Oakland

Opinion: Support community leadership on the Oakland Planning Commission

Published

6 years ago

April 23, 2018

By Reverend Damita Davis-Howard

We’re in a development boom in Oakland. Cranes and bulldozers clang downtown, building luxury condos, offices, and hotels. More and more people huddle in tents under overpasses, and more of us struggle to keep a roof over our heads.

Right now, we have an opportunity to influence whether the development boom creates an Oakland with clean air, affordable homes for all, and fair wages for the people who build them, or whether it makes us a gentrified city like San Francisco.

Few people know that the seven members of Oakland’s Planning Commission make critical decisions every week about our city’s future — about what is built, where, and for whom. In the next few weeks, the Mayor will nominate people for two seats to replace two Commissioners who are terming out.

We need more community voices on the Planning Commission. The Commission shapes and approves developments in Oakland, whether it’s market-rate luxury condos or development of publicly-owned land. These decision-makers could be our first line of defense against skyrocketing housing costs and homelessness. Oakland’s planning decisions should come from the real input of all of Oakland’s people – especially people of color, flatland communities, and people closest to development sites.

Oakland has something special and beautiful: our diversity. As longtime organizers, we know it’s crucial to represent all of our communities in the decisions that affect us. The Oaklanders hit hardest by poverty and racism are experts in the solutions our town needs. However, as the East Bay Express reported last year, Mayor Schaaf has stacked the Commission with a supermajority of real estate industry representatives – developers, architects, or attorneys in the industry. Recently, the Commission has voted overwhelmingly to build thousands of market-rate luxury units, and only a handful of affordable ones, in the midst of Oakland’s biggest housing affordability crisis in decades.

Union researcher-campaigner Nischit Hegde is a great candidate for the Planning Commission; she has organized closely with impacted workers and East Bay communities for years. Hegde has long supported the working people of Oakland, especially people of color, by speaking out against new hotels that would create more low-wage jobs in Oakland and strain the city’s housing shortage; and by advocating for local “sanctuary workplace” agreements that would protect immigrants on the job. As a mom living in Bella Vista/Eastlake, Hegde also advocates for affordable housing on public land.

We need more leaders of color like Nischit Hegde and Jahmese Myres, a current Commissioner, who will practice the values that the majority of Oaklanders espouse. During Commissioner Myres’ four years in office, she has spoken out for more affordable housing, for opportunities for local workers, and against policies and projects that push our neighbors out of their homes.

Oakland’s working people and communities of color cannot survive if the city is built only for the rich and hip. We need an Oakland for all, and that’s why we need the expertise of community leaders like Nischit Hegde and Jahmese Myres on our Planning Commission.

Reverend Damita Davis-Howard is the Political Director at Oakland Rising, a voter organizing collaborative of nine grassroots organizations in Oakland. Gary Jimenez is the East Bay Vice President of SEIU 1021, which represents over 54,000 employees in local governments, non-profit agencies, health care programs, and schools throughout Northern California.

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Bay Area

Faces Around the Bay: Sidney Carey

Sidney Carey was born in Dallas, Texas. He moved with his family to West Oakland as a baby. His sister is deceased; one brother lives in Oakland. Carey was the Choir Director at Trinity Missionary Baptist Church for 18 years.

Published

3 days ago

May 4, 2024

Oakland Post

Courtesy of Sidney Lane.

By Barbara Fluhrer

Sidney Carey was born in Dallas, Texas. He moved with his family to West Oakland as a baby. His sister is deceased; one brother lives in Oakland.

Carey was the Choir Director at Trinity Missionary Baptist Church for 18 years.

He graduated from McClymonds High with a scholarship in cosmetology and was the first African American to complete a nine-month course at the first Black Beauty School in Oakland: Charm Beauty College.

He earned his License, and then attended U.C., earning a secondary teaching credential. With his Instructors License, he went on to teach at Laney College, San Mateo College, Skyline and Universal Beauty College in Pinole, among others.

Carey was the first African American hair stylist at Joseph and I. Magnin department store in Oakland and in San Francisco, where he managed the hair stylist department, Shear Heaven.

In 2009, he quit teaching and was diagnosed with Congestive Heart Failure. He was 60 and “too old for a heart transplant”. His doctors at California Pacific Medical Center (CPMC) went to court and fought successfully for his right to receive a transplant. One day, he received a call from CPMC, “Be here in one hour.” He underwent a transplant with a heart from a 25-year- old man in Vienna, Austria

Two years later, Carey resumed teaching at Laney College, finally retiring in 2012.

