all the public pressure to #SaveE12th from a luxury condo tower appears to have pushed our opponents to a new low.
Proposing SEGREGATED HOUSING.
Thanks to our organizing for #PublicLandforPublicGood (which now includes our own community-sourced proposal for 100% affordable housing), the luxury tower team has been forced to include affordable units in their proposal for the land, as well.
And this is how they decided to do it.
Yes, you are seeing that correctly. Still a luxury tower… plus a small box of affordable units kneeling humbly down below.
The battle for the heart and soul of Oakland continues, and a powerful new force has entered the fray.
11th-grade students from the Social Justice pathway at Colisuem College Prep Academy created original art in support of the People’s Proposal for E12th — and against a luxury condo tower that would worsen the gentrification and racist displacement already plaguing Oakland.
The students unveiled their work and spoke about its themes on Friday, November 20th, in a guerilla art exhibit — the murals posted directly on the fence surrounding the E12th parcel — that has garnered media attention.
The newest phase of protest over the land was the “guerilla art” exhibited by students from Coliseum College Prep. The art makes statements about gentrification and displacement in Oakland as the rental market heats up. The art underscores the East 12th parcel’s place in the debate over gentrification, and as an example of the public outcry for the city government to address Oaklanders’ concerns. For example, one panel showed the words “Don’t close Oakland” and was illustrated by an image of a zipper closing over the city, with the names of tech companies’ brands on the notches of the zipper.
From an androgynous boxer knocking out a pile of money featuring Donald Trump’s face; to an African, Asian, and Central/South American take on diasporic Oakland; the students incorporated national and international political themes into their work.
Without using buzzwords like “gentrification” or “displacement,” they spoke directly to these issues as people directly affected — with slogans like “Without the people, what is Oakland?” — “People Can Defeat the Money” — and “Rent for $3200? HELL NO!” (referring to the $3,200/mo price tag for a 1-bedroom unit in UrbanCore’s proposed luxury tower).
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 11/05/15
CONTACT: Amy Vanderwarker, (510) 504-8413
Leading Affordable Housing Developer and Community Group Announce Partnership for E 12th Proposal
SAHA and E 12th Wishlist Design Team Join Forces To Propose 100% Affordable Housing Development On Public Land
Oakland CA – Today, Satellite Affordable Housing Associates (SAHA) and the E 12th Wishlist Design Team announced a new partnership to advance a community-led, 100 percent affordable housing development on the E 12th parcel. The proposed project is the result of an extensive community engagement process led by the E 12th Wishlist Design Team and other community groups in the area.
Compare the People’s Proposal with UrbanCore’s bid for a luxury tower + segregated cube of affordable units. It reflects a very real trend increasingly polarizing Bay Area residents into hyper-wealthy professional echelons on the one hand, and service, retail, and low-wage workers on the other.
Chapter 1: The Fight
Background
In the midst of a horrendous rent spike in Oakland, California, one precious piece of public land called the East 12th Parcel seemed doomed.
The City Council, forging an illegal deal, had promised E12th to a developer eager to build high-rise luxury condos at market rate: $3,200 per month.
The original proposed high-rise luxury condo tower
This of course would be out of reach for most Black and Brown Oakland families, presently being swept inland (or out of Oakland altogether) by the Bay Area tech wave of gentrification. Condos in the neighborhood would also likely usher in more policing and surveillance: protecting the fancy new tower from anyone too dark-skinned, too poor, or otherwise suspicious.
E12th was just another casualty of class war, sucked up by the City’s trickle-down approach to a massive housing crisis. Defeat seemed imminent.
Then the unthinkable happened.
Led by Black liberation, Asian solidarity, and Queer & Trans People Of Color nonviolent direct action groups, the East 12th Coalition intervened to stop the City of Oakland from selling off this public land.
How did we do it?
5 Key Strengths of the E12th Intervention
Tackling a gentrification giant this huge required a serious diversity of tactics. 5 of the most important ways we were able to block the sale:
1. Pressuring Politicians —From meetings to petitions and phone blasts, EastLake neighbors kept the pressure on elected officials.
2. Rowdy Interruptions —Black, POC, Queer&Trans POC, and white ally groups, versed in direct action for racial justice, contributed blockade techniques at key moments.
3. The Condo Deal Was Illegal —According to California’s Surplus Lands Act, when selling off public land the city is supposed to offer it first for affordable housing.
5. Community Engagement —Knocking on doors, flyering at the grocery store, collaborating with Vietnamese progressive student organizers to reach out to Vietnamese community in the E12th neighborhood: unlike City Council members, we truly cared what the community had to say.
Turning Point
As the scandal continued to explode in East Bay and San Francisco press, the City was finally forced to reopen a bidding process for the E12th parcel.
The E12th Coalition had achieved a miracle: blocking a done deal of gentrification that would have tarnished the Oakland landscape forever.
But did we have the stamina and know-how to offer an alternative vision?
Chapter 2: Community Design
Click to read
The 1% (and their bought-out politicians) believe in a trickle-down housing approach: cater to the elite, and they’ll throw the rest of us a few community crumbs.
Not only do we reject this framework, we can — AND DID — do something better.
The E12th Wish List forum brought together over 200 Oakland community members to work with real architects and designers (majority people-of-color) to develop a People’s vision for E12th.
