Big 3 Oakland mayoral candidates say they don't trust A's, but willing to deal on ballpark project
Supervisor Nate Miley does a Joe Manchin impression, dangles support for renters' protections in exchange for ending countywide eviction moratorium
ELECTION 2022
OAKLAND MAYOR
—BRUSH BACK PITCHES—The proposed waterfront ballpark at Howard Terminal is one of the biggest issues in this fall’s Oakland mayoral campaign. Seven candidates, including the Big 3—Oakland Councilmembers Sheng Thao, Loren Taylor, and Treva Reid—did not shy away from criticizing Oakland Athletics management at a candidate forum on Thursday evening. But several also struck a positive chord as negotiations between the team and city continue.
—An actual proposal for the $12 billion ballpark district has not yet been made public. That could change over the next month. City officials hope a negotiated agreement could come before the Oakland Planning Commission in early September before heading to the full City Council.
—It was clear at Thursday night’s mayoral candidate forum at Fremont High School that each of the Big 3 are playing hardball with the Athletics, and among themselves. (If candidate Ignacio De La Fuente was in attendance last night, I would call it the Big 3+1.)
—“The deal has not been given to us,” Reid told the roughly 75 residents in attendance. “There’s been a lot of shadiness. There’s been a lot of a lack of transparency in these negotiations, but everyone is still at the table and we’re still looking to hold the A’s accountable and city staff accountable.”
—Without seeing the actual proposal, Thao laid out parameters for the ballpark project receiving her support. It includes at least 15 percent on-site affordable housing, in addition, to at least 25 percent off-site affordable housing. “I think this is a very fair deal in that sense,” Thao said of the offer to the Athletics.
—“They play this media game with us to try and negotiate with us in the media,” Thao said of the Athletics, “but I refuse to play that game. Until I see a proposal, this is nothing and the A’s don’t want to stay in Oakland. That’s how I feel.”
—Taylor reframed the Howard Terminal project as a massive $12 billion real estate deal, not solely a ballpark project. “We are talking about a real estate development deal for $12 billion and the baseball stadium is 10 percent of that,” he said.
—He acknowledged the Athletics are tough negotiators and are thinking in their own best interests. “Yes. We don’t trust [John] Fisher and [Dave] Kaval and those folks, but our duty on the council is to represent the residents of Oakland. What that means is we have to figure out how to get the best possible deal.”
—Earlier this month, Taylor’s campaign sent out a fundraising email in which he clearly voiced support for Howard Terminal. Thao made light of Taylor’s unequivocal support of Howard Terminal and said it weakens the city’s hand at the negotiating table.
—“I don’t think we should be cheerleading for this project right now because we are negotiating as many have stated up here,” Thao said. “So to go out there and say, ‘I am for Howard Terminal and this is how we’re going to make it happen,’ I think that is inappropriate because we are negotiating and as far as I’m concerned I have not seen one proposal from the Oakland A’s and Dave Kaval.”
—Among the second-tier mayoral candidates in attendance last night, only Seneca Scott mirrored the councilmember’s cautious support of the Howard Terminal ballpark project. Candidate Greg Hodge said he believes the city is “being played” by the Athletics, while homeless advocate Derrick Soo said the project is not one of his priorities. Another candidate, Allyssa Villanueva Victory said she opposes the privatization of public lands.
(I’ll have more on the Oakland mayoral candidates in Monday’s newsletter. Next week, I’ll also breakdown recently released election data from the June primary, and begin analysis of mid-year campaign finance reports for the June primary and upcoming November races.)
—PULLING PAPERS—Below is the list of prospective candidates who recently pulled papers. Note: Alameda County’s filing deadline is Friday, Aug. 12. If the incumbent in a race does not file, then the deadline is Wednesday, Aug. 17. *Incumbent.
ALBANY CITY COUNCIL—Nick Pilch.
LIVERMORE CITY COUNCIL—Carol Wahrer (District 1), Ben Barrientos (District 2).
PLEASANTON CITY COUNCIL—*Julie Testa, Jamie Yee.
SAN LEANDRO SCHOOL BOARD—Jacqueline Perl (Area 2), *James Aguilar (Area 6).
EAST BAY REGIONAL PARK DISTRICT—Olivia Sanwong (District 5).
HAYWARD SCHOOL BOARD—*Ken Rawdon.
—MONEYBALL—20th Assembly District candidate Liz Ortega-Toro received a maxed out $9,700 contribution on Wednesday from Operating Engineers Local 3 Statewide PAC Small Contributor Committee.
—ENDORSEMENT—Oakland mayoral candidate and Councilmember Sheng Thao received an endorsement from Oakland City Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas on Thursday.
COUNTY NEWS
UNINCORPORATED ALAMEDA COUNTY
—NATE MANCHIN—Alameda County Supervisor Nate Miley is what stands between meaningful renters’ protections in unincorporated Alameda County. Over the past four months, a trio of proposed rental housing ordinances has been heard at several Board of Supervisors committees. In each case, Miley has voiced criticism for the proposals that include a rent registry, rental inspection program, just cause protections, and a “ban the box” ordinance.
—Evoking the ghost of West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, Miley said on Wednesday that his support of any of the proposed rental housing ordinances is linked to the Board of Supervisors ending the more than two-years-old countywide eviction moratorium. Last week, Miley and Supervisor David Haubert unsuccessfully attempted to put the rescission or modification of the eviction moratorium on a future board agenda.
—A draft rent stabilization ordinance for unincorporated Alameda County was brought to the Alameda County Board of Supervisors Unincorporated Services Committee on Wednesday evening. Alameda County Housing Director Michelle Starratt, said the draft ordinance, a fourth proposed rental housing protection, has not been fully vetted by county counsel, but is meant to “start a conversation.”
—The draft ordinance limits annual rent increases in unincorporated Alameda County at four percent and creates a rent review board, among other proposals.
—Miley said he’ll study the proposed ordinances closely. “I don’t know what the Board of Supervisors is going to do? They might vote for the strongest ordinance possible. I don’t know? But I’m going to stick to what I think is the right thing to do. He added, “My job is to not to do anything that’s going to produce unintended consequences. My job is to look at both sides of the issue. I do think we do need something in place. The question is, what do that look like?"
—RENT REGISTRY—Alameda County housing officials have urged for a rent registry to track units in the unincorporated areas. Landlords say a registry is redundant and the data is readily available.
—But that may not be the case. the most recent U.S. Census identified 19,000 rental properties in unincorporated Alameda County. However, only 2,000 have registered with the county’s business licensing fee program.
—A STARRATT IS BORN—You rarely see a city or county bureaucrat imbue much personal sentiment into their public-facing comments. But Alameda County Housing Director Michelle Starratt has offered some noticeably pro-renter sentiment over the past few months. Conversely, Starratt’s name is often cursed by local landlords. Like, very bad names.
—On Wednesday, as the committee discussion on a draft rent stabilization ordinance for unincorporated Alameda County was near its conclusion, Starratt laid out how the plight of renters greatly affects the local economy and society as a whole.
—“I think it is so critical to understand that our community needs our minimum wage workers. It needs our lower income workers. We cannot live, we cannot survive as a society without a grocery store clerk, without our medical technicians, and if we can’t provide housing for them we’re really not going to have the types of services that we need and the affordable housing crisis is a problem. It’s a huge crisis and the only solutions is a multi-pronged approach.” Starratt added, some of the main solutions are tenant protections and more housing units.