City Government

Open Letter: Support the Right of African Americans to Work on City-funded Construction Projects

Published

7 years ago

June 22, 2018

By Community Leaders and Groups

To Council Members, Mayor, City Staff, and Members of the Public:Three principles should prevail in upcoming discussions of public land: 1) Democracy and transparency; 2) Racial justice and 3) Housing the current residents of Oakland.What Should Not Happen:

The City should not sell any more public land before discussion and adoption of a policy.
The city’s land should not be used for housing affluent non-residents. It should house current residents of Oakland who are mostly low- or middle-income, or it should be used to serve the needs of those communities.
The City should not adopt a Project Labor Agreement (PLA) in a resolution on Public Lands Policy.

Many Oakland residents have never heard of a PLA. Even the title of the item on the City Council committee agenda which proposes a PLA does not mention that it is being discussed “Subject: Receive A Report on the Public Lands Policy Process and Analysis from Councilmembers Guillén And Kaplan”

Residents of the city have a right to a detailed, open, well-publicized discussion of proposals about how the expanding amounts of work that their taxes are paying for are being awarded.

African-Americans obtain only nine percent of the work on city-funded construction projects (City of Oakland statistics). African-Americans are 25 percent of the city’s population and the largest percentage of the unemployed and unhoused both nationally and locally. A project labor agreement could contribute to maintaining that status quo.

What the City Council Should do Instead:

Immediately enact the ordinance establishing a 180-day moratorium on the sale of public land or until the Council adopts a comprehensive “Public Lands” Policy. A properly vetted public lands policy will take time. Harmful sales of public land cannot be allowed in the meantime.
Separate the discussion of jobs policies and lands policy and organize a transparent, understandable, democratic discussion of each. The Department of Race and Equity should be asked for an equity assessment of proposals

Among items that could be part of a thorough jobs policy discussion:

Discuss the differences between a PLA and a public city-adopted jobs policy;
Remove discriminatory barriers that result in only 9 percent African-American employment in construction;
Prioritize employment of disadvantaged workers;
Protect the union rights of employees;
Fund job-training and apprenticeship programs that are geographically accessible to Oakland residents;
Living wage requirements;
Employ at least 50 percent local Oakland residents;
Ban the box to assist the employment of formerly incarcerated;
Require a twice-yearly report to Council including trade-by-trade demographic statistics;
Increase funding for contract compliance to reflect the expanded work being required by new construction;
Incentivize contracting with women and “minority” owned business and other provisions.

Respectfully submitted,

OaklandWORKS Alliance (Founding organizations include the West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project (WOEIP), Black Women Organized for Political Action (BWOPA); Oakland Parents Together (OPT); John George Democratic Club; Oakland Branch NAACP; Oakland Native Give Back).
Brian Beveridge, Co-Director, West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project
Gay Plair Cobb, Member, BWOPA State Board; Executive Board member, NAACP
Henry Hitz, Oakland Parents Together
Robyn Hodges, OaklandWORKS
Pastor Anthony Jenkins, Taylor Memorial United Methodist Church
Kimberly Mayfield Lynch, Dean of the School of Education, Holy Names University
Kitty Kelly Epstein, Professor; Community Assembly of the Post Salon, Host of Education Today on KPFA
James Vann, Co-Founder, Oakland Tenants Union and member of the Community Assembly of the Post Salon
(Partial list. Titles for identification only)

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Related Topics:community economy jobs Oakland open letter Politics

Up Next

Opinion: Diana Becton Becomes First Woman and Person of Color to be Elected

Don't Miss

Cat Brooks Looks to Community Power to Fuel Her Campaign for Mayor

Oakland Post

Click to comment

Activism

Oakland Post: Week of May 21 – 27, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of May 21 – 27, 2025

Published

4 days ago

May 25, 2025

Oakland Post

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Activism

IN MEMORIAM: Nate Holden, State Senator and Longtime Los Angeles Councilmember, Dies at 95

Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn described Holden as “a lion” in the State Senate and a force to be reckoned with on the Los Angeles City Council.” Hahn added that she learned a lot working with Holden when she was a new councilmember.

Published

1 week ago

May 19, 2025

Oakland Post

Former Los Angeles Councilmember and California State Sen. Nate Holden. File photo.

By Bo Tefu, California Black Media

Former Los Angeles City Councilmember Nathaniel “Nate” Holden, a prominent figure in the city’s politics, passed away at the age of 95, his family confirmed on May 7.

Holden, who represented South Los Angeles for 16 years on the City Council and served one term in the California State Senate, was widely regarded as a forceful advocate for his community.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn described Holden as “a lion” in the State Senate and a force to be reckoned with on the Los Angeles City Council.”

Hahn added that she learned a lot working with Holden when she was a new councilmember.

Holden’s journey to political prominence began in the segregated South, where he was born in Macon, Georgia, in 1929. He often recalled the childhood moment when he first heard the governor of Georgia vowing to continue suppressing Black people.

“Doing the best you can for the people. Law and order. Make sure that people’s communities are safe. I did it all,” said Holden, reflecting on his legacy.

Holden is survived by his sons, including former California Assemblymember Chris Holden, who represented a district in Southern California that includes Pasadena and Altadena in Los Angeles County and cities in San Bernardino County.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Activism

Oakland Hosts Town Hall Addressing Lead Hazards in City Housing

According to the city, there are 22,000 households in need of services for lead issues, most in predominantly low-income or Black and Latino neighborhoods, but only 550 to 600 homes are addressed every year. The city is hoping to use part of the multimillion-dollar settlement to increase the number of households served each year.

Published

1 week ago

May 18, 2025

Oakland Post

iStock.

By Magaly Muñoz

The City of Oakland’s Housing and Community Development Department hosted a town hall in the Fruitvale to discuss the efforts being undertaken to remove lead primarily found in housing in East and West Oakland.

In 2021, the city was awarded $14 million out of a $24 million legal settlement from a lawsuit against paint distributors for selling lead-based paint that has affected hundreds of families in Oakland and Alameda County. The funding is intended to be used for lead poisoning reduction and prevention services in paint only, not water or other sources as has been found recently in schools across the city.

The settlement can be used for developing or enhancing programs that abate lead-based paint, providing services to individuals, particularly exposed children, educating the public about hazards caused by lead paint, and covering attorney’s fees incurred in pursuing litigation.

Most of the homes affected were built prior to 1978, and 12,000 of these homes are considered to be at high risk for lead poisoning.

City councilmember Noel Gallo, who represents a few of the lead-affected Census tracts, said the majority of the poisoned kids and families are coming directly from neighborhoods like the Fruitvale.

“When you look at the [kids being admitted] at the children’s hospital, they’re coming from this community,” Gallo said at the town hall.

In order to eventually rid the highest impacted homes of lead poisoning, the city intends to create programs and activities such as lead-based paint inspections and assessments, full abatement designed to permanently eliminate lead-based paint, or partial abatement for repairs, painting, and specialized cleaning meant for temporary reduction of hazards.

In feedback for what the city could implement in their programming, residents in attendance of the event said they want more accessibility to resources, like blood testing, and information from officials about lead poisoning symptoms, hotlines for assistance, and updates on the reduction of lead in their communities.

Attendees also asked how they’d know where they are on the prioritization list and what would be done to address lead in the water found at several school sites in Oakland last year.

City staff said there will be a follow-up event to gather more community input for programming in August, with finalizations happening in the fall and a pilot launch in early 2026.