Bay City News Service—Oakland city officials are kicking off the holiday shopping season with a campaign to urge residents to make their purchases locally.
The campaign, "Shop Oakland Grown," asks residents with budgets of all sizes to shop within city limits to help stimulate the local economy.
For those looking for gift ideas, city officials recommend picking up some "Oakland Grown" gift cards, which can be used at any of a number of participating small businesses.
The city is also bringing back its free holiday parking program. Last year, metered parking was free on two Saturdays in December. Details of this year's holiday parking program have not yet been released.
Local merchants were scheduled to join Mayor Jean Quan at a news conference in the Piedmont Avenue shopping district this morning to launch the campaign.
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