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School District Leases 2 Closed School Properties to Developer for 75 years

One property was leased for $3,000 a month, the other for $4,000 a month

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Photo courtesy of element5digital via unsplash

The Oakland Board of Education has approved the 75-year lease of two school properties to a developer without first going through a process for public input and posting the item on the public agenda only three days before the vote.

Though agenda items in general must come before the board two times before final approval, this resolution only came up once and was approved last week in a 5-2 vote. Board President Shanthi Gonzales and Boardmember Mike Hutchinson opposed the deal.

“The first time it was made public was when it was posted on the agenda 72 hours before the board meeting, and it was during a pandemic over Zoom. There has been no public engagement around these leases at all,” said Boardmember Hutchinson in an interview with the Oakland Post.

“This has been under wraps for the last six-to-eight months,” he said.

The lease of the two properties allows the schools to be torn down and replaced by town houses and other housing, including market-rate housing, commercial space and possibly a Black cultural center and some housing for teachers.

While the supporters of the deal say they are thrilled because these developments will in include some housing for teachers and school employees, representatives of both the teachers’ union and the classified workers’ union, SEIU 1021, spoke at the meeting against the development, raising concerns that the properties were leased for a small amount of money, likely unaffordable to school employees and not utilized for educational purposes.

The leases were likely considerably below market rate for the two properties, which was for 65-years, with permission for the developers to extend the agreements for an additional 10 years.

One property, the former Tilden Child Development Center, at 4551 Steele St. near Mills College, was leased for $3,000 a month. The other property, the former site of Edward Shands Adult School, at 2455 Church St. next to the mall at Eastmont Town Center, was leased for $4,000 a month. Allowing for inflation, the cost of the leases will increase by 3% per year.

According to Hutchinson, there was only one bid for the Tilden property and the Shands site was not awarded to the highest bidder.

The Oakland Post has requested videos of the last two school board meetings, as well as copies of the final leases that were modified at last week’s board meeting. The Post also requested copies of appraisals for the two properties, the public notice that the district sent to developers and copies of all the bids submitted by developers.

As of Wednesday, the Post has not received any documents from the school district.

The developer, Eagle Environmental Construction, is a Black-owned firm. According to plans, the deal now pledges that at least 50% of the units will go to teachers and other school workers.

The plans also include space to Cypress Mandela, a local job-training program, and also for a hub for the Black Cultural Zone.

However, lease opponents are skeptical whether these promises will actually come to pass.

“There is nothing in the lease itself about providing the space to the cultural zone, and there are no penalties imposed if teacher and other workforce housing, isn’t built” Hutchinson said.

 

“I have serious concerns about the legality of the process,” he said. “I have no issues with Eagle Environmental Construction, and I support the Black Cultural Zone. But my responsibility is to manage our public resources and there are no guarantees that the marginal benefits will ever be provided.”

At Shands, the developers plan to build 68 units of housing and other commercial space. At the site of Tilden, the developer wants to build 20 two- and three-bedroom townhouses.

“We never really got on the same page about how we are balancing the competing goals of community benefit, revenue generation and affordable housing,” Board President Gonzales said told Oaklandside.

“Why isn’t this going to be an adult education training center? Why is this going to be turned into workforce housing when we heard our workforce can‘t afford it and don’t want to live there,” said Hutchinson at the meeting, quoted in Oaklandside.

Teacher union representative Vilma Serrano, also quoted in Oaklandside, urged the district to use the properties to rebuild adult education programs.  “I ask the Board to vote no… and instead to take the time next year to be able to respond to the concerns and questions raised by (teacher union) members as well as Oakland community members.”

Board member Gary Yee, quoted in Oaklandside, supported the development because “We have an opportunity to clean up the blight, to hire local contractors, (and) to hire young people from our schools,” he said. “Sure, we have an opportunity to earn a little bit of money, but the money is the last part of this. The main thing for me is to be a good partner to our neighbors.”

Activism

Oakland Post: Week of February 19 – 25, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of February 19 – 25, 2025

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Activism

U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Rep. Lateefah Simon to Speak at Elihu Harris Lecture Series

The popular lecture series is co-produced by the Oakland-based Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Center and Peralta Community College District. Jeffries’ appearance marks the 32nd lecture of the Barbara Lee and Elihu Harris Lecture Series, which has provided thousands of individuals with accessible, free, high-quality information.

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U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (left) and Rep. Lateefah Simon (D-CA-12) (Right).
U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (left) and Rep. Lateefah Simon (D-CA-12) (Right).

By Scott Horton

United States House of Representatives Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY-8) will be a speaker at the Barbara Lee and Elihu Harris Lecture Series on Friday, Feb. 21.

