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Menlo Park Residents Fear Loss of Onetta Harris’ Legacy in Facebook Offer to Overhaul Community Center

The legacy of a renowned Belle Haven organizer and advocate is under threat as the City of Menlo Park prepares to review suggestions for names of a new community center to replace the one named for Onetta Harris in 1983. A beloved community worker in the Belle Haven district of Menlo Park, Harris passed away in 1982.

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Front of the Onetta Harris Center in Menlo Park. Photo by Ken Harris
Front of the Onetta Harris Center in Menlo Park. Photo by Ken Harris

By Tanya Dennis

The legacy of a renowned Belle Haven organizer and advocate is under threat as the City of Menlo Park prepares to review suggestions for names of a new community center to replace the one named for Onetta Harris in 1983.

A beloved community worker in the Belle Haven district of Menlo Park, Harris passed away in 1982.

A member of the Belle Haven Advisory Board, Harris had also chaired the Neighborhood Housing Service, a housing rehabilitation agency, co-founded and served on the Charles Drew Medical Center with her husband, Israel Harris, and was an assistant to the principal at Belle Haven Elementary School.

She helped with voter registration and distributed food baskets during the holidays. On a personal level, Harris saved the lives of numerous Belle Haven youth with wise council and support, taking many into her home to live with her.

After receiving a petition from local residents, the Menlo Park City Council voted unanimously to name their community center the Onetta Harris Community Center in 1983.

Onetta Harris. Courtesy of Ken Harris.

Onetta Harris. Courtesy of Ken Harris.

In 2019, Facebook entered into a joint agreement with the City of Menlo Park to redevelop the property that housed the Onetta Harris Community Center, promising to fully fund a new “state-of-the-art” community center with a library, senior center, youth center, gym, and multipurpose room.

At the time, Menlo Park Mayor Ray Mueller lauded the tech company’s proposal.

“Facebook’s proposal, to wholly fund the building of a new state of the art community center and library in Belle Haven, represents a significant and impactful investment in the quality of life of Menlo Park residents, and significantly District 1 residents,” he said. “It would be insincere for me to pretend it isn’t the type of project that fosters appreciable trust from the community in Facebook’s long-term commitment to its neighbors and the City of Menlo Park.”

At the 2020 Council meeting attendees said, “The project is great, just don’t change the name.” Facebook replied that they “had no interest in changing the name.”

But the initial agreement with the City of Menlo Park reveals that Facebook, also known as META, could have naming rights. (Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is known for naming entities after himself as he did with San Francisco General Hospital.)

Three years later, it appears that Facebook’s view has changed and whether or not the center will carry Harris’ name is in question.

“To rename the center the Facebook or META community center after all my mother’s work and her love for our people would be tragic,” said Ken Harris, Onetta’s son. “My mom’s legacy would be erased. Her love for her community is the reason naming the center after her received unanimous support. We can’t allow these people to cancel us, our legacy and our culture.”

Last week the Menlo Park City Council met to establish name criteria as a prelude to the naming process and proceedings. Comments from the community to determine interest, with few exceptions, favored keeping the name Onetta Harris Community Center.

The final City Council vote will take place in late summer or early fall.

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Oakland Post: Week of March 13 – 19, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of March 13 – 19, 2024

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Oakland Post: Week of March 6 – 12, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of March 6 – 12, 2024

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Who are the Alameda County District 4 Supervisor Candidates’ Top Campaign Contributors?

Below, we’ve listed each candidate’s 10 highest campaign contributors. For Miley, two of his top campaign donors also bought their own advertisements to support him and/or oppose Esteen through independent expenditures. Such expenditures, though separate from campaign donations, are also public record, and we listed them. Additionally, the National Organization of Realtors has spent about $70,500 on their own independent expenditures to support Miley.

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Jennifer Esteen. (Campaign photo) and Supervisor Nate Miley. (Official photo).
Jennifer Esteen. (Campaign photo) and Supervisor Nate Miley. (Official photo).

By Zack Haber

Nate Miley, who has served on Alameda County’s Board of Supervisors since 2000, is running for reelection to the District 4 supervisor seat.

Jennifer Esteen, a nurse and activist, is seeking to unseat him and become one of the five members of the powerful board that sets the county’s budget, governs its unincorporated areas, and oversees the sheriff, Alameda Health System, and mental health system.

District 4 includes most of East Oakland’s hills and flatlands beyond Fruitvale, part of Pleasanton and unincorporated areas south of San Leandro like Ashland and Castro Valley.

