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A Sign Of The Times

by Lynda Carson (lyndacarson [at] excite.com)
Controversy Still Rumbles Through The Media
Pages This Past Week Over The Fiasco Of
Oakland City Officials Spending $650,000
On A Sign As A Publicity Stunt!
A Sign Of The Times
By Lynda Carson 12/9/01

In a $650,000 stunt that raised the eyebrows of local residents and the media, Oakland's Mayor Jerry Brown got caught up into the crossfire of protester's during a choreographed staged event to highlight the re-lighting of the Oakland Fox Theater marquee and blade sign for a November 29th event downtown Oakland. Oakland spent over $650,000 on the theater sign despite budget shortfalls. Numerous political celebrities, and their backers were being featured as speakers, along with musicians, a choir, and the whole gang was dressed in 1920’s period costume. All were here to celebrate the spending of $650,000 for a sign of the times, and the event was MC’d by Dennis Richmond who shook hands with the demonstrators before they disrupted the rest of that evenings affair.

This all began after Matthew Siegel a local attorney read a Chip Johnson story in the Chronicle about so much money being wasted on the sign. Word quickly spread, others united in rebellion and a plan of action was formulated to join the party. Just as the staged event was about to begin, dozen's of protester's who showed up were immediately challenged by the Oakland Police who tried to keep them out of the block party and away from the theater. The protesters insisted that it was a public event in which anyone was invited, and were allowed to pass through. They then quickly moved into position to infiltrate the staged event before the news cameras' started rolling, and shouted out into the crowd;WHAT A WASTE OF MONEY! SHAME! The chanting continued, and a screaming match arose throughout the crowd.

Suddenly Dennis Richmond of KTVU stepped up to the mic as host to the event, introducing the evenings speakers and guest's, and out of respect for the anchorman of Channel 2 news, the crowd hushed to hear what he had to say. Mr. Richmond then graciously stepped into the crowd among the protesters to shake their hands, and say thank you for not interrupting him. As he stepped back to the mic to introduce the Mayor Jerry Brown, suddenly the fury of the crowd erupted again into another glorious shouting match. It appeared that most were actually having fun screaming at one another, and a red faced Mayor quickly disappeared away into the night, as he was rapidly replaced by the next featured speaker. Among the protesters, one sign read; JERRY BROWN CORPORATE CLOWN, and from the staged area the guest's found theirselves surrounded by the protesters and all of the various signs.

The event itself was being staged as an expensive stunt to attract developers into the downtown area for the 10 K Plan meant to create 10,000 units of housing known as elegant density units for the well to do. In times past many made their fortunes in downtown Oakland, and the stage is being set for that to happen again if City Officials and their rich backers have it their way. City Officials hope to lure in Forrest City Enterprises to re-develop downtown Oakland, and they pulling out all the stops to get their attention.

Founded over 75 years ago, Forest City Enterprises major shareholders are three families known by name of Ratner/Miller/Shafran. Now a $4 billion NYSE (FCEA) realestate company headquarted in Cleveland Ohio. They are timber barons with a history. Forest City Enterprises is located in TERMINAL TOWER, Cleveland Ohio. Specialists in exploiting urban areas where the low-income reside and become displaced by re-development. At the same time they are exploiting locations of wildlife habitat by despoiling the forests. Forest City Enterprises has proposed building 2,000 units of housing in downtown Oakland. If groundfloor retail projects are included in the venture to build the 2,000 units of housing, the project may require an upfront city subsidy. The city is debating wethor to extend an exclusive negotiating agreement with Forest City Enterprises.

Among the featured speakers for the gala staged event at the Fox Theater, City Officials trotted out Erma DeLucchi who already made her millions by exploiting the Fox Theater and the City of Oakland when she sold it to the City back in 1978 for nearly $3.5 million. In a call to Mr.s DeLucchi of Piedmont she was rather candid about what she is all about.

