Arts and Culture

OPINION: Will Geoffrey’s Inner Circle Become Another Victim of Hi-Rise ‘Destruction?’

The Oakland City Council should reject Tidewater’s proposal. It does not fit the Council’s 2016 Resolution setting up the Black Arts Movement and Business District. It proposes to construct something no one in Oakland needs — more offices or more non-affordable housing — and harm something everyone needs, a historic African American business led by the kindest of Oakland’s residents, someone who feeds the homeless at his own expense and entertains everyone with wonderful music at a reasonable price. This process has been discriminatory, inept, capricious, and perhaps illegal, boldly favoring wealthy developers over Black business.

Published

2 years ago

December 3, 2023

Oakland Post

The Oakland Planning Commission has so far ignored a 2016 City Council resolution creating the downtown Black Arts Movement and District by allowing construction of the Marriott Hotel to impede business at Uncle Willie’s BBQ and Fish and is on the verge of approving a high rise that would overshadow Pete’s Inner Circle. Both businesses are on 14th street. Geoffrey Pete is owner of Geoffrey’s Inner Circle. File photo image.

Oakland’s Planning Process Helps Wealthy Developers, Harms Black Businesses Like Geoffrey’s Inner Circle

By Kitty Epstein and Paul Cobb

Tidewater Capital, a multimillion-dollar corporation, plans to build a 27-story building to house affluent people in the middle of the Black Arts Movement and Business District. It will harm one of Oakland’s most important Black businesses, Geoffrey’s Inner Circle, and will not serve Black Oaklanders in any way.

The Oakland City Council should reject Tidewater’s proposal. It does not fit the Council’s 2016 Resolution setting up the Black Arts Movement and Business District. It proposes to construct something no one in Oakland needs — more offices or more non-affordable housing — and harm something everyone needs, a historic African American business led by the kindest of Oakland’s residents, someone who feeds the homeless at his own expense and entertains everyone with wonderful music at a reasonable price. This process has been discriminatory, inept, capricious, and perhaps illegal, boldly favoring wealthy developers over Black business.

Supporters are asked to come to a special session at Oakland City Hall City Council chambers on Tuesday Dec. 19 at 4 p.m. where the issue will be on the agenda.

The reasons the city council should reject this development are described below:

The Oakland Planning Department has gone rogue in its effort to develop downtown Oakland as high and as fast as possible. It will require the action of the City Council to restore some accountability and lawfulness to the process and to protect Oakland’s beautiful legacy: the connection between Oakland’s downtown, views of sunsets at Lake Merritt and the first and only cultural district, the Black Arts Movement and Business District.
Any new development in this designated Black cultural district should contribute to that purpose. The Black Arts and Business district needs such things as a). parking for its clients, b). additional galleries, bookstores; and coffee shops amenable to Oakland’s dwindling Black population; c). beautiful signage commemorating the contributions of Black Oaklanders.Instead, this proposed development will remove the one remaining downtown parking lot and draw in additional gentrification. This is a violation of the resolution of the BAMBD.Further, the proposed development poses a direct threat to Geoffrey’s Inner Circle (GIC), which is a treasured Oakland location destination point that holds live music productions such as jazz events. GIC also is a venue space for funerals, weddings and private partis. GIC has hosted community forums, political gatherings and has served the homeless and unhoused population years over.It is a designated national historic site that has never received any of the many subsidies, services and recognitions normally afforded to such a site and would be threatened by every aspect of the construction process.
In contrast, according to the city’s ‘Downtown Oakland Specific Plan (DOSP)’, the entire district of Chinatown is off-limits to any prospective development downtown. There will be zero high-rises, proposals or permits, or such approved for this district. The Black Arts Movement and Business District is Oakland’s first and only cultural district. We formally request that the entire BAMBD district be zoned out of projected development and experience a moratorium on any current and future development plans except those specifically contributing to its purposes and discussed in public meetings with the Black community.The city has proven it has the ability to enact this form of protection as it has done so before in Chinatown, which is not a registered cultural district such as BAMBD but is treated, respected, and protected as such. Please see the map of development from the DOSP.
The decision to allow this building was made by the Oakland Planning Commission, which is composed entirely of people who make a living working with developers and are, therefore, naturally inclined toward their interests and points of view.
The Planning Department had multiple meetings with Tidewater but said it was too busy to meet with Mr. Pete or his representatives. They never allowed Mr. Pete to meet to hear the harm to his building the development would cause.
Mr. Pete was required to pay several thousand dollars to appeal the Planning Commission’s decision. The date for the appeal was set at a Rules Committee by a Tidewater representative. It was not agendized and therefore, Mr. Pete was not present to offer his preferred date.
Several weeks ago, Mr. Pete made a Public Records Request for communications between Tidewater. There has been no response.
The city apparently has some process for these appeals, about which Mr. Pete has never been informed. Mr. Colbruno has acknowledged that he and other Tidewater staff have met repeatedly with council members about this issue. However, we are told that council members cannot speak with Mr. Pete because of this unique process. We believe that many Oakland elected officials want to make Oakland more responsive to the population, particularly the Black community, which is being driven out of the city. It needs to start here.
Uncle Willie’s Barbeque and Fish was literally put out of business and had their building destroyed by the neighboring developers, The Marriott. They are in litigation, but as it stands, the health department has shut down Uncle Willie’s for this reason. Is Geoffrey’s Inner Circle going to be NEXT?
The Council should require a revamp of the Planning Department, and the Mayor should reconstruct the Planning Commission so that it represents native Oaklanders who, such as Geoffrey Pete, have contributed to this city for nearly 40 years.

