14th & Broadway
Oakland
CA
Come to rally just before city council: July 20th, 2021 1pm PST
Oakland City Hall Oscar Grant Plaza , 1 Frank Ogawa Plaza, Oakland CA
Get on speakers list for city council meeting by contacting: committeeforlaborparty(at)gmail.com or For a Mass Labor Party in the USA @masslaborpartyusa on Facebook and Twitter
https://www.facebook.com/masslaborpartyusa/
https://foramasslaborparty.wordpress.com
On July 20th, 2021, Oakland City Council will take a vote on Oakland Athletics proposal for the development of a baseball stadium and accompanying condominium complex in the current Howard Terminal and connecting area to Jack London Square.
What does this means for maritime workers and the community in and around the port of Oakland?
Ultimately our livelihoods are at stake. More traffic congestion from mass sporting events and high end entertainment will surround the real estate portion of this proposed development. The developers argue any economic growth will benefit all workers and the community as it will inevitably spread out.
We know this not to be true. Just remember how conversion of the San Francisco Embarcadero from industrial maritime use to tourism was promoted over past decades. The loss of shipyards, maritime facilities and jobs such as scalers, boilermakers and machinists has lead to a steady eroding of union scale wages such that those who work in these areas can no longer afford to live anywhere near the city front.
The Oakland Athletics stadium proposal does not democratically consider workers at the port and the surrounding maritime community. Under the A’s proposed Enhanced Infrastructure Financing District (EIFD) increases in property tax revenue on the development expected to rise from the current $30 million to over $12 billion by 2037 will be used for the area of the development itself. Infrastructure spending for schools, port facilities, and resources outside the specified EIFD area (Howard Terminal to Jack London Square) would be left out of this 30+ year projected tax revenue increase.
This type of exclusionary development planning is typical of public land privatization schemes, notably of the Fisher family (who own the A’s Franchise), which has gone on record as backing some of the biggest public land grabs for private profit in city history including AT&T park and the Charterization of public schools into the KIPP chain and Rocketship which their family controls.
Fishers enjoy bipartisan support from all corrupt politicians in the City. The Democratic Council members Ron Bonta and Nancy Skinner of Oakland City are among the foremost advocates for this privatization project. Most other Democrats and Republicans in the City or County have been silent on the issue at best, or supported this union-busting gentrification drive at worst. It is clear that we need a working-class alternative to defend our jobs, unions, residences, and environment.
Sailors, Longshore Workers, Truckers and Railroad Workers Unite! Stand with the working class and multi-ethnic communities against displacement! For well funded schools and public infrastructure through a participatory and democratic decision-making process of all who are effected and concerned!