Bay Area Current

Fuck Waymo, Long Live KitKat A self-driving car killed a beloved SF cat. It’s part of a long history of tech companies using the Bay as a testing ground at our expense. People have had enough.

Fuck Waymo—Long Live Kit Kat!

A self-driving car killed a beloved SF cat. Kit Kat's murder fits into the long history of tech companies using the Bay as a testing ground — at our expense. But the Bay has had enough.

Read @alexhanna.bsky.social's searing take: bayareacurrent.com/fuck-waymo-l...

Introducing: Sound Ward — Bay Area Current's new column on bottom-up, underground & DIY music scenes across the Bay. This week: DJ's associated with NO BIAS discuss their role as cultural workers — and call for government grants for music makers.

Read on: bayareacurrent.com/sound-ward-n...

No Nation But Zohran Nation Against all odds, socialist Zohran Mamdani vanquished nepo-baby Andrew Cuomo to become Mayor of New York City. If they can do it, so can we.

Bring NYC’s socialist insurgency to the Bay!

Same problems: The majority of people across the Bay Area face the same cost-of-living issues as New Yorkers. Same enemies: centrist Democrats who cozy up to local billionaires.

No Nation But Zohran Nation:
bayareacurrent.com/no-nation-bu...

Fuck Waymo, Long Live KitKat A self-driving car killed a beloved SF cat. It’s part of a long history of tech companies using the Bay as a testing ground at our expense. People have had enough.

My first for @bayareacurrent.bsky.social -- A self-driving car killed a beloved SF cat. It’s part of a long history of tech companies using the Bay as a testing ground at our expense. People have had enough.

bayareacurrent.com/fuck-waymo-l...

CURRENT EVENTS LISTING ☻ OCT 29 - NOV 04 We've generated a list this Halloween week, as we always do. But a holiday like Halloween is built for going out on a limb. That could mean dressing up even though you are not a dresser-upper. But in ...

Subscribe to the @bayareacurrent.bsky.social -- get ON IT. This week's events calendar is the best one yet.

1) texting templates to get your friends out the door for parties +
2) KATE BUSH COVER BAND in El Cerrito on Halloween?!

Be still my Wuthering Heart.

bayareacurrent.com/email/fdc690...

The People’s Answer to ICE: Crowdsourcing Community Defense. People Over Papers' site map offers a glimpse into the informal media people use to warn neighbors when systems of formal confirmation can't match the need: bayareacurrent.com/the-peoples-...

Loo Review: The Bay Area’s Best Public Restrooms A guide to the best, worst, and possibly scariest bathrooms in the Bay Area — the parks edition

Loo Review: The Bay Area’s Best Public Restrooms
A guide to the best, worst, and possibly scariest bathrooms in the Bay Area — the parks edition. Because working people deserve great public restrooms.

bayareacurrent.com/loo-review-p...

Organizing Through the Heartbreak: Director Brett Story on Filmmaking, Amazon and Unions Bay Area Current sat down with the director of Union (2024) to talk about labor narratives, Amazon and the role of left media.

Bay Area Current sat down with the director of Union — @unionthefilm.bsky.social — (2024) to talk about labor narratives, Amazon and the role of left media.

bayareacurrent.com/brett-story-...

Scene Report: Bay Area Fights Against Threat of Federal Agent Surge Trump threatened the Bay with an ICE surge in October 2025, and working-class people mobilized in opposition. We spoke with those who turned out — here's what they told us.

bayareacurrent.com/scene-report...

Trump threatened the Bay with an ICE surge in October 2025, and working-class people mobilized in opposition. We spoke with those who turned out — here's what they told us.

IT HAS HAPPENED -- an event has appeared on @coyotemedia.org, @oaklandreviewofbooks.org and @bayareacurrent.bsky.social calendars. The bay area indie calendar EGOT. What event is it? Well you will have to read all three calendars to find out. Yes I am a social media genius thank you.

It hasn't happened yet but I like to think that if an event makes it onto the @bayareacurrent.bsky.social, @oaklandreviewofbooks.org, and @coyotemedia.org calendar that's like winning the Bay Area event EGOT or something.

The People Against Transit Cuts Bay Area transit is heading off a cliff. Can riders and workers in San Jose slam the brakes?

"AC Transit, the East Bay’s largest local transit provider, has faced recent worker and rider campaigns to fix its merciless schedules, which forces drivers to skip essential breaks while causing delays for riders."

bayareacurrent.com/the-people-a...

The People Against Transit Cuts Bay Area transit is heading off a cliff. Can riders and workers in San Jose slam the brakes?

"AC Transit, the East Bay’s largest local transit provider, has faced recent worker and rider campaigns to fix its merciless schedules, which forces drivers to skip essential breaks while causing delays for riders."

bayareacurrent.com/the-people-a...

Confessions & Obsessions with Anh Phoong A monthly questionnaire that tries to get to the bottom of things.

Confessions & Obsessions — our new monthly questionnaire — tries to get to the bottom of things. First up: we ask the Bay's legendary lawyer Anh Phoong... is she modern or postmodern?

bayareacurrent.com/confessions-...

