Alameda County

Oakland Environmental Justice Advocates Want A Seat at the Table to Fight For Healthy Neighborhoods

Families living in East and West Oakland neighborhoods have long been the victims of pollution due to major interstate freeways, the San Francisco Bay Oakland International airport, and the seaport. Despite their pleas for a better living environment, their concerns have long gone ignored. At an Oakland City Council meeting last month, environmental justice advocates and affected residents gathered to ask the council to reconsider mayoral appointments for the Port of Oakland Board Commissioners in order to allow for climate justice experts to represent the community.

Published

3 months ago

September 22, 2024

Oakland Post

The council voted against taking more time to hear from community-elected candidates and instead accepted the two appointments from Mayor Sheng Thao. This decision left advocates disappointed by the lack of consideration for local representation in their fight to mitigate the city’s growing environmental problems.

Part 1

By Magaly Muñoz

At an Oakland City Council meeting last month, environmental justice advocates and affected residents gathered to ask the council to reconsider mayoral appointments for the Port of Oakland Board Commissioners in order to allow for climate justice experts to represent the community.

Pollution from diesel trucks on the freeway, emissions from passing airplanes, and water quality concerns have caused decades-long problems for those living in these highly impacted areas with solutions remaining scarce, according to activists.

Margaret Gordon, co-founder of the West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project, told the Post that having experts with a justice-minded background allows for proper communication among the board members, helping them understand the biggest challenges the community is having with the Port’s projects.

“[The Port Commission] only has two people doing environmental work… But if environmental justice activists are not on the Board then there is no plan of total engagement [between agencies and the community] at the Port, it’s not an ongoing thing,” Gordon said.

Gordon was seemingly the last Port appointee to have experience and ongoing concern for the human impacts of the worsening climate problems in Oakland since her departure from the commission in 2012.

Alongside her colleagues at the West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project, the group has been fighting for 20 years to secure healthy neighborhoods for people living and working in the city.

The Interstates

Oakland’s history with harmful environmental impacts near low-income zones with majority people of color goes back almost 100 years to redlining practices.

A map of Oakland reveals two major interstates- the 580 and 880- running through East and West Oakland neighborhoods. These areas are home to thousands of residents who suffer from lung diseases such as asthma, housing insecurity, and low wages, a huge difference from the affluent homes of those in the north towards the Oakland Hills.

“You look at that [redlining] map, and that pretty much tells you where all the asthma is. It’s all the low-income areas near factories, near the freeways, near pollution. That’s the only place people of color were allowed to live,” Jack Fleck, president of 350 Bay Area, told the Post. “It’s like environmental injustice was inbred into the zoning of Oakland, the whole history of it.”

The emissions from large semi-trucks, often coming from the Port of Oakland, and the constant Bay Area traffic, approximately 80,000 vehicles a day, have caused small particles to pollute the air, posing a danger to those working and living in the area.

Asthma rates are two times higher in West Oakland than anywhere in Alameda County, according to county health data. Because of this, West Oaklanders also have higher rates of emergency room visits and hospitalizations.

Environmental data from CalEnviroScreen shows that people living in the homes along the interstates are 60% to 95% more likely to suffer from cardiovascular diseases, which can be contracted from poor air quality.

One in two children in West and East Oakland are likely to be brought in for asthma-related reasons. Comparatively, 1 in 5 kids in the Oakland Hills are likely to have asthma problems.

The characteristics of individuals in West and East Oakland versus the Hills are drastically different. For example, families in the West and East often have an annual median household income ranging from $75,000 to $85,000, according to Census data. The people living there are also largely Black and Brown.

In the Hills, the median household income is upwards of about $160,000 and the population is 70% white.

The Port of Oakland Expansions

In the last few years, the Port of Oakland has settled on two major projects that, in their words, would “bring economic prosperity” to the city and larger region. The projects being an expansion of the turning basins at the seaport and constructing more terminals at the Oakland airport.

