In this Insight Terminal Solutions Oakland Update, a bit of a history lesson. What is now called the Oakland Bulk and Oversized Terminal, was originally something called the “Intermodal Terminal” and was introduced to the public in 1992 as part of something called “Oakland Sharing The Vision.”
Oakland Sharing The Vision was a vision statement that was produced by a giant group of 500 Oaklanders who gathered at the Downtown Oakland Convention Center on a Saturday on the 20th day of April 1991.
The group of Oaklanders, including this blogger and Phil Tagami (now California Capital and Investment Group (CCIG) Managing Director and co-developer with Insight Terminal Solutions), met as something called “The Planning and Implementation Council” and formed a vision for the Oakland of 2015. That view was expressed in a 142-page book that’s linked to in this post.
The mantra was this powerful statement: “Oakland, creating the future together. We, the citizens of Oakland, commit ourselves to creating a city of healthy, well-educated people, safe, vital neighborhoods, a dynamic economy, and a vibrant quilt of cultures where the future will work for all.”
There were six “task forces” that started work in 1991 and finished in April of 1992. A non-profit organization called “Oakland Sharing The Vision” was established (and in full-disclosure, this Berkeley-trained vlogger applied to be its executive director but was rejected for a Harvard Kennedy School of Government trained man named Emile Durett). That completed Oakland Sharing The Vision plan was released for the public on September of 1992. It’s first goal, Goal 1, directly points to a vision that became the Insight Terminal Solutions Oakland Bulk and Oversized Terminal.
The “Oakland Sharing The Vision Goal 1” was as follows: “Maximize Oakland’s position as the premier transportation, distribution, and communications hub of The West Coast.” Again, above all else, that was the first stated goal in the Oakland Sharing The Vision plan document.
Page six of the Oakland Sharing The Vision plan document laid the ground work for the Insight Terminal Solutions Oakland Bulk and Oversized Terminal, today: the Port of Oakland called it a “joint-use container railyard “connecting rail and maritime terminals”. The entry went on to read “provision must be made for supporting facilities such as warehousing and freight transfer stations, on available property adjacent to the Port.”
The Insight Terminal Solutions Oakland Bulk and Oversized Terminal was “Objective Three” on page 24, where the Port was to create “rail-to-ship container facilities.”
It was that part of the Oakland Sharing The Vision plan document that Phil Tagami had in mind when he proposed the Oakland Global Oakland Bulk and Oversized Terminal Project as a development to replace the closed Oakland Army Base in 2009, and to the Oakland Redevelopment Agency. Phil won the request for qualifications competition, and gained the help of another man who was at the April 20th inaugural meeting of Oakland Sharing The Vision: Patrick Cashman. This video presents Phil’s vision:
Back then, Cashman was a City of Oakland economic development executive who had hired me as intern to the Oakland Redevelopment Agency in 1987. Later, Patrick Cashman would hire the Tioga Group in 2011 to write a report that revealed the planned transport of coal through the Oakland Bulk and Oversized Terminal, because it mentioned the worldwide market for coal, and wondered if Tagami had the staff to secure the appropriate contracts to cause coal to be hauled and generate revenue for the OBOT.
The point is, Mr. Cashman, as much as Tagami or myself, was an advocate for what became the Oakland Bulk and Oversized Terminal, and that goes back to 1991.
Stay tuned.
Oakland Sharing The Vision Strategic Plan From 1992 by Zennie Abraham on Scribd