During the interview with Erma DeLucchi, Mrs. DeLucchi stated that she believes the protesters were insignificant, and that it was worth $650,000 for the City of Oakland to get the marquee lights at the Fox Theater going again. She went on to state that she was aware that redevelopment creates homelessness, but that Oakland needs to move forward. Many thousands of low-income renters reside in the midst of the designated 10 K Plan area. Mr.s DeLucchi of Italian descent, who made millions as the owner of the Fox Theater, moved to Oakland from Montana when she was only 2 years old, and makes her fortune through property management. It was she who bought the Fox Theater during an auction some years ago for the purchase price of $340,000, and in 1978 sold the theater to the City of Oakland for somewhere between three and three and a half million dollars. According to Mr.s De Lucchi, she was having troubles raising the last $140,000 to pay off the $340,000 mortage due for the purchase of the Fox Theater. As it turned out, the City of Oakland bailed her out and payed her millions to take it off of her back before the banks forclosed on her. Erma turned $200,000 into millions at the expense of Oakland taxpayers, dumped Theater like a hot potato onto the taxpayers, and has no qualms about it.

Others being interviewed had different viewpoints. John Reiman believes it was obscene to spend that kind of money on a sign meant to lure in developers that will displace or make homeless many thousands of people. Reiman calls Jerry Brown a carpetbagger who is out to exploit Oakland for all it is worth.

Leah Hess states that she does not believe that the sign will attract anyone to fix the Fox Theater which may need another $42 million to restore it again. It's alot of money say's Hess, at a time while kids in schools lack heat during winter month's or books, pencils and paper for an education. A Tenants Right's attorney, Leah Hess says that tenants can protect their right's through code compliance if they would file the complaint's against the local slumlords.

Vivian Hain who reside's a few blocks away heard the noise and showed up out of curiosity. When she learned that the party and protest was over the waste of a $650,000 sign for a Theater that does'nt do anything other than sit there in a part of town most people run from at sunset, she joined the protesters to scream at the Mayor. Vivian has lived in the area long enough to know that the friends of the Mayor who showed up for the street party are never in that neighborhood at night, and she said that they were the rich from the hills above who want to exploit Oakland through the process of gentrification. Vivian herself is at the mercy of a slumlord, and she resides in a place where she has to wash the dishes in the backyard, because the sink is attached to the outside wall of the building she is in. Hole's in her ceiling are big enough to drop
watermellon's through, and from what I saw she needs an interior decorator for the place.

It was Richard Mellor who joined the protesters, claiming that "CAPITAL" comes with a price; low wages, high rents, and store's to sustain the rich while it displaces the poor.

Concerned folk's of B.O.S.S. showed up for the event, and Kendra M.Wilson a community activist with B.O.S.S. came to show her outrage over the waste of money during a period when most folks can barely maintain a roof over their heads.

Many other protester's and party goers were dispersed throughout the crowd, and most agreed to having the time of their life as they pushed and shoved each other around while shouting at one another to express their viewpoints over the fiasco. It was truely the democratic process at it's finest in Oakland.
by kn
Umm, a little bit of punctuation and grammar would help here. I could barely understand this article.

Are you a product of the public school system? If so, we have a deeper problem than previously thought.
by hmmmmm

funny how you had everything to say about this person's typos, but nothing to say about the facts.

this means you are trying to discredit the poster, without having any factual basis for your counter-arguement.
by Lynda Carson (lyndacarson [at] excite.com)

Theres no doubt that I need an editor to clean up my stories. But they come from the heart and I try to be accurate.

I'm a stray that got lose from the orphanage long ago,
grew up on the streets of Amerika, and the 6th grade was the last year that I completed in school...

One cannot blame the public school system for any of
that...

I'm a Certified Luthier, and a G.E.D. Grad by the age of 17 sometime over 30 years ago. But it does little for my grammer, and if all you picky eggheads are'nt smart enough to know a good story when you hear read it, thats no fault of my own....

LC
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