Government

Proposed state law adds to gentrification fears

WAVE NEWSPAPERS — More than 300 passionate community members attended a standing-room-only town hall meeting May 22 to oppose the passage of state legislation that could eliminate single-family housing around major transit hubs throughout the state.

Published

6 years ago

June 11, 2019

Angela Parker Contributing Writer

By Angela Parker

SOUTH LOS ANGELES — More than 300 passionate community members attended a standing-room-only town hall meeting May 22 to oppose the passage of state legislation that could eliminate single-family housing around major transit hubs throughout the state.

Diane Robertson, president of the Sutro Avenue Block Club in Leimert Park, was the lead organizer and helped pull the meeting together to give the community a better understanding of how Senate Bill 50 will directly impact their neighborhoods.

Authored by state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, the proposed legislation would mandate that cities allow at least four homes on plots designated for single-family homes that are built around mass transit hubs. While supporters of the bill claim it is a necessary step in tackling the housing crisis that Los Angeles currently faces, opponents argue that it will do little to provide residents with affordable housing, and, instead give developers free reign to build luxury apartments that will price out current community members and change the landscapes of communities where families have lived and worked for decades.

Monica Breckenridge, 57, lives in the Crenshaw Manor neighborhood, in a house that has belonged to her husband’s family for four generations. She is one of many who fear that if SB 50 were to pass it would threaten their very way of life.

“I am concerned about the character of my neighborhood being overrun and overwhelmed by multifamily units being next door to single-family units,” Breckenridge said. “I do not want to give up the character of it being the family home. It’s incredibly important to me that this still be the home where the grandkids come to for Christmas and Easter.”

“I think this is just a way to back door very wealthy individuals into (these communities) and to displace longtime residents who bought in these neighborhoods when they could not buy anywhere else,” Breckinridge added. “This is about … preserving the legacy that we have already established.”

Featured panelists at the town hall included deputy director of Los Angeles City Planning Department Arthi Varma, community advocate Romerol Malveaux, community advocate and co-chair of land use community and vice president of P.I.C.O. Neighborhood Council Hydee Feldstein, vice president of the Baldwin Hills Estate Homeowners Association and builder John Gonzales, Los Angeles City Councilman Paul Koretz, Los Angeles City Council President Herb Wesson, executive director of the Coalition for Economic Survival Larry Gross and president of the P.I.C.O. Neighborhood Council Brad Kane.

While any movement on the bill has been tabled until January 2020, Wesson warned attendees not to celebrate just yet.

“Nothing is ever really dead in Sacramento,” Wesson said, adding that 60% of residents who reside in the 10th District will be effected by this bill. “Now I recognize that we have a housing crisis and we need to creatively come up with a way to try and fix it, but who better to do that than the people that live in the area?

“I understand that their heart is in the right place, but … come and meet with us … and together we can write every word on how we are going to do this and going to do that.”

Wesson urged attendees to stay engaged and reach out to their local representatives to express their views on this issue and to educate their community members about the bill.

The panelists pointed out that Los Angeles is working very hard to increase available housing and the state just needs to give the city’s existing plans time to bear fruit.

“We are aware that there is an affordable housing crises …but the reality is that SB 50 is a real estate bill masquerading as a housing bill that will provide an enormous gift for developers,” Gross said. “It is wall street in our back yards. The news media is framing the demise of SB 50 as due to white home owners in the suburbs … but it was the tenants, home owners, progressives and people of Los Angeles working together who fought SB 50 because we know (that) SB 50 will accelerate gentrification, it will increase displacement, it will destroy the quality of life in neighborhoods, and it will handcuff local government and provide windfall profits to large developers.”

After the panel discussion, there was a question and answer session in which attendees expressed their concerns about issues such as employment, city zoning laws, and public perception of the bill that could have long-term effects on the ability of the city to provide affordable housing going forward.

Robertson, who was thrilled by the turnout, and the amount of education that attendees received on the bill, agrees that the town hill is just the beginning.

