Oakland – Just hours after it was announced that Lyft had dumped $100K into television ads against Oakland City Councilmember At-Large Rebecca Kaplan, allegedly lying about her record on housing, the At-Large Councilmember has received a number of new endorsements in the fight to stop the oligarchs from buying Oakland.
“This is not about housing,” Kaplan said of Lyft’s financial contribution to the campaign committee opposing her. “This is about a billionaire corporation that doesn’t want to pay its fair share in taxes and wants to abuse its workers.”
Rand Shaw – journalist, and pro-housing advocate – endorsed Rebecca’s re-election saying in an email, “Rebecca, I am absolutely horrified that YIMBY’s are using Lyft money to oppose you. I never make Oakland endorsements but feel compelled to show my support for you. So please list me as an endorser. Thanks, and on to victory!” and then followed with a tweet denouncing the lies by Lyft “IN 2018 @Kaplan4Oakland sought to increase housing density on transit corridors and upzone Rockridge. Yet some East Bay YIMBY’s have taken $100K from Lyft to help defeat this strong housing advocate. Terrible move.“
Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez who is a champion for working people and their families and who was the Primary Sponsor of Assembly Bill 5 which is now being fought by Lyft in a statewide ballot measure – Proposition 22 – funded by the same oligarchs that are running attack ads on Rebecca also endorsed her re-election to the At Large seat.
Finally, Assemblymember Ash Kalra, who was a co-sponsor of Assembly Bill 5, re-tweeted his colleague and showed support for Rebecca’s campaign.
These types of dirty campaign tactics should be unacceptable in Oakland politics. Oaklanders deserve better. What is most important right now is to help people make a plan to vote. It is so important to mail your ballots early this year or find your local drop box. Ballots drop on October 5th so people should be checking their mailbox, and if they plan to mail their ballot to get it in the mail by October 10th to assure it makes it to the Registrar in time.
Rebecca is proud to have the endorsement and support of many community organizations, leaders, grassroots advocates, and residents. For endorsement information please visit http://kaplanforoakland.org/endorsements/.
Councilmember At-Large Rebecca Kaplan is an honors graduate from MIT, and holds a J.D. from Stanford Law School. Kaplan was elected in 2008 to serve as Oakland’s citywide Councilmember, she was re-elected in 2016, Rebecca is Oakland’s first openly LGBTQ+ elected official and she serves on the Alameda County Transportation Commission (ACTC).
Follow Council President Kaplan on Twitter @Kaplan4Oakland and Facebook.
City of Oakland Awarded $20M in California State Homekey Funding
Projects to provide 163 units of permanently affordable housing for homeless and those vulnerable to homelessness
Oakland –– Yesterday, the City of Oakland was awarded $20 million for two housing projects targeting some of the City’s most vulnerable residents. Governor Newsom announced the Homekey awards as the next phase in the state’s response to protecting Californians experiencing homelessness who are impacted by COVID-19.
“This announcement from Gov. Newsom will help us alleviate the human suffering of homelessness in Oakland,” said Mayor Libby Schaaf. “Homekey gives us the resources to convert existing facilities into permanently affordable housing for our unsheltered residents right now, and it paves the way for more innovative strategies in the future. I’m grateful for the Governor’s leadership and partnership as we continue to work together to end homelessness.”
The projects awarded include funds to purchase Clifton Hall, a California College of the Arts dormitory in Rockridge that offers 63 units for seniors and families; and Project Reclamation managed by Bay Area Community Services (BACS) for the development of 100 units at 20 scattered sites throughout Oakland for families and individuals.
“These funding awards mark another important milestone in our goal to preserve, produce, and protect housing for Oakland residents,” said Housing & Community Development Director Shola Olatoye. “We are proud to work with our partnering agencies to develop these units and move people off the streets and into housing.”
Homekey, administered by California Housing & Community Development, is the state’s $600 million program for purchasing and rehabilitating housing, including hotels, motels, vacant apartment buildings and other properties, converting them into permanent, long-term housing for people experiencing or at risk of experiencing homelessness.
The 2020 Oakland City Council race gets stranger and stranger as documents show (it’s always “documents show”, huh) that the Alameda Labor Council and the AFL-CIO have formed a committee called “Oakland 2020 Committee to Replace Lynette Gibson McElhaney And Elect Carroll Fife and Rebecca Kaplan to the Oakland City Council, sponsored by Alameda Labor Council, AFL-CIO”. (For those of you who need a map, Lynette Gibson McElhaney is the currrent Oakland District Three Councilmember and Rebecca Kaplan is the current At Large Councilmember and President Of The Oakland City Council.)
According to the page I found on the Open Disclosure Oakland website, the organization has raised $293,000 to date. The contributors are all, strangely, union:
Service Employees International Union Local 1021 Candidate PAC Small Contribution Committee — — 95814 $90000 2020-09-10
Service Employees International Union Local 1021 Candidate PAC Small Contribution Committee — — 95814 $82000 2020-09-10
Unity PAC a Sponsored Committee of the Alameda Labor Council AFL-CIO Committee — — 94621 $50000 2020-09-16
Service Employees International Union Local 1021 Candidate PAC Small Contribution Committee — — 95814 $30000 2020-09-01
Unity PAC a Sponsored Committee of the Alameda Labor Council AFL-CIO Committee — — 94621 $25000 2020-08-20
Sheet Metal Workers Local Union 104 Political Committee Committee — — 94583 $5000 2020-09-07
INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS LOCAL 595 PAC Small Contribution Committee — — 94568 $5000 2020-09-03
Steamfitters Local 342 Political Action Committee Committee — — 94518 $5000 2020-08-27
ESC Local 20 IFPTE Lou Lucivero Legislative Education & Action Program (LEAP) Sponsored by Engineers & Scientists of California Local 20 Committee — — 94607 $1000 2020-09-07
I write “strangely, union” because there’s no other contributor listed.
Conversation With Carroll Fife – Progressive For Oakland City Council, District 3
The Alameda Labor Council’s slate card shows, with respect to Oakland and the City Council races, the following choices:
Dan Kalb for District One
Carroll Fife (with no rank-choice #2, which normally would include the incumbent) for District Three
Noel Gallo for District Five
Treva Reid and Marchon Tatmon – Dual Endorsement for District 7
Rebecca Kaplan for At Large
For the Oakland School Board, the union group picked Sam Davis, VanCedric Williams, Michael Hutchinson, Ben Tapscott, and Measure QQ and Measure Y.
What’s Really Up With The Alameda Labor Council / AFL-CIO Union’s Decision To Back Carroll Fife Over Lynette Gibson McElhaney?
Oakland Councilmember Lynette Gibson Mcelhaney
But the decision to back Carroll Fife over Councilmember McElhaney is the focus of talk around town. While others have a point of view that reflects the sour taste of last year’s California State Democratic Convention outcome and the idea that the unions are trying to “take out” black women (an interesting view considering the backing of Fife and also Jovanka Beckles), I think it has more to do with Bernie Sanders.
Carroll Fife and a number of members of the Alameda Labor Council were big time Bernie Sanders backers, whereas Lynette’s a supporter of Joe Biden for President (and Fife has not come out in open support of Biden, even as he’s the Democratic Party leader and former SF District Attorney Kamela Harris is his running mate). And the Alameda Labor Council’s office space was used to help Fife during the Moms 4 Housing effort.
Still, the ties between the 2019 California Democratic Party election where Los Angeles labor leader Rusty Hicks won the party chair position, and held off a powerful drive from Richmond activist Kimberly Ellis, and the current Oakland City Council race, are not to be denied. There’s a lot of state-wide bad blood between a number of black female elected officials and the largely white AFL-CIO in the wake of Ellis’ loss. Last year, Both Lynette and Kimberly served on the board of Black Elected Officials Of The East Bay, with McElhaney, as Special Advisor to the Board according to The Oakland Post. (Note, Ellis texted me via Facebook “I was hired as a consultant to the org, I never served on its board.” A point of information not reflected in the year-old Oakland Post entry which served as reference.)