Now, he’s slowed down and comfortable in a Senior Residence in Berkeley, but still manages to fit his 6/4” frame in his 2002 Toyota and drive to family gatherings in Oakland and San Leandro and an occasional Four Seasons Arts concert.

He does his own shopping and cooking and uses Para Transit to keep constant doctor appointments while keeping up with anti-rejection meds. He often travels with doctors as a model of a successful heart-transplant plant recipient: 14 years.

Carey says, “I’m blessed” and, to the youth, “Don’t give up on your dreams!”

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Bay Area

Emiliano Zapata Street Academy Celebrates 40 Years Serving Oakland Families

The Oakland Emiliano Zapata Street Academy, a public alternative high school, celebrated its 50th anniversary this year with a community party and festival last Saturday with live music, good food, vendors’ booths, and activities for adults and children.

Published

3 days ago

May 4, 2024

Oakland Post

Live music was part of the 50th anniversary celebration of the Emiliano Zapata Street Academy, a public alternative high school, on April 27, at St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church on Telegraph Avenue and 29th Street. Photo by Ken Epstein.

By Ken Epstein

The Oakland Emiliano Zapata Street Academy, a public alternative high school, celebrated its 50^th anniversary this year with a community party and festival last Saturday with live music, good food, vendors’ booths, and activities for adults and children.

Attending the Saturday, April 27 celebration were current and past students, families, faculty, and supporters of the school. The school is located at 417 29^th St., and the celebration was held nearby at St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church on Telegraph Avenue in Oakland.

For more information, go to www.streetacademy.online or call 510) 874-3630 or (510) 879-2313.

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Activism

Oakland Ambassadors Strengthen Ties and Aid Efforts in Ghana

Oakland natives and esteemed members of the African American Sports and Entertainment Group (AASEG), Jonathan P. Jones and Dr. Maritony Efua Jones, recently embarked on a significant journey to Ghana as guests of the World Martial Authority Ghana. This trip signifies a crucial opportunity to bolster partnerships, explore new avenues of collaboration, and contribute to impactful initiatives in Ghana.

Published

3 days ago

May 4, 2024

Oakland Post

Elder Jorg Klebingat, Flint Mensah, Richard Burton, H.E. Dr. Maritony Jones, Amb. Jonathan Jones, Elder S. Gifford Nielsen, Elder Alfred Kyungu. Courtesy photo.

By Post Staff

This trip signifies a crucial opportunity to bolster partnerships, explore new avenues of collaboration, and contribute to impactful initiatives in Ghana.

Upon their arrival at Katota Airport in Accra, Ghana, the Joneses were warmly received by His Royal Majesty Okatakyie Asafo Boakye III, the distinguished king of Sanzule Kingdom in the Eastern Nzema, and Etse Nyamedi of World Martial Authority, Ghana.

Nyamedi accompanied the Joneses to the city of Mepe, which had recently experienced flooding, to assess damages and engage with local leaders, elders, and youth regarding the city’s urgent needs after major floods last fall.

Key concerns and priorities identified by the community include comprehensive flood mitigation measures, agricultural support, housing initiatives, educational enhancements, improved healthcare access, and the development of communal recreational spaces.

The Joneses were also graciously invited to meet with leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at their headquarters in Accra. This meeting provided insights into ongoing humanitarian efforts in Ghana and explored avenues for collaboration to further assist Ghanaian communities.

The LDS leaders shared their prompt response to the recent flood, demonstrating their commitment to humanitarian aid by dispatching substantial supplies including medical provisions, sanitation items, blankets, and food to assist flood victims just four days after the disaster.

Additionally, Boakye extended a special invitation to the Joneses to his palace, where they were pleasantly surprised with a heartfelt recognition ceremony. Maritony Jones was honored as the Queen Mother of the Sanzule Kingdom in acknowledgment of her dedicated work, while Jonathan Jones was lauded and welcomed as the ambassador of the Sanzule Kingdom, symbolizing a meaningful homecoming to their ancestral land.

The visit not only strengthens ties between Oakland and Ghana but also underscores the collaborative spirit and commitment to meaningful progress and humanitarian endeavors shared by all involved parties.