Oakland – A quasi-history of the Insight Terminal Solutions Oakland Bulk and Oversized Terminal posted here at Oakland News Now, and this video-blog is a discussion about it.
The vlog Zennie62Media made as part of the effort to tell Insight Terminal Solutions’s (ITS) story ties together three major periods in the on-going development of OBOT: the late 90s, the early 2000s, and the second decade of the 20th Century.
It focuses on the Tioga Report, which was commissioned by City of Oakland Economic Development Specialist Pat Cashman in 2011, and written in 2012. That report shows that, far before 2015, the City of Oakland was actively developing a bulk terminal that would handle various commodities, including coal. It wasn’t until 2014 and the emergence of Tom Steyer’s climate change lobbying campaign, and political influence, that the public view of coal-involved industry began to turn negative.
That Steyer-driven political dynamic altered the future of the ITS Oakland Bulk and Oversized Terminal Project.
For more information on the Insight Terminal Solutions Oakland Bulk and Oversized Terminal read the FAQ, but for the Tom Steyer details, read this post.
The upshot of this is that Tom Steyer, a candidate for President of The United States, has altered economic development in Oakland, and in such a way that basic industry jobs, needed to help reduce the ranks of Oaklanders who are homeless, have not been created at rate near what’s required. That and Steyer’s multi-million-dollar investment in a West Oakland-focused real estate organization that has evicted large numbers of black Oaklanders, are points of information that should be known to anyone following the Insight Terminal Solutions Oakland Bulk and Oversized Terminal Project.
The Anti-Eviction Project reports: Thomas Steyer was an original funder who made it possible to purchase hundreds of buildings in West Oakland and evict foreclosed owners and their families. Steyer, the founder of Farallon Capital now runs a “Community Development Bank” in Oakland that is pledged “to provide economic justice.”
Since 356 West Oakland evictions were reportedly caused by the firm that Steyer invested in, it’s not hyberbole to assert that the man now running for President of the United States, has played a giant role in the development of Oakland’s homeless and gentrification problem.
All of this, and the Oakland and San Francisco Bay Area mainstream media have not asked Tom Steyer about it. Meanwhile, a false narrative of environmental damage has been attached to the Insight Terminal Solutions OBOT development..
Stay tuned.