Carroll Fife should be careful who she partners with in this race. Her approach thus far is to discriminate in seeking political partnerships rather than cast a big tent and sell herself, explaining why she’s the best candidate, and to everyone, of every stripe. That strategy does not serve any elected official well when it comes to deal-making in office. Just consider how some in the Oakland City Council reacted to the allegedly immature behavior of one newcomer when that person did not get their way after a vote. That person’s efforts were largely marginalized during the last session.
Plus, Carroll could wind up being looked at as against any black woman who’s not exactly aligned with her agenda. At a time when a number of black women in California politics feel like they’re under attack, that’s not a good position for Ms. Fife to be in, and could be used against her in a big way. It is also a bad look for the Alameda Labor Council to have: the appearance of picking and choosing black female candidates in the wake of the Hicks / Ellis vote of last year. Indeed, it’s a problem that extends even to Kamala Harris herself.
The Democratic Vice Presidential Candidate is a part of the SF Bay Area Political Family, and so is very well known. I first met her in 2007, and even met up at Harry’s Bar on Fillmore for an early dinner. But, as her political career grew, it took on a pattern that many black women in the SF Bay Area Political Family don’t see as beneficial to them. Famed local lawyer Pamela Price put it this way in her blog:
In California politics, with very few exceptions, Kamala has not supported progressive Black women running for office. In 2017 and again, in 2019, we fought to elect Kimberly Ellis as the Chairwoman of the California Democratic Party. Kamala did not support Kimberly Ellis in 2017 or 2019.
In 2018, 2 Black women ran for Oakland Mayor. Kamala did not support either one of us. In the 2018 race for Assembly District 15 to represent Oakland, Berkeley, Richmond and West Contra Costa County, there were 3 Black women running for State Assembly. Kamala did not support any of them. As a result, today, there are no Black representatives from the Bay Area in the California Legislature.
In three local races in 2018, Oakland Mayor, Assembly District 15 and Alameda County District Attorney, Kamala provided major support for all of the white women who won.
The Lesson: Make Friends With Everyone, And Not Just A Small Group Of People You Like
Oakland’s real problem is that too many so-called progressive and democratic socialist candidates are also too eager to make enemies where they really don’t exist. I am calculating the over-under on when this post of mine will be mischaracterized for political gain. One will say it’s anti-Lynette and the other anti-Carroll, and someone else will come up with some other crap. All will be wrong. Note: it’s a trap!
Word of warning: you’re elected to serve all of the people of your district, not just the ones you like.
UPDATE:
Oakland District Three Councilmember Lynette Gibson McElhaney posted this entry on Facebook, tagging myself and this post:
The Oakland that I knew is dead. It was a city that had over 100 job training programs and several low interest loan and grant programs for businesses. It was a city that was unafraid to embrace manufacturing, transportation, and heavy industry, as much as it demanded and caused the development of an economy comparatively cleaner than most. It was a city that knew how to fix its economic problems. That Oakland is gone.
The Oakland that replaced it is one that’s marked by growing ranks of people sleeping on the streets because no one will help them. It has many who were just one lost paycheck away from eviction, and their ranks so great, a moratorium on evictions was in place before the Pandemic.
It has some who would even resort to an attempt to take property not their own. And do that thinking it will solve an overall problem that is obviously beyond their desire to deal with: an economic design that lacks the use of tax increment financing to fuel the business assistance and job training and affordable housing programs Oakland was once known for. This Oakland lacks people who want to fix the economy and far to many people who want to protest against the economy.
The fact is, we have had march after march and activist after activist, and the problems have only gotten worse. The protests have become nothing more than theater for the media, and tools to be used as part of a campaign strategy by a President who, himself, does not seem to care.
We have people who are willing to say “no coal” but not even asking “can we do coal, clean air, and jobs?” In fact, it seems like it’s just easier for them to just say no, then to try and fix anything.
Where we are is beyond sad.
It has been advanced by some media infected with the same anti-intellectualism – and worse because they believe their approach is smart. It is the complete and total lack of knowledge of where we are as a society, and to such a massively alarming point, that both the activists and that media don’t even bother to read about the past, and learn about the first publication to point to the climate change problem: The Limits To Growth. That was way back in 1971, but don’t tell that to the so-called climate change activists, they think all of this started after they hit puberty, and after 2010.
Oakland Created Its Own Problem And Now Can’t Wake Up To Fix It
What is so awful is that we in Oakland created this problem. Yeah. That’s right. Us.
I recall a 1996 meeting I sat in on, and on behalf of Oakland Mayor Elihu Harris, about the then-new concept of the “jobs / housing balance”. The meeting was at the offices of my long-time friend Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson. Unfortunately, I have to write that this happened.
The meeting included a number of officials, including Sunne Wright McPeak, then a Contra Costa County Supervisor and main advocate for the idea that there should be a jobs / housing balance. The problem with the concept is that it asks a City like Oakland to be able to have more employment for workers to “balance” the housing in it. The problem is that the idea calls for an industry to be grown in that city to get those workers. Or, let me put it this way: it allows for gentrification to set in, though that was not the word flavor of the day in 1996.
In the meeting, I asked how Oakland was to make sure it followed “Oakland first” jobs policies for its current workers if they did not have the skills necessary to land the biotech jobs that Keith and Sunne, and the others in the meeting prized so much and wanted for Oakland? They collectively looked at me as if I had grown the ears of a Vulcan. I must now admit that I left the meeting out of pure disgust for the lack of any real thinking – it was the typical, Bay Area, “let’s make up something that we think is smart” crap.
It’s the kind of approach that is unconsciously born from the time when white supremacists like John Muir were creating social clubs like The Sierra Club. It’s an approach that calls for the development of an amount of what the person thinks are facts that are undeniable – and so that person is hardened in their beliefs to the point where communicating with them to get them to see another way becomes folly. It’s caused a lot of problems, and in particular, in the East Bay of the SF Bay Area, where the black population is the largest of any other place in my region of the San Francisco Bay Area.
The people who have this sort of tick have become and in many cases still are elected officials and friends of mine – and Democrats. They have allowed the complete destruction of Oakland’s economic development, and allowed it to happen with a nod. They have proven that they are the latest in the long line of people to drink the kool-aid established by John Muir. When he and his friends like famed UC Berkeley Professor Joseph Le Conte formed The Sierra Club, and his ideas of preservation that gave it life, he and they did not have black people in mind. They regarded us, folks who look like me, as “dirty” and “savages.”
I write that because the Oakland that I came to know in 1974 was increasingly one that was called a “chocolate city” but the real problem is Oakland was consistently apologizing for being just that. It always embraced outside white male developers and never, then later seldom, gave a black developer a chance, and a person who was Asian (like my friend Phil Tagami) didn’t fare much better unless he worked himself to near death for ten years just to land the Oakland Rotunda Project (as Phil did with the help of a number of people, including me and Elihu Harris). That problem still exists today, and points to a real problem.
We all know the ranks of those who are jobless and homeless in Oakland are mostly black. We all know that the ranks of those suffering from COVID-19 are more likely to be black. But what we have not done in Oakland, is simply create a black-focused answer to these problems. So, for the Oakland Bulk and Oversized Terminal (for which its co-developer Insight Terminal Solutions, is a Zennie62Media content client) there’s the largely white “No Coal In Oakland” group just saying no, and not doing anything to try and get to yes.
They openly do not care about the same jobs problem that disproportionately hurts black folks in Oakland. Then, they try and make you believe (with the help of irresponsible media) that they have a large young black membership, when the truth is just the opposite. We need a black economic development agenda that is formed in harmony with concerns for the environment. Don’t count on No Coal In Oakland or The Sierra Club, because they’ve drank John Muir’s racist elixir and are too drunk to realize it.
