melanie woodrow, abc7 news. >> this election day will bring big changes to the oakland school board. four of the seven current members decided not to run. critics are hoping it means a change in direction. abc7 news anchor eri the story. >> when i ran, my kids were in first grade and third grade. they are now in college. >> reporter: she served three terms, 12 years on the board. she says that's long enough. >> i'm not a fan of term limits, but i am a fan of knowing when to move aside and let others step in. >> reporter: she and three other members will not be on the ballot in november by choice. they all served during a turbulent period for oakland schools with the district suffering more than one debt crisis, divisive teacher strikes, and -- school mergers that grew so big and heated that police had to be called on several occasions. the merger fight also led to an unsuccessful attempt to recall london. during a strike last year, board member got into a physical altercation on the picket line. she also says it's time for new blood, but the blow-ups didn't help. >> if it turns into

here's melanie woodrow. >> walk away! walk away! >> reporter: a march was organized by walkaway sunday, a campaign to invite democrats to leave their party and join the republican party. >> basically getting the message out we are not going to allow the radical left in this country to take over america's streets. >> reporter: area resident izzi says he decided to respond. >> we organized a last-minute counterprotest. >> reporter: he asked that we not use his last name for his safety. he says the golden gate patrol and chp allowed members of walkaway to cross the bridge but not others. >> we were able to document how the police escorted and protected the white nationalists versus how they harassed and prevented us from getting on bridge. >> reporter: in an email statement, a spokesperson with the golden gate bridge district writes -- >> reporter: but some people documented instances of not being able to walk across the bridge, even though they say they were not with the counterprotest. >> you let them go, but why not me? >> i believe

abc7 news reporter melanie woodrow has more on this economic impact and what's been done. >> reporter: we first met steve rizzo in march when they saw a major drop in customers. >> within a week's time we saw massive amounts of cancellations. so we were heavily impacted very quickly. >> reporter: now six months later san francisco has announced businesses, including hotels will reopen monday. kevin carroll is president and ceo of the hotel counsel of san francisco. >> it is a day we've been waiting for. and our hotels are prepared to open. they have cleaning guidelines and protocols we've been working on for months with them. and we're excited to be able to welcome people back to our hotels. >> reporter: for those hotels and businesses that survived the pandemic, the news is welcome. rizzo is perhaps more cautious than optimistic. >> the city looks a bit apocalyptic if you want to know the truth. so we have to ask ourselves just because we have a green light to open our hotels does that nisly mean that tourists are going to want to come to stay in the city. >> reporter: also questions

melanie woodrow, abc 7 news. >>> moving on. could a black owned nfl team be coming to oakland? that's the goal of an african-american sports and entertainment group in oakland. they've already spoken to the nfl, which seems to like the idea. hunter hassan has the story. >> our community is in a position where we're huge consumers. and it's time for us to become owners. >> the founder of the african-american sports and entertainment group. a black owned nfl team. >> we see that nobody wants to just stop this thing. we want to see the process of economic participation and equity. be realized. >> the group sent a letter to the nfl in june, and got a favorable response with the framework on how to move forward. >> they're considering a community owned model like that of the green bay packers. >> one option is the joint ownership of the oakland a's. the other, to build a new stadium. oakland just makes sense given its nfl history. >> it would be an opportunity for us to come to the table and inject and revisit and recycle the african-american dollar back into our community. >> this

abc 7 news reporter melanie woodrow explains what they're doing right. >> governor newsome announced santa clara county and santa cruz county are two of two california counties move from purple to red on the state's four tier reopening classification. red is the second worst category and indicates there is still substantial spread of the virus. santa clara county officials responded today saying that businesses and activities could resume under the state's framework as well as the county's own risk reduction order. >> this movement to the red tier is a reflection of the fact that here in our county we're doing a bit better relate you have to many other parts of the state in combatting covid-19. >> personal care services like nail and waxing salons as well as tattoo and piercing parlors are allowed to reopen for indoor operations with modifications. museums, zoos, and aquariums can open at 25% capacity. gyms and if theness can open at 10% capacity. shopping malls are allowed to open at 50% capacity, up from 25% previously. if santa clara county remains in the red tier for 14 days, k-1

here's melanie woodrow. >> walk away! walk away! >> reporter: a march was organized by walkaway sunday, a campaign to invite democrats to leave their party and join the republican party. >> basically getting the message out we are not going to allow the radical left in this country to take over america's streets. >> reporter: area resident izzi says he decided to respond. >> we organized a last-minute counterprotest. >> reporter: he asked that we not use his last name for his safety. he says the golden gate patrol and chp allowed members of walkaway to cross the bridge but not others. >> we were able to document how

