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Conway Jones
Gus Newport
Will Ussery
Paul Cobb
Elders Have Their Say in New Book, “A Generation Found”...Page 3
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Will Oaklands New School Board Rescind Planned Closures?... Page 2
Rep. Barbara Lee: “20 Million Californians Living in Poverty a ‘Moral Disgrace’,,,Page 9
Oakland Post “Where there is no vision, the people perish...” Proverbs 29:18
Weekly Edition. Edition. December 14 - 21, 2022
postnewsgroup.com
59th Year, No. 27
City Council Committee Hears Report on Economic Impact of Oakland A’s Howard Terminal Proposal Dr. Claudine Gay
Harvard Appoints Its First Black President
James E. Vann
John Fisher, Oakland A’s owner and real estate developer.
By Post Staff Dr. Nola Agha, a nationally recognized sports economist and University of San Francisco professor of Sport Management, this week presented findings of her study on the revenues, costs, and economic impacts of the A’s proposed development at Howard Terminal to the Oakland City Council’s Community & Economic Development (CED) Committee. Agha’s independent study was commissioned when the city failed to provide the independent economic analysis of the project’s proposed development agreement and financing framework requested by City Council in April. Agha’s report at Tuesday’s CED
meeting was based on information about the proposal available to the public, provided by the Oakland A’s, Oakland City Administrator Ed Reiskin, and the City Council’s July 2021 non-binding term sheet, and includes updated projections based on the current economic forecast. Outgoing Mayor Libby Schaaf’s administrative team argues that an economic analysis of the impact of the Oakland A’s $20 billion real estate development at the Port of Oakland is impossible to analyze until behind-closed-door negotiations between City staff and A’s owner John Fisher’s team are completed, and there is a final deal. Continued on Page 12
City Council Moves to OK Establishment of Public Bank for Oakland, East Bay
PHOTO: iStockphoto
From City Hall Reports On Tuesday, the City of Oakland took another step toward establishing the Public Bank of the East Bay. The Oakland Finance and Management Committee voted to approve forwarding District 3
approve the resolution along with the viability study. Kaplan had proposed the initial public bank study in the previous Oakland budget, and the regional multi-city collaboration that allowed the public bank effort to get to this stage. “I want to thank everyone who has been working for many years to bring a public bank to the East Bay - not just to the City of Oakland – a regional collaborative of multiple governments that by standing together, can strengthen our economic opportunity and our ability to affordably finance needed projects
Councilmember Carrol Fife
Councilmember Carroll Fife’s resolution to the City Council meeting on Dec. 20, 2022, with the intent for the City of Oakland, in collaboration with Alameda County, City of Berkeley and City of Richmond, and additional cities as interested, to establish the bank. Vice Mayor Rebecca Kaplan, a longtime supporter of strengthening funding for local small businesses and important public projects, successfully moved to
Vice Mayor Rebecca Kaplan
and ensure access to funding for local small businesses and underserved communities,” said Kaplan. The need and support for a pubContinued on Page 12
Seeing Crimes During Holiday Season? Don’t Stand by and Watch, Take Action Lookout, Lookup and Watch Out! Raise Your Voice and Shout! Don’t Walk Alone at Night! Use your Cellphone and Camera. Right? By James E. Vann Next Door
The current (continuing) spate of crimes — from petty theft of packages on doorsteps and damage to property — to felonies that can lead to great bodily harm and death such as pulled guns, shootings, robberies, hijackings, stabbings, grab-and-runs, auto break-ins, vehicle tows is beyond maddening. Something has to change...Maybe us!!! To curb crime, we have to do more. Here are my suggestions: 1. We must PUT MORE EYES ON THE STREET and be aware of things that look strange. 2. We must LOOK OUT WINDOWS & DOORS MORE OFTEN to guard against not only our own property theft but our neighbors’ as well. 3. We must MAKE BETTER USE OF OUR CELL PHONES by taking more photos of STRANGE PEOPLE, VEHICLES, AND LICENSE PLATES. 4. We must learn and practice
MAKING NOISE & SHOUTING OUT... to surprise and STOP THIEVES in the act. 5. We must NOT WALK ALONE, NOR LATE in the evening on isolated streets or pathways. 6. We must be on the ready to CALL 911 as soon as we observe WRONGDOING. 7. PARENTS, CARETAKERS and NEIGHBORS must watch for and immediately report to OPD Crime Stoppers at 510777-8572 any notable changes in the behavior of relatives, friends, and neighbors if you observe any of the following: odd accumulation of things; sudden switching of vehicles; prolonged absences, and other peculiar happenings to HALT WRONGS EARLY IN PROCESS. Because we are in this together, and because we want nice, safe, beautiful neighborhoods fit for wonderful living, we must, collectively, up our game by each day doing something a little different to help us...ALL OF US...TOGETHER!! Published with permission of the author from original post on Next Door website.