Meanwhile, there’s Tom Steyer, the former coal investor and hedge fund manager who’s now (I contend) trying to hedge the western United States and as much of America as he can into a thought ethic that just says invest in renewables, and not fix the damn traditional energy pollution problem. Tom’s got a number of Oakland elected officials so scared they won’t get his money, they parrot his view about the environment, and don’t care about developing jobs at all, and mindlessly pat themselves on the back for such things as “climate action plans” that lack any interest in economic development.
On top of that, the same Oakland elected officials that signed development agreements to allow Mr. Tagami and Insight Terminal Solutions to build the Oakland Bulk and Oversized Terminal (knowing it was designed to handle bulk commodities like coal in a low emissions way), then set about a process of trying to back out of them just because Steyer started influencing them with money.
Take the example of Tom Steyer investing $500,000 in the Mayor of Oakland’s Oakland Promise program, and allegedly with the quid-pro-quo that Oakland would get involved in a lawsuit against American oil companies that was so silly it was tossed out of court. Why Libby didn’t get Tom to try and jump start Oakland Bulk and Oversized Terminal is a good question, considering its low emissions design, Oakland’s need to create low-skilled, well-paying jobs, and the now decades-long tardiness of replacing the jobs lost due to military base closures.
It’s as if Oakland just plain stopped caring about creating jobs. Even Oakland economic development director Alexa Jeffries, who was hired last year, has no formal background in economic development!
This is Oakland, folks. In other words, for economic development in Oakland, a cuss term is appropriate: we’re fucked.
In Oakland Economic Development Has Reached The “We’re Fucked” Stage
Yep. We’re fucked, folks. The City of Oakland knows it and you know it. We can get out of it, but we have to admit it, first, fast, then take action, and fast. We had the blueprint for the economic engine that can help us in the future and that’s the redevelopment laws of the past. There was no real good reason to get rid of Redevelopment, and since it was terminated, Oakland’s economic divide has only worsened and the Pandemic just made it worse.
And blacks in Oakland need to stop supporting The Sierra Club and form a new approach that fits the needs of the African American community. The problem is too many of us are trapped in thinking about us in a negative fashion, so city policy is focused on crime only, whereas in the Oakland between 1980 and 2010, the policies (like Hire Oakland First) were geared toward the economic needs of black residents. We let that go, and it’s time to bring it back. If you agree that blacks in Oakland are being harmed by a lack of programs and a lack of the social infrastructure that once made sure blacks had greater wealth, then take action. If you believe that you are only as strong as your weakest neighbor, then the only logical action is to help that neighbor, and go tell John Muir what to do with his racist ideas. I know he’s long passed on, but his point of view still holds way too much sway.
City of Oakland Seeks Applicants for New Homeless Advisory Commission. 9-member board recommends strategies to remedy homelessness and advises on priorities for Vacant Parcel Tax funds for homeless services
Oakland, CA – The City of Oakland is establishing its first-ever Homeless Advisory Commission and is seeking nine qualified Oakland residents to sit on the inaugural board. City Councilmembers make recommendations on Commissioners to the Mayor, who appoints them for the Council’s confirmation.
The Homeless Advisory Commission was created by Measure W, the Vacant Parcel Tax ballot measure, a special parcel tax on vacant properties to support homeless services and address illegal dumping, passed by Oakland voters in November 2018. The Homeless Advisory Commission is charged with making recommendations to the City Council about strategies to remedy homelessness and providing oversight of the Vacant Property Tax, which is anticipated to generate about $7 million per year for homeless and illegal dumping services.
“The impacts of COVID-19 on our economy in general, and on housing insecurity and homelessness in particular, make this Commission more important than ever,” said Mayor Schaaf. “I look forward to collaborating with the Council in seating and launching Oakland’s first-ever Homeless Advisory Commission in November 2020.”
The Homeless Advisory Commission will:
Review financial and operational reports related to the expenditure of the Vacant Parcel Tax homeless services fund.
Publish recommendations on how to prioritize the allocation of funds for services and programs for homeless people and the impacts of programs funded by the Vacant Property Tax.
Make recommendations to the Mayor and the City Council regarding homelessness priorities and present budget recommendations for the prioritization of Vacant Parcel Tax funds for each two-year budget.
Review and respond to the City’s Homeless Encampment Policy and the Permanent Access to Housing (PATH) plan.
Hear reports on the housing, programs, and services for people experiencing homelessness in Oakland, including street outreach, homeless shelters, transitional housing, housing exits, and permanent supportive housing.
The Homeless Advisory Commission is comprised as follows:
Consists of nine (9) members who are all residents of the City.
No less than half of the members must be residents of heavily impacted neighborhoods.
No fewer than two (2) members must be currently homeless, formerly homeless or low- income, as the term “low income” is defined by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.
No fewer than three (3) members must have professional expertise in, or be providers of, homeless services or housing, with priority given to individuals with a background in affordable housing, shelter management, or public health.
No fewer than one (1) representative must have financial expertise.
Members may fulfill more than one (1) of these criteria for the purposes of meeting these requirements.
Applications are new being accepted. Oaklanders interested in being considered for nomination should submit their application online at https://oakland.granicus.com/boards/w/8552f8c4c0e15460/boards/36365
The application period closes on Friday, October 16. The goal is to present a list of Commissioners for City Council’s confirmation in November 2020.
Oakland is suffering a serious housing crisis, making housing at all levels of affordability, and particularly affordable housing, scarce and unavailable for many Oakland residents. The 2019 point-in-time count estimated that there are 4,071 homeless people in Oakland, up 47% from two years ago. This represents about half of the total number of unsheltered residents in Alameda County.
Post based on press release from City of Oakland to Zennie62Media, Inc.
City of Oakland Awarded $4.5M in CARES Act Funding to Support Low- and Moderate-Income Renters and Homeowners Affected by COVID-19
Oakland –– The City of Oakland was awarded $4,532,841 in Community Development Block Grant CARES Act (CDBG-CV) funding by the United States Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD). The funds will provide housing service support to prepare for, prevent, and respond to the impacts that the Coronavirus pandemic have had and continue to have on low- to moderate-income renters and homeowners of Oakland.
CDBG is a division of the City’s Housing & Community Development Department that works to support decent housing, suitable living environments, and economic opportunities, principally for community low – and moderate-income individuals. CDBG-CV housing service categories for this award are:
Housing Stabilization & Protection
Affordable Housing Operations Support
Production and Preservation
“The focus of our department’s efforts is on the preservation, protection, and production of housing solutions”, said Shola Olatoye, Director of Housing & Community Development. “This latest CARES Act funding award will help support these efforts and move us closer to this goal.”
The City recently released this Request for Qualifications (RFQ) to attract partnering agencies who will process applications and award financial assistance to renters and homeowners in compliance with CDBG-CV regulations. The CDBG division will monitor the overall process working closely with each agency to ensure compliance and targeted outcomes.
Agencies must have a registered account with the City of Oakland’s iSupplier online system to view and respond to this RFQ.
Apply:
Register with City of Oakland’s iSupplier
Respond to RFQ No. 228530
More application information and support:
Program information: Gregory Garrett, CDBG Manager,
General RFQ information: Paula Peav, Contract Analyst, [email protected]
This is the latest CARES Act-funded grant program launched by the City of Oakland. Grant programs for low-income renter and homeowner relief launched earlier this month. Learn more about the programs supported by the City’s $36.9 million in CARES Act Funding:
https://www.oaklandca.gov/topics/coronavirus-aid-relief-and-economic-security-cares-act-funding
Post based on press release from City of Oakland to Zennie62Media.
Sanpete County Utah has a population of over 27,000 people, and is located 122 miles south of Salt Lake City, Utah. Of late, in the ongoing push to build the much-needed Insight Terminal Solutions Oakland Bulk and Oversized Terminal and replaced the lost low-skill, well-paying jobs that went away with the closure of the Oakland Army Base in 2000, Sanpete County has come into focus.
The reason is that Sanpete County is one of four Utah counties (which are Sevier, Carbon and Emery), which intend to provide financial support of $20 million from a $53 million state economic development fund.