The event will be held at the Henry J. Kaiser Center for the Arts, 10 Tenth Street in Oakland, at 7 p.m.

The popular lecture series is co-produced by the Oakland-based Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Center and Peralta Community College District. Jeffries’ appearance marks the 32nd lecture of the Barbara Lee and Elihu Harris Lecture Series, which has provided thousands of individuals with accessible, free, high-quality information.

The overarching goal of the lecture series is to provide speakers from diverse backgrounds a platform to offer their answers to Dr. King’s urgent question, which is also the title of Jeffries’ latest book: “Where do we go from here: Chaos or Community?”

In addition to Jeffries, Congresswoman Lateefah Simon (D-CA-12) will also speak.

“Certainly, now is a time for humanity, in general, and Americans in particular to honestly and genuinely answer Dr. King’s question,” said Dr. Roy D. Wilson, Executive Director of the Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Center and Executive Producer of the lecture series.

“Dr. King teaches that time is neutral but not static. Like the water in a river, it arrives and then quickly moves on,” continued Wilson. “We must urgently create conditions for listening to many different answers to this vital question, and generate the development of unity of action among all those who struggle for a stronger democracy.”

In his book, Jeffries shares his experience of being unanimously elected by his colleagues as the first African American in history to ever hold the position of House Minority Leader.

In January 2023 in Washington, Jeffries made his first official speech as House Minority Leader. He affirmed Democratic values one letter of the alphabet at a time. His words and how he framed them as the alphabet caught the attention of Americans, and the speech was later turned into a book, The ABCs of Democracy, bringing Congressman Jeffries rousing speech to vivid, colorful life, including illustrations by Shaniya Carrington. The speech and book are inspiring and urgent as a timeless reminder of what it means to be a country with equal opportunities for all. Jeffries paints a road map for a brighter American future and warns of the perils of taking a different path.

Before his colleagues unanimously elected him Minority Leader in 2022, Jeffries previously served as Chair of the House Democratic Caucus and as an Impeachment Manager during the first Senate trial of the 45th President of the United States.

Jeffries was born in Brooklyn Hospital, raised in Crown Heights, grew up in the Cornerstone Baptist Church and he is a product of New York City’s public school system, graduating from Midwood High School. Jefferies went on to Binghamton University (BA), Georgetown University (master’s in public policy) and New York University (JD).

He served in the New York State Assembly from 2007 to 2012.

Admission is free for the Feb. 21 Barbara Lee and Elihu Harris Lecture Series featuring Congressman Jeffries. Please reserve seats by calling the Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Center at (510) 434-3988.

Signed copies of his book will be available for purchase at the event.

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Alameda County

After Years of Working Remotely, Oakland Requires All City Employees to Return to Office by April 7

City Administrator Jestin Johnson recently told city unions that he is ending Oakland’s telecommuting program. The new policy will require employees to come to work at least four days a week. These new regulations go into effect on Feb. 18 for non-union department heads, assistant and deputy directors, managers, and supervisors. All other employees must be back at work by April 7.

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Oakland City Hall. File photo.
Oakland City Hall. File photo.

By Post Staff

The City Oakland is requiring all employees to return to the office, thereby ending the telecommuting policy established during the pandemic that has left some City Hall departments understaffed.

City Administrator Jestin Johnson recently told city unions that he is ending Oakland’s telecommuting program. The new policy will require employees to come to work at least four days a week.

These new regulations go into effect on Feb. 18 for non-union department heads, assistant and deputy directors, managers, and supervisors. All other employees must be back at work by April 7.

The administration may still grant the right to work remotely on a case-by-case basis.

In his memo to city unions, Johnson said former President Joe Biden had declared an end to the pandemic in September 2022, and that since then, “We have collectively moved into newer, safer health conditions.”

Johnson said “multiple departments” already have all their staff back in the office or workplace.

The City’s COVID-era policy, enacted in September 2021, was designed to reduce the spread of the debilitating and potentially fatal virus.

Many cities and companies across the country are now ending their pandemic-related remote work policies. Locally, mayoral candidate Loren Taylor in a press conference made the policy a central issue in his campaign for mayor.

City Hall reopened for in-person meetings two years ago, and the city’s decision to end remote work occurred before Taylor’s press conference.

At an endorsement meeting last Saturday of the John George Democratic Club, mayoral candidate Barbara Lee said she agreed that city workers should return to the job.

At the same time, she said, the city should allow employees time to readjust their lives, which were disrupted by the pandemic, and should recognize individual needs, taking care to maintain staff morale.

The John George club endorsed Lee for Mayor and Charlene Wang for City Council representative for District 2. The club also voted to take no position on the sales tax measure that will be on the April 15 ballot.

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