"In 2024, Hayward and Richmond were the first two U.S. cities to divest from the occupation of Palestine, and the city of Dublin passed an EIP last month."

PALESTINE ORGANIZERS WIN: Divestment from Israel Becomes Policy for Alameda County After a long campaign, organizers moved the county Board of Supervisors to adopt the Ethical Investment Policy on October 3. There is only one more procedural hurdle before full implementation.

Breaking ~ PALESTINE ORGANIZERS WIN: Divestment from Israel Becomes Policy for Alameda County. Hundreds of working-class people from across the Bay turned out to win a long-term ethical investment policy.

bayareacurrent.com/palestine-or...

Why Bay Area Group Stop AI Thinks Artificial Intelligence Will Kill Us All The group behind all those flyers wants you to think about AI doom, tech power, and human extinction.

Read the full story by @bayareacurrent.bsky.social here bayareacurrent.com/why-bay-area...

Unionizing the Strip Mall You pissed off the wrong nerds. They unionized Half Price Books.

You know that times have changed when workers start unionizing the Bay's suburban strip malls.

"The pay is just too low — new staff start at $16.96/hour, barely above the California minimum wage, and they work 35 hours a week with no overtime."
bayareacurrent.com/unionizing-t...

Read our interviews with Verve Coffee workers and their supporters, and attend today's rally fully informed about their fight!

Scene Report: Santa Cruz Verve Workers Union Launch Rally We wanted to hear what Verve Coffee workers and their supporters had to say, so we attended their union launch rally. Here's what we found out.

Unionizing Verve Coffee workers are throwing a pre-election rally today at 2101 Market St in SF. We wanted to learn more about their growing fight, so we attended their Sept 1st rally at Verve Coffee's flagship store in Santa Cruz. Here's what we learned:

bayareacurrent.com/sc-verve-uni...

Why Bay Area Group Stop AI Thinks Artificial Intelligence Will Kill Us All The group behind all those flyers wants you to think about AI doom, tech power, and human extinction.

Ever get one of those "STOP AI" fliers? We looked into the group that argues that, if society does nothing, AI will kill us all.

bayareacurrent.com/why-bay-area...

"It can be tempting to gather politically around AI, as a visible symbol of the changes & upheavals that face us, but in organizing against the technology instead of the industry that mobilizes it, we risk losing the political momentum to shape the future we want." - @bayareacurrent.bsky.social

Almost none of the issues that made life miserable have been addressed: no heat, mold, rodents, and walls that continue falling apart. Like so many other working class tenants across the Bay, the next steps are unclear, but the range of possibility is wide open.

Tenants organized to force the city bureaucracy to intervene, and the city ordered the landlord to send a representative to a meeting with tenants. At that meeting the landlords representative left within five minutes, failing to address any of their concerns.

A Decade Without Heat: Inside the Valley Street Tenants’ Fight for Dignified Housing Tenants at 2341 Valley street, a 41-unit building in uptown Oakland, are fighting against squalid conditions, an absent landlord and city bureaucracy. But they’re not giving up.

A decade without heat and apartments with mold, bugs, and rodents—tenants and their tenant union (TANC) are locked in an ongoing battle with the landlord, Byong Yu, who also owns KP Market in Uptown Oakland.

bayareacurrent.com/a-decade-wit...

Almost none of the issues that made life miserable have been addressed: no heat, mold, rodents, and walls that continue falling apart. Like so many other working class tenants across the Bay, the next steps are unclear, but the range of possibility is wide open.

Tenants organized to force the city bureaucracy to intervene, and the city ordered the landlord to send a representative to a meeting with tenants. At that meeting the landlords representative left within five minutes, failing to address any of their concerns.

A Decade Without Heat: Inside the Valley Street Tenants’ Fight for Dignified Housing Tenants at 2341 Valley street, a 41-unit building in uptown Oakland, are fighting against squalid conditions, an absent landlord and city bureaucracy. But they’re not giving up.

A decade without heat and apartments with mold, bugs, and rodents—tenants and their tenant union (TANC) are locked in an ongoing battle with the landlord, Byong Yu, who also owns KP Market in Uptown Oakland.

bayareacurrent.com/a-decade-wit...

Tenant in Oakland? Your Landlord Probably Can’t Raise Your Rent Much for the Next Year Finally some not bad news.

OAKLAND TENANTS: This year, the maximum allowable rent increase is .8% if your building is covered by the Oakland rent stabilization. Get more helpful info about your rights here:

bayareacurrent.com/tenant-in-oa...

In Santa Cruz, an Unlikely Venue Unites Punks and Veterans For more than 40 years, the Veterans Hall has modeled what a shared public space can look like for those cast off by society. Can it withstand increased privatization?

The Santa Cruz Veterans Hall is an example of what public space can look like: a place where DIY culture meets veteran community support—underwritten by the county government. @becsgross.bsky.social explores how this decades-old space has survived and thrived.
bayareacurrent.com/in-santa-cru...