Alameda County

Oakland Narrowly Avoids Major Budget Cuts With Newly Signed Deal For Coliseum Sale

Oakland has taken a big step towards securing funds that will save the city from major budget cuts by signing a term of agreement for the sale of the Coliseum stadium. Mayor Sheng Thao and City Administrator Jestin Johnson signed the term agreement with the African American Sports and Entertainment Group (AASEG) on Tuesday morning. The agreement lays out the plan for the sale including payment scheduling and deed restrictions.

Published

4 months ago

August 17, 2024

Magaly Muñoz

Left to right: Ray Lankford, CEO of Oakland Private Industry Council; Ray Bobbitt, AASEG Founder; Samantha Wise, AASEG board member; Mayor Sheng Thao; Jonathan Jones, chair of AASEG Finance Committee; Richard Johnson, founder of Formerly Incarcerated Giving Back organization; and Oakland City Council President Nikki Bas. Photo by Paul Cobb.

By Magaly Muñoz

Oakland has taken a big step towards securing funds that will save the city from major budget cuts by signing a term of agreement for the sale of the Coliseum stadium.

Mayor Sheng Thao and City Administrator Jestin Johnson signed the term agreement with the African American Sports and Entertainment Group (AASEG) on Tuesday morning. The agreement lays out the plan for the sale including payment scheduling and deed restrictions.

“What we’ve done today is we’ve changed for the better, because what we’re doing is we’re investing not just in today, but we are investing in an Oakland for tomorrow,” Thao said at a Tuesday morning press conference.

The sale of Oakland’s half-ownership of the stadium to AASEG was announced in late May and was painted as a way to help save the city from the large deficit they battled with for weeks in June.

The city council passed a budget dependent on the sale, avoiding cuts across all departments, particularly to departments responsible for public safety like the police and fire departments.

Had the sale fallen through, cuts would’ve needed to be immediately made in September to bridge the shortfall, but this new agreement brings a sense of security and victory for officials who would’ve needed to make the hard decisions.

With the funds, the city can maintain 678 sworn officers on the streets, fund crime reduction teams, graduate three police academies and keep all fire stations operational.

About $60 million from AASEG will be paid out to the city over the 2024-25 fiscal year. A deposit of $5 million is due within five days of signing the purchase agreement. Following the deposit, the group will pay $10 million by Sept. 1, $15 million by Nov. 1, and $33 million by Jan. 15, 2025.

The remaining $42 million is due no later than June 30, 2026.

“We will always stick forward, and we will move this process forward because our families, our community, depends on it and so we’re here. We’re committed to it,” Ray Bobbitt, founder of AASEG, said on Tuesday.

Bobbitt, an Oakland native, assured his commitment to the city and bringing new opportunities to the area. He added that the investment into public safety, the biggest concern for residents, is equally as important to address during this process.

The other half of the ownership for the Coliseum is held by the Oakland A’s baseball team, who are playing their last season at the ballpark before temporarily moving to Sacramento while the team builds a stadium in Las Vegas. They bought this half from Alameda County.

Bobbit said AASEG is “very much in constant communication” with the A’s to purchase their half of the stadium, but no further details were offered on when a deal will be officially on the table.

The A’s and the city went through a lengthy battle to get the team to stay when their lease for the stadium was finishing up, but Oakland could not convince the baseball team to stay. The fallout has led to bitterness and upset amongst the community who has long supported the team and is on their third professional sports team loss.

Council president Nikki Fortunato-Bas said at the Tuesday city meeting that Oakland had previously tried to negotiate with Alameda County to not sell, but they ultimately went through with their own deal.

“This is an investment in Oakland and the region today. It’s also an investment in the future, and like you heard from Mr. Bobbitt, it is also an investment in public safety,” Fortunato-Bas said.

“Today is the start of a boom loop here in Oakland!”

Magaly Muñoz

A graduate of Sacramento State University, Magaly Muñoz’s journalism experience includes working for the State Hornet, the university’s student-run newspaper and conducting research and producing projects for “All Things Considered” at National Public Radio. She also was a community reporter for El Timpano, serving Latino and Mayan communities, and contributed to the Sacramento Observer, the area’s African American newspaper.

Muñoz is one of 40 early career journalists who are part of the California Local News Fellowship program, a state-funded initiative designed to strengthen local news reporting in California, with a focus on underserved communities.

The fellowship program places journalism fellows throughout the state in two-year, full-time reporting positions.

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Magaly Muñoz

A graduate of Sacramento State University, Magaly Muñoz’s journalism experience includes working for the State Hornet, the university’s student-run newspaper and conducting research and producing projects for “All Things Considered” at National Public Radio. She also was a community reporter for El Timpano, serving Latino and Mayan communities, and contributed to the Sacramento Observer, the area’s African American newspaper. Muñoz is one of 40 early career journalists who are part of the California Local News Fellowship program, a state-funded initiative designed to strengthen local news reporting in California, with a focus on underserved communities. The fellowship program places journalism fellows throughout the state in two-year, full-time reporting positions.

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Activism

Council of Islamic Relations Applauds Alameda County Decision to Divest $32M from Caterpillar

The divestment from Caterpillar, a company criticized for its human rights abuses globally—including the destruction of Palestinian homes, infrastructure, and agriculture, as well as in the U.S. prison-industrial complex, border militarization, and immigration detention centers—is a significant step in ensuring that Alameda County’s financial resources do not perpetuate harm.

Published

1 week ago

December 14, 2024

Oakland Post

CAIR-SFBA Policy Coordinator Musa Tariq. Courtesy photo.

Special to The Post

The San Francisco Bay Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-SFBA), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, this week welcomed the Alameda County Board of Supervisors’ decision to divest $32 million in public funds from Caterpillar and unanimously commit to adopting an ethical investment policy.

The Board’s decision follows months of advocacy by Bay Area Divest!, a coalition of community organizations calling for accountability in public investments.

In November, CAIR welcomed the reported freeze on the delivery of bulldozers to Israel as an “implicit admission” by the Biden Administration that the far-right Netanyahu government is using that equipment in the ethnic cleansing of Gaza.

CAIR-SFBA Policy Coordinator Musa Tariq said:

“This is a historic moment for Alameda County, demonstrating the power of community advocacy and the County’s leadership in ethical governance. The decision to divest from Caterpillar sends a clear message that public funds should not support corporations complicit in human rights violations.”

In addition to divesting from Caterpillar, the Board voted to move forward with developing a comprehensive Ethical Investment Policy, recommended by District 5 Supervisor Keith Carson.

This policy will include criteria to exclude “investments in industries, corporations, or governments that perpetuate harm to communities and the planet,” such as fossil fuel extraction, weapons production, and entities involved in war crimes, apartheid, and other severe human rights violations.

Alameda County has a proud legacy of socially responsible investment. In 1985, the County divested from South Africa to protest apartheid, and in 1996, it barred investments in companies doing business with Burma due to human rights abuses.

“This forward-thinking policy positions Alameda County as a leader in socially responsible investing,” added Tariq. “By committing to craft the policy within 90 days and implement it within six months, the County has set an ambitious and commendable timeline.”

CAIR-SFBA is an office of CAIR, America’s largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, protect civil rights, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.

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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

2 weeks 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).