Oakland

Meet Taj Tashombe: Oakland A’s VP of External Affairs

Published

6 years ago

November 24, 2017

Taj Tashombe

The Oakland Athletics recently promoted Taj Tashombe to Vice President of External Affairs. In his new role, Tashombe oversees community engagement and outreach for the team’s new ballpark effort.

The new job places Tashombe right in the middle of the A’s new coliseum project and their hopeful plans to build on the Peralta Community College District’s land near Laney College.

Tashombe considers Oakland to be at a major tipping and wants the community to grasp the the gravity of the moment and the positive impact the new stadium will have on education, jobs, crime prevention and re-entry.

“If we miss this opportunity, I don’t know when the next ship is coming because this is the largest project on the table in Oakland,” he said. The 35,000 seat stadium is expected to have its new location established and begin building by the year 2023.

Tashombe says that change is inevitable, however he wants gentrification with equity. Primarily privately funded, Tashombe says the project will yield a $3 billion dollar economic impact on Oakland with 2,000 construction jobs. He is really excited about the creation of partnerships and the possibilities for anyone involved.

“The new stadium will be state of the art with cutting edge technology and we look forward to creating a pipeline for students to be a part of the A’s family in the form of internships while in school and viable jobs thereafter,” he said.
From an infrastructural standpoint, he says the project will create improvements on the surrounding roads, sewage system and buildings.

“The infrastructural impact and development of the loan will be of benefit with the use of Infrastructure Finance Districts which allows new revenue from the ballpark after it’s built, to be poured back into the community so that the cost to the City goes down and there are no new taxes,” he said.

A desire for Oakland residents to have the opportunity to tell their story, leave their legacy and imprint in the lens of past, present, and future is of importance to Tashombe. As Tashombe pushes the new vision for the A’s he feels that his own life story has come full circle since his return to the Bay Area in January, with his wife and 4-year old daughter.

Prior to the A’s, Tashombe worked in conjunction with the NBA on TNT, NFL Sunday Night Football, and MLB Network. He has also worked with big brands such as Toyota, Hilton Hotels and Hyundai.

The Oakland native who once worked as an Oakland A’s intern, is a graduate of HBCU, Clark Atlanta University.

“On campus, I started the Men’s Institution Program, a campaign that promoted the success and dignity of who we are as men, our character, and dreams and the way in which we conduct ourselves in a collegiate environment,” said Tashombe. “We even had Nelson Mandela’s grandson as a part of the organization.”

Tashombe took his leadership skills and gained valuable political and community engagement experience as a special assistant to Congresswoman Barbara Lee, as well as to the Director of Communications at the Port of Oakland. His love of business and entertainment moved him to Southern California for 15 years until a 15-minute meeting with the A’s president turned into a job opportunity.

“I simply reached out to the president of the A’s and asked for a 15-minute meeting – that meeting turned out to be a job offer that changed my life.”

Just as Tashombe walked through the door of opportunity he hopes to help others weigh in on the development and partake in the benefits of the new stadium.

“My dream is for this ballpark to coincide and be very meaningful to the community and I want it to be done in a responsible way,” he added.

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Faces Around the Bay: Jim Brosnahan, Esq.

James J. Brosnahan, ESQ, an international trial lawyer and trial advocacy teacher, has remained unshaken in his fervent belief in the power of the law to right injustices. Brosnahan has fought to open the legal profession to those previously excluded and worked to provide lawyers to the millions who go without.

Published

6 hours ago

May 3, 2024

Oakland Post

By Barbara Fluhrer “Isn’t this what old men are supposed to do… sit on a bench in the park?”

By Barbara Fluhrer

James J. Brosnahan, ESQ, an international trial lawyer and trial advocacy teacher, has remained unshaken in his fervent belief in the power of the law to right injustices.

Brosnahan has fought to open the legal profession to those previously excluded and worked to provide lawyers to the millions who go without. He has argued for the administrators of justice to represent the whole community. He’s tried 150 cases to conclusion and is ranked among the top 30 trial lawyers in the U.S. (Legal 500 US). He’s been called “scrappy,” “a lion in the courtroom,” and “ultra- liberal.”

One of his earliest cases (1962) involved two Navajo children shot by a White man on a reservation in Arizona. “The legal system needed to work as well for Native Americans as for White people,” he said. “The defendant was found guilty of second-degree murder.”

In 1963, U.S. Attorney Cecil Poole hired him as U.S. Attorney from a list of 200 applicants.

He and Poole, as federal observers, led the Vietnam protesters as they marched. The purpose: to avoid violence.

“Poole taught me preventative law in a chaotic situation and became one of my strongest mentors,” remembers Brosnahan.

In 1964, Brosnahan served on the NAACP’s Housing Committee in S.F., when 70% of the city’s housing was not available to Blacks. They sued racial discriminators, fought for reform and opposed the displacement of minorities in the Western Addition. They won and they lost, but they became the racial conscience of San Francisco in the fight for fair housing.

In 1969, two Black community workers in Oakland were indicted for stealing federal money.

“My two clients were activists in Oakland. I believed there was an element of racism running through Washington’s decision to indict two Black men who worked every day to help the poor,” he said.

The case was eventually dismissed. In the early 70s, he responded to a subpoena and testified against Judge Rehnquists’ confirmation hearing for the Supreme Court. He had witnessed Rehnquist obstructing voting at a polling place. Amid threats on his life, he was the chief defense lawyer for the American who joined the Taliban in 2002.

Brosnahan, his wife Carol and three children moved from S.F. to Berkeley in 1964, in part, to participate in the Berkeley school integration program. She is a retired Alameda County Superior Court judge.

Brosnahan, 90, checks in to his San Francisco firm, Morrison & Foerster often. He paints, reads, walks a mile a day, journals, and lectures, while writing another book: “Cultural History of Trials over the Centuries.”

His last book “Justice at Trial,” published in 2023, details his life and battles.

He reflects, “Over my career I have come to realize that one secret for enriching your own life is trying to help others. What better way to do that than to represent them in court.”