The media consistently gets what the Utah PCIB does completely wrong. In all of the explanations I have read from traditional news organizations, they express surprise that the Utah Legislature (at least the Republican side) would think of using funds from the Utah Permanent Community Impact Board for the ITS Oakland Bulk and Oversize Terminal.
Without spending more time on revealing those words from traditional media, let’s jump right to the real explanation of what the Utah Permanent Community Impact Board does – right from its own grant and loan program page:
The Permanent Community Impact Fund Board (CIB) is a program of the State of Utah authorized in Section 35A-8-301, et seq. The goal of the CIB is to maximize the long term benefit of funds derived from these lease revenues and bonus payments by fostering funding mechanisms which will, consistent with sound financial practices, result in the greatest use of financial resources for the greatest number of citizens of this state, with priority given to those communities designated as impacted by the development of natural resources covered by the Mineral Leasing Act. TheCIB’s source of funding is a portion of federal mineral lease royalties returned to the State by theFederal Government. https://jobs.utah.gov/housing/community/cib/documents/cibreport.pdf
And the real reason the Oakland Bulk and Oversized Terminal has come into focus is because the words “greatest use of financial resources for the greatest number of citizens of this state, with priority given to those communities designated as impacted by the development of natural resources covered by the Mineral Leasing Act” translate to “we need the Oakland Bulk and Oversized Terminal to help save coal industry jobs, by allowing businesses in our counties a better way to get their coal product to the overseas markets that demand them.” If you understand that, then you do understand why the fund was tapped.
On The Supposed Reason For The Opposition To Oakland Bulk and Oversized Terminal, Climate Change, And System Dynamics
Before I continue, let me get this out of the way: climate change is not something new, and because the fact is that climate change has been with us as a problem for most of my 58 years on this planet. I was born August 4th, 1962, in Chicago. That year, we had an estimated 180 million people in America and about 2.6 billion on the Earth, as a whole. Since then, the United States has expanded to 330 million people and the Earth is just over 7 billion people – we’ve added 4.4 billion more people in my 58 years.
There’s one fact in all of this: as we add more people to a room, the temperature in that room increases.
In 1979, and via a family friend, I was introduced to The Limits To Growth: a book by Dennis and Donnella Meadows, and The Club Of Rome-financed MIT Project on the Predicament Of Mankind (that was the title). It was written in 1971, and introduced to me the problem-framing concept called System Dynamics (I am now an expert in System Dynamics). System Dynamics was originally created by MIT Professor Jay Forrester and introduced in a book called Industrial Dynamics. But that was based on one kind of model made in a programming language called DYNAMO.
What the The Limits To Growth presented was a much more advanced System Dynamics model called World 3. As Magne Myrtveit put it in his paper “The World Model Controversy”:
Limits To Growth MIT Team
In 1971 Jay Forrester published his book World Dynamics, where he presented a high-level simulation model of the socio-economic-environmental world system. The main purpose of the model and the accompanying book was to encourage an open debate about the long-term future on our planet. The World Model was created in a time where pollution and other negative effects of industrialization and economic growth started to become recognized. Forrester made the assumption that life on earth is bounded within certain limits, such as available space and resources. Based on this he concluded that exponential economic growth cannot continue forever; sooner or later one or more limits will be reached. The question, then, is how mankind can manage its own future in ways that can avoid an unpleasant encounter with the limits to growth.
Since then, a number of researchers have concluded that constant increases in population growth have caused global warming. The World Models forecast that, eventually, population will fall. Indeed, the World Models presented in the book The Limits To Growth, and then Beyond The Limits in 1993, both originally predicted that would happen in the year 2000 and then the forecast was adjusted for 2010; this is 2020. We’re 10-years into living on borrowed time, because the World’s population is still growing, and with it the rate of change in the climate.
The scientists who have emerged to publish on this and point the finger singularly at traditional energy as the cause of climate change are not trained in system dyanamics. Thus, they collect data, but lack the right paradigm from which to think about what numbers they gathered. World modeling using a system dynamics approach consistently shows population growth to be the problem. Moreover, The Limits To Growth models and books, introduced the concept of climate change decades ago. And in this, a number of scientists who are more focused on ecology have said this:
The largest single threat to the ecology and biodiversity of the planet in the decades to come will be global climate disruption due to the buildup of human-generated greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. People around the world are beginning to address the problem by reducing their carbon footprint through less consumption and better technology. But unsustainable human population growth can overwhelm those efforts, leading us to conclude that we not only need smaller footprints, but fewer feet.
And to bring the point home, zero-emissions will not stop climate change pressures unless population growth slows. The good news, from every indicator, is that the gradual lessening of the rate of growth of population slowed from just over 2 percent 50 years ago to about 1.05 percent, today. So, from this, we have another 50 years of time. The “10 years from now” forecast of climate change impact should have happened in 2000, but it did not. But, the cold fact is the result, a reduced rate of growth in population, is the desired one. The point is, low emissions operation is the focus of the Oakland Bulk and Oversized Terminal, but the opposition to it, as well as the reasons for it, are unrealistic.
To better understand the Oakland Bulk and Oversized Terminal, listen to then-Oakland Economic Development Director Fred Blackwell talk about it with me in 2012:
Note that, at the video’s 3:14 mark, Mr. Blackwell says that the use of rail rather than trucks supports the West Oakland Environmental Justice Movement (which he shorthand refers to as “things going on there”).
If Climate Change Due To Global Warming Is Here, And OBOT Is Low Emissions, Why Stop People From Working?
Now, the opposition to the Oakland Bulk and Oversized Terminal has made a lot of wild and completely baseless comments about it. For example, some claim that it will cause coal in open hopper cars to go through poor neighbors in Oakland. Not true. First, OBOT will use covered hopper cars. Second, the rail lines used run through Port of Oakland land and Jack London Square, where the dwellings are for middle to high-income residents for the most part. Third, still others say that they don’t want coal to be delivered to China and other nations that rely on traditional energy.
The fact is that traditional energy is still cheaper to produce than renewable energy at this point, and efforts are being made to make it more environmentally friendly. Our focus should be in encouraging increases in rates of education as a way to cause a reduction in world population growth, faster. But robbing the workers in Sanpete County, Utah from jobs today because of a future that’s already here in climate change, and one that’s going to come in reducing rates of population growth, is nothing less than evil.
Indeed, Robert Stevens, Managing Editor Of The Sanpete Messenger, wrote this in support of the Insight Terminal Solutions Oakland Bulk and Oversized Terminal:
The four counties invested in this project all have strong economic ties to coal. With the demand for domestic coal dropping all the time, but booming in countries like Japan, the coal industry in Utah could stand to benefit a lot from access to an export terminal like the one ITS is developing.
The unique location of the port, which is being built at a former Army base on the Port of Oakland, has the two important components to make it all happen—a deep water bay for heavy coal ships, and a rail line connection. If the terminal is realized, 10 million tons of Utah coal could come in via rail each year, get loaded on ships and be exported to Asia.
Yet, with that, we have some in Utah, at the Salt Lake Tribune, openly saying that coal workers in Sanpete County should be transitioned to other supposedly “cleaner” jobs. The problem is we are in the middle of a Pandemic that has caused the elimination of many service jobs, while manufacturing and transportation positions largely remain. The Salt Lake Tribuneseems more interested in driving support for businesses that the Huntsman Family has an investment in (they own the news organization), than saving the coal industry jobs in Sanpete County, Utah.
The reason I sought Insight Terminal Solutions as a client for Zennie62Media was not just that I have a history with OBOT that goes back to 1991, or because I have a network of 100 blogs and hundreds of social media and YouTube platforms, but because my formal training is in economic development. In other words, job creation for an urban area.
Sanpete County, Utah needs the Oakland Bulk and Oversized Terminal for jobs, just as the homeless in West Oakland do. To deny both for flimsy reasons that crumble when someone asks why 18-wheel trucks are still running through West Oakland neighborhoods is criminal, or should be considered that.
