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Town Hall Says Don’t Let Fisher’s Stadium Project Choke the Port of Oakland

Post publisher Paul Cobb said the newspaper has been discussing the different sides of this issue and hopes to help clear up the confusing messages the public is receiving about whether this project will help or damage the prospects of good jobs for Oaklanders.

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Howard Terminal Courtesy Port of Oakland website

A town hall meeting this week examined the negative consequences of placing John Fisher’s privatized, multibillion dollar real estate development on publicly owned land at the Port of Oakland, the region’s thriving and growing economic engine.

More than 100 people attended the town hall on Wednesday, which was live on Zoom and Facebook.  Councilmembers Carroll Fife and Noel Gallo were among those who attended.

Speakers included voices of those who are directly impacted by the project: members of the longshore union, the ILWU, who said the project was a dangerous threat to the livelihood of port workers, over 70% of whom are Black; representatives of the Pacific Merchants Shipping Association and several of the largest businesses based at the port; and Paul Cobb, publisher of the Oakland Post.

ILWU Local 10 President Trent Willis, with other union members, speaks on June 19, 2020 about shutting down West Coast ports for Juneteenth. Photo by Workers World, Judy Greenspan.

Though called a baseball stadium project, the massive, luxury real estate development is what backers have called a “city within a city.” Besides a stadium, the plan calls for 3,000 luxury condominiums, with no guaranteed affordable housing; 1.5 million square feet of high-rise office space; a 400-room hotel; retail shopping; and a performance venue with seating for 3,500.

Linda Adams, a member of the ILWU who is who is one of the workers “responsible for moving the cargo on a daily basis,” said, they are “compromising our jobs.”

“They say they can build these high rise luxury condos, and (we) can work around them. But we’re moving cargo around the clock, (with) thousands of (workers), trucks and cargo coming into the port.” She pointed out that luxury tenants will go to court to stop the noise, pollution, bright lights and thousands of daily trucks and railroads that are wrecking their days and nights, pushing companies to leave Oakland for other West Coast ports.

Susan Ransom, representing SSA Marine, the Port’s largest tenant, said the Port has over 84,000 total employees and moves the products on which everyone depends – food, household goods and medical supplies

“We have grave concerns about the A’s (stadium) project,” she said.   ”We operate 24/7, (our work) would not be stopped during a game” or for a fireworks display.

Mike Jacob of the Pacific Merchants Shipping Association which represents employers, said, “We have real issue here. Do we want to preserve our industrial base? Do we want to make Oakland a smaller kid’s version of San Francisco? Should Oakland continue to be a blue-collar city with good blue-collar jobs.”

Jacob said he was talking with the A’s, but they stopped meeting with him in 2019 when he raised concerns that would be expensive to mitigate. “You don’t have to be either pro- or anti-baseball to be pro-port,” he said.

ILWU business agent Aaron Wright, broadcasting live from on top of a port crane, showed the basin where ships have to turn around, which would be impacted by the project, and the Howard Terminal property, where thousands of trucks park daily instead of where they parked in the past on West Oakland and other neighborhoods’ residential streets.  “One day at the port can do more for the economy than all of the team’s home games,” he said. “You can’t bring in thousands of sports fans to block all of this.”

Andrea Luna Bocanegra, who works for a manufacturing company that does business with the port, said that disrupting shipping at the port would cause a ripple effect, damaging manufacturing businesses throughout Northern California that utilize the port as a dependable way to ship their products and the receive goods they need to run their operations.

Post publisher Paul Cobb said the newspaper has been discussing the different sides of this issue and hopes to help clear up the confusing messages the public is receiving about whether this project will help or damage the prospects of good jobs for Oaklanders.

Cobb displayed an Alameda Labor Council flyer promoting jobs for Blacks. He said “it’s encouraging to see Labor unions join the fight to hire and protect Black workers. By working together with civil rights groups we can finally expand the narrow definitions of PLA’s (project labor agreements) and redefine them as CLA’s (community labor agreements) that will hire Blacks and formerly incarcerated across all trades.”

