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Dave Stewart + Lonnie Murray Team Officially Joins with Elaine Brown’s Dream Team to Purchase City’s Interest in Oakland Coliseum

“Better Together! We are ready and have the money to purchase the City’s interest now,” Brown said. “And we have the will and the history and the legacy to co-develop the property with the A’s, who own the other 50% interest, having purchased it from the County in 2019. A’s president Dave Kaval has expressed his support of this powerful joint venture.”

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Oakland & the World Enterprises (OAW)’s proposal was meant to influence the Oakland City Council to Vote on Proposals, Thursday, Nov. 4, in Its Closed Session and during future council deliberations. (Pictured from let: Elaine Brown, CEO of Oakland & the World Enterprises (OAW); Dave Stewart, retired Oakland A's pitcher and All Star; and Lonnie Murray, CEO of Sports Management Partners)
Oakland & the World Enterprises (OAW)’s proposal was meant to influence the Oakland City Council to Vote on Proposals, Thursday, Nov. 4, in Its Closed Session and during future council deliberations. (Pictured from let: Elaine Brown, CEO of Oakland & the World Enterprises (OAW); Dave Stewart, retired Oakland A's pitcher and All Star; and Lonnie Murray, CEO of Sports Management Partners)

Editor’s note: Below is the text of a media statement from Oakland & the World Enterprises (OAW), Elaine Brown’s group. The content was edited by Post staff.

This Dream Team’s Proposal is supported by a stellar lineup of the likes of Damien Lillard and Brian Shaw, 100 Black Men of America and Moms 4 Housing, according to the media statement.

The proposal was meant to influence the Oakland City Council to Vote on Proposals, Thursday, Nov. 4, in Its Closed Session and during future council deliberations.

“We found common ground in our vision of lifting up the Black and Brown communities of East Oakland through development of the abandoned Coliseum with Elaine Brown and her team,” Lonnie Murray stated on Tuesday.

Responding, Brown said, “Dave Stewart is committed to the same ideals to which I’ve pledged my whole life since heading the Black Panther Party, and that is why I reached out to him and Lonnie for partnership in purchasing and developing the Coliseum site.”

“Better Together! We are ready and have the money to purchase the City’s interest now,” Brown said. “And we have the will and the history and the legacy to co-develop the property with the A’s, who own the other 50% interest, having purchased it from the County in 2019. A’s president Dave Kaval has expressed his support of this powerful joint venture.”

Dave Stewart

Dave Stewart is a Black man born and raised in East Oakland, a Black man celebrated all over the world as one of MLB’s greatest pitchers, who led the Oakland A’s to its last World Series championship, the statement said.

More, though, Dave is a proud Black man who brought himself up from the streets of East Oakland to a starring role in a game that remains white dominated. He had to be better than the best in the game, and he was, in the tradition of Satchel Paige. And he is ready to put all his resources on the line for his beloved community according to the statement.

Black Girl Power!

Lonnie Murray, CEO of Sports Management Partners, is the only Black woman certified as a player agent by the MLB Players Association. In addition to the constant struggle she wages to bring more Blacks into baseball and create more opportunities for women, she represents, among others, Bruce Maxwell, the first MLB player to kneel during the National Anthem; Bianca Smith, the first Black woman hired by MLB as a baseball coach, and Marly Rivera, the first and only Latina MLB writer, the statement said.

Like Lonnie Murray, Elaine Brown is a strong Black woman who has navigated male-dominated spaces with aplomb. As the only woman who led the Black Panther Party, Elaine’s commitment to Black people, particularly in Oakland, goes back 55 years, according to the press statement.

Presently, Elaine Brown, as CEO of Oakland & the World Enterprises (OAW), is driving its mission to launch and sustain businesses for ownership by Black and other socioeconomically marginalized people, particularly formerly incarcerated people. With co-developer McCormack Baron Salazar, OAW is currently co-developing a 79-unit, 100% affordable housing complex at 7th and Campbell Streets in West Oakland, set to break ground in December, the press statement said.

“Show Me the Money”

“Incredibly, Vice Mayor Rebecca Kaplan,” according to the media statement, “is working against the Stewart-Brown union to support a proposal from a group that does not offer to pay the full purchase price on signing an agreement, does not have the experience to develop the site, but more, does not have the support of the Oakland A’s as a necessary partner.”

“The Stewart-Brown team is urging the Council not to be swayed by the smoke and mirrors of an ambitious politico who has no real commitment to the Black community,” the statement said.

“In a few days, the people of Oakland will know whether or not its Council is committed to a real community benefit that the Stewart-Brown team offers or will surrender to the personal ambition of one Council member,” the media statement concluded.

