First, before I go into blasting the City of Oakland for a major economic development failure, I want to thank Maria and Rick for their friendship and hospitality over the 18 years they have been open and we have been friends. Luka’s Taproom in Uptown Oakland (2221 Broadway, Oakland) was (but I now say “is” because Luka’s can be saved) a kind of community watering hole for myself and for many others. But, unlike other publications, ZENNIE62MEDIA has, as they say, “receipts” to prove it, and in the form of video-blog accounts. Here they are:

Oct 6, 2007: San Francisco Magazine Throws A Party In Oakland, At Luka’s Taproom

San Francisco Magazine threw this party to announce that it was going to pay more attention to Oakland in its content. The party celebrated the release of San Francisco Magazine’s October Edition which was devoted to Oakland. Another way of saying to Oakland businesses that San Francisco Magazine was ready to have them as advertisers in the publication.

But, that written, then-San Francisco Magazine President and Publisher Steven Dinkelspiel and Editor Bruce Kelley put on a good show. And I have to note that Steven Dinkelspiel, the brother of Berkeleyside and Oaklandside Publisher Frances Dinkelspiel (who, as a San Jose Mercury News reporter in 2000, told the real story about why the Raiders Stadium Bonds wound-up costing the City of Oakland and the County of Alameda in years of $20 million annual payments – and got her information entirely from me as Mayor Elihu Harris’ representative), forshadowed Oakland’s gentrification problem when, in the video, he said he would hope to tell a story of an Oakland that was growing too fast! Here’s that vlog:

November 7th, 2012: Luka’s Taproom Celebrates The Re-Election Of President Barack Obama

Maybe you;’re in this video-blog with the title “President Obama Reelected, Luka’s Oakland Bar Erupts With Joy”. Maybe you’re one of the folks I and other Luka’s patrons were high-fiving. Or perhaps you were one of the people in the back pumping your fists with joy. Whatever the case, one thing’s for sure, no, two things: we were all happy as shit Utah Senator Mitt Romney was trounced by President Obama, and we all wanted to watch it go down at Luka’s. For many Oaklanders, this day was a kind of personal May-Day. Smiles, hi-fives, hugs, and drinks, were flowing, and food was being consumed, sometimes in large quantities. In retrospect, I should have pushed the vlogging for over 2 and a half minutes, but this is still a nice time-in-a-bottle vlog.

Sep 23, 2014: Rick Mitchell – Luka’s Oakland Owner, In Suit For Bryan Parker’s Mayor’s Day

Bryan Parker, a friend and Oakland tech and health care executive, threw his hat in the political ring and ran for Mayor. Smartly, Brian selected Luka’s for his event. Surprisingly, Rick decided to put on a suit, and I was there to vlog about it.

Sep 24, 2015: Oakland Coliseum City Reboot Meeting At Luka’s

Rick and Maria let me have the entire back room to give a presentation on a plan i formed to build a new stadium to retain the Raiders in Oakland I called “Oakland Coliseum City Reboot“. Save Oakland Sports members turned out to participate as did my long-time friend and former boss Oakland Mayor Elihu Harris, my godparents Bob and Barbara Shock (who are Mayor Schaaf’s parents) and long-time Oakland friends Gary Flaxman and Steve Lowe. Here’s that vlog…

Jun 4, 2019: Zennie62 At Luka’s Oakland Talking Warriors NBA Finals Livestream Pt1

Once again Rick and Maria allowed me to use the back room for a special livestream on the Warriors NBA Finals. The star of the event was the space as well as Zennie62 Vlogger Richard Haick, and visitors who joined in and shared their view on the Warriors. We also managed to do this and play a little pool with patrons!

Jun 1, 2020: Lukas Oakland’s Maria Alderete On Oakland Community Kitchens

But, lest you think only Luka’s Rick Mitchell was featured on Zennie62 YouTube and my (and now Zennie62Media’s) Oakland blogs, perish the thought: Maria Alderete made this vlog to introduce Oakland Community Kitchens.

