The Oakland Bulk And Oversized Terminal, or OBOT, is Phil Tagami’s long-planned bulk terminal to be built on a stretch of land between the Bay Bridge Toll Plaza and the Oakland Outer Harbor, and what’s called the “Key Route Basin.” (Zennie62Media is proud to have Insight Terminal Solutions as a client.)
The idea of the Oakland Bulk And Oversized Terminal is to allow the easy transfer of commodities in bulk from rail to ship. Conceived of as a development almost 30 years ago by local developer Phillip H. Tagami (Phil Tagami), who’s now partnered with John Siegel and Insight Terminal Solutions, it ran up against opposition from a number of politicians who received support from democratic party financier Tom Steyer.
This, even though the Oakland Bulk And Oversized Terminal is not planned to be built anywhere near a residential neighborhood.
In fact, the closest one is approximately one mile away, and effectively shielded by other Port of Oakland-related uses and then, the Nimitz Freeway.
In addition, and very much unlike bulk terminals built in the past, the Oakland Bulk And Oversized Terminal will handle coal, first via covered and not open cars, called “hoppers”, and second by storing any coal indoors, in a special dome facility, and not outdoors, as is the case in other regions.
The OBOT project stands in the face of what the Socialist Worker called The West Oakland Specific Plan in 2014 “a scheme for gentrifying Oakland”:
The West Oakland Specific Plan (WOSP) is the most recent scheme for gentrifying Oakland, pushing people of color and blue-collar workers out, and moving tech in. It labels large swaths of West Oakland “opportunity sites” for redevelopment and connects with other redevelopment schemes to cover a massive area, stretching from Interstate 880 to Adeline Street, and East 14th Street to Emeryville.
Thus, the Oakland Bulk And Oversized Terminal is very obviously Phil Tagami’s plan to stop the flow of homelessness-causing, gentrifying forces in Oakland, and restore a supply of well-paying basic jobs in its place. All of that in accordance with an objective the City of Oakland set out for itself in the late 1990s after military base closings, but has forgot about amid the wave of tech-money-fueled development in the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Area.
What follows is a guide to video-blog and blog posts about the Oakland Bulk And Oversized Terminal, so you can understand the truth:
Oakland Bulk And Oversized Terminal Environmental Benefits: A Proponent
Oakland Bulk And Oversized Terminal: City Of Oakland Knew Coal Was In Plan
Oakland Bulk And Oversized Terminal: Ask City Of Oakland Where’s The Jobs?
Oakland Bulk And Oversized Terminal Already Replaced 44% Of Army Base Jobs
Coal And Oakland Bulk And Oversized Terminal Views Driven By Tom Steyer
City Of Oakland Opts For Delay Over OBOT Jobs, Air Quality Benefits
Greg McConnell Of Oakland Jobs And Housing Coalition On OBOT
Oakland Students In SF To Protest Were Lied To About A Coal Terminal
Alex Epstein On “Moral Case For Fossil Fuels” And Oakland Coal
Stay tuned.
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