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Advice

BOOK REVIEW: Let Me Be Real With You

At first look, this book might seem like just any other self-help offering. It’s inspirational for casual reader and business reader, both, just like most books in this genre. Dig a little deeper, though, and you’ll spot what makes “Let Me Be Real With You” stand out.

Published

2 weeks ago

December 29, 2025

Oakland Post

Book cover of Let Me Be Real With You and author Arshay Cooper. Courtesy of HarperOne.

By Terri Schlichenmeyer

Author: Arshay Cooper, Copyright: c.2025, Publisher: HarperOne, SRP: $26.00, Page Count: 40 Pages

The hole you’re in is a deep one.

You can see the clouds above, and they look like a storm; you sense the wind, and it’s cold. It’s dark down there, and lonesome, too. You feel like you were born there — but how do you get out of the deep hole you’re in? You read the new book “Let Me Be Real With You” by Arshay Cooper. You find a hand-up and bring someone with you.

In the months after his first book was published, Cooper received a lot of requests to speak to youth about his life growing up on the West Side of Chicago, his struggles, and his many accomplishments. He was poor, bullied, and belittled, but he knew that if he could escape those things, he would succeed. He focused on doing what was best, and right. He looked for mentors and strove to understand when opportunities presented themselves.

Still, his early life left him with trauma. Here, he shows how it’s overcome-able.

We must always have hope, Cooper says, but hope is “merely the catalyst for action. The hope we receive must transform into the hope we give.”

Learn to tell your own story, as honestly as you know it. Be open to suggestions, and don’t dismiss them without great thought. Know that masculinity doesn’t equal stoicism; we are hard-wired to need other people, and sharing “pain and relatability can dissipate shame and foster empathy in powerful ways.”

Remember that trauma is intergenerational, and it can be passed down from parent to child. Let your mentors see your potential. Get therapy, if you need it; there’s no shame in it, and it will help, if you learn to trust it. Enjoy the outdoors when you can. Learn self-control. Give back to your community. Respect your financial wellness. Embrace your intelligence. Pick your friends and relationships wisely. “Do it afraid.”

And finally, remember that “You were born to soar to great heights and rule the sky.”

You just needed someone to tell you that.

With a willingness to discuss the struggles he tackled in the past, Cooper writes with a solidly honest voice that’s exceptionally believable, and not one bit dramatic. You won’t find unnecessarily embellished stories or tall tales here, either; Cooper instead uses his real experiences to help readers understand that there are few things that are truly insurmountable. He then explains how one’s past can shape one’s future, and how today’s actions can change the future of the world.

“Let Me Be Real With You” is full of motivation, and instruction that’s do-able for adults and teens. If you need that, or if you’ve vowed to do better this coming year, it might help make you whole.

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Alameda County

Bling It On: Holiday Lights Brighten Dark Nights All Around the Bay

On the block where I grew up in the 1960s, it was an unwritten agreement among the owners of those row homes to put up holiday lights: around the front window and door, along the porch banister, etc. Some put the Christmas tree in the window, and you could see it through the open slats of the blinds.

Published

3 weeks ago

December 21, 2025

Oakland Post

Christmas lights on a house near the writer’s residence in Oakland. Photo by Joseph Shangosola.

By Wanda Ravernell

I have always liked Christmas lights.

From my desk at my front window, I feel a quiet joy when the lights on the house across the street come on just as night falls.

My father, the renegade of the block, made no effort with lights, so my mother hung a wreath with two bells in the window. Just enough to let you know someone was at home.

Two doors down was a different story. Mr. King, the overachiever of the block, went all out for Christmas: The tree in the window, the lights along the roof and a Santa on his sleigh on the porch roof.

There are a few ‘Mr. Kings’ in my neighborhood.

In particular is the gentleman down the street. For Halloween, they erected a 10-foot skeleton in the yard, placed ‘shrunken heads’ on fence poles, pumpkins on steps and swooping bat wings from the porch roof. They have not held back for Christmas.