EarthJustice, a nonprofit environmental justice law organization, works closely with groups like West Oakland Indicators to fight against local actions that harm residents.

EarthJustice and activists insist that expansions like the turning basins at the Port will further exacerbate the health and climate problems in West Oakland.

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Activism

Outgoing D.A. Pamela Price Releases Report on County Gun Violence Epidemic

The 84-page report is divided into two parts: the Public Health Impact of Violence and the Contribution of Structural Inequalities; and the Public Safety Impact of Gun Violence and the Regulation of Firearms. Each section documents trends in rising gun violence in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, with special attention to the rise in gun-related deaths of women and children in Alameda County. Each section advises innovative approaches for the County to address gun violence and build safe communities.

Published

1 week ago

December 8, 2024

Oakland Post

Exclusive interview with County D.A. Price days before recall election. Photo by Ken Epstein.

Pamela Price was recalled in the election on Nov. 5. File photo.

By Post Staff

Criminal Justice Reformer District Attorney Pamela Price, who is leaving office this week after losing a recall election, released a comprehensive report on the gun violence epidemic and public health emergency in Alameda County: “Tackling Gun Violence Epidemic in Alameda County: A Public Health Emergency (2019-2023).”

This report represents an unprecedented collaboration between public safety and public health partners and provides data and recommendations to guide the County’s continued work to reduce violence while advancing justice reform.

Each section documents trends in rising gun violence in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, with special attention to the rise in gun-related deaths of women and children in Alameda County. Each section advises innovative approaches for the County to address gun violence and build safe communities.

“Between 2019 to 2023, an average of three residents were killed by firearms each week in Alameda County, and behind every statistic is a shattered family and community,” said Price.

“Under my administration, the DA’s office has taken bold steps to combat gun violence while promoting equity and healing for survivors,” she said.

The report highlights strategies for keeping guns out of the hands of dangerous people. Last month, the DA’s office secured a $5.5 million grant from the California Judicial Council to help improve compliance and case management for gun cases and gun relinquishment orders —the removal of guns from people prohibited from possessing a firearm – with law enforcement and court partners.

This effort builds on Price’s work in 2023 and 2024 in attacking the gun violence epidemic.

“We launched an innovative Gun Violence Restraining Order Outreach Project to educate communities about the availability of tools to remove guns and ammunition from people who are a danger to themselves and others and the intersectionality of domestic violence and gun violence and convened gun violence roundtable conversations with our law enforcement partners and collaborated with the Alameda County Public Health Department to produce this comprehensive report,” she said.

“We supported Oakland’s CEASEFIRE program through its transition and implemented a pilot Mentor Gun Diversion Program with our collaborative court partners, offering non-violent youth in possession of a gun pathways to interrupt the potential for escalating harm.” added Price.

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Activism

D.A. Pamela Price Receives Hugs from Teary-Eyed Supporters as She Leaves Office

Crowding the sidewalk around Price were many teary-eyed supporters and well-wishers, who embraced her and carried homemade signs, singing, and chanting in recognition of her brave work as a champion for justice with compassion.

Published

2 weeks ago

December 7, 2024

Oakland Post

While holding a bouquet of flowers, District Attorney Pamela Price waves goodbye to supporters as she leaves her East Oakland office. Courtesy photo

By Ken Epstein

District Attorney Pamela Price left her office near the Oakland Coliseum Thursday afternoon for the last time after losing the recall election in November.

The crowd shouted and chanted, “We love you D.A. Price,” “You’re our hero,” and “We will not give up.”

They also sang: “We love you; we love you, Pamela Price. Just like a tree that’s planted by the water, we shall not be moved.”

Signs read: “Pamela Price: The D.A. who fought for us all:” and “Thank you for standing for justice. We love you.”

One man in the crowd said, “I’ve opposed pretty much every D.A. I’ve encountered. I guess that’s why they got her out. They can’t stand having a district attorney that believes in justice for everyone.”

