Community Forums
As part of a transparent and collaborative approach to creating and maintaining a safe, clean, thriving Jack London District with flourishing businesses, vibrant events, and a high quality of life, the Jack London Improvement District hosts community forums.
Jack London Improvement District invites community partners, local and regional experts and moderators to generate discussions on development, commerce, resilience, industry, history, culture, and other conversations relevant to the mission of the District. The discussions are educational and will help guide the long range vision of the District.
Join us at our next EVENT to help guide the neighborhood’s improvement with an informed, creative, and collaborative Discussion.
Past COMMUNITY FORUMS
LINK21 OPEN HOUSE
On Monday, October 2nd, community members gathered for an open house hosted by the Link21 program and the Jack London Improvement District. Multiple mega infrastructure projects in and around our district are currently underway and are in different phases of planning. Attendees learned about Link21 and the proposed new train crossing between Oakland and San Francisco, Alameda County Transportation Commission’s Oakland Alameda Access Project, the Oakland-Alameda Estuary Bridge, and Lake Merritt Transit-Oriented Development. Thanks to the industry experts who attended and the community members who voiced their feedback. JLID is proud to advocate for new possibilities of transit in the East Bay!
By clicking on the links, below, you can view:
• Brief presentations on the Oakland Alameda Access Project and the Oakland-Alameda Estuary Bridge
merchant SAFETY AND DE-ESCALATION WORKSHOP
Matt Mayo is the CEO of Critical Intervention Corps, a safety and security company based in the East Bay. On Thursday, April 13th, Mr. Mayo gave a presentation to our merchant community about personal safety, crime prevention through environmental design, and de-escalation. The 1-hour presentation is available to watch on Youtube at the link below.
city auditor courtney ruby presents at ncpc meeting
On February 28th, 2023, City Auditor Courtney Ruby gave a special presentation at our monthly Neighborhood Crime Prevention Council meeting. The presentation was a summarization of her findings from a performance audit conducted to investigate the City’s homelessness services. To view the presentation slide deck, visit the link below.
NEW DEVELOPMENT AT 200 ALICE ST.
On November 29th, 2022, local real-estate design firm, Riaz Capital, presented updates on their current project located at 200, 220, and 236 Alice St. Their plan, which has been approved by the City, is to convert these three parcels into a five story, 165 unit apartment building. Riaz Capital specializes in creating affordable housing for young, workforce professionals. Check out their other projects they’ve completed in Oakland here.
Construction for this project is projected to begin in the Fall of 2023 and the estimated time of construction is 18 months.
downtown oakland specific plan zoning
We hosted a community meeting with the City’s planning office to learn more about how new zoning updates would affect the future of our district. The Downtown Oakland Specific Plan (DOSP) is a twenty-year plan designed to ensure continued improvement for downtown residents and the greater community. It was created with community review of multiple drafts, and since then, City staff have been working to develop related changes to the City's Planning Code and Zoning Map. The finalized plan will be brought to the Oakland City Council for adoption this year.
Key amendments that will impact the Jack London District include:
A revised zoning map that creates a transition to the West Oakland Industrial Area and brings the Victory Court area near the Lake Merritt Channel into conformance with the Estuary Policy Plan, facilitating new housing and other mixed-use development. The proposed amendments also include special districts such as zoning overlays to address sea level rise, improve underpasses under I-880 to reconnect Jack London with the rest of Downtown Oakland, and allow for development that activates the Lake Merritt Channel while protecting natural resources.
The zoning changes main objectives are to boost economic development, affordable housing, culture keeping, connectivity, safety, community health, sustainability, land use, and urban form.
Alameda County District Attorney Candidates Forum
We co-hosted this forum with business organization partners to hear from Alameda County District Attorney Candidates Terry Wiley and Pamela Price. The District Attorney's office is critically important in implementing policies and programs that improve public safety, and ensuring that justice is served on behalf of the residents of Alameda County.
The discussion was moderated by Cathy Adams, CEO, Oakland African American Chamber of Commerce.
