Bay Area

Proposed Office Tower Is ‘Direct Threat’ to Geoffrey’s Inner Circle, Community Leaders Say

Supporters of Geoffrey’s Inner Circle, a revered downtown entertainment venue, and its owner, highly respected Oakland leader and community advocate Geoffrey Pete, want to block city approval for a 27-story office tower adjacent to Geoffrey’s and in the midst of Oakland’s Black Arts Movement and Business District (BAM). Protesters came out in force at a recent Planning Commission meeting, taking the members to task for considering the proposal by out-of-town developer Tidewater Capital.

Published

1 month ago

April 19, 2023

Oakland Post

Renderings of 1431 Franklin St. office building in downtown Oakland. The building will dwarf Geoffrey’s Inner Circle, the lowest building seen above. Courtesy of Tidewater Capital.

By Ken Epstein

Protesters came out in force at a recent Planning Commission meeting, taking the members to task for considering the proposal by out-of-town developer Tidewater Capital.

Some of the issues at stake were laid out at the meeting by Alameda County Supervisor Nate Miley, one of 26 speakers at the April 5 public hearing.

“The development (Tidewater) is proposing a direct threat to Geoffrey’s Inner Circle. The Black Arts Movement and Business District needs parking, galleries, a coffee shop, signage to commemorate Black Oaklanders – it needs all those things,” Miley said.

“Geoffrey’s used to be the Athenian Niles Club, where the Republican white male establishment would meet. African Americans were excluded, there was racial bias,” Miley continued. “Eventually Geoffrey purchased that place. Geoffrey’s means a lot to us who live in Oakland and have been here for a long, long time. It’s symbolic.”

Tidewater Capital has submitted two alternate development proposals – one for an office tower and another for a residential tower– to the Planning Commission to build on the parking lot at 1431 Franklin St., directly behind Geoffrey’s at 410 14^th St.

The proposed 39-story residential building was approved by the Planning Commission in February and but was held up awaiting an appeal hearing at City Council. The other proposal for the 27-story office tower was heard by commissioners on April 5, but the final decision was postponed until May 17.

During discussion, planning commissioners acknowledged they went through the entire design review process for the building without knowing that the BAM district existed. The district was created in 2016 by City Council resolution but never implemented by city staff.

Oakland filmmaker Cheryl Fabio told commissioners she made a documentary on local blues music venues. “(Geoffrey’s) is the only surviving establishment. You’re killing off the last piece of it,” she said.

“There is a conversation here about the good of Oakland, and there’s a conversation that you’re putting a man out of business.”

Kitty Epstein, professor of urban studies and education and a 30-year Oakland resident, said, “This entire proposal and discussion by the Planning Commission is so full of racism that it’s embarrassing to me as a white person to watch this happen in this city.”

Citing racial bias in this case, Epstein pointed to the composition of the Planning Commission, which is not diverse; adding that only 9% of construction work in Oakland goes to African Americans; and that the “entire process has completely ignored that there’s a Black Arts district in that area. So unimportant was it to you and the Planning Department that you didn’t even bother to notice it until a month ago. And you have not put it into your plans yet.”

Mr. Pete asked the commission to postpone its decision. “We request a continuance of this meeting due to the pending appeal on the previous residential (development) approval for this site. (I) should not be penalized by having to file a second appeal on the very same grounds, while the first appeal is pending.”

Further, he said, “The Planning Commission erroneously approved a residential project despite admittedly conducting an improper review process. They ignored their own procedures with respect to review of projects within the BAM cultural district.”

He added, “The commission should not approve any other projects within the (BAM) district until they officially map BAM’s boundaries.”

Pete said the proposed skyscraper would throw his building into shadow, threaten the fire escape behind his building, and remove the parking lot his business needs for customers. In addition, he said, the vibrations from the construction of the project could jeopardize physical stability of his building.

In his remarks, construction director of Tidewater Capital, emphasized that his 10-year-old Bay Area company, which also owns and manages Eastmont Town Center in East Oakland, has conducted extensive community engagement.

“(We) try to take a “hands-on, collaborative approach to create spaces that preserve the character of the neighborhood while boosting economic activity and generating benefits for all stakeholders,” he said.

In their discussion, planning commissioners voted to postpone the decision on the project to give Mr. Pete time to reach an agreement with Tidewater. However, they expressed little interest in considering speakers’ suggestions to reject the project or postpone a decision until the city’s BAM district in downtown Oakland was implemented and funded.

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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

2 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

2 days ago

May 29, 2023

Oakland Post

Oakland City Councilmember Dan Kalb

Tuesday, May 30, 2023
6:30 p.m. – 8 p.m.

Oakland Technical H.S. Auditorium
300-340 42^nd St.
Oakland, CA 94611

For more information, contact District 1 Chief of Staff Seth Steward: ssteward@oaklandca.gov, 510-238-7013.

Bay Area

UniverSoul Circus Opens in Richmond

Described by show organizers as a highly interactive combination of circus arts and theatre that spans musical genres, UniverSoul Circus will feature flipping motorcycles, stilt dancers, Fire Limbo Benders, ancestral carnival characters, clowns, flamboyantly costumed dancers and more “in a celebration of energy.”

Published

2 days ago

May 29, 2023

Oakland Post

Clowns who perform with UniverSoul Circus. Photo courtesy UniverSoul Circus.

By Kathy Chouteau | The Richmond Standard

UniverSoul Circus kicked off its Bay Area run under the Big Top at Hilltop Mall last week with the performances continuing during various times through Sun., June 19.

The UniverSoul Circus is a single ring circus, established in 1994 by Cedric Walker and Calvin “Casual Cal” Dupree, an African American man who had a vision of creating a circus with a large percentage of people of color performing. He began searching for people from all around the world with incredible talents. Richmond police Chief Bisa French and City Manager Shasa Curl were set to be guest ringmasters for the opening night show.

“Get ready to be amazed and frightened at the terrifying, gravity- defying acrobats on the Wheel of Death or the bold, breathtaking daredevils on the High Wire,” said UniverSoul Circus in a statement about the show.

This season’s theme is, ‘We All Belong,’ according Walker, the circus founder and CEO. “We all belong to one human race. Everyone is coming together, different cultures, different people, a new transcultural fusion, a new generation inclusive and together in a UniverSoul Experience!”

Venue:
Hilltop Mall
2200 Hilltop Mall Rd, Richmond, CA 94806

Showtimes:
Thurs-Fri: 7:00 p.m.
Sat: 11:30 a.m., 3:30 p.m., 7:30 p.m.
Sun: 11:00 a.m., 2:30 p.m., 6:30 p.m.

Box Office Hours:
Tues: 11:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Wed-Fri: 11:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Sat: 9:00 a.m. – 8:30 p.m.
Sun: 9:00 a.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Mon: 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. (Memorial Day)

Tickets range from $27.50 to $60 depending on your seat and you can purchase them on Ticketmaster. Visit www.universoulcircus.com for more info.