Bay Area

School District Leases 2 Closed School Properties to Developer for 75 years

One property was leased for $3,000 a month, the other for $4,000 a month

Published

2 years ago

July 9, 2021

Isabelle Price

Photo courtesy of element5digital via unsplash

The Oakland Board of Education has approved the 75-year lease of two school properties to a developer without first going through a process for public input and posting the item on the public agenda only three days before the vote.

Though agenda items in general must come before the board two times before final approval, this resolution only came up once and was approved last week in a 5-2 vote. Board President Shanthi Gonzales and Boardmember Mike Hutchinson opposed the deal.

“The first time it was made public was when it was posted on the agenda 72 hours before the board meeting, and it was during a pandemic over Zoom. There has been no public engagement around these leases at all,” said Boardmember Hutchinson in an interview with the Oakland Post.

“This has been under wraps for the last six-to-eight months,” he said.

The lease of the two properties allows the schools to be torn down and replaced by town houses and other housing, including market-rate housing, commercial space and possibly a Black cultural center and some housing for teachers.

While the supporters of the deal say they are thrilled because these developments will in include some housing for teachers and school employees, representatives of both the teachers’ union and the classified workers’ union, SEIU 1021, spoke at the meeting against the development, raising concerns that the properties were leased for a small amount of money, likely unaffordable to school employees and not utilized for educational purposes.

The leases were likely considerably below market rate for the two properties, which was for 65-years, with permission for the developers to extend the agreements for an additional 10 years.

One property, the former Tilden Child Development Center, at 4551 Steele St. near Mills College, was leased for $3,000 a month. The other property, the former site of Edward Shands Adult School, at 2455 Church St. next to the mall at Eastmont Town Center, was leased for $4,000 a month. Allowing for inflation, the cost of the leases will increase by 3% per year.

According to Hutchinson, there was only one bid for the Tilden property and the Shands site was not awarded to the highest bidder.

The Oakland Post has requested videos of the last two school board meetings, as well as copies of the final leases that were modified at last week’s board meeting. The Post also requested copies of appraisals for the two properties, the public notice that the district sent to developers and copies of all the bids submitted by developers.

As of Wednesday, the Post has not received any documents from the school district.

The developer, Eagle Environmental Construction, is a Black-owned firm. According to plans, the deal now pledges that at least 50% of the units will go to teachers and other school workers.

The plans also include space to Cypress Mandela, a local job-training program, and also for a hub for the Black Cultural Zone.

However, lease opponents are skeptical whether these promises will actually come to pass.

“There is nothing in the lease itself about providing the space to the cultural zone, and there are no penalties imposed if teacher and other workforce housing, isn’t built” Hutchinson said.

“I have serious concerns about the legality of the process,” he said. “I have no issues with Eagle Environmental Construction, and I support the Black Cultural Zone. But my responsibility is to manage our public resources and there are no guarantees that the marginal benefits will ever be provided.”

At Shands, the developers plan to build 68 units of housing and other commercial space. At the site of Tilden, the developer wants to build 20 two- and three-bedroom townhouses.

“We never really got on the same page about how we are balancing the competing goals of community benefit, revenue generation and affordable housing,” Board President Gonzales said told Oaklandside.

“Why isn’t this going to be an adult education training center? Why is this going to be turned into workforce housing when we heard our workforce can‘t afford it and don’t want to live there,” said Hutchinson at the meeting, quoted in Oaklandside.

Teacher union representative Vilma Serrano, also quoted in Oaklandside, urged the district to use the properties to rebuild adult education programs. “I ask the Board to vote no… and instead to take the time next year to be able to respond to the concerns and questions raised by (teacher union) members as well as Oakland community members.”

Board member Gary Yee, quoted in Oaklandside, supported the development because “We have an opportunity to clean up the blight, to hire local contractors, (and) to hire young people from our schools,” he said. “Sure, we have an opportunity to earn a little bit of money, but the money is the last part of this. The main thing for me is to be a good partner to our neighbors.”

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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

19 hours 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

22 hours 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

22 hours 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.