Host Organizations include: Oakland BID Alliance, Oakland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, Oakland African American Chamber of Commerce, Downtown Berkeley Association, Berkeley Business Development Network, Berkeley Merchants United, Berkeley Chamber of Commerce, Visit Berkeley, Oakland Latino Chamber of Commerce, Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce, Oakland Vietnamese Chamber of Commerce and Visit Oakland.
Oakland, CA – The Oakland community was invited to participate in A Seat at The Town Table – the first 2022 forum of mayoral candidates, hosted by Visit Oakland and the Jack London Improvement District (JLID). The event welcomes Hon. Treva Reid, Hon. Loren Taylor and Hon. Sheng Thao – the three current city officials running in the 2022 Oakland Mayoral race.
ULI Hines student competition to revitalize old oakland
This spring, the national ULI Hines Student Competition focused on a site right here in Oakland. The site that was selected spanned the blocks from 6th to 7th Streets, from Broadway to MLK-- including properties owned by the City, County, and State, and surrounding areas.
From Urban Land article: "This year’s competition asked students for proposals to create a vibrant mixed-use, mixed-income area in downtown Oakland. The challenge brief asked the students to address equity, housing affordability, access to neighborhood services, sustainability, and connectivity to surrounding communities.
We arranged for a special presentation by The University of Texas at Austin team of their winning proposal, The Stack, for City of Oakland Planning staff and key cross-sector Oakland stakeholders.
233 Broadway Hotel-to-Multifamily Conversion
Project Information Meeting, December 7th, 2021
The Jack London Improvement District hosted a community meeting to learn more about the proposed conversion at 233 Broadway, the current site of Z Hotel. The project will convert the hotel into 130 residential units, including 13 moderate income restricted affordable units, while preserving much of the existing design.
Q&A with Developer, Riaz Capital.
big projects on the horizon: Link 21 and our neighborhood
Community Forum, April 19th, 2021
As part of our work in development advocacy and providing educational opportunities for our stakeholders, the BID is hosted a public forum on Link 21. Link21 will transform Northern California's passenger rail network into a faster, more integrated system, providing safe, efficient, and affordable travel for everyone. At the core of Link21 is a new transbay crossing between Oakland and San Francisco.
Representatives of the project's consultant team gave a presentation on this exciting project that will transform our immediate neighborhood and region followed by a Q&A.
Representatives from other projects in the vicinity including Oakland Alameda Access Project and the A's Stadium at Howard Terminal were in attendance to discuss project vision and synergies.
development at 419 4th Street
Project Information Meeting, December 9th, 2020
The Jack London Improvement District hosted a community forum to learn more about the project proposed at 419 4th Street. The 69 unit project will have 69 residential units in 5 stories above two podium levels, while preserving the existing historic facade. Additional project information here.
Q&A with Developer, Smart Growth Inc., Lowney Architecture, and City Project Planning Staff.
Passcode: U*Hp=^U2
Broadway: The Walk to Jack London
Workshop, February 11, 2020
The Jack London Improvement District is working with community stakeholders to build a better Broadway, creating a gateway to the district that is inviting, active and safe. Since the district was founded in 2014, improving Broadway and other corridors impeded by Interstate 880 has been a core priority. Today these challenges are more complex than ever: Many unhoused people live in these areas, and significant publicly owned city blocks are now vacant.
On February 11, 2020, SPUR and the Jack London Improvement District held a workshop guided by DIALOG’s Antonio Gomez-Palacio that built on the district’s past and current efforts to improve the Broadway connection to Jack London.
DIALOG’s Community Wellbeing Framework methodology covers three main focus areas:
What is already being funded and executed
What work relies on partnerships
What work must still be advocated for
Antonio Gomez-Palacio and DIALOG
As a founding partner of DIALOG, Antonio collaborated with the Conference Board of Canada on a two-year research study to define community wellbeing and how it is affected by the build environment.
The Community Wellbeing Framework uses indicators and metrics for the social, environmental, economic, cultural and political domains to guide design professionals, project stakeholders and community members in making design decisions that positively contribute to wellbeing.
