BAMBD News Update
confidential message
11/1/16
BAMBD planner Marvin X and Oakland City Council President, Lynette
McElhaney
Dr.
Ayodele Nzinga, lead planner of the BAMBD, founder and director of the
Lower Bottom Playaz, in residence at the Flight Deck Theatre, 1540
Broadway, downtown Oakland.
Maestro
Marvin X, a founder of the National Black Arts Movement, chief planner
of the BAMBD, Oakland CA. Maestro reads from his play Salaam, Huey,
Salaam, about his last meeting with Black Panther co-founder Dr. Huey P.
Newton in a West Oakland crack house. The play was performed coast to
coast, from Oakland to Brooklyn at Sista's Place, Bed-Sty. It was also
performed in Newark, NJ at the home of Amina and Amiri Baraka.
photo Alecia Mason
Oakland Post News Group Publisher, Paul
Cobb, and Marvin X have been friends since childhood, growing up in West
Oakland. Paul grew up on 7th and Pine, Marvin at 7th and Campbell.
Marvin decries and mourns the fact that Paul Cobb knows more about his
father than Marvin does. See Marvin's BAM classic Flowers for the
Trashman. photo by Walter Riley, Esq.
BAMBD executive planners met this
morning to work out the details on a comprehensive benefits package for
a joint meeting with the key developers in the BAMBD. During the
course of the meeting, chief architect, Dr. Ayodele Nzinga, attempted to
retire from the project, just as her mentor Marvin X tried to do when
he passed the baton to her. But BAMBD co-founder Paul Cobb and Marvin X
rejected her proposal to step down. Marvin X found the BAMBD task
overwhelming and Dr. Nzinga came to the same conclusion after working
with one developer on benefits for BAMBD. The task is immense due to the
myriad forces at play, e.g., developers, lawyers, politicians, artists,
planning commission, business persons, chamber of commerce and the
people in general who are, like those mentioned above, often
opportunistic, greedy and self-serving. On her way to the meeting,
Ayodele said a little voice told her to get back to her art which is
theatre. As he has done many times after passing the baton to his star
student, Marvin informed her this is the theatre of life. War is often
called a theatre. And BAM philosopher-mystic Sun Ra said, "The Creator
got things fixed: if you don't do the right thing, you can't go backward
or forward, you just stuck on stupid." Paul encouraged Ayo to come
forward and continue the mission we have started. He congratulated her
of the progress she made and asked forgiveness for not being able to
attend meetings with developers and other Oakland cultural district
planners who are in a united front with severe reservations about those
persons in cultural districts who think their plan should be a template
for all other cultural districts, especially those representing cultural
districts dominated by white supremacy hipsters such as the Uptown
District.
We are so thankful to have Paul Cobb's
political and activist wisdom to draw upon. Ayo offered to resign her
post as the public face of BAMBD after Paul explained the need for a
grand vision. "When we forced the City of Oakland to include the word
Movement in the name, we were serious that BAMBD must be a social and
cultural movement that represents the heart and soul of our people. And w
are taking a stand for our equity in the City of Oakland. "
Cobb
reminded us in the planning session this morning. "We must stake our
claim to this turf and not be punked," he said, using street language he
and Marvin X learned from growing up on 7th Street in West Oakland's
cultural and economic district. He reminded Marvin that his father,
Owendell Jackmon, was in a meeting at Paul's grand- father's house when
West Oakland's North American Africans organized to prevent the
destruction of our community when the Cypress freeway was planned circa
1954.As we know, the freeway collapsed during the last earthquake and is
now Mandela Parkway.
At the Oakland City Council
meeting tonight, Paul Cobb will address the Marijuana initiative that he
demands must include equity for BAMBD, including a trust fund so we can
at least have a 10% share in the economic benefits of the initiative so
BAMBD and all Oakland's North American Africans can benefit, including
all those persons convicted of drug crimes for selling marijuana. We
need a trust fund that does not go into Oakland's General Fund but is
reserved for BAMBD and related North American African cultural groups.
If it takes $250,000 to open a Cannabis Club, we want a fund so our
people can enjoy the economic benefits, rather than suffer jail time for
selling cannabis after they buy it from legal clubs operated by white
boys and girls. Yes, as we write, our brothers and sisters are still
being jailed for buying legal cannibis from the white children at clubs.
Dr.
Nzinga has requested letters of understanding from all non-profit
groups seeking benefits from developers.We oppose benefits directed to
City Hall as President of Oakland City Council, Lynette McElhaney has
suggested. We reject the City of Oakland's decision to have benefits
submitted as impact fees. We demand a seat on the planning commission so
we can keep abreast of all planning requests submitted to the City of
Oakland. We are thankful to have City of Oakland watchdog, Gene Hazzard,
on our side. And we also list Donald Lacy of the Love Life Foundation
as a key supporter. We informed him this afternoon that the BAMBD
Newsletter shall include the official City of Oakland's motto: Love Life
on the masthead of our newsletter The Movement.
Response from Oakland City Council President, Lynette McElhaney
Marvin,
I
am saddened by your message and disappointed that you chose to provide
misinformation to your readers rather than contact me or my staff
directly to address your concerns. Be that as it may, here is a
reminder of where we are on the process and timeline that I've presented
to my Black Culture Keepers work group:
1) Budget. There
is no established budget for the District. Business Improvement
Districts are funded by separate assessments that the property owners
undertake voluntarily. Cultural Districts do not yet have an identified
source of funding. My staff is researching concepts from around the
country that we will share with the Black Culture Keepers group. We
anticipated coming back to the group in December with a report on what
we've identified. As of now there are no funding sources that are under
Council control for any project and there is not one established for
the BAMBD.
