Oakland

Opinion: East Oakland Major Housing Development Coming

Published

8 years ago

May 4, 2017

For 10 years, residents of East Oakland have been hearing promises about how the former Oak Knoll Naval Hospital site will be redeveloped by Irvine California based developer SunCal.

The Post will examine SunCal’s projected economic impact and benefits to the East Oakland community. East Oakland residents want to know if SunCal will commit to African American jobs, construction sub contracts and business opportunities in the commercial and housing phases of the development.

Twenty years ago, the Navy closed this hospital that had served many veterans who had fought for the equal rights of all to get jobs and build businesses. Now we want to know if SunCal’s plan will eviscerate the vicious cycle that has kept able-bodied Black men from being hired in this city.

Council President Larry Reid, who recently teamed up with councilmembers Desley Brooks and Rebecca Kaplan to spearhead an East Oakland resident-based cannabis initiative, will be asked where he stands on jobs and affordable housing opportunities that will flow to Oaklanders, like the former creek that ran through Oak Knoll.

Several other developers have also proposed commercial and residential mixed-use projects downtown and throughout the city with promises of major community benefits and jobs for Oakland residents.

Uber’s much ballyhooed community benefits plan needs a lift since it fell flat after making promises it didn’t keep. But Reid predicts this much needed commercial and housing project is going to be a major victory for his East Oakland constituents. SunCal held some community meetings with the neighboring residents to gather their ideas and suggestions for the plan that was submitted to the City of Oakland.

The Oak Knoll community plan covers 187 acres with 935 homes. According to David Soyka, SunCal’s senior vice president of public affairs, “The project will create thousands of construction jobs, with a strong emphasis on local hire and job training for Oakland residents.”

Soyka said SunCal’s monumental plan calls for restoring the creek, creating walkways, bike and running paths and open public spaces that include a four-mile trail that hooks up to the regional trail system.

They even plan to build Monument Park, which will be dedicated to the Oak Knoll veterans. Before the project is scheduled to be formally presented to the City Council for a vote this summer we will continue to solicit reviews from community-based groups, the faith-based community and minority veterans.

As Oakland is now experiencing fires from damaged and abandoned buildings, Oak Knoll, too, was once the site of vandalized buildings and evidence of homeless encampments. Soyka says they have since “added full time security to prevent further damage to the property,” and he said SunCal will “ensure public safety and protect the surrounding communities.”

If the City Council approves SunCal’s plan, they expect to begin construction in 2018 with homes available in 2019. Larry Reid is also a veteran who has championed Hire Oakland policies, low-income affordable housing and minority business opportunities through the years.

Will SunCal follow his lead and build a monument to his policies by letting the economic benefits, like the former creek, flow to the East Oakland residents?

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Up Next

Opinion: Building Student Voice – A Third Way Approach

Don't Miss

Students Rally to Save Latino and Religious Studies at Holy Names University

Oakland Post

Click to comment

Activism

Oakland Post: Week of October 30 – November 5, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of October 30 – November 5, 2024

Published

21 hours ago

November 1, 2024

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

Minister King X, Civil Rights Group Sue California Prisons Over Right to Protest

Oakland – Minister King X, a prison ‘artivist,’ and a civil rights group will hold a press conference at 11:30 a.m. on Sept. 27 at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) headquarters at 1515 S St. in Sacramento, CA. Sept. 20, 2024, Minister King, a community organizer with California Prison Focus, and the group All of Us Or None (AOUON) filed a lawsuit against the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) and top state government officials.

Published

4 days ago

October 29, 2024

Oakland Post

Minister King X

Special to The Post

Sept. 20, 2024, Minister King, a community organizer with California Prison Focus, and the group All of Us Or None (AOUON) filed a lawsuit against the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) and top state government officials.

The lawsuit challenges Minister King’s unlawful arrest on Aug. 9, 2021, during “Black August,” for allegedly violating Penal Code section 4571, which criminalizes people with felony convictions standing near prison facilities.

Minister King was arrested and imprisoned by plainclothes CDCR officers after a July 2021 protest calling for the release of political prisoner Ruchell “Cinque” Magee.

The charges were dropped without a hearing, but Minister King and AOUON allege in their complaint that the arrest was retaliation for his activism and a violation of his First Amendment rights.

According to Medium, Minister King X Pyeface of Kage Universal is a rapper, producer, and ‘artivist’ from Oakland who spent six years in federal prison and 18 years in California State Prison, where he was the youngest new African organizer during the 2011 to 2013 California Prisoners Hunger Strike.

CDCR’s report for Minister King’s arrest describes King, and many other activists, public figures, and organizations, as “Black Identity Extremists” and “Black Supremacist Extremists.”

These racist terms were used to label organizations such as Black Lives Matter as terrorist organizations and their use was abandoned by the FBI in 2019.

The lawsuit seeks to prevent CDCR from using Penal Code 4571 to target formerly incarcerated individuals for exercising their rights.

The press conference on Friday will discuss the constitutional issues associated with PC 4571, which prohibits an individual who has previously been convicted of a felony and incarcerated in a California state prison from being present on the grounds of carceral facilities or anywhere adjacent to those grounds without the consent of the warden or sheriff.

Additionally, 4571 prohibits these individuals from being anywhere other individuals in state custody may be, and anywhere adjacent to those in custody individuals without consent.

King and AOUON have alleged in their complaint that the statute violates the First Amendment rights of formerly incarcerated individuals and is overly broad and vague.

“In the depths of Pelican Bay State Prison, and other correctional facilities across the United States, a forgotten population of elderly incarcerated individuals awaits redemption. They are not the ‘worst of the worst,’ violent predators or Black Identity Extremists,” says Minister King X. “Rather, they are a unique class of individuals who possess the wisdom, experience, and desire to promote peace and reconciliation. I am advocating for and on behalf of these elders and the rights of all other prisoners.”

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Arts and Culture

Faces Around the Bay: Blanche Richardson

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson came to the Sydney Goldstein Theatre on Sept. 10 to participate in an event hosted by City Arts and Lectures and Marcus Books to celebrate the publication of her memoir, Lovely One.

Published

4 days ago

October 29, 2024

Oakland Post