I found this email in the Adams Point Yahoo Group. It shows Oakland Councilmember and Mayoral Candidate Nancy Nadel's view of the Oak To Ninth Waterfront Plan that's proposed by Signature Properties. I personally have no problem with the developer making money from the project -- that's what they do. I do agree that this "new town in town" needs to be well-studied before approval. Plus, I'd like to see a baseball stadium there as well.
From: "Nadel, Nancy"
> Nancy"
> To: 'Nina Serrano'
> Subject: RE: Fwd: [15X_NCPC] Oak-to-Ninth: Important City Council
> meeting Tuesday night
> Date: Fri, 24 Mar 2006 15:36:14 -0800
>
> I think the city and the port approached this project backwards. We
> should have done a specific plan and then found developers who
> would do what we want. When I asked the planning director why that
> wasn't the process as outlined in the Estuary Plan, she said that
> it was less expensive for the city and port to ask the developer to
> do a plan. And that's what they did. The result is a project that
> uses too much open space, has buildings that are too tall for the
> waterfront, tears down an historic building without studying
> whether it could have a good use, and minimally includes affordable
> housing. In its current state, it is not a good deal for
> Oaklanders. The developer will make 17% profit just on the land
> deal alone -- we don't know what additional profit will be made on
> the build-out.
>
> I will know more after the workshop. This is one of the last big
> parcels of
> public land and we shouldn't just give it away.
>
> Nancy
Comments