West Oakland Specific Plan 2017
From YouTube Channel: May 6, 2020 at 02:37PM
ONN – The West Oakland Specific Plan Of 2017 – By Morten Jensen Of JRDV Urban International
Where Morten Jensen wrote
JRDV Urban International was the prime consultant responsible for the West Oakland Specific Plan, one of the largest and most complicated master plan in the Central San Francisco Bay Area in last decade. The project led by Morten Jensen and Art Clark of JRDV as well as Lamphier-Gregory, Conley Consulting Group and Hausrath Economics Group. The plan entitled over 6,000 new housing units and over 6 million GSF of new commercial space on an infill basis without displacement of housing units or jobs. The project was unprecedented for creating three dimensional visualizations and detailed multiple development scenarios for each parcel within the four-square mile area.
JRDV’s visualualizations of these scenarios demonstrated the economic and social potential at a granular level, meaningful to citizens, policy-makers and property owners alike. The project included comprehensive, multifaceted strategies for facilitating the development of selected vacant and/or underutilized commercial and industrial properties within West Oakland. The project has resulted in one of the most successful examples of an economic turnaround in the United States. The Specific Plan analyzed in great detail a range of issues such as land use, economic and market conditions, infrastructure deficiencies, transportation, public safety and security and other relevant factors, to identify development challenges for the selected properties.
Stay tuned.
Note from Zennie62Media and Oakland News Now: this video-blog post demonstrates the full and live operation of the latest updated version of an experimental Zennie62Media , Inc. mobile media video-blogging system network that was launched June 2018. This is a major part of Zennie62Media , Inc.’s new and innovative approach to the production of news media. What we call “The Third Wave of Media”. The uploaded video is from a vlogger with the Zennie62 on YouTube Partner Channel, then uploaded to and formatted automatically at the Oakland News Now site and Zennie62-created and owned social media pages. The overall objective is smartphone-enabled, real-time, on the scene reporting of news, interviews, observations, and happenings anywhere in the World and within seconds and not hours. Now, news is reported with a smartphone: no heavy and expensive cameras or even a laptop are necessary. The secondary objective is faster, and very inexpensive media content news production and distribution. We have found there is a disconnect between post length and time to product and revenue generated. With this, the problem is far less, though by no means solved. Zennie62Media is constantly working to improve the system network coding and seeks interested content and media technology partners.
Oakland City Attorney Housing Justice Initiative
From YouTube Channel: September 3, 2020 at 09:19PM
ONN – Oakland City Attorney Barbara J. Parker launched the Housing Justice Initiative to significantly expand her office’s work protecting vulnerable tenants in Oakland’s diverse neighborhoods and holding abusive landlords accountable.
Note from Zennie62Media and Oakland News Now: this video-blog post demonstrates the full and live operation of the latest updated version of an experimental Zennie62Media , Inc. mobile media video-blogging system network that was launched June 2018. This is a major part of Zennie62Media , Inc.’s new and innovative approach to the production of news media. What we call “The Third Wave of Media”. The uploaded video is from a vlogger with the Zennie62 on YouTube Partner Channel, then uploaded to and formatted automatically at the Oakland News Now site and Zennie62-created and owned social media pages. The overall objective is smartphone-enabled, real-time, on the scene reporting of news, interviews, observations, and happenings anywhere in the World and within seconds and not hours. Now, news is reported with a smartphone: no heavy and expensive cameras or even a laptop are necessary. The secondary objective is faster, and very inexpensive media content news production and distribution. We have found there is a disconnect between post length and time to product and revenue generated. With this, the problem is far less, though by no means solved. Zennie62Media is constantly working to improve the system network coding and seeks interested content and media technology partners.
Conversation with Carroll Fife – Progressive for Oakland City Council, District 3
From YouTube Channel: September 2, 2020 at 06:39AM
ONN – Daily Bern conversation with Carroll Fife, who is running for Oakland City Council, District 3. Carroll has an incredible professional background (Executive Director of Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, Oakland; co-founder of Moms for Housing) and is running on a platform of housing rights, divesting from police, investing in the community, racial justice, social justice, and much more. More at CarrollFife.org. You can also read an op-ed she co-authored with Elizabeth Warren, here Carrollfife.org/news/fifewarrenoped
Note from Zennie62Media and Oakland News Now: this video-blog post demonstrates the full and live operation of the latest updated version of an experimental Zennie62Media , Inc. mobile media video-blogging system network that was launched June 2018. This is a major part of Zennie62Media , Inc.’s new and innovative approach to the production of news media. What we call “The Third Wave of Media”. The uploaded video is from a vlogger with the Zennie62 on YouTube Partner Channel, then uploaded to and formatted automatically at the Oakland News Now site and Zennie62-created and owned social media pages. The overall objective is smartphone-enabled, real-time, on the scene reporting of news, interviews, observations, and happenings anywhere in the World and within seconds and not hours. Now, news is reported with a smartphone: no heavy and expensive cameras or even a laptop are necessary. The secondary objective is faster, and very inexpensive media content news production and distribution. We have found there is a disconnect between post length and time to product and revenue generated. With this, the problem is far less, though by no means solved. Zennie62Media is constantly working to improve the system network coding and seeks interested content and media technology partners.
City of Oakland Receives Nearly $37M in CARES Act Funding – $5M for Renters & Homeowners
Oakland – The City of Oakland received $36.9 million in State of California CARES Act funding. Five million dollars of those funds were allocated for renter and homeowner relief through the Keep Oakland Housed (KOH) partnership of KOH nonprofit partners and other nonprofit organizations. This funding will provide one-time financial assistance to low-income renters and homeowners impacted by COVID-19. The application period opens today, September 1, 2020.
The City’s Housing & Community Development (HCD) Department is the lead manager of the program. The KOH partnership will disperse funds to eligible applicants, with each nonprofit leading the application process for their organization.
Renter applicants may contact:
Bay Area Community Services (BACS) | www.bayareacs.org
(510) 899-9289 (call) | (510) 759-4877 (text)
Catholic Charities East Bay | www.cceb.org | (510) 768-3100
Centro Legal de la Raza | www.centrolegal.org | (510) 422-5669
Homeowner applicants may contact:
Housing and Economic Rights Advocates (HERA) | www.heraca.org | (510) 271-8443 x300
Applicants must be current Oakland residents, a low-income individual or household, and at risk of losing their home.
Funding is extremely limited, and applications will be prioritized based on need, severity of COVID-19 impact, and funding availability.
The City of Oakland’s Moratorium on Evictions remains in place until the lifting of the local emergency order by the City Council. For more information visit the City’s website at:
For more information on the Keep Oakland Housed COVID-19 Relief Financial Assistance program contact: City of Oakland Housing and Community Development, Housing Resource Center at (510) 238-6182.
Note 1: The Oakland Police Department Officer Johnna Watson sent this Community Message on Fake Message Protest related property damage and arrests via email and with photos to Zennie62Media 58 minutes ago from this time.
Note 2: I call this a Fake Message Protest because, once again, the messages had nothing to do with Jacob Blake and expressed no sympathy for him or solidarity with the Black Lives Matter Movement (see my post on that problem here). The messages, directed against the Oakland Police and “rich people in the hills” look like they were written by a Trump For President 2020 operative, trying to sway votes in Oakland and the SF Bay Area.
Here’s Officer Watson:
Dear Oakland Community,
Oakland Protest Photos from OPD
The City of Oakland experienced large crowds during a three-day period, August 26, 28, and 29. The crowds were violent, destructive and displayed hostility towards our community members and police officers. Several of our vulnerable businesses and civic facilities were targeted and damaged.
Over the three-day period, 24 people were arrested, most are non-Oakland residents.