“We are being lobbied on both sides of this issue,” he said. “Some say Howard Terminal is no longer vital to port operations, but others it very important to the economy” and to keep the port running daily.

A number of people submitted written comments during the Zoom meeting.

Housing rights activists James Vann wrote, “There are innumerable negatives from placing an A’s stadium at Howard Terminal. Can anyone name just one benefit from placing the stadium at this location within the Port?”

BART Director Robert Raburn, wrote, “A significant and unmitigated impact is public safety at the unprotected railroad grade crossings.”

“In addition to BART, I also serve on the governing board for the Capitol Corridor, which operates 30 passenger trains. a day on West Embarcadero (and) another 20 trains deadhead to the Amtrak yard each day,” he said.

“No stadium in the US permits postgame crowds of up to 35,000 to risk crossing mainline railroad tracks at-grade! The costs to mitigate these hazards are not included in the (A’s) ‘term sheet.’”

Organizers of the townhall are asking community members to attend the City Council meeting Tuesday, July 20. The council will consider voting on a non-binding resolution regarding the term sheet for the development. Public comment begins at 9 a.m.

People are encouraged to email council members at https://form.123formbuilder.com/4755450/

The video of Wednesday’s town hall can be watched on Facebook at  https://fb.watch/6M9NiSMAxc/

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Oakland Post: Week of February 5 – 11, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of February 5 – 11, 2025

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Oakland Post: Week of January 29 – February 4, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of January 29 – February 4, 2025

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Oakland Poll: Tell Us What You Think About the Cost of Groceries in Oakland

Food banks and grocery giveaways are a large part of the resources nonprofits in Oakland prioritize, particularly in areas like East and West Oakland where low-income families of color tend to reside. These neighborhoods are often labeled as “food deserts” or communities that have limited access to affordable and nutritious foods.

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Oakland Poll: Tell Us What You Think About the Cost of Groceries in Oakland
Oakland Poll: Tell Us What You Think About the Cost of Groceries in Oakland

By Magaly Muñoz

In 2023, the average spending on groceries increased by nearly $30 each month from the year before;people are spending over $500 a month to put food on the table.

Through previous reporting by the Post, we’ve learned that families in Oakland are depending more and more on free or low cost groceries from food banks because they can no longer afford the rising costs of food at the store.

Food banks and grocery giveaways are a large part of the resources nonprofits in Oakland prioritize, particularly in areas like East and West Oakland where low-income families of color tend to reside. These neighborhoods are often labeled as “food deserts” or communities that have limited access to affordable and nutritious foods.

We’ve recently spoken to families across these two areas of Oakland and have heard several stories that all point to one problem: food is expensive. Some individuals are spending upwards of $150 a week for themselves or double if they have teens or small children in the family.

We’ve also heard stories of people with chronic illnesses like diabetes and high blood pressure struggling to maintain their diets because they’re having a hard time affording the food that helps them stay healthy.

Do these experiences sound similar to what you or your family are dealing with every month? Are you struggling to afford your basic groceries every week? Do you depend on food banks to help you get by? Are there any chronic illnesses in your household that need to be managed by a special diet?

We want to hear about your experiences and ideas for solutions!

The Oakland Post is investigating food access in Oakland and how residents are surviving as the cost of living continues to increase. Your experiences will help shape our reporting and show local leaders the need to invest in our communities.

In order to get as much feedback as possible, we ask that you click this link to fill out a brief questionnaire or visit tinyurl.com/Oakland-Post-food-survey. You can also scan the QR code above to reach the survey. After you fill it out, please consider sharing the link with your friends and family in Oakland.

If you have questions, please reach out to our Oakland reporter Magaly Muñoz at mmunoz@postnewsgroup or text/call her at (510) 905-5286.

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