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Oakland is a waterfront city, a special city located on one of the most beautiful bodies of water in the world: the San Francisco Bay, and yet many people don't even realize it.
Oakland's waterfront is a valuable but largely neglected treasure that should be developed and nurtured for the pleasure and use of all of us.
Why should this precious resource belong to a private developer and the few affluent people who buy his waterfront units, blocking the water views and access to the rest of us, and creating traffic and other nightmares?
Why indeed?
A few people will make some big bucks.
But the rest of us will get gouged, and the waterfront will be gone forever.
Forever.
There IS a plan which was created by many people working for a long time on Oakland's waterfront area.
It is a good plan, one which addresses social, historical and environmental concerns.
It is called the Estuary Plan and Oakland voters overwhelmingly approved it in 1999 and 2002.
But the city is preparing to move forward with a private developer's plan which does NOT meet the goals and vision of the Estuary Plan. The Oakland
City Council recently voted to approve the private plan and there was little press coverage or analysis of the deal.
BUT IT IS NOT OVER! OAKLAND CAN STILL AND MUST OPPOSE THE DEVELOPER'S PLAN TO TAKE OUR WATERFRONT!
With this referendum, we can have a better deal. |