“I hope that the people who came tonight feel energized and inspired to … talk to their neighbors, colleagues, and friends. … That’s how it starts,” Robertson said.

Angela Parker Contributing Writer

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Oakland Post: Week of November 5 – 11, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of November 5 – 11, 2025

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Oakland Post: Week of October 29 – November 4, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of October 29 – November 4, 2025

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Past, Present, Possible! Oakland Residents Invited to Reimagine the 980 Freeway

Organizers ask attendees coming to 1233 Preservation Park Way to think of the event as a “time portal”—a walkable journey through the Past (harm and flourishing), Present (community conditions and resilience), and Future (collective visioning).

Published

2 weeks ago

October 27, 2025

Oakland Post

Hundreds of residents in West Oakland were forced out by eminent domain before construction began on the 980 freeway in 1968. Courtesy photo.

By Randolph Belle
Special to The Post

Join EVOAK!, a nonprofit addressing the historical harm to West Oakland since construction of the 980 freeway began in 1968, will hold a block party on Oct. 25 at Preservation Park for a day of imagination and community-building from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Organizers ask attendees coming to 1233 Preservation Park Way to think of the event as a “time portal”—a walkable journey through the Past (harm and flourishing), Present (community conditions and resilience), and Future (collective visioning).

Activities include:

Interactive Visioning: Site mapping, 3-D/digital modeling, and design activities to reimagine housing, parks, culture, enterprise, and mobility.
Story & Memory: Oral history circles capturing life before the freeway, the rupture it caused, and visions for repair.
Data & Policy: Exhibits on health, environment, wealth impacts, and policy discussions.
Culture & Reflection: Films, installations, and performances honoring Oakland’s creativity and civic power.

The site of the party – Preservation Park – itself tells part of the story of the impact on the community. Its stately Victorians were uprooted and relocated to the site decades ago to make way for the I-980 freeway, which displaced hundreds of Black families and severed the heart of West Oakland. Now, in that same space, attendees will gather to reckon with past harms, honor the resilience that carried the community forward, and co-create an equitable and inclusive future.

A Legacy of Resistance

In 1979, Paul Cobb, publisher of the Post News Group and then a 36-year-old civil-rights organizer, defiantly planted himself in front of a bulldozer on Brush Street to prevent another historic Victorian home from being flattened for the long-delayed I-980 Freeway. Refusing to move, Cobb was arrested and hauled off in handcuffs—a moment that landed him on the front page of the Oakland Tribune.

Cobb and his family had a long history of fighting for their community, particularly around infrastructure projects in West Oakland. In 1954, his family was part of an NAACP lawsuit challenging the U.S. Post Office’s decision to place its main facility in the neighborhood, which wiped out an entire community of Black residents.

In 1964, they opposed the BART line down Seventh Street—the “Harlem of the West.” Later, Cobb was deeply involved in successfully rerouting the Cypress Freeway out of the neighborhood after the Loma Prieta earthquake.

The 980 Freeway, a 1.6-mile stretch, created an ominous barrier severing West Oakland from Downtown. Opposition stemmed from its very existence and the national practice of plowing freeways through Black communities with little input from residents and no regard for health, economic, or social impacts. By the time Cobb stood before the bulldozer, construction was inevitable, and his fight shifted toward jobs and economic opportunity.

Fast-forward 45 years: Cobb recalled the story at a convening of “Super OGs” organized to gather input from legacy residents on reimagining the corridor. He quickly retrieved his framed Tribune front page, adding a new dimension to the conversation about the dedication required to make change. Themes of harm repair and restoration surfaced again and again, grounded in memories of a thriving, cohesive Black neighborhood before the freeway.

The Lasting Scar

The 980 Freeway was touted as a road to prosperity—funneling economic opportunity into the City Center, igniting downtown commerce, and creating jobs. Instead, it cut a gash through the city, erasing 503 homes, four churches, 22 businesses, and hundreds of dreams. A promised second approach to the Bay Bridge never materialized.

