers and housing advocates say has been weaponized to prevent or delay housing development in the city.
The unit in the 7400 block of Brookdale Court in Dublin was sold on Sept. 15, 2025 for $1,300,000 which represents a price per square foot of $877. The house, built in 1965, has an interior space of 1,483 square feet. This single-story home presents a roomy floor plan, featuring four bedrooms and two baths. The property occupies a sizable 6,666-square-foot lot.