melanie woodrow, abc7 news. >> and as melanie mentioned in the north bay, some businesses were prepared to reopen today but the state said no. the county can't move out of the purple tier yet. the state department of public health notified the county of the decision late last night and that angered some business owners who made preparations to open today. >> i have a bunch of employees coming in today. i don't know what to tell them. they thought they had their job back. we hired new people. you have this ridiculous rules and you keep changing the goalposts. right? you said we could reopen. and in the 11th hour, you completely changed the rules. >> a final determination of marin county's tier standing is expected before the end of the week. meanwhile, astrazeneca has put a hold to vaccine trials as it investigate as patient who had a serious side effect. this as nine ceos pledged safety for any virus vaccine. they've vowed not to release any vaccine until it has been proven to be safe and effective. >>> few of us thought remote work would be in its sixth month. a tech company is trying

melanie woodrow dug into the data and has this report. >> officials warned of increased covid-19 risks. but large gatherings were at risk. they analyzed mobility data looking at the typical distance traveled by people labor day for each of the bay area's nine counties, the distance traveled was especially low. the lowest distance traveled was for people living in alameda county with the typical person traveling less than a quarter of a mile. the greatest distance was for people in ma ridge county with the average person driving a little more than a mile. the professor of epidemiology. >> we tried to assign it. people's lively hoods with it. i would see this as more of a collaborative benefits. >> they forecasted travel would be down 15% as compared to last year. >> obviously the cdc still recommends we don't travel at this point because of the pandemic. but you're right. there are several other things going on in northern california that people may have decided to stay home about. the air quality being one of them. >> aaa northern california spokesperson said travel,are making a lot mo

melanie woodrow, abc7 news. >>> the pandemic's change on where we work has left usually crowded freeways nearly empty at times. the traffic is gradually picking back up. who is usaa made for? it's made for this guy a veteran who honorably served and it's made for her she's serving now we made it for all branches and all ranks whether they served one tour or made a career of it. we also made usaa for military spouses and their kids usaa is easy to work with and can save you money on auto, home and renters insurance. become a member today. get an insurance quote at usaa.com/quote usaa. what you're made of we're made for >>> according to the verge, is laying off staff. there just isn't as much traffic to navigate anymore because of the pandemic. and the pandemic has forced bay area workers to face new job realities from new safety protocols to working from home, changing careers and managing work-life balance. the week after labor day usually means the start of commute gridlock as summer vacations end but nothing about traffic is normal so we asked jobina fortson for the latest on how the c

melanie woodrow, abc 7 news. >>> amoeba music plans to reopen its san francisco location this thursday. fans donated more than $290,000 th a gofundme campaign help amoeba and its employees endure the economic hardship of the pandemic. and we're keeping an eye on where each bay area county stands with reopening. you can find the latest on this map we have here. it is all on our website abc7news.com and on the abc 7 news app. but the big question, lisa, is when is it going to clear up, this smoke? it's so eerie outside. >> maybe later tomorrow, yes. when we're looking at a pattern change as we get into next week. that's several days away and we have a pretty strong onshore push -- well, i should say the fog. and we're looking at limited visibility, so that is mixing with the fog, improving the air quality somewhat out there, but you know overall it's bad, it's unhealthy and this is the 26th spare the air alert and continues through monday. here's a look at live doppler 7 where you can see the fog right along the shoreline there, and as we look further we're going to notice that there's a

melanie woodrow has more on the economic impact and what's being done about it. >> reporter: we first met steve rizzo in march when hotel g like others saw a major drop in customers. >> within a weeks time we saw a massive amount of cancellations so we were heavily impacted. >> reporter: now six months later san francisco has announced businesses including hotels will reopen monday. kevin is president and ceo of the hotel council of san francisco. >> it's a date we've been waiting for and our hotels are prepared to open. they have cleaning guidelines and protocols we've been working on for months with them, and we're excited to welcome back back to our hotels. >> reporter: for those hotels and businesses that survived the pandemic is open. >> just because we have the green light to open our hotels does that necessarily mean that tourists are going to come to stay in the city? >> reporter: rizzo also questions what the city plans to do with the homeless population that's staying in hotels. >> the hotels opening now would be hotels that aren't participating because those programs are st