On Wednesday, August 26, at 8:00 PM, a crowd gathered in the 1400 block of Broadway for an event that was promoted by #Yayarearevolution. Within the hour the crowd size grew to an estimated 600 people. The speakers could be heard inciting the crowd with chants of “Kill the Cops” and “Burn the City down.” The crowd later marched throughout
Oakland Police Community Message On Fake Message Protests, Related Damage And ArrestsOakland Protest Photos from OPD
Oakland’s downtown and residential areas. The intentions of the crowd were not peaceful but deliberate; through their words and actions, they demonstrated their focused and targeted intentions to destroy and damage our already vulnerable business community.
Many in the crowd threatened open businesses as they marched, saying if they did not immediately close, they would be “Burned to the ground.” For about four hours the crowd moved from downtown along Grand Avenue to the Grand Lake neighborhood. The crowd set fire to the Alameda County Superior Courthouse, structures, vehicles, and trash cans. The crowd also vandalized businesses and caused more than $100,000 in damages to the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse. The actions of the crowd continued to traumatize our community; many residents attempted to deter the crowd in their neighborhoods but were met with threats of violence and destruction. Officers in the area encouraged our community members to shelter in place while attempting to curb the violence and protect the safety of our community as well as our officers.
Oakland Protest Photos from OPDctions of the crowd continued to traumatize our community; many residents attempted to deter the crowd in their neighborhoods but were met with threats of violence and destruction. Officers in the area encouraged our community members to shelter in place while attempting to curb the violence and protect the safety of our community as well as our officers.
Windows were broken at 21 businesses, many of which have been damaged before and a 100% affordable residential housing complex on Grand Avenue had damage. The Oakland Fire Department reported 25-30 fires including 2 vehicles totaled by fire, several structures, numerous trash cans and debris.
Oakland Protest Photos from OPDamage. The Oakland Fire Department reported 25-30 fires including 2 vehicles totaled by fire, several structures, numerous trash cans and debris.
The Oakland Police Department made 2 arrests and one vehicle was towed.
1 San Francisco resident 1 Unknown residency 1 Towed Vehicle
On Friday, August 28, at 7:00 PM, a crowd gathered in the 1400 block of Broadway for an event that was promoted by #Yayarearevolution. (Zennie62Media note: an extensive online search revealed no website or social media home with the name #Yayarearevolution. The people behind this are only spray-painting the name – along with words targeted at would-be Trump voters. So, the OPD and media see it, and then promote the group for them. Since the media and OPD doesn’t investigate the group, the trick works. Thus, this blogger holds the protestors are working for Trump For President 2020, and working to create the idea that the nation is lawless, and thus must re-elect Donald Trump.) Within the hour the crowd size grew to an estimated 250 people who marched throughout Oakland’s downtown and residential areas. The intentions of the crowd were not peaceful but deliberate; through their words and actions they demonstrated their focused and targeted intentions included assaulting officers with rocks and bottles, pointing lasers at officers and a news crew. OPD deployed minimal gas and smoke. No reports of any damage.
The Oakland Police Department made 16 arrests.
Oakland Protest Photos from OPD
9 Oakland residents 3 Berkeley residents 2 San Francisco residents 1 Clovis resident 1 Unknown residency
On Saturday, August 29, at 8:30 PM, a crowd gathered in the 550 El Embarcadero for an event that was promoted by #Yayarearevolution. The crowd size grew to an estimated 150 people who marched in the Grand Lake commercial and Mandana neighborhoods. The intentions of the crowd were not peaceful but deliberate; through their words and actions they demonstrated their focused and targeted intentions included repeatedly assaulting officers with rocks, bottles, wood shields and pointing lasers at officers. OPD deployed minimal gas and smoke. The only report of damage was graffiti on a commercial building.
The Oakland Police Department made 6 arrests and confiscated multiple wooden shields.
Oakland Protest Photos from OPD
2 Oakland residents 2 Berkeley residents 1 San Francisco resident 1 Los Angeles resident
The City of Oakland and the Oakland Police Department stand with our community against social injustice and racial inequality. We strive for justice, equality and accountability.
Oakland Protest Photos from OPD
Due to the violence and a lack of Mutual Aid based on the court injunction, OPD canceled all days off for Friday and Saturday to ensure staffing to protect our vulnerable infrastructure and community safety at a considerable expense to the city.
OPD will continue to facilitate safe spaces and places for peaceful protests, we ask those organizing gatherings in Oakland to remain peaceful.
#OPDCARES initiative is about all of us working together as a community, to help stop the tragic loss of life and reduce the level of violence in our city. Collectively, we want to ensure Oaklanders and our visitors are safe in our community.
Officer Johnna Watson
The Oakland Police must investigate the members of this so-called fake group, and find out from them who’s paying them to do the damage and civic unrest. I’ll bet those persons are connected to the Trump 2020 Campaign.
Ed Reiskin, The new Oakland City Administrator, sent this email to Oaklanders regarding the Jacob Blake Protests of August 28th
Dear Oakland Community,
The City of Oakland is aware of a planned gathering starting at 7 pm at Frank H. Ogawa Plaza tonight, August 28, and possibly continuing through the weekend.
The group promoting this event is the same group that came to Oakland on Wednesday night, which resulted in broken windows at 21 businesses—including many windows of a 100% affordable housing complex on Grand Avenue and damage to a locally owned restaurant that has been serving meals to vulnerable seniors during the COVID-19 pandemic. They also lit more than two dozen fires across the greater downtown/Lake Merritt area.
We stand with our community for justice, equality, and accountability. We support the reasons why people across the country are taking to the streets to express their outrage and frustration during this time of national reckoning about persistent racial injustice. In Oakland, we celebrate passionate protest. But any individuals or organized groups that gather with the intent to cause damage, that splinter off to break windows and light fires, are harming our already vulnerable businesses, many of which are owned by people of color, and hurting our community.
We remind Oaklanders that when they march after dark, they may be providing cover for these groups, who seem more intent on vandalism and stoking civil unrest than advancing social justice.
Oakland will continue to facilitate peaceful protests and demonstrations, and we ask those organizing marches and gatherings to ensure their events and the participants in them remain peaceful. The Oakland Police Department has increased staffing to provide safe space for the demonstrations to occur and will facilitate free speech while maintaining public safety.
We are providing this update in our effort to keep you informed so that you may plan accordingly. Businesses along commercial corridors are advised to secure outdoor fixtures, furniture, and trash and recycling receptacles. Please share this information with your employees, neighbors and tenants. OPD uses a free, web-based application called NIXLE to provide timely updates to our community about traffic disruptions or suggested alternate transportation routes. If you have not yet signed up for NIXLE, we encourage you to do so. Text your zip code to 888777 to opt-in, or visit www.nixle.com.
Oakland – Oakland City Council President Rebecca Kaplan has been urging the City to take action to acquire available buildings, such as SROs, hotels, and dormitories, to help house the homeless. The Council unanimously passed Kaplan’s resolution on March 27, 2020, urging rapid action on this due to the growing COVID-19 crisis, and to protect those most vulnerable in our community.
Today, the Oakland City Council held a Special Council Meeting to approve the acquisition of a dormitory to help house those in need, and to apply for the State of California’s Homekey grant program. Council President Kaplan is pleased to announce that she and her colleagues unanimously voted to send applications to the state and to authorize a deal to purchase the California College of the Arts (CCA) Clifton Hall dormitory.
The Clifton Hall dorm is a four story building, with 63 units, in the Rockridge neighborhood of Oakland. On the top two floors of the building, Clifton Hall will provide 42 units of permanent housing for seniors experiencing homelessness and at high risk of contracting COVID-19. The second floor will become the permanent home for a 20-household family shelter. On the ground floor, the building will house the offices of Family Front Door, which serves as the hub for the Coordinated Entry System (CES) for homeless families in Northern Alameda County.
Kaplan stated: “It is vital that we take action to respond to the homelessness crisis, prevent the spread of disease, and protect our community, including vulnerable seniors. I am pleased that we were able to work together to pass vital actions, to make it possible to acquire this dorm, and other properties, to help those in need.”
