SAVE HOWARD TERMINAL! Press Conference 6/30/22 375 Beale St. SF 8:30 AM

SAVE HOWARD TERMINAL!
On June 30, the Bay Conservation & Development Commission (BCDC) will vote on whether or not to amend the SF Bay and Seaport Plans by removing the port priority use designation from Howard Terminal. If this amendment passes, the A’s will be able to apply for a permit to construct the new ballpark and condos.
Some commissioners are bought out, including the chair Zack Wasserman, an attorney who represented the A’s until October 2021. But others can be swayed - their names are on the right. If we can get 10 commissioners to vote against removing the port priority designation, we can stop this privatization scheme that will destroy many union jobs and further gentrify the city.
What are BCDC and SPAC?
KEY BCDC MEMBERS TO TARGET
Dave Pine
San Mateo, Board of Supervisors (D1) (650) 368-3012 dpine [at] co.sanmateo.ca.us
Brad Wagenknecht
Napa County Supervisor, teacher
(707) 253-4828 brad.wagenknecht [at] countyofnapa.org
John Vasquez
Solano County Board of Supervisors (D4) (707) 784-6129 jmvasquez [at] solanocounty.com
Eddie Ahn
Brightline Defense ED (415) 252-9700 eddie.ahn.bcdc [at] gmail.com
Jesse Arreguin
City of Berkeley Mayor
(510) 981-7100 JArreguin [at] cityofberkeley.info
John Gioia
Contra Costa County Supervisor (D1) (510) 231-8686 john.gioia [at] bos.cccounty.us
Otto Lee
County of Santa Clara, Supervisor (D3) (408)-299-5030 otto.lee [at] bos.sccgov.org
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See talking points on back side.
Please contact the commissioners by phone and/or email and tell them why they should vote to keep the use designation of Howard Terminal. Also, tune in June 30 at 9am to give public comment before the vote: tinyurl.com/BCDCJune30
The Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC) is a California state commission dedicated to the protection, enhancement, and responsible use of the San Francisco Bay. It has 27 members representing port, regional and state stakeholders appointed by agencies throughout the Bay Area.
The Seaport Planning Advisory Committee (SPAC) considers amendments to the Seaport Plan and provides recommendations to BCDC based on technical expertise. Members include representatives from Bay Area ports and environmental and economic development interest groups.
The SPAC recommendation regarding Howard Terminal:
On March 16, 2022, the SPAC voted to retain the Port Priority Use designation for Howard Terminal - reinforcing that Howard Terminal is critical to the port’s maritime operations and the region’s projected demand for cargo growth. We join the SPAC in urging the full BCDC commissioner to protect this critical piece of land and to reject the A’s efforts to privative the Port of Oakland and displace thousands of maritime jobs.
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Talking points from Community Members
The longshoremen, shipping, trucking, import/export, logistics, and ag company workers are all are sounding the alarm about the dangerous plan to replace Howard Terminal with a ballpark and luxury housing.
Conflict of interest in the BCDC:
Zack Wasserman, the chair of the BCDC, is also a partner at Wendel Rosen LLP, the law firm that represented the Oakland A’s until October 2021. For this reason Wasserman has recused himself from BCDC meetings regarding the Howard Terminal’s Port Priority Use Area (PPUA) designation three times including most recently in February 2022. Wasserman cannot be impartial in this process and so should recuse himself immediately from the vote.
Why Howard Terminal must remain open:
Howard Terminal is critical to the Port of Oakland and is used to keep thousands of idling trucks off neighborhood streets. Currently, the port has trucks spilling out into the surrounding streets and cargo containers piled high. This is a real crisis due to insufficient space, and it will become much worse if Howard Terminal is shut down to make way for a stadium and luxury housing.
We must retain Howard Terminal’s port priority use designation and reject any changes that pave the way for the land’s permanent removal as a critical hub for truckers, training, cargo containers, and logistics.
Even as well-paying industrial careers are disappearing throughout in the Bay Area, but are still flourishing at the Port of Oakland due to its important waterfront. The port is the region’s largest industrial base and thousands of working-class union jobs would be lost if they are displaced by the stadium and luxury housing development.
The SPAC has advised against the removal of Howard Terminal’s Port Priority Use Area (PPUA) status. This means that the SPAC is concerned that without Howard Terminal, there could one day be a need to use bay fill (dumping artificial filler that extends the coast) to meet cargo demands. But artificial bay fill is very bad for the environment.
We should be preserving as much port space as possible to allow for future growth – creating more well-paying union jobs at the port for Oakland residents. Increases in shipping demand are expected and this means Howard Terminal’s port activities would have to expand.
Howard Terminal is one of the only sites capable of expanding to support all three classifications of cargo: Container, Ro-Ro, Dry Bulk. BCDC staff has asked the Port of Oakland and the A’s to identify where these necessary supplementary services would go without Howard Terminal. The Port has not provided a response.
The ILWU Local 10 is one of the only majority-Black longshore unions and prides itself on providing opportunities for Black people (in particular Black women and other women of color) to earn good wages.
The Oakland A’s Environmental Impact Report for the proposed project fails to address significant environmental concerns around traffic, air quality, and toxic remediation at the proposed ballpark site at Howard Terminal.
The Oakland A’s ballpark project will commit nearly $1 billion in Oakland taxpayer money to private, for-profit development that benefits billionaire John Fisher and his wealthy associates. Meanwhile our public schools are being closed and we have thousands of people living on the streets.
Urge the BCDC to vote to keep Howard Terminal’s port priority use designation, so that the A’s billionaire boondoggle project can be stopped.