2) Banners. The
banner implementation was directed to the City Administrator. As you
will note the Administration has not been able to advance all of the
proposals adopted by the Council including the implementation of the
Love Life theme. The Council will request updates but this has not been
prioritized over the time-sensitive work needed to get Renter
Protection, Police Oversight and other measures before the voters. My
staff and I have also asked the City Administrator to provide guidance
on a process that would allow the City to prioritize the selection of an
Oakland artist for the design. As we shared with the Black Culture
Keepers, standard bidding procedures have often resulted in the lowest
responsible bidder being someone who may not be from Oakland. I will
resume my efforts on getting this back in cue should I be fortunate to
be re-elected.
3) Street Vendors. The street vendor proposal is included in the downtown specific planning process.
In
addition to the issues you cited, the Black Culture Keepers made two
specific projects priority; namely the rehabilitation of the Malonga
Casquelourd Center for the Performing Arts ($5-$10 Million for full
restoration and upgrade to the theater + upgrades to the residential
units and offices) and the expansion of hours and programming at the
African American Museum and Library. Both of those efforts are underway
and we've worked diligently to secure funding commitments from
developers that are bringing projects to the corridor. The Malonga
artists are meeting regularly and I am delighted that they have secured
technical assistance to fund their on-going participation in the
rehabilitation efforts.
Lastly,
we have made strong commitments to the businesses in the District to
work with them to expand their participation in Visit Oakland and to
assess additional supports for building improvements, loans and grants
to support their businesses. We're behind on bringing the businesses
together but have had early meetings, particularly with the Black-owned
tech businesses that are located in the District.
Be well, Lynette
Superior Court Judge Kimberly Colwell issued a
tentative ruling last Thursday requiring Oakland City Council President
Lynette Gibson McElhaney to comply with a subpoena for records issued by
Oakland's Public Ethics Commission.
McElhaney can still object to Colwell's ruling, but Colwell wrote that under the Oakland City Charter the PEC has the authority to compel her to hand over records.
McElhaney is accused of using her council office to interfere with a townhouse project that was going to be built next to her personal home. An investigation by the Express last year uncovered emails showing that McElhaney had her chief of staff draft an appeal against the project, and that she enlisted the help of the city's planning and building director to force the developer and his architect to redesign the project. The developer ultimately gave up and blamed McElhaney for interfering.
The Alameda County Grand Jury carried out its own investigation over the past summer and confirmed that McElhaney violated ethics rules and had a conflict of interest.
In October, members of the public attempted to schedule a censure hearing against McElhaney — several times. But McElhaney cancelled two of the Rules Committee meetings at which the censure items were to be discussed. The council president also skipped council meetings. According to McElhaney, she was sick with bronchitis, but during the October 19 council meeting McElhaney was spotted attending a party held in honor of Barbara Lee. Members of the rules and legislation committee ultimately decided to hold off on censure and wait for the PEC to complete its review of the matter.
But on October 5, the Oakland Public Ethics Commission filed a lawsuit against McElhaney, alleging that she has ignored subpoenas for records and stonewalled their investigation.
Judge Colwell's tentative ruling sides with the PEC. A hearing in the case will be held on today. The ruling gives McElhaney until November 23 to comply with the PEC's subpoena.
McElhaney, a first-term councilmember, is running for reelection this year. She recently formed a “legal defense fund” according to records on file with the Oakland clerk.
Monday, November 7, 2016
Town Business: Judge Orders Council President McElhaney to Hand Over Records in Ethics Case
McElhaney can still object to Colwell's ruling, but Colwell wrote that under the Oakland City Charter the PEC has the authority to compel her to hand over records.
McElhaney is accused of using her council office to interfere with a townhouse project that was going to be built next to her personal home. An investigation by the Express last year uncovered emails showing that McElhaney had her chief of staff draft an appeal against the project, and that she enlisted the help of the city's planning and building director to force the developer and his architect to redesign the project. The developer ultimately gave up and blamed McElhaney for interfering.
The Alameda County Grand Jury carried out its own investigation over the past summer and confirmed that McElhaney violated ethics rules and had a conflict of interest.
In October, members of the public attempted to schedule a censure hearing against McElhaney — several times. But McElhaney cancelled two of the Rules Committee meetings at which the censure items were to be discussed. The council president also skipped council meetings. According to McElhaney, she was sick with bronchitis, but during the October 19 council meeting McElhaney was spotted attending a party held in honor of Barbara Lee. Members of the rules and legislation committee ultimately decided to hold off on censure and wait for the PEC to complete its review of the matter.
But on October 5, the Oakland Public Ethics Commission filed a lawsuit against McElhaney, alleging that she has ignored subpoenas for records and stonewalled their investigation.
Judge Colwell's tentative ruling sides with the PEC. A hearing in the case will be held on today. The ruling gives McElhaney until November 23 to comply with the PEC's subpoena.
McElhaney, a first-term councilmember, is running for reelection this year. She recently formed a “legal defense fund” according to records on file with the Oakland clerk.