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Activism

Oakland Hosts Town Hall Addressing Lead Hazards in City Housing

According to the city, there are 22,000 households in need of services for lead issues, most in predominantly low-income or Black and Latino neighborhoods, but only 550 to 600 homes are addressed every year. The city is hoping to use part of the multimillion-dollar settlement to increase the number of households served each year.

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By Magaly Muñoz

The City of Oakland’s Housing and Community Development Department hosted a town hall in the Fruitvale to discuss the efforts being undertaken to remove lead primarily found in housing in East and West Oakland.

In 2021, the city was awarded $14 million out of a $24 million legal settlement from a lawsuit against paint distributors for selling lead-based paint that has affected hundreds of families in Oakland and Alameda County. The funding is intended to be used for lead poisoning reduction and prevention services in paint only, not water or other sources as has been found recently in schools across the city.

The settlement can be used for developing or enhancing programs that abate lead-based paint, providing services to individuals, particularly exposed children, educating the public about hazards caused by lead paint, and covering attorney’s fees incurred in pursuing litigation.

According to the city, there are 22,000 households in need of services for lead issues, most in predominantly low-income or Black and Latino neighborhoods, but only 550 to 600 homes are addressed every year. The city is hoping to use part of the multimillion-dollar settlement to increase the number of households served each year.

Most of the homes affected were built prior to 1978, and 12,000 of these homes are considered to be at high risk for lead poisoning.

City councilmember Noel Gallo, who represents a few of the lead-affected Census tracts, said the majority of the poisoned kids and families are coming directly from neighborhoods like the Fruitvale.

“When you look at the [kids being admitted] at the children’s hospital, they’re coming from this community,” Gallo said at the town hall.

In order to eventually rid the highest impacted homes of lead poisoning, the city intends to create programs and activities such as lead-based paint inspections and assessments, full abatement designed to permanently eliminate lead-based paint, or partial abatement for repairs, painting, and specialized cleaning meant for temporary reduction of hazards.

In feedback for what the city could implement in their programming, residents in attendance of the event said they want more accessibility to resources, like blood testing, and information from officials about lead poisoning symptoms, hotlines for assistance, and updates on the reduction of lead in their communities.

Attendees also asked how they’d know where they are on the prioritization list and what would be done to address lead in the water found at several school sites in Oakland last year.

City staff said there will be a follow-up event to gather more community input for programming in August, with finalizations happening in the fall and a pilot launch in early 2026.

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Alameda County

Oakland Begins Month-Long Closure on Largest Homeless Encampment

At 8 a.m. sharp, city workers began piling up trash and dismantling makeshift homes along the nearly five-block encampment. City crews blocked off streets from 14th Ave to 17th Ave, between E. 12th and International Blvd, due to the Safe Work Zone Ordinance that was passed by the city council in 2022 to protect workers from harassment during cleanings, according to a city spokesperson.

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The City of Oakland began sweeping their largest homeless encampment on E 12th St. Monday morning. Advocates claim that the city has not done its due diligence with providing ample resources or outreach for residents at the encampment. Photo by Magaly Muñoz.
The City of Oakland began sweeping their largest homeless encampment on E 12th St. Monday morning. Advocates claim that the city has not done its due diligence with providing ample resources or outreach for residents at the encampment. Photo by Magaly Muñoz.

By Magaly Muñoz

The City of Oakland began a three-week-long breakdown of the largest homeless encampment in the city on E. 12th Street on Monday morning. Residents and advocates said they are devastated about the displacement of dozens of people.

At 8 a.m. sharp, city workers began piling up trash and dismantling makeshift homes along the nearly five-block encampment. City crews blocked off streets from 14th Ave to 17th Ave, between E. 12th and International Blvd, due to the Safe Work Zone Ordinance that was passed by the city council in 2022 to protect workers from harassment during cleanings, according to a city spokesperson.

Jaz Colibri, one of the many advocates at the closure, said the encampment sweeps were “intense and terrifying” to witness. They claimed that several residents, many of them non-English speakers, had not been aware that the sweep was happening that day because of a lack of proper communication and outreach from Oakland.

Colibri added that the city had done a Census “many months ago” and “had not bothered to count people since then”, meaning dozens of individuals have missed out on housing and resources in the last few weeks because the city doesn’t offer outreach in multiple languages.

“Basically, [Oakland] dropped the ball on actually getting to know everybody who lives here and then creating a housing solution that meets everyone’s needs,” Colibri said.

City spokesperson Jean Walsh told the Post that notices of the closure operation were posted in Spanish and Chinese prior to Monday, but did not clarify if outreach was done in those languages as well.