Voting is open and will remain open until March 5.

In California, campaign donations of $100 or more are public record. The records show that Miley has received about $550,000 in total campaign donations since he won the previous District 4 election in March 2020. Esteen has raised about $255,000 in total campaign donations since she started collecting them last July. All figures are accurate through Feb. 20.

While Miley has raised more money, Esteen has received donations from more sources. Miley received donations of $100 or more from 439 different sources. Esteen received such donations from 507 different sources.

Below, we’ve listed each candidate’s 10 highest campaign contributors. For Miley, two of his top campaign donors also bought their own advertisements to support him and/or oppose Esteen through independent expenditures. Such expenditures, though separate from campaign donations, are also public record, and we listed them. Additionally, the National Organization of Realtors has spent about $70,500 on their own independent expenditures to support Miley.

Nate Miley’s top campaign contributors:

The California Apartment Association, a trade group representing landlords and investors in California’s rental housing business, has spent about $129,500 supporting Miley’s election bid through about $59,500 in ads against Esteen$55,000 in ads supporting Miley, and $15,000 in campaign donations.

The independent expenditure committee Preserve Agriculture in Alameda County has spent about $46,025 supporting Miley through about $27,200 in their own ads, and $18,825 in donations to his campaign. Preserve Agriculture has supported reelection efforts for former Alameda County DA Nancy O’Malley, and Sheriff Greg Ahern, a republican. It’s received funding from ChevronPG&E, and a the California Apartment Association.

Organizations associated with the Laborers’ International Union of North America, or LiUNA, have donated about $35,000 in total. Construction and General Laborers Local 304, a local chapter of the union representing which represents over 4,000 workers, donated $20,000.

Laborers Pacific Southwest Regional Organizing Coalition, which represents 70,000 LiUNA members in Arizona, California, Hawaii and New Mexico, donated $15,000.

William ‘Bill’ Crotinger and the East Oakland-based company Argent Materials have donated $26,000. Crotinger is the president and founder of Argent, a concrete and asphalt recycling yard. Argent’s website says it is an eco-friendly company that diverts materials from landfills. In 2018, Argent paid the EPA $27,000 under a settlement for committing Clean Water Act violations.

Michael Morgan of Hayward, owner of We Are Hemp, a marijuana dispensary in Ashland, has donated $21,500.

Alameda County District 1 Supervisor David Haubert has donated $21,250 from his 2024 reelection campaign. He’s running unopposed for the District 1 seat.

SEIU 1021which represents over 60,000 workers in local governments, non-profit agencies, healthcare programs, and schools in Northern California, has donated $20,000.

UA Local 342, which represents around 4,000 pipe trades industry workers in Contra Costa and Alameda counties, donated $20,000.

The union representing the county’s deputy sheriffs, Deputy Sheriff’s Association of Alameda County, has donated $17,000.

Becton Healthcare Resources and its managers have donated $14,625. Becton’s mission statement says it provides “behavioral health management services to organizations and groups that serve the serious and persistent mentally ill population.”

Jennifer Esteen’s top campaign contributors:

Mary Quinn Delaney of Piedmont, founder of Akonadi Foundation, has donated $20,000. Akonadi Foundation gives grants to nonprofit organizations, especially focusing on racial justice organizing,

Bridget Galli of Castro Valley has donated $7,000. Galli is a yoga instructor and a co-owner of Castro Valley Yoga.

Rachel Gelman of Oakland has donated $5,000. Gelman is an activist who has vowed to redistribute her inherited wealth to working class, Indigenous and Black communities.

California Worker Families Party has donated $5,000. The organization’s website describes itself as a “grassroots party for the multiracial working class.”

David Stern of Albany has donated $5,000. Stern is a retired UC Berkeley Professor of Education.

Oakland Rising Committee—a collaborative of racial, economic, and environmental justice organizations—has donated about $3,050.

Fredeke Von Bothmer-Goodyear, an unemployed resident of San Francisco, has donated $2,600.

Robert Britton of Castro Valley has donated $2,500. Britton is retired and worked in the labor movement for decades.

Progressive Era PAC has donated about $2,400. Its mission statement says it “exists to elect governing majorities of leaders in California committed to building a progressive era for people of color.”

East Bay Stonewall Democrats Club has donated $2,250. The club was founded in 1982 to give voice to the East Bay LGBTQIA+ communities.

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