Speakers

Ryan Clausnitzer, General Manager, Alameda County Mosquito Abatement District, will share his experience as a Peace Corps volunteer in the South Pacific island Kingdom of Tonga, where he spent his two-year term (2001-2003) in Youth Development.

David Ayón, lecturer, U.C. Berkeley and co-author of Forging Latino Power, the Politics of Inclusion, Backlash, and Resistance, will speak to us about his new book and its relevance to the celebrations of Cinco de Mayo!

Mr. Ayón has also worked as a senior fellow of the Center for the Study of Los Angeles, a senior advisor to the Mexico Institute of the Woodrow Wilson Center, and has served as a consultant for the firm Latino Decisions; he has directed programs of the Mexico Institute and the USC School of International Relations.

Howard Cook, a former Residential Earthquake Damage Inspector, former Berkeley Disaster Commissioner, and co-author of two seismic retrofit guidelines, will be hosting a presentation on protecting your home.

Friends of the Alameda Free Library presentation

Speakers

• Library Director, Michael Eitner
• Friends of the Alameda Free Library Board President, Josh Dapkus (depicted in photo with Karen Butter)
• Friends of the Alameda Free Library Outgoing Board President, Karen Butter
• Friends of the Alameda Free Library Executive Director, Marcie Soslau Johnson

Program Information

• Library programs 
• Learn about library programming
• Hear about library resources for community members
• Summer Reading Challenge
• Friends mission, work and volunteering
• Fundraising initiatives
• Books for Friends
• Friends Cafe
• Friends @ Home
• Live @ the Library
• Newsletters and January publication

Join BART Director Victor Flores to hear about how BART’s safe, clean, and reliable service supports the quality of life in the Bay Area.

 

Director Flores will provide updates on rider-focused improvements and BART’s financial outlook.

 

Bio: Victor Flores was elected to serve District 7 on the BART Board of Directors in November 2024. 

 

Victor is a firm believer in the power of good government and public service and well-versed about the intersection of urban planning, environmentalism, zoning, and inequity that could be changed through policy decisions.

 

Victor grew up in Oakland’s Fruitvale District, the son of Mexican immigrants. At age 17, he found himself hopeless after receiving an 8-year prison sentence. Despite remarkable odds, he overcame adversity, first by becoming a liaison between the prisoners and corrections officers while incarcerated and later by completing community college and earning a bachelors degree from UC Berkeley in Chicanx Latinx Studies. While at Berkeley, Victor continued to work while joining with first-generation organizations to support others and outreach to high school students.

 

District 7 is in Alameda and San Francisco Counties and includes the Northern portion of Oakland including the communities of West Oakland, the City of Piedmont, the City of Emeryville, the City of Alameda, the Bayview District of San Francisco, and Treasure Island.

 

David Levine, Professor, UC College of the Law, San Francisco, legal commentator on Channel 2 KTVU, will share "The Latest on the US Supreme Court"

Luana España was elected to the East Bay Regional Park District Board of Directors in November 2024 to represent Ward 4. Director España is a community affairs representative at the Port of Oakland and was previously a manager in the AT&T Leadership Development Program. She has served on the East Bay Regional Park District’s Park Advisory Committee, the Bay Area Ridge Trail’s Board of Directors, and the Hayward Area Recreation & Park District’s Citizen Advisory Committee with a focus on shaping policies that make public spaces more sustainable, accessible, and enjoyable for everyone. Director España was born and raised in San Leandro. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Politics and Spanish Literary Studies from Occidental College and a Master’s degree in Public Policy from the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley. She was a U.S. Fulbright scholar in Madrid, Spain. In her free time, Director España enjoys trail running, backpacking, and international travel.Regional Parks in Ward 4 include: Lake Chabot Regional Park, Martin Luther King Jr. Regional Shoreline, Oyster Bay Regional Shoreline, Robert W. Crown Memorial State Beach

Cities in Ward 4 include: Alameda, Ashland, portion of Castro Valley, Cherryland, portion of Hayward, Oakland, San Leandro, San Lorenzo

Twenty five years ago, the Lennettes partnered with two Costa Ricans to purchase and preserve/protect what has become approximately 500 acres of primary and secondary cloud forest. Tropical cloud forests are the most biodiverse places on earth. They are also rapidly disappearing, being converted to agriculture. This talk will describe the project and the reasons for it.