Link to the Item on the August 28th Council Agenda, to acquire this dorm:
With spread of COVID, bad air and displacement we must protect our community. Authored budget action and Council resolution, directing the admin to acquire buildings to house the homeless. https://t.co/5jekdiDiZn Have obtained an SRO, and planning actions to acquire dorms, etc.
— Rebecca Kaplan, Oakland Vice Mayor (@Kaplan4Oakland) August 26, 2020
Project part of Port’s Seaport Air Quality 2020 and Beyond Plan
Oakland, Calif. – Aug. 24, 2020: The Port of Oakland’s largest marine terminal said today it has cut diesel emissions from all 13 of its massive yard cranes by 95 percent after retrofitting them with hybrid electric engines. Terminal operator Stevedoring Services of America (SSA) said that the project will eliminate about 1,200 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually from each crane.
“Retrofitting our rubber-tire gantry cranes to battery power produced remarkable results,” said Crane Manager Ken Larson, at SSA Marine’s Oakland International Container Terminal (OICT). “We’re impressed with the huge drop in emissions from equipment that we regularly use on the marine terminal.”
SSA said that the clean air project would result in a 93 percent reduction in diesel fuel. The older engines used 10 to 13 gallons of diesel fuel an hour whereas the hybrids use about three-quarters of a gallon an hour, according to Mr. Larson. “We were honestly surprised to learn how little diesel fuel we need to use now,” Mr. Larson said.
The hybrid retrofit is the first project of its type at SSA terminals. SSA replaced 1,000-horsepower diesel generators on its yard cranes with 142-horsepower diesel hybrids. The new power plants have small diesel engines used only to charge a crane’s pack of batteries. Each crane has a housing unit that contains the hybrid generator.
Mr. Larson said that the project was challenging, including the construction of new electrical systems for input power protection when converting current from AC to DC on a crane. Mr. Larson added that the hybrid generators capture energy as a container is lowered. Besides saving fuel and reducing emissions, the hybrid performs better than the older diesel generators because there is no delay in power delivery to the crane.
“We’re delighted with this project because it reflects the way the Port advances its emission reduction goals by focusing on feasible technologies that can perform the heavy work of moving containers,” said Richard Sinkoff, the Port of Oakland’s Director of Environmental Programs and Planning. “It fits ideally in the Port’s Seaport Air Quality 2020 and Beyond Plan. We hope it serves as a model for other marine terminals to follow.”
Rubber-tire gantry cranes are industry workhorses at marine terminals throughout the world. Combined, the thirteen 90-foot-tall cranes can lift as many as 1,000 containers a day on and off trucks at OICT.
“We are pleased that an Air District grant has enabled the completion of the SSA hybrid crane project that will significantly reduce harmful emissions for many years to come,” said Jack Broadbent, Executive Officer of The Bay Area Air Quality Management District (Air District). “The hybrid engine technology installed on these large yard cranes will help improve air quality and protect the health of those in the communities surrounding the Port of Oakland.”
The Air District awarded SSA $5 million in grant funding as part of the Air District’s Community Health Protection Program (CHP – AB134) to replace 13 diesel powered rubber-tire gantry crane engines with Tier 4 Final hybrid engines in order to bring about immediate emissions reductions benefits.
The SSA Terminals project is part of California Climate Investments, a statewide program that puts billions of Cap-and-Trade dollars to work reducing GHG emissions. The Cap-and-Trade program also creates a financial incentive for industries to invest in clean technologies and develop innovative ways to reduce pollution.
California Climate Investments projects include affordable housing, renewable energy, public transportation, zero-emission vehicles, environmental restoration, more sustainable agriculture, recycling, and much more. At least 35 percent of these investments are located within and benefiting residents of disadvantaged communities, low-income communities, and low-income households across California. For more information, visit the California Climate Investments website at: www.caclimateinvestments.ca.gov.
Planning for the crane conversions began after the signing of the CHP Program contract with the Air District on July 5, 2018. The first crane was retrofitted in February of 2019 and the 13th crane was converted in July 2020.
About the Port of Oakland
The Port of Oakland oversees the Oakland Seaport, Oakland International Airport, and nearly 20 miles of waterfront including Jack London Square. The Port’s 5-year strategic plan – Growth with Care – pairs business expansion with community benefits, envisioning more jobs and economic stimulus as the Port grows. Together with its business partners, the Port supports more than 84,000 jobs. Connect with the Port of Oakland and Oakland International Airport through Facebook, or with the Port on Twitter, YouTube, and at www.portofoakland.com.
Post based on press release from Port of Oakland to Zennie62Media.
In Las Vegas, the once-Oakland Raiders did everything it could do to make the unofficial soft-opening of the still-under construction Allegiant Stadium a special event. And why not? Allegiant Stadium is a brand new symbol of what many (including me) hope Las Vegas can be, yet again, post-Pandemic: a tourist mecca for the World.
The Raiders rolled out a super-fancy season ticket box for passes that, sadly, will go unused for this wild NFL 2020 Season.
And in introducing Raiders Players to the facility, Mark Davis, Raiders Manager of the General Partner, said this (according to the Las Vegas Sun):
“Welcome to the Death Star, where our opponents’ dreams come to die. My father always said that the greatness of the Raiders is in its future. Well today that future really starts. This magnificent stadium was built on the backs of thousands of players, coaches, administrators and fans, who for the past 60 years have proudly worn the Silver and Black.”
And while Mark Davis and Jon Gruden and Raiders players enjoy the new Las Vegas Stadium, the Oakland A’s plan a $2 billion ballpark facility for Howard Terminal in Oakland’s Jack London Square. In a still-ongoing march to a planned 2023 opening, Oakland A’s President David Kaval is proving the Raiders wrong: that the City of Oakland was, indeed, able to cause the formation of a public subsidy program worth roughly double that of the $750 million the Raiders got (with the help of Las Vegas Sands Founder Sheldon Adelson) from the Nevada Legislature.
In a turn of events that proves the mainstream media does not know how read or how to do math, the planned infrastructure redevelopment zone law that was approved by the California Legislature and signed into law by California Governor Gavin Newsom last October, will result in the formation of a zone that assumes a small $2 billion base-year assessed value to serve as the foundation for a TIF bond with a 40-year-payback schedule.
In fact, Kaval agreed this was the case in our interview, even as he reminded us that the ballpark itself (the main frame) would be privately financed. At just an annual 4 percent rate of growth in assessed value, and 1 percent tax rate, the revenue total will be $1.4 billion by year 40.
The Oakland A’s ballpark legislation, if one bothers to read it, will allow for everything from financing assistance for affordable housing, street lighting, bridges, transportation, and it can be spread city-wide.
Of course, those who hate reading will go on chortling that Oakland’s broke and can’t afford this or that. Meanwhile, the A’s will emerge with the ballpark that will reform Oakland into an international destination.
A New Vision for Housing
From YouTube Channel: May 31, 2018 at 02:09PM
ONN – Ben Bartlett Berkeley Councilmember Video On “A New Vision For Housing”
We are solving the housing crisis with prefabricated modular micro-units which lowers the cost and shortens the time to build. The next phase involves labor unions mass manufacturing housing for the whole country. All Doors Open!
– Vice Mayor Ben Bartlett, Candidate for State Assembly
Learn More at BenBartlettCA.com/housing
Note from Zennie62Media and Oakland News Now: this video-blog post demonstrates the full and live operation of the latest updated version of an experimental Zennie62Media , Inc. mobile media video-blogging system network that was launched June 2018. This is a major part of Zennie62Media , Inc.’s new and innovative approach to the production of news media. What we call “The Third Wave of Media”. The uploaded video is from a vlogger with the Zennie62 on YouTube Partner Channel, then uploaded to and formatted automatically at the Oakland News Now site and Zennie62-created and owned social media pages. The overall objective is smartphone-enabled, real-time, on the scene reporting of news, interviews, observations, and happenings anywhere in the World and within seconds and not hours. Now, news is reported with a smartphone: no heavy and expensive cameras or even a laptop are necessary. The secondary objective is faster, and very inexpensive media content news production and distribution. We have found there is a disconnect between post length and time to product and revenue generated. With this, the problem is far less, though by no means solved. Zennie62Media is constantly working to improve the system network coding and seeks interested content and media technology partners.
