City Government

Officials Will Be Held Accountable in 2016 City Elections for Failing to Halt Gentrification and Keep Residents in Oakland

Published

8 years ago

November 20, 2015

There is near universal agreement that Oakland is in a housing crisis and that action must be taken quickly to prevent the town from being San Franciso-ized, turning into a city that has lost its long term residents, diversity and culture, and caters to upscale, condominium dwellers.

What is not so clear is what the mayor and City Council plan to do about the crisis and whether they will act in time to halt the displacement of people who make Oakland the place that it is.

To answer these questions, the Post requested that each City Councilmember and Mayor Libby Schaaf submit a statement on what they are proposing to do immediately to stop the mass displacement of Oakland’s long-term residents.

The focus is not on long-term, comprehensive solutions or the need for more affordable housing, rather what Oakland’s elected officials are going to do right now keep residents in their homes.

Some are estimating the city is losing close to 1,000 residents per month.

How councilmembers respond to the crisis could impact their reelection prospects, since this month marks one year before city elections in November 2016.

Vice Mayor Rebecca Kaplan told the Post she will work to amend laws to improve relocation assistance for tenants who have been wrongfully displaced. Her proposal to City Council will “increase the amount of money tenants receive and make the requirements more consistent.”

This item will come to the CED Committee on Dec. 15.

Councilmember Desley Brooks said she will propose that the city redirect some of its affordable housing construction dollars to make property acquisitions.

“New construction takes two to five years to build,” said Brooks. “If we purchase already built buildings and cap the rents, we can help Oaklanders stay in place.”

Councilmember Anne Campbell-Washington says she is planning on immediately strengthening tenant protections by addressing bad faith evictions and evictions of long-term residents.

Council President Lynette McElhaney told the Post that she would lead the effort to expand tenant protections in 2016 by revising the relocation assistance requirements and providing proactive health and safety inspections of rental units so that people don’t have to fear landlord retaliation.

McElhaney also said she will be proposing regulations on short-term rentals like AirBnB “so that people aren’t pushed out of their units to make room for make-shift hotels and protect low-income residents of single room occupancy hotels.”

Councilmembers Abel Guillen and Campbell-Washington both said they are working on acquiring a funding source for building both market-rate and affordable housing in Oakland.

They are working on a regional housing bond that “leverages local dollars with state/federal opportunities to pay for housing on the scale that Oakland needs,” according to Guillen.

Mayor Schaaf told the Post she is proposing to the City Council an increase in landlord fees for tenant protection.

The city’s past actions to support local residents have included the enactment of Measure FF—Oakland’s minimum wage measure, launching a Safe Housing Inspection Program that “takes the burden off residents to report unsafe living conditions,” and providing tax incentives for private landlords who partner with non-profit building management to preserve rental units for “moderate income” tenants.

Further, the city council recently passed the Housing Equity Roadmap, which recommends policies meant to curb displacement such as enforcing existing tenant protection laws.

Meanwhile, there are currently several long-term housing proposals that are pending or under review by the city council that will be addressed by the end of the year.

These include establishing impact fees for each new market-rate unit built that would go toward affordable housing construction, tightening the condo conversion laws for about 29,000 units in two-to-four unit buildings and a Public Land Use Policy that would prioritize affordable housing.

Councilmembers Larry Reid, Dan Kalb and Noel Gallo have not yet responded to the Post’s questions.

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Oakland Post: Week of May 31 = June 6, 2023

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of May 31 = June 6, 2023

Published

1 day ago

June 2, 2023

Oakland Post

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of May 31 = June 6, 2023

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.

Activism

Community Opposes High Rise Development That Threatens Geoffrey’s Inner Circle

City Council chambers were full for the May 17 Planning Commission hearing, and almost all the 40 speakers who had signed up to make presentations talked about the importance of the Inner Circle as part of Oakland and Geoffrey Pete as a stalwart community and business leader who has served the city for decades.

Published

5 days ago

May 30, 2023

Oakland Post

Geoffrey Pete went to City Hall to appeal the city Planning Commission’s approval of the high-rise development that threatens the closure of his 44-year historic cultural mecca. Photo by Jonathan ‘Fitness’ Jones.