Planning began in the late 1940s, bulldozers arrived in 1968, and after years of delays and opposition, the freeway opened in 1985. By then, Oakland’s economic engines had shifted, leaving behind a 600-foot-wide wound that resulted in fewer jobs, poorer health outcomes, and a divided neighborhood. The harm of displacement and loss of generational wealth was compounded through redlining, disinvestment, drugs, and the police state. Many residents fled to outlying cities, while those who stayed carried forward the spirit of perseverance.

The Big Picture

At stake now is up to 67 acres of new, buildable land in Downtown West Oakland. This time, we must not repeat the institutional wrongs of the past. Instead, we must be as deliberate in building a collective, equitable vision as planners once were in destroying communities.

EVOAK!’s strategy is rooted in four pillars: health, housing, economic development, and cultural preservation. These were the very foundations stripped away, and they are what they aim to reclaim. West Oakland continues to suffer among the worst social determinants of health in the region, much of it linked to the three freeways cutting through the neighborhood.

The harms of urban planning also decimated cultural life, reinforced oppressive public safety policies, underfunded education, and fueled poverty and blight.

Healing the Wound

West Oakland was once the center of Black culture during the Great Migration—the birthplace of the Black Panther Party and home to the “School of Champions,” the mighty Warriors of McClymonds High. Drawing on that legacy, we must channel the community’s proud past into a bold, community-led future that restores connection, sparks innovation, and uplifts every resident.

Two years ago, Caltrans won a federal Reconnecting Communities grant to fund Vision 980, a community-driven study co-led by local partners. Phase 1 launched in Spring 2024 with surveys and outreach; Phase 2, a feasibility study, begins in 2026. Over 4,000 surveys have already been completed. This once-in-a-lifetime opportunity could transform the corridor into a blank slate—making way for accessible housing, open space, cultural facilities, and economic opportunity for West Oakland and the entire region.

Leading with Community

In parallel, EVOAK! is advancing a community-led process to complement Caltrans’ work. EVOAK! is developing a framework for community power-building, quantifying harm, exploring policy and legislative repair strategies, structuring community governance, and hosting arts activations to spark collective imagination. The goal: a spirit of co-creation and true collaboration.

What EVOAK! Learned So Far

Through surveys, interviews, and gatherings, residents have voiced their priorities: a healthy environment, stable housing, and opportunities to thrive. Elders with decades in the neighborhood shared stories of resilience, community bonds, and visions of what repair should look like.

They heard from folks like Ezra Payton, whose family home was destroyed at Eighth and Brush streets; Ernestine Nettles, still a pillar of civic life and activism; Tom Bowden, a blues man who performed on Seventh Street as a child 70 years ago; Queen Thurston, whose family moved to West Oakland in 1942; Leo Bazille who served on the Oakland City Council from 1983 to 1993; Herman Brown, still organizing in the community today; Greg Bridges, whose family’s home was picked up and moved in the construction process; Martha Carpenter Peterson, who has a vivid memory of better times in West Oakland; Sharon Graves, who experienced both the challenges and the triumphs of the neighborhood; Lionel Wilson, Jr., whose family were anchors of pre-freeway North Oakland; Dorothy Lazard, a resident of 13th Street in the ’60s and font of historical knowledge; Bishop Henry Williams, whose simple request is to “tell the truth,” James Moree, affectionately known as “Jimmy”; the Flippin twins, still anchored in the community; and Maxine Ussery, whose father was a business and land owner before redlining.

EVOAK! will continue to capture these stories and invites the public to share theirs as well.

Beyond the Block Party

The 980 Block Party is just the beginning. Beyond this one-day event, EVOAK! Is building a long-term process to ensure West Oakland’s future is shaped by those who lived its past. To succeed, EVOAK! Is seeking partners across the community—residents, neighborhood associations, faith groups, and organizations—to help connect with legacy residents and host conversations.

980 Block Party Event Details
Saturday, Oct. 25
10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Preservation Park, 1233 Preservation Park Way, Oakland, CA 94612
980BlockParty.org
info@evoak.org