Oakley
One of California's newest cities, the City of Oakley incorporated in July 1999 in order to manage growth more gracefully and improve law enforcement services through its own city police force.

The City of Oakley is situated in the eastern portion of Contra Costa County, along the shore of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, near the cities of Antioch and Brentwood. Close to the junction of Highways 4 and 160, with access to San Francisco, the Silicon Valley, and the state capital at Sacramento. Oakley is, in fact, equidistant from San Francisco and Sacramento-just 55 miles.

Oakley's motto, "A Place for Families in the Heart of the Delta," is manifest in many areas: the availability of affordable housing, a focus on the quality of education evident in low student to teacher ratios, and the proximity of numerous water recreation sites. Oakley's population of approximately 27,000 can send their children to one of four elementary schools, one of two middle schools, and a new high school. Those same families in their leisure hours can enjoy outings along the Delta waterways.

Today a landscape of gently rolling fields, orchards and vineyards gives us a glimpse of Oakley's agricultural past. Each September thousands of visitors come to Oakley for the annual Oakley Chamber of Commerce Almond Festival, a celebration set firmly in the City's agricultural history. The City of Oakley is the proposed home of the Delta Science community while helping to restore the Delta and providing valuable Delta education and research data to scientific communities beyond Oakley's borders. A once quiet rural Delta farming community has blossomed into a city with plans for revitalizing its downtown and building a new Civic Center while maintaining its small town charm.