The skeleton stayed up this year, this time swathed in lights, as is every other inch of the house front. It is a light show that rivals the one in the old Wanamaker’s department store in Philadelphia.

I would hate to see their light bill…

As the shortest day of the year approaches, make Mr. King’s spirit happy and get out and see the lights in your own neighborhood, shopping plazas and merchant areas.

Here are some places recommended by 510 Families and Johnny FunCheap.

Oakland

Oakland’s Temple Hill Holiday Lights and Gardens is the place to go for a drive-by or a leisurely stroll for a religious holiday experience. Wear a jacket, because it’s chilly outside the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, at 4220 Lincoln Ave., particularly after dark. The gardens are open all day from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. with the lights on from dusk until closing.

Alameda

Just across the High Street Bridge from Oakland, you’ll find Christmas Tree Lane in Alameda.

On Thompson Avenue between High Street and Fernside drive, displays range from classic trees and blow-ups to a comedic response to the film “The Nightmare Before Christmas.” Lights turn on at dusk and can be seen through the first week in January.

Berkeley

The Fourth Street business district from University Avenue to Virginia Street in Berkeley comes alive with lights beginning at 5 p.m. through Jan. 1, 2026.

There’s also a display at one house at 928 Arlington St., and, for children, the Tilden Park Carousel Winter Wonderland runs through Jan. 4, 2026. Closed Christmas Day. For more information and tickets, call (510) 559-1004.

Richmond

The Sundar Shadi Holiday Display, featuring a recreation of the town of Bethlehem with life-size figures, is open through Dec. 26 at 7501 Moeser Lane in El Cerrito.

Marin County

In Marin, the go-to spot for ‘oohs and ahhs’ is the Holiday Light Spectacular from 4-9 p.m. through Jan. 4, 2026, at Marin Center Fairgrounds at 10 Ave of the Flags in San Rafael through Jan. 4. Displays dazzle, with lighted walkways and activities almost daily. For more info, go to: www.marincounty.gov/departments/cultural-services/department-sponsored-events/holiday-light-spectacular

The arches at Marin County Civic Center at 3501 Civic Center Dr. will also be illuminated nightly.

San Francisco

Look for light installations in Golden Gate Park, chocolate and cheer at Ghirardelli Square, and downtown, the ice rink in Union Square and the holiday tree in Civic Center Plaza are enchanting spots day and night. For neighborhoods, you can’t beat the streets in Noe Valley, Pacific Heights, and Bernal Heights. For glee and over-the-top glitz there’s the Castro, particularly at 68 Castro Street.

Livermore

The winner of the 2024 Great Light Flight award, Deacon Dave has set up his display with a group of creative volunteers at 352 Hillcrest Avenue since 1982. See it through Jan. 1, 2026. For more info, go to https://www.casadelpomba.com

Fremont

Crippsmas Place is a community of over 90 decorated homes with candy canes passed out nightly through Dec. 31. A tradition since 1967, the event features visits by Mr. and Mrs. Claus on Dec. 18 and Dec. 23 and entertainment by the Tri-M Honor Society at 6 p.m. on Dec. 22. Chrippsmas Place is located on: Cripps Place, Asquith Place, Nicolet Court, Wellington Place, Perkins Street, and the stretch of Nicolet Avenue between Gibraltar Drive and Perkins Street.

Oakland Post

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Activism

Oakland Mandala: A New Event and Point of Beauty

Led by Oakland resident Mandisa Snodey, a group of artists conceived and painted the mandala on Linden street near McClymonds High School as part of a Black Friday event the day after Thanksgiving to support Black-owned businesses.

Published

4 weeks ago

December 20, 2025

Oakland Post

Painters put on the finishing touches of the Oakland Mandala on Nov. 28. Photo courtesy Mandisa Snodey.

By Post Staff

The first annual Oakland Mandala, sponsored by Miges Odanes Village Center, Credo Studio, and the Mandala Medicine Movement is on view now until the winter rains wash it away.

“This is a lineage-based community art project, using temporary paint, aimed at community building, neighborhood beautification, and celebration of the arts and all people’s creativity,” Snodey said. “The theme of this year’s mandala was ‘Unified Humanity.’

“We gathered at 7 a.m. on Friday for the Black Friday Block Party and finished painting close to sunset. Our youngest painter was 2 years old and our eldest close to 70 years young: we had families, community members, professional artists, and people who have never painted before all working together.”

Snodey urges residents to come visit and take a picture with the mandala. It’s located between 28th and 30th on Linden Street in West Oakland. If you post on social media, please use the hashtags “#oaklandmandala” and “#mandalamedicinemovement.”

Snodey extends special thanks to the Bay Area Mural Program (BAMP), Few and Far Women, “and other Bay Area Artists who participated and made this first annual mandala a beautiful success.”