News Pix: Hovercraft on Ocean Beach, Art in Motion, Walk to School Day and More

Fleet Week is back, which means military crafts and tourists descend on San Francisco. But lots of other things happened this week, affecting the lives of ordinary Bay Area citizens.

San Francisco Fleet Week kicked off at Ocean Beach Wednesday with a display of hovercraft and helicopters, plus an emphasis on the military’s capabilities to help out in domestic emergencies such as the Bay Area’s next big earthquake. (Jonathan Weiand/Ocean Beach Bulletin)

Tony Traverso, co-owner of Traverso's Redwing Shoes on San Pablo Avenue, said that after a few tough years the boot business is picking up as construction workers are starting to find jobs again. More than a quarter of construction workers nationwide were unemployed in 2010; that number had fallen to roughly 13 percent by September of this year.  (Zach St. George/Richmond Confidential)

Richmond residents flocked to the Richmond Arts in Motion festival for the debut of a four-panel interactive video display by San Francisco-based new media artist Scott Snibbe. The exhibit, which is currently on display in the windows of the East Bay Center for the Performing Arts, features motion sensors that react to pedestrian movement with colored ribbons and patterns that undulate on screen.  (Rachel Witte/Richmond Confidential)

Merc Matua, 21 years old of San Jose, a father working two minimum wage jobs to support his eight-month-old son Deandre, says he is "barely skating by." Measure D which will raise the minimum wage in San Jose from $8 to $10 is on this year's ballot. (Jean Melesaine/San Jose Beez)

Students and parents from San Jose's Carolyn A. Clark Elementary School participate in International Walk to School Day Wednesday. (Julia Reis/Peninsula Press)

A home on Benvenue Avenue in Berkeley's Elmwood District was destroyed by a fire Tuesday. Police had to rescue a wheelchair-bound occupant from the home. (David Trachtenberg/Berkeleyside)