Wal-Mart by stealth: bait-and-switch or afterthought at the Port of Oakland?

Simeon Commercial Properties worked for over three years with the Port of Oakland on planning for its East Oakland "Metroport" development. Nonetheless, it was less than a month before the end of the process when the public first heard that the project would include a Wal-Mart Superstore.

In March 2002 the Port's Design Review Committee approved Simeon's design concept for office space, a hotel, and a new BART connector and intermediate station, on 23 acres at the Port's Hegenberger Gateway site. In July 2003 Simeon announced a drastic scaling back of its plans, eliminating the hotel and offices and targeting retail development instead.

Nonetheless, that November, when Simeon submitted its Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR), it listed hotel and office space as the preferred alternative. Two of the other six alternatives did include retail components, but they gave no hint of a superstore. During the 30-day public review period that followed, little effort was made to get community involvement, and no publicity was given to the drastic changes from the original project. Because the land belonged to the Port, city staff determined, the city had no jurisdiction, and the city's anti-superstore ordinance, passed less than two years before, did not apply.

It was not till Jan. 7, 2004, that the Port Commission added an addendum to its Final EIR, making the first public mention of Wal-Mart. On that date it approved the site for retail space and specifically for a Wal-Mart Supercenter. Just a month later, on Feb. 6, the Port approved a building permit for the site. On Jan. 30 Simeon officially signed Wal-Mart as its anchor tenant, slated to occupy 150,000 square feet, including a grocery component.

Since then opposition to the development has grown. Local residents complain that the project assessment and approval process was insufficiently open and inclusive, perhaps deliberately so. They are upset that land belonging to the Port of Oakland, a public entity, could be so transformed with so little public input. They don't believe that a truly open public process would have led them to a Wal-Mart.

The Sierra Club, in particular, is concerned about the land-use implications of this Wal-Mart. This valuable public shoreline should be made into a park, or developed for other community-oriented uses. Instead it is being commercialized for a use that is completely car-dependent.

The growing concern in the community has led a broad grouping of labor, faith, and environmental groups to unite in a campaign. Because the project has been approved with essentially no public input, and the Port is loaning Simeon $10 million of public funds, we believe that the developer has an obligation to fund a "community benefits agreement" to offset some of the negative community impacts of a Wal-Mart Supercenter in East Oakland. These benefits should include funding for community healthcare, job-training programs, and scholarships for the community of East Oakland.

The campaign organized a town-hall meeting on March 23 with over 200 people. We are now trying to negotiate with the developer. In April a protest was held at Simeon's corporate offices in San Francisco. A Simeon vice president met with a delegation of the protesters, and Simeon scheduled a date to meet with a community negotiating team, but when the team showed up, Simeon had called police to be present, denied the negotiators entry, and threatened to have them arrested. Since then there has been a limited dialog with Simeon (or its public-relations consultant), but it is hard to be confident that anything useful will come of it.

What You Can Do

Write to the CEO of Simeon Commercial Properties, Russell J. Pitto, at:
655 Montgomery St., #1190
San Francisco, CA 94111.

Insist that Simeon should negotiate in good faith about providing community benefits. Urge Simeon to be more forthcoming and to give communities good advance notice when bringing future proposals.

There will also be a protest at the opening of the Oakland Wal-Mart on a date yet to be announced. To be informed of date and time, contact Chapter conservation director Mike Daley at (510) 848-0800, ext. 304.

Thomas Markham