Community

When the A’s Moved to Oakland, They Ripened into World Champions, Now Some Wonder if They Are Rotten to This City

Oakland has been lucky for the A’s. Fans cheered them to victory in three consecutive World Series in the 1970s and stood by their side through many less than stellar years more recently.

Published

5 years ago

October 9, 2021

Isabelle Price

Left to right: Joun "Blue Moon" Odom, Vida Blue, Rickey Henderson and Dave Stewart celebrated Jackie Robinson by wearing number 42.

The Oakland Coliseum is imperiled.

The last of the three Oakland-based professional sports teams to play at the Coliseum, the Oakland A’s, is heading for the exit. The A’s have demanded that Oakland pave the way to build a new waterfront stadium at Howard Terminal, or they will follow the Raiders and the Warriors out of town.

Construction was completed on the state-of-the-art Oakland Coliseum in 1966. The Raiders were the first team to play at the Coliseum in 1966. The A’s relocated from Kansas City to Oakland in 1968. Despite numerous attempts to leave the city throughout the years, the A’s have remained in Oakland until now.

Oakland has been lucky for the A’s. Fans cheered them to victory in three consecutive World Series in the 1970s and stood by their side through many less than stellar years more recently.

The Oakland Coliseum and its companion Oakland Arena have been the site of many jubilant celebrations throughout the years. But now, many Oakland residents question whether corporate greed will drive the team away from the loyal fans who have supported them in good and bad times.

The A’s threaten that they will leave unless they are given public funds that are desperately needed to fill potholes, fix playgrounds and help with a variety of services needed in East Oakland and other low-income areas of the city.

The monolithic gray structure – albeit not the most attractive piece of architecture today – has brought feelings of pride and victory to many an Oakland resident. But now the A’s say the Coliseum area is not fit for development.

Rickey Henderson, who lived in my neighborhood and attended school with my brother, stole our hearts and made us love going to the games with my family and friends. Not anymore. They told us that the Coliseum was unfit for the A’s and then they doubled the price of tickets.

Despite its perfect location, with a BART station, proximity to the airport, easy freeway access, ample parking and space for epic tailgate parties, the A’s have publicly stated time and time again that the Coliseum is not a suitable location for the team.

By stark contrast, Howard Terminal is located on prime industrial land in the heart of the Port of Oakland. There will be no access to public transportation and no space for parking. The list of hurdles that the A’s will have to jump to make this site work is long, including an extensive toxic clean-up, necessary after decades of industrial use.

When I hear that the A’s refuse to rebuild at the Coliseum and want to move across town to the port so they can build luxury condos, I think they just don’t want to be near an African American neighborhood anymore. They say they are rooted in Oakland but what they are doing sounds like they are rotten for Oakland.

The coliseum is an Oakland jewel and as singer Joe Tex’s song “Hold What You’ve Got” goes “you’d better hold on to what you got ’cause if you think nobody wants it, just throw it away and you will see someone will have it before you can count one, two, three”

Major League Baseball has a race problem. The number of Black baseball players has declined by more than 50% and in Oakland, many of the local parks and schools that helped serve as feeder networks of ball fields to fulfill the dreams of many kids and helped produce A’s Hall of Famers like Reggie Jackson, Rickey Henderson, Vida Blue, and Dave Stewart have long dried up like raisins in the sun. It was Oaklander Curt Flood who changed sports salaries forever when he sued for athletic freedom. Now, as Blacks are displaced from baseball and neighborhoods, salaries and prices of homes have increased dramatically.

Major League Baseball is aware of the problem and has pledged $150 million to a non-profit organization, Player Alliance, dedicated to attracting African American players back to baseball. The perception that the A’s don’t want to continue to play baseball in a Black neighborhood will not help that effort.

Building a new ballpark at the Coliseum would be the ultimate community benefit, say many speakers who have attended public hearings, and would provide a much-needed economic boost to East Oakland. Everything they say they want to build at Howard Terminal can be built at the Coliseum.

So why don’t they? It would be the ultimate Centrification move to stem the tide of economic gentrification of Oakland.

This summer, the A’s leadership doubled down and gave Oakland an ultimatum: approve a new stadium at Howard Terminal and give the A’s public funds to help with related construction cost or they will leave. Ironically, the costs of their demands and the proposed usage of taxpayers’ dollars could’ve been deployed to rebuild Oakland’s rich parks and recreation history. When it comes to Oakland’s budget, the A’s want to be raiders.

While many are debating the merits of teaching Critical Race Theory, I recommend Langston Hughes’s poem entitled “Harlem” — What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore—And then run? Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over—like a syrupy sweet? Maybe it just sags like a heavy load. Or does it explode?

