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30-year wait to underground utility lines is nearly over | Historic Asian American bookshop closing

Avatar photo

Natalie Orenstein

Natalie Orenstein reports on housing and homelessness for The Oaklandside. Natalie was a Berkeleyside staff reporter from early 2017 to May 2020. She had previously contributed to the site since 2012, when she started as an intern. Orenstein covered a range of beats for Berkeleyside, focusing primarily on education. Her 2018 three-part series "Beyond the Buses" explored the legacy of Berkeley’s historic voluntary school integration, earning her the Society of Professional Journalists NorCal’s long-form storytelling award and a finalist position in the Education Writers Association National Awards for Education Reporting. Orenstein's reporting has also appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, the J Weekly, the San Francisco Bay Guardian and elsewhere. Natalie is a proud Berkeley native and only strayed from the Bay Area once, to attend Pomona College.

natalie@oaklandside.org
Posted inHousing & Development

Moms 4 Housing protesters shut down Alameda County board meeting over renter protections

Avatar photo by Natalie Orenstein Jan. 25, 2023, 11:18 a.m.January 27, 2023

Activists, including Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board commissioner Dominique Walker, were arrested and cited Tuesday after disrupting the Board of Supervisors meeting.

Posted inCity

Alameda County will distribute 500 tents to homeless people impacted by the storms

Avatar photo by Natalie Orenstein Jan. 13, 2023, 4:30 p.m.January 14, 2023

One hundred tents were allocated to North Alameda County, which includes Berkeley, Albany and Emeryville.

A man in a neon vest grins with his thumbs up. Behind him are dozens of full garbage bags.
Posted inCity

Memorial honors the hundreds of unhoused people who died in Alameda County this year

Avatar photo by Natalie Orenstein Dec. 23, 2022, 10:00 a.m.December 23, 2022

A new effort to track every local homeless death has found that unhoused people are five times likelier than others to die.

Posted inCity

Toilets? Cannabis grows? Rising temps? We looked into theories and history behind the Bay Area algae bloom

Avatar photoAvatar photo by Natalie Orenstein and Darwin BondGraham Sept. 03, 2022, 8:00 a.m.September 2, 2022

Questions swirl as carcasses rot at Lake Merritt, the Berkeley Marina and beyond. We talked to experts and explored 100 years of local fish-kills.

Posted inNosh Features

What it’s like to live inside a legendary Oakland lesbian bar

Avatar photo by Natalie Orenstein May 04, 2022, 3:01 a.m.May 4, 2022

Rebecca Longworth and Joan Howard live in what was once The Jubilee, a rough-and-tumble Oakland lesbian bar through the 1970s and ’80s.

Posted inCity

Berkeley and Alameda County’s eviction moratoriums are still in effect

Avatar photo by Natalie Orenstein April 13, 2022, 2:53 p.m.August 4, 2022

News about California’s eviction and rent relief programs has caused some confusion for local tenants and landlords.

Posted inCity

800 homeless people died in Alameda County in 3 years

Avatar photo by Natalie Orenstein April 12, 2022, 4:55 p.m.August 1, 2022

The main causes of death were overdoses and medical conditions, many “preventable,” according to a county report.

Posted inCommunity, The Oaklandside

Find out where your grandparents lived in Berkeley with new 1950 census records

Avatar photo by Natalie Orenstein April 04, 2022, 4:59 p.m.August 4, 2022

Details from 72 years ago are available for the first time and paint a clearer picture of life in Alameda County and beyond.

Posted inCity

A pledge to ‘give meaning to every homeless death’ at Alameda County memorial

Avatar photoAvatar photo by Supriya Yelimeli and Natalie Orenstein Dec. 23, 2021, 2:03 p.m.December 16, 2022

According to a forthcoming report, more than 800 unhoused people died in the county over a three-year period, significantly higher than previous estimates.

Posted inCity

Is my fireplace illegal? And other burning questions about wood smoke

Avatar photo by Natalie Orenstein Dec. 08, 2021, 10:32 a.m.August 4, 2022

Fireplaces and fire pits are the largest sources of unhealthy pollution in the winter. Here are the rules and recommendations around burning wood and sparing the air.

Posted inCity

Alameda County gears up for major homeless count

Avatar photo by Natalie Orenstein Oct. 27, 2021, 3:07 p.m.July 28, 2022

Canceled last year for COVID-19 safety concerns, this year’s Point-in-Time assessment “counts more” than any before it, organizers say.

Posted inCity

With $6.6M grant, homeless youth in Alameda County will design programs for their community

Avatar photo by Natalie Orenstein Oct. 08, 2021, 5:28 p.m.July 28, 2022

Young unhoused people in Berkeley and surrounding cities will lead the decision-making process about how to use the federal grant.

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