Labor Leaders Reject Speculation And Fear-Mongering At Former Oakland Army Base; Call On City Leaders To Govern Based On Facts, Prior Commitments, And The City's Economic Well-Being
OAKLAND, Calif., Sept. 8, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Amid a flurry of ideological grandstanding, rampant speculation, and fearmongering by special interests, labor leaders from throughout the region call on Mayor Libby Schaff and the Oakland City Council to continue their years-long commitment to the revitalization and renaissance of the former Oakland Army Base based solely on facts, established mutual commitments, and the economic wellbeing of the City and its residents.
The Building and Construction Trades Council of Alameda County, AFL-CIO ("Building Trades") and the Teamsters Joint Council No. 7 ("Teamsters") sent letters to the City regarding the ongoing redevelopment of the former base into the Oakland Global Trade and Logistics Center ("Oakland Global").
"[O]ur main concern is to ensure that the development of the Oakland Army Base not be jeopardized by either unsubstantiated claims or global concerns in which we have no real influence," underscored the Building Trades in an August 27 letter to Mayor Schaff and the City Council members.
"We think the issue deserves a thoughtful approach free of rhetoric, politics and personality attacks. And we call on you as Oakland's elected leaders to lead with principle," the Teamsters asserted in an August 5 letter to Mayor Schaff and the Council.
The respective labor organizations were responding to multiple assertions aimed at City leaders by outside special interests that are premised on nothing more than speculation, ignoring facts, and resorting to fearmongering over unsubstantiated allegations of health risks supposedly related to Oakland Global operations.
Phil Tagami, President and CEO of California Capital and Investment Group ("CCIG"), the developer of Oakland Global, said, "Everything we are doing is improving Oakland, including its air quality. The project is a prime example of best practices of a community benefits agreement negotiated over three years ago. The package we agreed to with community stakeholders is unprecedented, all of which is framed by thousands of good paying, union jobs."
"The fact is that there has been no commitment to include or exclude any legal commodity at Oakland Global," added Mark McClure, Vice President of CCIG. "All of the development at the Oakland Global project will be designed and operated according to the hundreds of conditions of approval already imposed by the City as well as the latest state-of-the-art technological standards related to health and safety."
In 2012 and 2013 the City approved the legal entitlement documents, granting fully vested rights, and deemed Oakland Global to be in full compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). CCIG has diligently pursued, and even expedited at the request of the City, the development of Oakland Global as always contemplated. The project has submitted hundreds of reports to the City each step of the way.
At least one testament to the project's compliance with the commitments made was noted by the Building Trades:
"For almost the past decade, the Building Trades have been part of the Labor-Community initiative that has promoted the development of the Oakland Army Base in a way that maximizes the job opportunities to disadvantaged residents of Oakland and specifically West Oakland. This partnership culminated in a set of agreements between the City, Community, Labor and the Developers. These agreements not only ensured that the majority of the jobs for both the construction and the operation of the Army base would be 'middle class' union jobs, but established both the requirements and a pathway to encourage local disadvantaged residents to be employed on the Army Base and start true sustainable careers in either the construction or the warehousing industry. In fact, the data up to now on the construction side has Oakland residents performing over 50% of the work hours on the project with 30 new hire Oakland Apprentices working on the job. In this light, I strongly urge the decision-makers in Oakland to take no action that would threaten the continued creation of thousands of good careers for Oakland Residents."
About Oakland Global
In 1999, the Federal Government decommissioned the Oakland Army Base. After a decade and a half of strategic planning, the Oakland Army Base will become a world-class hub and international gateway for transporting goods by seaport, railroad and roadway. This new state-of-the-art facility will be known as the Oakland Global Trade and Logistics Center, or "Oakland Global." Oakland Global is the result of more than five years of collaboration amongst the City of Oakland, the Port of Oakland and California Capital & Investment Group (CCIG) and is expected to be completed in several phases throughout the next decade. For more information, please visit http://www.oaklandglobal.com.
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SOURCE Oakland Global
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