Oakland Failed Luka’s Taproom Big Time Just As Its Failed Thousands Of Businesses

Now, here’s my second. Look, this is from someone who’s first job out of Berkeley’s City Planning Grad School was with the Oakland Redevelopment Agency in 1987: Oakland has forgot how to do business retention, and that glaringly high level of ignorance has been on full display during The Pandemic. Rick and Maria have suffered through this going months without full income, and were massively harmed when the State and Local Governments ordered business closures without compensation.

Given that Maria helped Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf on her May 23, 2020 “Mayor Of Oakland Economic Recovery Council”, for the Pandemic, the work of the group was not to get money to business, but to make a damn plan that would sit on the shelf. I said that’s what would happen when the idea was presented (read the post “Mayor Of Oakland Economic Recovery Council Shows She Doesn’t Get The Immediacy Of Our Problem”), and it did occur (and the videos of the meetings are all here at Oakland News Now), and Oakland has suffered for it, like this episode with Luka’s.

Time To Get Mad And Storm City Hall – Enough Of This!

Oakland shows that it’s giving up, rather than stepping in and providing either gap financing for Luka’s to meet the rent demands, or a new spot to re-locate to. That’s what economic development officers do, but Oakland Chief Administrative Officer Ed Reiskin and Mayor Schaaf (that’s you my friend) and the rest of the Oakland City Council are just sitting back and letting Luka’s close because that’s what they do. I love my friend Mayor Schaaf, but this is about the business of the City of Oakland, and on that, I’m not going to be silent or nice, for that matter – because people are in trouble and need government’s help. We need to get our act together and right now.

If Rick and Maria can’t work out a deal with the landlord, the City of Oakland should step in and do it. Moreover, the City can use AB 464 to form a tax increment financing district in Uptown and form a business retention plan. The legislation allows for that TIF revenue to be used outside of the Uptown, too and wherever the City of Oakland’s Public Financing Authority determines based on the Infrastructure Financing Plan it has to make as part of any effort involving AB 464.

The legislation was signed into law last July and allows for the use of TIF specifically for getting money to businesses hurt by the Pandemic. So ask yourself what the City is doing? The answer is nothing to this day. This is so bad that I am not beyond calling for a civic parade of business owners – a march on City Hall to demand action now. All of these ways to help business owners like Luka’s and the City of Oakland continues to do nothing. Storm City Hall. Demand action. Threaten to recall the entire City Council. Enough of this crap!

Oakland’s current economic development effort is set up to react and not act. It was not designed by seasoned economic development specialists, and for a long time things were so bad, you could not even find an active program in search online – just words telling you we did not have a program! Now, we have a website, but no business ombudsman listed – no “go to” gang of economic development honchos. This is completely garbage-level awful!

Storm City Hall! Take action and make the City of Oakland actually use the tools it has rather than some doing nothing and others musing about socialism without an understanding that the key to what they seek is already baked in current policies. And Luka’s and other businesses suffer from this in Oakland. Time to stop the suffering.

Sorry my friends on the Oakland City Council, but this is a time to work and help Oakland business. If you don’t know how to do it, then make room for those of us who do.

NOTE: Tax Increment Financing Is Not Used In And This Is Not “Business Improvement Districts”

On Facebook, Maria Alderete wrote “Sounds like the BIDs. Problem is with triple net leases, landlords vote to tax themselves but then just pass the tax burden down to the tenants. This should not be allowed.” For everyone, this is not a BID, and as one who’s written spreadsheet analysis of what are called “Mello Roos Improvement Districts”, the difference is that, first, no property owner votes on anything here, the City Council does, second, there is no special tax, just a shift in direction of where the currently collected property tax revenues go from “taxing agencies” to a Public Financing Authority.

Post Script:

Dan Kalb, You’re Oakland District 1 Councilmember, You Can Work To Save Luka’s Taproom, Not Give Up

Stay tuned.