Organizing Delivers The Goods: Residents Win Against A’s Laney College Location
In November 2017, our sister organization, Oakland Rising, received a flurry of media covering the results from our latest survey asking Oakland voters where they stand on the A’s stadium redevelopment. The team’s preferred relocation site is near Laney College and Chinatown. With displacement running rampant and projects proposed by corporate developers having the red carpet rolled out for them, we and our collaborative partner, the Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN), surveyed voters about their opinions on the potential impacts that the stadium development could have on Chinatown and Eastlake neighborhoods which house long-term residents who are people of color, immigrants, and working-class families.
Victory was ours as the Peralta College Board of Trustees decided to side with the community and end negotiation talks with the A’s. While we are proud that the A’s are Rooted in Oakland, we expect them to be a responsible community partner and to do their part to avoid exacerbating the displacement of our communities and destruction of historic cultural neighborhoods.