White Teacher Fired After Telling Students His Race Was ‘Superior’
In the video, the unidentified white middle school teacher was captured saying, “Deep down in my heart, I’m ethnocentric, which means I think my race is the superior one.”
By Defender News Service A teacher in the Pflugerville Independent School District which is located in Austin, Texas, is no longer employed by the district after a video surfaced of him saying he believes white people are “the superior” race. In the video, the unidentified white middle school teacher was captured saying, “Deep down in my heart, I’m ethnocentric, which means I think my race is the superior one.” It’s unclear what led to the controversial conversation inside a classroom at Bohls Middle School. Rapper Southside’s son is in that class and they put the video
on social media, which quickly went viral. The video shows the students’ quick reaction to the statement, which prompted one student to ask, “So white is better than all?” The teacher then asks the students to let him finish speaking before adding, “I think everybody thinks [that] they’re just not honest about it.” Several students then appear to confront the teacher about his bold claim, asking him if he just openly admitted to being racist. “I think everybody is a racist at that level,” the teacher responded. When asked a second time if
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By Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire
Harvard University announced Claudine Gay as its new president. Gay, the dean of Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences, becomes just the second woman — and the first African American — to hold the post in the institution’s history. The university was founded in 1636. Dr. Gay will take office in July 2023. “Claudine is a remarkable leader who is profoundly devoted to sustaining and enhancing Harvard’s academic excellence, to
championing both the value and the values of higher education and research, to expanding opportunity, and to strengthening Harvard as a fount of ideas and a force for good in the world,” Penny Pritzker, senior fellow of the Harvard Corporation and chair of Harvard’s presidential search committee, told the Harvard Gazette. “As the Edgerley Family Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences since 2018, and previously as dean of social science, Claudine has brought to her roles a rare blend of incisiveness and inclusiveness, intellectual range and strategic Continued on Page 12
Community Mobilizes to Save Holy Names University for Students and Future Students
By Ken Epstein As Holy Names University in Oakland struggles with deep financial difficulties, local elected officials and community leaders are coming forward with offers to help find ways to resolve the problems and save the city’s primary remaining university. Rumors are swirling around the campus that the university could close at the end of the school year in May 2023, dispersing many of its students to colleges in nearby cities. Some Oakland leaders are exploring alternatives that would benefit the Oakland community and its students. If HNU actually closes, some are looking at turning the campus into a home for one of the Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), which are known for welcoming white, Latino and AsianAmerican students, as well as African American students. Many Oaklanders are committed to preserving the Holy Names campus as a diverse center for higher education that grants bachelors’ degrees and trains teachers, health professionals and social workers. Several people told the Oakland Post they will do whatever they can to prevent the beautiful hill campus from being sold to developers to build exclusive private residences. The Oakland Post attempted several times to contact Steven Borg, chairperson of the HNU Board of Trustees, but was unable to reach him before the
newspaper’s deadline. In addition to his position on the board, Borg is an independent marketing consultant. Here are the questions the Post texted to Borg: • There are people in the community, including political leaders of the City of Oakland, who want to support HNU to resolve these issues. Have you met with them, or do you plan to meet with them? • I have also heard that the Board dissolved its fundraising committee five years ago. Is that true? Why was that? • Do you have fundraising plans? • Will you talk to city officials who want to help? • What steps do you plan to take to protect HNU and its longstanding role as an institution that is crucial to the education of thousands of local students and educational and medical professionals that serve the community? • There are rumors that some are considering offering the HNU campus to real estate developers. Are you considering that? At a meeting with the Holy Names community Thursday afternoon, Board President Borg said that HNU would continue offering classes for the Spring semester but cannot say anything else. He also announced that the university’s president, Michael Groener, was on leave of ab-
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