City Government

Oakland Chinatown Residents Demand Community Benefits from Market Rate Housing Development

Published

9 years ago

August 5, 2016

Oakland Chinatown affordable housing advocates achieved a short reprieve Wednesday when the Planning Commission voted for a two-week delay on the approval of a 416-unit development project known as W12.

The Planning Commission will revisit the two-building, seven-story project, which is proposed to be built on 12th Street between Webster and Harrison, at a special meeting on Aug. 17.

“Oakland needs more density and more housing, but that housing and development has to be equitable and it has to be inclusive of long time residents, particularly low-income communities of color that are getting pushed out every day,” said Lailan Huen, an organizer with the Chinatown Coalition.

Speakers from both the community and the coalition, which represents over 1,500 Chinatown residents, businesses and organizations, said they feared displacement if the proposed development were to go ahead as-is.

They said they already started negotiating with the developers but have yet to come to an agreement, urging the commission to hold off on approval until a formal Community Benefits Agreement is signed.

“Affordable housing is the number one priority,” said Huen. “We made a little bit of progress, but we need more time.”

A project of San Francisco-based Martin Development Group, the W12 project has no plans to include affordable housing on site. Instead, the developers have opted to pay the city’s new affordable housing impact fee, which would generate about $2.3 million.

The coalition sent a letter earlier this week listing demands and concerns to Oakland City Planner Christina Ferracane, who is overseeing the project.

“While San Francisco Chinatown has zoning protections, Oakland Chinatown does not currently have protections to keep current properties from flipping to corporate developments that could diminish and eventually erase our community,” the letter stated.

Their list of demands include the need for affordable housing, local hire, affordable retail space, and protection of local schools like Amethod Downtown Charter Academy School, which currently occupies about half of the block where the development will be built.

“We don’t know what kind of agreements the owner and buyer has worked out. It’s basically just ‘sign here, shut up and get out of the way,’” said Amethod Public Schools CEO Jorge Lopez.

Lopez said the seller has offered to let the school stay until June 2017 if it waives all claims. However, due to recent toxic environmental concerns, Lopez said he has no idea how much financial liability that may entail.

“It’s like signing a blank check,” he said.

Jason Osler, a principal of Martin Development Group, refused to comment when contacted by the Post.

However, on Wednesday Osler told the Planning Commission the developers have worked extensively with local groups and that paying the impact fee would have huge community benefits.

But Huen said several of the organizations that Osler mentioned, such as the Oakland Asian Cultural Center, do not actually support the development without a Community Benefits Agreement.

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Oakland Post: Week of December 31, 2025 – January 6, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of – December 31, 2025 – January 6, 2026

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January 2, 2026

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Alameda County

Oakland Council Expands Citywide Security Cameras Despite Major Opposition

In a 7-1 vote in favor of the contract, with only District 3 Councilmember Carroll Fife voting no, the Council agreed to maintain its existing network of 291 cameras and add 40 new “pan-tilt-zoom cameras.”

Published

4 weeks ago

December 21, 2025

Oakland Post

At the International Association of Chiefs of Police Conference, Flock Safety introduces new public safety technology – Amplified Intelligence, a suite of AI-powered tools designed to improve law enforcement investigations. Courtesy photo.

By Post Staff

The Oakland City Council this week approved a $2.25 million contract with Flock Safety for a mass surveillance network of hundreds of security cameras to track vehicles in the city.

In recent weeks hundreds of local residents have spoken against the camera system, raising concerns that data will be shared with immigration authorities and other federal agencies at a time when mass surveillance is growing across the country with little regard for individual rights.

The Flock network, supported by the Oakland Police Department, has the backing of residents and councilmembers who see it as an important tool to protect public safety.

“This system makes the Department more efficient as it allows for information related to disruptive/violent criminal activities to be captured … and allows for precise and focused enforcement,” OPD wrote in its proposal to City Council.

According to OPD, police made 232 arrests using data from Flock cameras between July 2024 and November of this year.

Based on the data, police say they recovered 68 guns, and utilizing the countywide system, they have found 1,100 stolen vehicles.

However, Flock’s cameras cast a wide net. The company’s cameras in Oakland last month captured license plate numbers and other information from about 1.4 million vehicles.

Speaking at Tuesday’s Council meeting, Fife was critical of her colleagues for signing a contract with a company that has been in the national spotlight for sharing data with federal agencies.

Flock’s cameras – which are automated license plate readers – have been used in tracking people who have had abortions, monitoring protesters, and aiding in deportation roundups.

“I don’t know how we get up and have several press conferences talking about how we are supportive of a sanctuary city status but then use a vendor that has been shown to have a direct relationship with (the U.S.) Border Control,” she said. “It doesn’t make sense to me.”

Several councilmembers who voted in favor of the contract said they supported the deal as long as some safeguards were written into the Council’s resolution.

“We’re not aiming for perfection,” said District 1 Councilmember Zac Unger. “This is not Orwellian facial recognition technology — that’s prohibited in Oakland. The road forward here is to add as many amendments as we can.”

Amendments passed by the Council prohibit OPD from sharing camera data with any other agencies for the purpose of “criminalizing reproductive or gender affirming healthcare” or for federal immigration enforcement. California state law also prohibits the sharing of license plate reader data with the federal government, and because Oakland’s sanctuary city status, OPD is not allowed to cooperate with immigration authorities.

A former member of Oakland’s Privacy Advisory Commission has sued OPD, alleging that it has violated its own rules around data sharing.

So far, OPD has shared Flock data with 50 other law enforcement agencies.