After leaving work, she went to the Claremont Hotel in Oakland, where she was scheduled to receive an award from Black Women Organized for Political Action (BWOPA).

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Alameda County

Councilmember Carroll Fife, on Track to Win Reelection, Looks to Oakland’s Progress

District 3 Councilmember Carroll Fife, though outspent by hundreds of thousands of dollars and facing a bitter campaign of slander, misrepresentations, and physical threats, seems to have emerged with a fairly comfortable lead in her reelection bid, well ahead of her nearest competitor (44% to 30%). In an interview with the Oakland Post Thursday, Councilmember Fife said she is hopeful that Congresswoman Barbara Lee would be willing to run for Oakland mayor if Mayor Sheng Thao is recalled.

Published

1 month ago

November 6, 2024

Oakland Post

Carroll Fife. Courtesy photo.

By Ken Epstein

In an interview with the Oakland Post Thursday, Councilmember Fife said she is hopeful that Congresswoman Barbara Lee would be willing to run for Oakland mayor if Mayor Sheng Thao is recalled.

She also explained why she thinks her campaign has done so well against extreme challenges and talked about her priorities for the coming year, especially the need to stabilize leadership in city government.

“We’re on the right path,” said Fife. “We just need to bring in the right leadership, and I’m praying that Barbara Lee will consider running for mayor. I think she has the gravitas to pull Oakland together and unite everyone in a way that none of the top potential contenders will.”

Fife explained why she feels she has been able to overcome very powerful opponents to win reelection.

“There are several thousand votes outstanding (left to be counted), but it looks pretty good,” Fife said, emphasizing the impact of the door-to-door work her supporters have done over the past four years and her close ties with her constituents.

“I attribute that to ongoing base-building and community organizing, outside of the election years,” she said. “I have an amazing field team that was able to penetrate through the negative messaging and the narratives that these millionaires and billionaires were trying to craft.”

In addition, she said she spoke with most of her opponents, and they agreed to support each other in ranked choice voting. “I was able to coordinate with them, except for the two candidates that were perpetuating false narratives, and were part of former Mayor Libby Schaaf’s talking points,” and the doom-loop narrative trashing Oakland promoted by corporate public relations operative Sam Singer.

One of the local groups working to unseat Fife, Empower Oakland, received over $500,000 raised by crypto industry leader Jesse Pollak. The National Association of Realtors and other real estate groups also poured over $1 million into the campaign against the councilmember.

Though the billionaire and multimillionaire backers may be successful in recalling Oakland’s mayor and the Alameda County district attorney, they appear to be failing in their attempt to remake the leadership of City Hall.

“With all the money they’ve spent, they were successful with the two recalls and nothing else,” she said, explaining that corporation-backed candidates are not winning.

She noted that some local leaders are organizing to repeal ranked-choice voting in Oakland and that eliminating or preventing ranked-choice voting “is one of the (right-wing) Heritage Foundation’s flagship campaigns in cities and states across the nation.”

People “should be aware of how these Republican policies are creeping into the Bay,” she continued. Ranked-choice voting is a threat to those with money because it allows for “unlikely candidates who are not necessarily connected to wealth and or political connections,” to succeed, she said.

Oakland is poised for economic growth and is becoming a much safer city, Fife says.

At the same time, considerable economic challenges remain.

“We are dealing with some of the most challenging financial times in the history of Oakland, and I want to make sure that our infrastructure is solid. There are a lot of things to do and understanding that we’re going to need some help, and we’re not going to even have consistent leadership in the mayor’s office,” she said.

“If you want to empower Oakland, you don’t destabilize it,” Fife said. “You don’t destabilize it by creating mass hysteria in one of the largest businesses in the city, which is our city government.”

Looking at the impact of the Nov. 5 elections, she said, “I know people are feeling really dejected about some local and national races. But I think these are the opportunities for people who have big ideas and who are concerned about the beloved community to step up.

“We’ve seen how people have voiced their positions and their anxieties around our country, our city. But now is the time to organize,” Fife said.