City Government

Why Is the City Paying Its Agent Tagami to Force Out Army Base Businesses?

Published

12 years ago

August 29, 2014

The Post sent questions this week to the City Administrator focusing on the commitments of the city and its agent to giving local businesses a home at the $1.2 billion Oakland Army Base development.

So far, neither the city nor its agent, Phil Tagami of CCIG, have responded to the Post’s questions. CCIG is developing warehouses and other port logistics with its partner Prologis on the city side of base property.

< p>The first question: When will the city fulfill its promises to two local companies to occupy space at the North Gateway of the Army Base property?

The companies are California Waste Solutions (CWS), which recently won a contract to collect and recycle the city’s trash, and Bill Aboudi’s Oakland Maritime Support Services (OMSS), which provides truck parking and support services.

The question, in other words, is who has priority? Who goes first? Will it be CWS, and OMSS? Or will these companies have to wait in line until work is completed by the CCIG-Prologis port logistics project?

The section question: What commitment is the city making to companies on the Eastern Gateway property when the project is completed?

Is space reserved for local companies that previously operated at the base before they were evicted? Or are deals being cut with new companies?

Companies that were previously on the base include Impact, High Mountain and PCC Logistics, which had a contract with U.S. Customs to conduct cargo inspections before it was evicted from the city’s side of the base and took a temporary lease on the Port of Oakland side.

According to Dexter Vizinau, who represents PCC Logistics, “We don’t know who the tenants are on the city side (of the base). We have heard that is no room for us on the city side.”

“Our future is still uncertain,” Vizinau said. “Where’s the commitment for a local business that has made a commitment for many years to conduct business in Oakland and hire Oakland?”