A team that makes these kinds of threats is not rooted in Oakland. They could be considered rotten for Oakland.

Isabelle Price

Posts by Isabelle Price

Related Topics:Coliseum featured Oakland Oakland A's Paul Cobb

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Activism

At the event, 16 entities signed the EIP pledge, vowing to take steps to increase public contracting opportunities in their spheres for small and historically underutilized businesses. The pledge signees included Hub International, the Port of San Francisco, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, California High-Speed Rail Authority, the Port of Oakland, Robert Graham of Webcor Builders, Holder Construction, the Weitz Company, Sky Blue Builders, Hornblower, Swinerton, Luster National, Talson Solutions, Center for Community Wealth Building, and the Construction Contractors Alliance.

Published

3 days ago

June 24, 2026

Oakland Post

Toks Omishakin, secretary of the California State Transportation Agency, was one of the speakers at the event. Photo by Shellee Fisher Photography and Design.

By Calvin Naito, Special to The Post

On June 4, a national nonprofit named the Equity in Infrastructure Project (EIP) – which aims to increase public construction contracting opportunities for small and historically underutilized businesses – held a day-long event in downtown San Francisco to rally supporters and build momentum to its cause.

It was attended by more than 100 individuals from public agencies, private firms, and other organizations committed to increasing contracting opportunities with governmental agencies, thereby creating more competition and lowering public costs.

The EIP event was held the Hyatt Regency San Francisco in conjunction with BuildIT, which aims to increase contracting opportunities for LGBT-owned businesses.

At the event, 16 entities signed the EIP pledge, vowing to take steps to increase public contracting opportunities in their spheres for small and historically underutilized businesses.

The pledge signees included Hub International, the Port of San Francisco, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, California High-Speed Rail Authority, the Port of Oakland, Robert Graham of Webcor Builders, Holder Construction, the Weitz Company, Sky Blue Builders, Hornblower, Swinerton, Luster National, Talson Solutions, Center for Community Wealth Building, and the Construction Contractors Alliance.

Following the workshop, BuildIT hosted a VIP evening reception honoring EIP, whose principals – Phil Washington, John Procari, and Rick Jacobs – accepted the award.

The event also set in motion the coalition’s efforts to implement recommendations from EIP’s “Procurement for Prosperity: A Playbook.”

The Playbook is a practical guide for public agency leaders and procurement and contracting practitioners to grow the capacity of small and first-time contractors, strengthen competition, and deliver better value for taxpayers.

Toks Omishakin, Secretary of the California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA), a long-time EIP supporter, also told attendees, “This is about commitment. This has been a life’s work. This is a tailwind moment.”

The event’s presenting sponsor was Hub International, one of the largest insurance brokerages in the nation, which was joined by partners Travelers Insurance and the State Compensation Insurance Fund.

After the pledge-signing ceremony, attendees participated in a workshop in which they examined the policies, practices, and programs needed to meet EIP goals, learned from practitioners, and identified next steps toward utilizing the Playbook.

Ingrid Meriwether, formerly of Merriwether & Williams Insurance Services (MWIS) and current president of Hub International’s Aligned Risk Management, MWIS, described the hard-fought lessons she and her MWIS team have learned over the last three decades administering contractor development programs (CDPs) for the City and County of San Francisco, Alameda County, City of Los Angeles, LA Metro, and other municipalities.

The CDPs help small and local construction firms win public infrastructure contracts with these government agencies. The program provides bonding assistance, contract financing, technical support, training, and other services to underrepresented businesses funded by public agencies who seek greater contracting participation with these firms.

Merriwether said programs like these “break down systemic barriers, create greater fairness, and save taxpayers money by enabling more competition. The contractor development programs have, cumulatively, over two decades, helped contractors access over $1 billion in bonding, supporting over $380 million in awarded contracts, and maintaining a loss ratio 250 times lower than the industry average – while saving participating municipalities more than $27 million in contracting costs as a result of enabling more competition.”

Rick Jacobs, EIP co-founder and co-chair urged attendees make plans to meet again in the near future “to continue building on this work, share progress on organizational commitments, and discuss how we can collectively advance the goals of the EIP pledge.”

For more information on the EIP and to access a copy of the Playbook, go online to https://equityininfrastructure.org/

Calvin Naito is communications manager for Equity in Infrastructure Project.

Oakland Post

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Activism

Oakland Museum Presents Landmark Retrospective Celebrating Beloved Bay Area Artist Mildred Howard

“Poetics of Memory” coincides with a year of major recognition for Howard. In 2026, she received the California Arts Council’s 50th Anniversary Award, honoring artists whose work has shaped California’s cultural and civic life, as well as the Museum of the African Diaspora’s Artist Impact Award. In 2025, she was awarded a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship in recognition of her transformative contributions to American cultural life.

