City Government

Is Phil Tagami Stacking the Deck Against California Waste Solutions?

Published

11 years ago

August 15, 2014

The Oakland Post has been hearing community concerns that Army Base Master Developer Phil Tagami of CCIG may have been trying to undermine the city’s new trash and recycling company – California Waste Solutions (CWS) by keeping the company waiting to move ahead with the construction of its new facility at the North Gateway of the Oakland Army Base.

CWS has already put up $600,000 to show its commitment and was supposed to take possession of the Army Base property in 2013. Now, the company is being told it will get the land in 2016, though some people close to the project says it will not be turned over until 2017 or 2018.

According to Post Publisher Paul Cobb, he has heard from many sources that, “The developer in effect is saying he can’t give CWS the North Gateway, and there seems to be s be no one in this administration that is taking control of this project. They just seem to listen to whatever Tagami says.”

Responding, Tagami sent an email to the Post, saying, “It is in all parties interest to get out of the ground as soon as possible.” Tagami’s statement is printed in full at his request on the Post’s website at postnewsgorup.com

CWS says it will take about 18 months to build its $80 million facility at the North Gateway section of the base – 27.3 acres that has been set aside for indoor recycling facilities and an additional seven acres for truck parking.

A key part of the company’s operations, the CWS facility will dedicate 200,000 square feet to process and transfer the various components of the city’s trash stream – composting, organic materials and recyclables like paper and metal. The site will also house the truck corporation and maintenance yard and become the new headquarters for CWS and its employees.

Until the CWS takes possession of its property and builds the facility, the company has arranged with East Bay Municipal District (EBMUD) to utilize some of its property.

People close to the Army Base project have suggested that Tagami and CCIG have never wanted to give any property to recyclers – Cass metals and CWS – even though the City Council voted to give them space on the base, said Cobb.

The problem, says Cobb, is economic. Tagami has been hired to be the city’s agent but is also a private businessman who will make less money if property goes to CWS.

“Any space that is turned into a warehouse is a revenue for the city and revenue for CCIG (Tagami),” he said. “When recyclers get a lease, there is no revenue for Phil – there is just rent for the city.”

“ I’m hearing that his financial interests as an individual are in conflict with the city and its overall goal,” which is to use a portion of the base property for CWS, Cass metals and OMSS, to get the recyclers and truck parking out of the West Oakland community, Cobb said.

Cobb noted that if the city had structured an arrangement with Tagami that is similar to the $1.5 million payment to the city that it required from CWS, Tagami would be paying the city for the privilege of receiving ta contract, rather than the city subsidizing him at the same time he is benefitting.

Cobb says it is in the interests of the city to turn the base property over to CWS on or before July 1, 2015, but that seems to be opposite for Tagami.

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Oakland Post: Week of June 4 – 10, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of June 4-10, 2025

Published

4 days ago

June 7, 2025

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Remembering George Floyd

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — Minnesota State Attorney General Keith Ellison acknowledges that the Floyd case five years ago involved a situation in which due process was denied, and five years later, the president is currently dismissing “due process. “The Minnesota Atty General also says, “Trump is trying to attack constitutional rule, attacking congressional authority and judicial decision-making.” George Floyd was an African American man killed by police who knocked on his neck and on his back, preventing him from breathing.

Published

1 week ago

June 2, 2025

Oakland Post

Mural showing the portrait of George Floyd in Mauerpark in Berlin. To the left of the portrait the lettering "I can't Breathe" was added, on the right side the three hashtags #GeorgeFloyd, #Icantbreathe and #Sayhisname. The mural was completed by Eme Street Art (facebook name) / Eme Free Thinker (signature) on 29 May 2020. (Wikimedia Commons)

By April Ryan
BlackPressUSA Newswire

“The president’s been very clear he has no intentions of pardoning Derek Chauvin, and it’s not a request that we’re looking at,” confirms a senior staffer at the Trump White House. That White House response results from public hope, including from a close Trump ally, Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. The timing of Greene’s hopes coincides with the Justice Department’s recent decision to end oversight of local police accused of abuse. It also falls on the fifth anniversary of the police-involved death of George Floyd on May 25th. The death sparked national and worldwide outrage and became a transitional moment politically and culturally, although the outcry for laws on police accountability failed.

The death forced then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden to focus on deadly police force and accountability. His efforts while president to pass the George Floyd Justice in policing act failed. The death of George Floyd also put a spotlight on the Black community, forcing then-candidate Biden to choose a Black woman running mate. Kamala Harris ultimately became vice president of the United States alongside Joe Biden. Minnesota State Attorney General Keith Ellison prosecuted the cases against the officers involved in the death of Floyd. He remembers,” Trump was in office when George Floyd was killed, and I would blame Trump for creating a negative environment for police-community relations. Remember, it was him who said when the looting starts, the shooting starts, it was him who got rid of all the consent decrees that were in place by the Obama administration.”

In 2025, Police-involved civilian deaths are up by “about 100 to about 11 hundred,” according to Ellison. Ellison acknowledges that the Floyd case five years ago involved a situation in which due process was denied, and five years later, the president is currently dismissing “due process. “The Minnesota Atty General also says, “Trump is trying to attack constitutional rule, attacking congressional authority and judicial decision-making.” George Floyd was an African-American man killed by police who knocked on his neck and on his back, preventing him from breathing. During those minutes on the ground, Floyd cried out for his late mother several times. Police subdued Floyd for an alleged counterfeit $20 bill.