Nearly a dozen Oakland police vehicles, California Highway Patrol officers, and Oakland Public Works staff were gathered along E 12th waiting for residents to pack up their belongings and move away from the area.

Advocates said residents “felt unsafe” due to the hefty law enforcement presence.

One city worker, who was picking up debris near 16th Ave, said, “They’ve known we were coming for a long time now” in reference to resident confusion about the sweeping.

The state doubled down on its requirement to get cities and counties to deal with their homelessness crisis at a press conference Monday afternoon. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office released a “model ordinance” that is intended to provide a starting point that local municipalities can use to build from and adjust in creating their own policies on encampments, if they haven’t done so yet.

Newsom said “No more excuses, time to deliver” after the state has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into solving the issue.

Oakland was awarded a $7.2 million grant from the state in 2024 to close long-standing encampments in the city, including camps at Martin Luther King, Jr. and 23rd Street, and Mosswood Park.

Residents at these encampments were offered wraparound supportive services, temporary shelter, and eventually will be transitioned to permanent supportive housing, according to a city statement from last year.

Residents who accepted housing at these three encampments were moved into newly acquired property, formerly the Extended Stay America Hotel in West Oakland, which will first serve as interim housing for up to 150 individuals and couples in 105 units, and in the coming year, will be converted into 125 units of permanent housing.

Walsh said as of May 2, “32 residents of the recently closed Mosswood Park encampment moved into the Mandela House program” and as of May 12, “41 residents of the East 12th Street encampment have already accepted offers to move to the Mandela House.” The city will provide final numbers of how many accepted and moved into housing after the closure operation is over.

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Barbara Lee

WNBA’s Golden State Valkyries Kick Off Season with Community Programs in Oakland

“The Golden State Valkyries are more than a team—they’re a movement,” said Oakland Interim-Mayor Kevin Jenkins. “Their touchdown in Oakland marks a new era of opportunity, inspiration, and equity in sports. This partnership reflects our city’s deep commitment to uplifting women, investing in youth, and building a community where every dream has a place to grow. We’re proud to welcome the Valkyries to The Town.” 

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The Valkyries came to Oakland City Hall with a “Hoopbus.” Present were (from left to right): City Councilmembers Noel Gallo, Rebecca Kaplan, Zac Unger and Rowena Brown; Oakland Mayor-elect Barbara Lee, Valkyries President Jess Smith, a Valkyries team representative and Deputy Mayor LaNiece Jones. Photo courtesy Rebecca Kaplan’s office.
The Valkyries came to Oakland City Hall with a “Hoopbus.” Present were (from left to right): City Councilmembers Noel Gallo, Rebecca Kaplan, Zac Unger and Rowena Brown; Oakland Mayor-elect Barbara Lee, Valkyries President Jess Smith, a Valkyries team representative and Deputy Mayor LaNiece Jones. Photo courtesy Rebecca Kaplan’s office.

Team installs new nets at playgrounds, holds flag-raisings at City Halls in Oakland and S.F.

Special to The Post

The Golden State Valkyries brought the excitement of their inaugural season to every corner of the Bay Area with a full slate of community celebrations leading up to their historic home-opener against the Los Angeles Sparks at the Chase Center in San Francisco on Friday.

The week featured flag-raising ceremonies at city halls in Oakland and San Francisco, three “Violet Net” installation days at Oakland parks to encourage basketball play, fun “Hoopbus” takeovers at multiple schools presented by Kaiser Permanente, and player appearances.

“The Golden State Valkyries are more than a team—they’re a movement,” said Oakland Interim-Mayor Kevin Jenkins. “Their touchdown in Oakland marks a new era of opportunity, inspiration, and equity in sports. This partnership reflects our city’s deep commitment to uplifting women, investing in youth, and building a community where every dream has a place to grow. We’re proud to welcome the Valkyries to The Town.”

In total, 90 violet nets were installed on 45 basketball courts across 34 public parks throughout Oakland this week. A list of the parks receiving violet nets can be found at Valkyries.com.

About the Golden State Valkyries

The Golden State Valkyries, the WNBA affiliate of the seven-time NBA Champion Golden State Warriors, were announced as the 13th WNBA franchise on Oct. 5, 2023. According to Norse mythology, Valkyries are a host of warrior women who are fearless and unwavering – flying through air and sea alike.

This brand is Golden State’s modern interpretation of Valkyries: strong, bold, and fierce. Tipping off during the 2025 WNBA season, the team is headquartered in Oakland and will play home games at Chase Center in San Francisco. For Golden State Valkyries’ assets, including team logos, visit valkyries.com.

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