By Ken Epstein

An outpouring of community supporters – young, old, jazz lovers, environmentalists and committed Oakland partisans – spoke out at a recent Planning Commission hearing to support Geoffrey Pete and his cultural center – The Inner Circle – an historic Oakland landmark whose future is threatened by a proposed skyscraper that out-of-town-developer Tidewater Capital wants to build in the midst of the city’s Black Arts Movement and Business District (BAMBD).

The speakers argued passionately and persuasively, winning the sympathy of the commissioners, but were ultimately unsuccessful as the Commission unanimously approved the high-rise to be built either as a residential building or office tower on Franklin Street directly behind Geoffrey’s building.

Mr. Pete has said he would appeal the decision to the City Council. He has 10 days after the hearing to file an appeal on the office building. His appeal on the residential tower has already been submitted.

Mr. Pete said the Planning Department still has not published the boundaries of the BAMBD. “Tidewater’s applications and subsequent applications should not be approved until the Planning Department fully acknowledges the existence of the BAMBD,” he said.

“This (proposed) building poses a grave danger to the historic (Inner Circle) building next to it, arguably Oakland’s most meaningful historic building,” Pete said.

“We’re here to advocate for what’s best for the African American district and community that has gotten no representation, no advocacy, as of yet,” he said. “The (commission) is guilty, the City of Oakland is guilty, and Tidewater is guilty.”

One of the first speakers was Gwendolyn Traylor, known as Lady SunRise, who directly addressed the developers.

“With all due to respect to your business, it’s not a need of this community. I would like to ask you to reconsider the location …What is being (promised) here does not add to the healing of this community,” she said.

Naomi Schiff of the Oakland Heritage Alliance emphasized that Geoffrey’s Inner Circle is a treasure of Oakland’s history.

“Our first concern is the integrity of the historic district, in particular the former Athenian-Nile Club, now Mr. Pete’s equally historic venue, which has been the location of a great number of important community events,” she said. “It would not be OK with us if the integrity of the building were damaged in any way, no matter how much insurance (the developer bought) because it is very difficult to repair a historic building once it’s damaged.”

The Inner Circle was previously owned and operated by the Athenian-Nile Club, one of the Bay Area’s largest all-white-male exclusive private membership club, where politicians and power brokers closed back-room deals over handshakes and three martini lunches.

Cephus “Uncle Bobby X” Johnson pointed out that commissioners and the city’s Planning Department have “acknowledged that you went through the entire design review process without even knowing that the Black Arts Movement and Business District existed.”

The district was created in 2016 by City Council resolution. “At the heart of the opposition to this building is the desire to further the legacy of local Black entertainment and entrepreneurship exemplified by businesses like Mr. Pete’s … a historical landmark and venue (that serves) thousands of people who listen to jazz and other entertainment and hold weddings, receptions, and memorial services,” said Uncle Bobby.

This development is taking place within a context in which the “Black population in Oakland has decreased rapidly … because of the city’s concentration on building houses that are not affordable for people who currently live in Oakland,” he said.

John Dalrymple of East Bay Residents for Responsible Development said, “This project will result in significant air quality, public health, noise, and traffic impacts. He said the city has not adequately studied the (unmitigated) impacts of this project on the Black Arts Movement and Business District.

“This project is an example of what developers are being allowed to do when they don’t have to follow the law, and they don’t have to be sensitive to our city’s culture and values,” he said. The commission should “send a signal today that we will no longer be a feeding ground for the rich.”

Prominent Oakland businessman Ray Bobbitt told commissioners, “Any decision that you make is a contribution to the systemic process that creates a disproportionate impact on Black people. Please do yourself a favor, (and) rethink this scenario. Give Mr. Pete, who is a leader in our community, an opportunity to set the framework before you make any decision.”

Though the City Council created the BAMBD, the 2016 resolution was never implemented. The district was created to “highlight, celebrate, preserve and support the contributions of Oakland’s Black artists and business owners and the corridor as a place central historically and currently to Oakland’s Black artists and Black-owned businesses.”

The district was intended to promote Black arts, political movements, enterprises, and culture in the area, and to bring in resources through grants and other funding.

Activism

Community Meeting on Crime and Violence

Join Oakland City Councilmember Dan Kalb to discuss the uptick in crime and violence in District 1 and across Oakland. Representatives from the Oakland Police Department will be in attendance. This event will be held in-person and online.

Published

5 days ago

May 29, 2023

Oakland Post