City Government

City Approves Move for Army Base Truck Yard

Published

12 years ago

July 5, 2013

Oakland Post

Bill Aboudi

By Ken A. Epstein

The Oakland City Council this week approved a 30-month contract that will allow a truck yard at the Oakland Army Base to move to a temporary site nearby so pollution producing big rigs can be kept off the streets of West Oakland.The truck parking business, Oakland Maritime Support Services (OMSS) owned by Bill Aboudi, is one of the companies that must move so the city’s Oakland Army Base development can begin in September.
Before OMSS can begin moving, however, the Port of Oakland Commission must give approval at its meeting next week
The City Council approved the move despite pressure from the Teamsters Union, which has been pushing for years to shut down the businesses operated by Aboudi, as part of a drive to unionize Port of Oakland truckers.
Union leaders attacked Aboudi for losing a nearly $1million lawsuit for not paying his workers for wages and rest breaks but offered the city no alternative to OMSS, which parks trucks and offers scales, a mini-mart, truck repairs and other services so drivers have less reason to take their big rigs out onto city streets.
Speaking at Tuesday’s council meeting, Teamsters said they had the backing of the Building Trades Council of Alameda County and the Alameda Labor Council.
“Do we have to turn the clocks back again, (where we are) asking about trucks being parked all over West Oakland – because of what the Teamsters are saying about Bill?” Asked Margaret Gordon, co-founder of the West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project, speaking to City Council members.
“I would appreciate the Teamsters coming up with an alternative plan, but I haven’t heard anything,” she said. “Let’s be real. We need an OMSS in Oakland.”
Though the Superior Court ruling was against another of Aboudi’s firms, AB Trucking, not OMSS, several councilmembers raised concerns about whether he had the ability to pay the fines.
Councilmember Lynette Gibson McElhaney said the city is not required to take immediate action regarding the court decision. Aboudi eventually will have to pay if he loses his federal court appeal, and if he cannot, the city will have to decide what do at that time.
““The court provided a remedy for the findings. And it will be for (Aboudi’s trucking company) to make good on what the court’s ruling was.”
“It is fair play,” said McElhaney. “When we mess up, we have an opportunity for restitution…. The court could have said, that it rose to a level that (the company) should no longer be in existence… That’s not what the court said.”

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Remembering George Floyd

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — Minnesota State Attorney General Keith Ellison acknowledges that the Floyd case five years ago involved a situation in which due process was denied, and five years later, the president is currently dismissing “due process. “The Minnesota Atty General also says, “Trump is trying to attack constitutional rule, attacking congressional authority and judicial decision-making.” George Floyd was an African American man killed by police who knocked on his neck and on his back, preventing him from breathing.

Published

6 days ago

June 2, 2025

Oakland Post

Mural showing the portrait of George Floyd in Mauerpark in Berlin. To the left of the portrait the lettering "I can't Breathe" was added, on the right side the three hashtags #GeorgeFloyd, #Icantbreathe and #Sayhisname. The mural was completed by Eme Street Art (facebook name) / Eme Free Thinker (signature) on 29 May 2020. (Wikimedia Commons)

By April Ryan
BlackPressUSA Newswire

“The president’s been very clear he has no intentions of pardoning Derek Chauvin, and it’s not a request that we’re looking at,” confirms a senior staffer at the Trump White House. That White House response results from public hope, including from a close Trump ally, Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. The timing of Greene’s hopes coincides with the Justice Department’s recent decision to end oversight of local police accused of abuse. It also falls on the fifth anniversary of the police-involved death of George Floyd on May 25th. The death sparked national and worldwide outrage and became a transitional moment politically and culturally, although the outcry for laws on police accountability failed.

The death forced then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden to focus on deadly police force and accountability. His efforts while president to pass the George Floyd Justice in policing act failed. The death of George Floyd also put a spotlight on the Black community, forcing then-candidate Biden to choose a Black woman running mate. Kamala Harris ultimately became vice president of the United States alongside Joe Biden. Minnesota State Attorney General Keith Ellison prosecuted the cases against the officers involved in the death of Floyd. He remembers,” Trump was in office when George Floyd was killed, and I would blame Trump for creating a negative environment for police-community relations. Remember, it was him who said when the looting starts, the shooting starts, it was him who got rid of all the consent decrees that were in place by the Obama administration.”

In 2025, Police-involved civilian deaths are up by “about 100 to about 11 hundred,” according to Ellison. Ellison acknowledges that the Floyd case five years ago involved a situation in which due process was denied, and five years later, the president is currently dismissing “due process. “The Minnesota Atty General also says, “Trump is trying to attack constitutional rule, attacking congressional authority and judicial decision-making.” George Floyd was an African-American man killed by police who knocked on his neck and on his back, preventing him from breathing. During those minutes on the ground, Floyd cried out for his late mother several times. Police subdued Floyd for an alleged counterfeit $20 bill.