Delegates will cast their nominating votes from cities, locations, and landmarks all across the nation MILWAUKEE—The Democratic National Convention Committee (DNCC) today the Americans who will cast their official nominating votes for president of the United States during tonight’s “Roll Call Across America.” The roll call vote will take place under tonight’s theme, “Leadership Matters,” and spotlight those who … Read more
PATH Housing, Costs & Benefits by Derrick Soo ONN – PATH Housing, Costs & Benefits by Derrick Soo I talk about my PATH Housing Program on costs, Legal housing as defined by HUD Sec.8 requirements compared to Mayor’s “Tuff Shed” Housing. I introduce “Funding” sources for Grants & assistance programs already available to cover true … Read more
Senator Bernie Sanders, Congressman Cedric Richmond featured in convention segment “We the People Recovering” MILWAUKEE—Tonight at the Democratic National Convention, Americans shared their vision of a future where our nation’s leaders once again look out for the middle class, and bring access to affordable health care, housing, and education within reach for hardworking families. The … Read more
Heritage, Sanctuary, formerly Incarcerated, & Special Needs Housing Solutions by Derrick Soo ONN – PATH is a Non-Competitive alternative Housing Program with Homeownership at its heart. My “PATH” Program has Housing for those coming out of Incarceration with Services to assist reintegration back into society with Career Training, Educational advancements, Housing & a wide array … Read more
My Oakland PATH Program. What it is, what PATH does by Derrick Soo ONN – PATH is Restorative Housing Program for all Oakland residents. I explain the benefits of my Program, how property is acquired and Land Leased to HOA’s of Oakland to create Homeownership, and NOT aren’t. Home ownership starts at $18k TOTAL “Basic” … Read more
City of Oakland Receives Over $20 Millions Affordable Housing Development Projects Oakland – After recently receiving nearly $90 million in awards for affordable housing developments, the City of Oakland is pleased to announce additional awards of $15 million in competitive funding from the California Department of Housing and Community Development (CA HCD) Multi-Family Housing Program … Read more
Death of Guy Mike Lee: A Oakland, Berkeley Bay Area Homeless Icon by Derrick Soo ONN – Death of Guy Mike Lee: A Oakland, Berkeley Bay Area Homeless Icon by Derrick Soo You may or may not know the name Guy Mike Lee. Since the 70’s, Mike has fought for the Street Rights of our … Read more
New Changes To Oakland’s Homeless Programs by Derrick Soo From YouTube Channel: July 28, 2020 at 02:01PM ONN – New Changes To Oakland’s Homeless Programs By Derrick Soo; On BACS And Operation Dignity Before losing my housing, I worked to CHANGE how Homeless Programs are administered in Oakland. Mayor Schaaf allows the continued HARM of … Read more
Oakland – Tuesday night July 21, 2020, The Oakland City Council had the historic opportunity to address the decades-long budget inequity that has left police with the lion’s share of our tax dollars and many residents without healthcare, housing, and critical social services during the pandemic. Councilmembers Reid, McElhaney, Taylor, Gallo, and Mayor Schaaf chose … Read more
Oakland – During the July 21st Council meeting, The Office Of Oakland City Council President Rebecca Kaplan successfully passed our Resolution redirecting the Special Event function from OPD, allowing for a more effective process, while saving money on policing costs, and keeping more money in our community. OPD Special Events Functions The Kaplan resolution to … Read more
The Oakland City Council is discussing Agenda Item 16: “Fiscal Year 2020-2021 Budget Amendments”, which includes the “Defunding The Police” report filed by Oakland City Council President Rebecca Kaplan and Councilmember Nikki Fortunado Bas, the text of which has been digitized and is presented below. But also included below as links to the Scribd versions, … Read more
Community Survey Finds Overwhelming Support Across Oakland for Defunding OPD and Investing in Housing, Mental Health Services Survey conducted by #DefundthePolice Coalition finds strong support for Councilmember Nikky Bas’s (District Two) proposal to reallocate another $11.4M from OPD’s budget this year and form a Task Force of impacted community members to plan next year’s $150 … Read more
Port Update July 2020 Commercial Real Estate Director Pamela Kershaw ONN – Port of Oakland Update July 2020 Commercial Real Estate Director Pamela Kershaw Port of Oakland real estate view: tough now, but ‘sky’s the limit’ Tenants rethink work as COVID-19 hits hard, find peace on the water COVID-19 has caused upheaval for Port of … Read more
Oakland, By Phil Tagami – Perhaps the time has come to realize that the experiment of professional career politicians failed Oakland – this cohort has “pooched” it pretty bad. Deficit Municipal budgets after a decade of record revenues year after year and the policies have not made us safer, healthier, or prosperous, solved a housing … Read more
The COVID-19 Effect on San Francisco’s Housing and Rental Market ONN – sf.citi Executive Director, Jennifer Stojkovic, joins Xiomara Cisneros, Policy Director for Bay Area Council, for a conversation about the impact of COVID-19 on San Francisco’s housing and rental market. Note from Zennie62Media and Oakland News Now: this video-blog post demonstrates the full and … Read more
Ben Bartlett, Berkeley Councilmember, wrote this on Medium on Dec 4, 2019. He called it a “Framework for an Intrastate Regulatory Safe Harbor / Sandbox”. Councilmember Ben Bartlett: Technology is at its best when used to address fundamental human needs. While the internet represents a technological breakthrough of foundational significance, much of its potential to … Read more
Addressing Institutional Racism that Impacts the City of Albany ONN – Please join us for a community dialogue to address institutional racism that impacts the City of Albany, moderated by Nicole Anderson (CEO and Founder) & Dr. Shelley Holt of Nicole Anderson and Associates Consulting, LLC. The event starts at 7:30PM, but the webinar will … Read more
What’s Sports Housing and Recreational Tourism Statistics (SHARTS), Is Chargers Barstool News Real? ONN – What’s Sports Housing and Recreational Tourism Statistics (SHARTS), Is Chargers Barstool News Real? Note from Zennie62Media and Oakland News Now: this video-blog post demonstrates the full and live operation of the latest updated version of an experimental Zennie62Media , Inc. … Read more
Social & Economic Justice Commission – July 7, 2020 ONN – Social and Economic Justice Commission meets the first Tuesday of the month at 7:30 PM in the City Council Chambers at City Hall, 1000 San Pablo Avenue, Albany, CA 94706. Due to the ongoing Pandemic, this will be a virtual meeting – see information … Read more
Housing Unstable In Oakland – By Derrick Soo ONN – Housing Unstable In Oakland – By Derrick Soo After a year of being Housed by a friend for no-cost, I’ve been asked to leave. I talk about why I still don’t have permanent housing, and returning to living on Oakland’s Streets. Note from Zennie62Media and … Read more
Lynette Gibson McElhaney, the incumbent, two-term, Oakland City Council District Three Councilmember has managed to draw six challengers as of this writing: Jesse Alexander, Carroll Fife, Brandi Haskins, Noel Pico, Meron Semedar, and Faye Taylor. Of course, the last time Councilmember McElhaney was in this position, it was 2016. In 2016, a field that once … Read more
1974-12-14 Dallas Cowboys vs Oakland Raiders ONN – 1974-12-14 Dallas Cowboys vs Oakland Raiders I’m almost out of stuff from before 1977 really only a few games left in 77 also. This game was a really good one even though my Cowboys lost. – Elaine Bloom is Senior Housing Activist in Berkeley, California. Note from … Read more
After his Oakland home and neighborhood were harassed by a 90-car march of people representing a non-profit group effort organized by someone named Anya Svanoe, Phil Tagami posted this question on Facebook: So the new campaign by ACCE and certain special interests funding ACCE (a multi million dollar state wide advocacy organization) is to attack … Read more
