Oakland’s public has had no voice in the disposition of its public lands. Decisions have been made by the City Council behind closed doors.
The 2016-17 Alameda County Grand Jury, which investigated the process, made this clear. It stated, “This conduct precluded participation by the public in determining the best use of city-owned property and selection of developers.”
The grand jury report and articles in the June 20 East Bay Times and other publications are worth reading.
Focus was on three projects, known as 1911 Telegraph, 2100 Telegraph and the 12th Street Remainder Parcel.
The right project at 1911 Telegraph, property located at the corner of 19th Street and Telegraph Avenue, could be a catalyst for increased energy in uptown. This site across the street from both the Fox Theater and the Floral Depot wants to have a significant setback on Telegraph to create a public plaza, the Fox Plaza. Restaurants can spill onto it and people can mingle both day and night.
Great cities with Mediterranean climates like ours have such public outdoor rooms. Think Spain and Italy.
The developer would maintain the public plaza. It will increase the value of any building sitting behind it, be it a hotel or residential or both. And the city can negotiate the price for the land so it is feasible for significant affordable housing.
And there is another public parcel at 19th Street and San Pablo Avenue that could be used to make Uptown super attractive not only for more families but office workers filling Uptown Station. It is now blight, that is, a surface parking lot. Instead, it could fill a real need — a space for active recreation for children and adults.
Currently, students at the School for the Arts go to Snow Park to play Frisbee for exercise. But where do children who live Uptown go?
The General Plan’s Open Space Conservation and Recreation element proposes “a local-serving park acreage standard of 4 acres per 1,000 residents,” seems to have been ignored.
The excuse for not creating new parks is the cost of land. Well, the city already owns that parcel.
Uptown would then have three kinds of public spaces, the quiet contemplative get-away-from-it-all one now existing, an active work-up-a sweat one, and a social meet-you-there public square.
For this placemaking to be realized, the public needs to get involved in a robust public process. It should include more than the neighborhood because Uptown belongs to everyone. And the city needs to listen.
A great example of this was the grass-roots effort in 2001 triggered by then-Mayor Jerry Brown advocating for a cathedral to be built on public land on Lake Merritt.
There was such an outcry that a group calling itself Coalition of Advocates for Lake Merritt formed to work on an alternative. Well-attended, lively meetings with pro bono input from five architects developed a plan that restructured the southern end of Lake Merritt. It created more park space and venues, and changed the 12-lane portion of 12th Street, “the world’s shortest freeway,” into a six-lane boulevard.
The city recognized it as a great public project and funded it thru Measure D. Now known as the Lake Merritt Boulevard Park and Amphitheater, it is there for all to enjoy. And a new cathedral now graces Oakland on Lake Merritt on private land.
This clearly illustrates that if Oakland’s many talented people are engaged in land-use decisions, great projects can transform neighborhoods. Why does the city dismiss its residents by hiding behind closed doors?
September 21, 2017
East Bay Times
By Joyce Roy, retired architect and Oakland resident
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