Published

3 days ago

June 24, 2026

Oakland Post

Mildred Howard. Photo by Christine Cueto for the Oakland Museum of California, 2025.

Special to The Post

The Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) opened “Mildred Howard: Poetics of Memory,” the first major museum survey of Bay Area artist Mildred Howard, on June 12.

The exhibition spans five decades of Howard’s influential work, bringing together immersive installations, found-object sculptures, archival materials, and new commissions that explore memory, identity, and power in American life.

Howard was born in San Francisco in 1945 and raised in the East Bay, where she went on to study Afro-Haitian dance, make and sell clothing, and experiment with collage and sculpture.

Her multimedia art practice emerged from these experiences, later becoming associated with West Coast conceptual art, San Francisco funk, and a vibrant community of artists like Oliver Jackson, Betye Saar, and Raymond Saunders. Since the 1970s, she has used found materials and family stories to explore memory—both individual and collective.

At OMCA, visitors enter “Poetics of Memory” through a series of intimate galleries featuring Howard’s early mixed-media pieces and sculptures, along with a large video projection of a number of her public artworks.

Together, they emphasize Howard’s interest in everyday objects as powerful carriers of individual and shared stories. Highlights include collages that remix images of the artist herself; found-object sculptures like The History of the United States with a few Parts Missing (2007) that address omissions in dominant narratives; and public works like “Locks and Keys for Harry Bridges” (2001) that transform urban space into a meditation on access and labor.

This culminates in a richly detailed “studio” environment, where works in progress, archival exhibition flyers, historic photographs of Howard and her community, postcards from fellow artists, and other materials offer insight into her creative process and daily life.

The exhibition then opens into a high-ceilinged, dramatically lit space that brings together Howard’s signature immersive installations. On one end, “Crossings” (1997/2026) – a field of hundreds of ceramic eggs leading to an ornate mirror – suggests cycles of birth, motherhood, and transition, while drawing on the emotional echoes of the Middle Passage. On the other end, “Blackbird in a Red Sky” (a.k.a. “Fall of the Blood House”) (2002) – a red glass shack bordered by a pond – also uses reflection and transparency to draw viewers into the work and prompt consideration of themes of identity and home.

Howard’s newest video installation, “Moving Stills” (2026), repurposes never-before-seen family footage she took as a teenager on a train trip to the American South. Projected onto cascading layers of translucent fabric that stretch across an entire gallery wall, the piece immerses viewers in a layered meditation on memory, migration, and time.

The “Mildred Howard: Poetics of Memory” exhibit will be on display through Oct. 11 at the Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak St., Oakland, CA 94612. Museum hours are Wednesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., with extended hours on Fridays to 9 p.m.

This story is sourced from the Oakland Museum of California press office.

Oakland Post

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Alameda County

Ferry Fares to Increase July 1 as Ridership Hits Record Highs

The Oakland and Alameda routes will increase from $4.90 to $5.10, the South San Francisco route will go up from $7.40 to $7.60, and the Vallejo route will increase from $9.90 to $10.

Published

3 days ago

June 24, 2026

Oakland Post

Courtesy photo.

By Mike Aldax, The Richmond Standard

Starting July 1, the standard adult fare for the San Francisco Bay Ferry route between Richmond and San Francisco will increase to $5.20, up from the current $4.90.

Discounted fares for eligible passengers, including youth, seniors, people with disabilities, and Clipper START users, will rise to $2.60 from the current $2.40. Children under 5 will continue to ride for free.

The Oakland and Alameda routes will increase from $4.90 to $5.10, the South San Francisco route will go up from $7.40 to $7.60, and the Vallejo route will increase from $9.90 to $10.

The adjustments are part of a systemwide fare update approved by the agency’s Board of Directors, which is moving away from a flat 3% annual increase to route-specific pricing for the 2027 and 2028 fiscal years.

This fare update arrives as San Francisco Bay Ferry celebrates a historic May, transporting 301,270 passengers. The record-breaking figure represents an 8% increase over May 2025 and marks the third consecutive month of record-setting ridership.

Furthermore, it is the sixth month in a row that passenger numbers have exceeded pre-pandemic levels. Weekend travel has been a primary driver of this growth, with average weekend ridership seeing a 56% increase compared to pre-pandemic trends.

The agency states that the fare adjustments are necessary to ensure the long-term fiscal sustainability of public ferry services. By shifting to route-specific adjustments, the agency aims to offset rising operating costs while maintaining the high levels of service frequency and reliability.