Jobs and business opportunities were the prime focus of discussion during the Oakland Army Base community benefits town hall meeting on Saturday, hosted by Councilmember Nancy Nadel.

Activists, small business owners, Longshore workers and West Oakland residents gathered at City Hall to discuss what benefits the community would like to see from the redevelopment of the site.

As part of development of the base, Oakland will negotiate a community benefits package with the developers. Suggestions from the town hall meeting will now be taken to city staff to negotiate with the base developers.

With steep infrastructure costs, the army base is a long way off from redevelopment.

According to Gregory Hunter, deputy director of the city’s Economic Development and Redevelopment department, preparing the 118-acre site and surrounding areas for development will likely cost $500 million. Although the Port of Oakland has received a $242 million grant for the infrastructure redevelopment and the city has identified $32 million in redevelopment funds, there still remains a $225 million gap.

“That includes roads, waterlines, grading; it includes all of the utilities to make the base ready for what we refer to as vertical redevelopment,” he said.

Hunter said the city is aggressively seeking possible funds from a variety of sources including federal and state grants.

“Every penny we’re able to identify to put into this project will need to go into the infrastructure portion of this project,” he said.

In February, the city signed a negotiating agreement with Oakland developer Phil Tagami and San Francisco maritime builder AMB.

At the meeting, suggestions for community benefits include creating a set aside of 15 acres for nonprofit use and developing public transportation access for the site.
And although there is a separate jobs’ component for the community benefits package – headed up by City Council President Jane Brunner – on Saturday, many in the audience spoke about the need for jobs.

Kitty Kelly Epstein, director of education with the mayor’s office, said community oversight on job creation needs to be put in place for the base redevelopment project.

“My greatest concern as both a person who now works for the city and as a resident, is that although Oakland is a very progressive city and we talk a lot about progressive initiatives, in general, the jobs that are generated by the enormous economic activity of the city do not go to residents in East and West Oakland,” Epstein said.

Business owners said as part of the redevelopment process, they want the city support and nurture its local businesses.

“We have to make Oakland business friendly,” said Virian Bouze, director of the Oakland Institute of Automotive Technology. “Planning and zoning have to be restructured so that they will allow people to open a business so they can hire people to have jobs.”

Previous attempts to develop the base, including plans for an Indian casino, an A's baseball stadium and a movie studio all failed.

Community groups like Revive Oakland believe the redevelopment of the former Oakland Army Base presents an enormous opportunity for investing in the city’s economic and social health.

The Army base site – co-owned by the city of Oakland and the Port of Oakland – is an enormous chunk of land, the size of about 200 football fields, right at the base of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.

The base was first opened in 1941 and served as a major military hub until it was officially closed in 1999 – part of a wave of military base closures across the country.

Take Action

Do you know what a community benefits package is? Read the new Pacific Institute report to see models for addressing former Army Base Development in Oakland.