‘The federal and state money they are using are tax dollars, and that money should be spent on our neighborhoods,’ says Councilmember Noel Gallo

By Ken Epstein

Mayor Libby Schaaf’s administration is seeking to create a nearly $450 million fund, called “TOWN for All,” to pour public resources into upgrading areas around the Port of Oakland’s Howard Terminal, transforming what is now an industrial landscape into one that would be suitable and safe for affluent residents, retail customers and baseball fans who are expected to come to billionaire John Fisher’s stadium, high-end condominiums and retail complex.

By comparison with the almost $450 million, the entire budget of the Oakland Unified School District last year was $705 million.

To begin implementing the infrastructure project, a resolution is on next Tuesday’s (March 1) City Council agenda to spend $11 million in city funds to hire as many as 16 new city staffers. The resolution includes a proposal to enter a Sole Source contract with Diablo Engineering Group for $5.5 million.

Annual salaries of the new staff would range from $253,030 to $412,375. The employees would be hired as funding becomes available.

How this spending was prioritized remains unclear, since community input was promised but bypassed. The name itself is somewhat misleading. The word “TOWN” in Town for All” stands for “Transforming Oakland’s Waterfront Neighborhoods,” but City staff makes no mention of it in its reports of Howard Terminal or the stadium.

The City officially describes the fund as “a comprehensive package of infrastructure improvements that will provide safer, more sustainable and more equitable access to the waterfront for all Oaklanders,” according to the city webpage: www.oaklandca.gov/projects/town-for-all.

But Mayor Schaaf was more blunt in a statement to KPIX-5 on Nov. 19, 2021:

“(This funding) supports a new waterfront ballpark for our beloved Oakland A’s. As part of our early deal with the A’s the city agreed to raise funds to pay for offsite infrastructure — today’s announcement is a significant milestone toward that commitment,” she said.

Mayor Schaaf did not respond to questions from the Oakland Post.

Projects that are part of the $450 million TOWN for All fund would be built over the next six years. By comparison, the funds for current transportation-related development for the entire city equals only $174 million for two years.

TOWN for All would build 1.4 miles of new transit-only lanes and 10 miles of new sidewalks, bike lanes and trails connecting Downtown, Chinatown, and West Oakland to the waterfront. Rail corridor and roadway construction would improve truck and cargo transport in and out of the Port of Oakland, designed to reduce traffic congestion and truck idling and improve safety.

In addition, OakPARK would create a “comprehensive suite of parking system upgrades and intersection improvements to manage on- and off-street parking and traffic,” according to a Feb. 17 agenda report by City staff.

The entire project currently totals $431.3 million, much from federal and state grants. The city anticipates that it has already raised $288 million, meaning that there is still a $104 million “funding gap,” according to the staff report.

The report also confirms that the City has not sought input from maritime and community stakeholders. “Staff has not engaged the public on these staff and contracting resolutions,” the staff report said. “A significant effort was made to engage the public in the development of the TOWN for All projects through on the ground surveys.”

Several City Council members are expressing concerns about this proposal that is going to council next week.

Councilmember Noel Gallo, who represents District 5 in East Oakland, was straightforward about his objections to TOWN for All, reiterating his position that the A’s should stay at the Coliseum rather than move to Howard Terminal.

Instead of spending funds for developing the waterfront for Fisher’s real estate deal, the money should go to the parts of Oakland that are languishing for lack for city resources, he said.

“East Oakland and West Oakland are in an (ongoing) state of emergency setting,” he said. “The priority should be taking care of children and the families in the neighborhoods and the schools. The federal and state money they are using are tax dollars, and that money should be spent on our neighborhoods, providing for the future of our kids and families.”

The Port should not be undermined by the city, Gallo said. “They hire people like my neighbors, who earn good salaries,” he said.

He emphasized that the Port is built on public land. “That land belongs to the public; that land is not for me to give. It is not the property of eight City Council members,” he said.

This is a “business transaction,” Gallo said. “(However), the A’s expect us to lay out everything, but they’re not saying what they’re giving,” he said, adding that they will not even say how they will use the half of the Coliseum they already own.

Councilmember-at-Large Rebecca Kaplan was asked by the Oakland Post whether the passage of the resolution to begin working on the infrastructure project would effectively bypass the City Council’s responsibility to approve or reject the Fisher real estate deal.

“I am not accepting what staff is recommending,” said Kaplan. “I am working to change it.”

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