Waterfront Development
Tuesday, September 10th, 2019 at Crooked City Cider Taphouse
The Oakland Alameda Estuary is a centrally located, accessible urban waterfront. Large scale developments and upcoming investments including recreational, commercial, and housing uses underway have the potential to be transformational in terms of activity and access. Come hear about the development planned and on the horizon. This is our first cross-pollination event with development leaders from both sides of the water-- Alameda and Oakland.
Speakers included:
Andrew Thomas, Planning Director, City of Alameda
Kristel Railsback, Alameda Point
Lydia Tan, Oakland A's
Greg Pasquali, Carmel Partners
The SCOOTER SUMMIT
Monday, August 27th, 2018 at 417 Water St, Jack London Square
With: Cory Weinberg, moderator, business and technology writer for The Information Dave Campbell, Advocacy Director, Bike East Bay Kerby Olsen, Shared Mobility Coordinator, Oakland Department of Transportation Marlo Sandler, Senior Manager of Government Relations, BIRD EV Ellington, General Manager, Lime Bike
As new shared mobility devices like e-scooters are deployed in Oakland, what are the implications and opportunities for the Jack London neighborhood? How can they help us achieve the goal of an accessible, inviting and vibrant Jack London?
More specifically, how could they help us achieve the following goals:
Keeping public right of way safe, accessible & inviting
Connecting Jack London to downtown and adjacent neighborhoods
Placemaking (transit stations of traditional public transit systems help with neighborhood identity and placemaking--could scooter systems help with placemaking?)
Durability/reliability/longevity of the system (are these just fly-by-night tech businesses that will leave us stranded when we're dependent on them?)
Economic development (not just in bringing more people to the District, but also in the job opportunities and workforce development associated with the operation of the systems themselves)
We hope this forum will inform the conversation and hope to see you there.
The tRAIN QUIET ZONE
Monday, February 5th, 2018 at 54 Water St, Jack London Square.
With: Peter Gertler, Senior VP of HNTB
Joel Cox, Chief Engineer, Capitol Corridor and Alta Planning
Rail transit is on the rise through Jack London, and so is activity, visitor foot traffic, residential population, employment, and businesses. Community stakeholders in Jack London have long been interested in improving the pedestrian and vehicular train crossings in Jack London to create safer streets and facilitate a Train Quiet Zone, and many even contributed funds to begin the technical work necessary to kickstart the project. Hear from local and regional experts discuss what it will take to bring this significant infrastructure investment to Jack London.
A BALLPARK FOR EVERYONE
Tuesday, September 26th, 2017 at Original Pattern Brewing, 292 4th Street.
With: Jeff Bellisario, Bay Area Council & Author of the report: The Economic Impacts of a New Baseball Stadium in Oakland
Michael Berne, Urban Retail Consultant, MJB Consulting
Noah Friedman, Senior Urban Designer, Perkins + Will
Moderated by Robert Gammon, Editor, Oakland Magazine and East Bay Express and Award-Winning Journalist.
Locating the A's Ballpark Downtown could be transformative in terms of economic activity, infrastructure improvements, and neighborhood impact. The Jack London Improvement District has been engaging businesses, residents, and stakeholders to participate in the discussion. As part of our Panel Talk series on issues relevant to the Jack London District, this event focuses on the development of a Ballpark. How can the District leverage the investment for maximum positive neighborhood impact-- from infrastructure to economic vitality? How can the community take ownership in the Ballpark and make it belong to Oakland?
Read Jack London Improvement District's Support of AB 734 Here
A PUBLIC CONVERSATION ON HOMELESSNESS
Monday August 1st, 2016
Panelists:
Elaine de Coligny, Executive Director, EveryOne Home
Andy Standfield, Resident at local encampment
Peter Radu, Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, San Francisco and Co-Author, A Place To Be, Report with UC Berkeley Goldman School of Public Policy
Lynette McElhanney, District 3 Council President, City of Oakland
This event was in response to the increased momentum from the public and private sector to find compassionate, sustainable solutions for our homeless crisis. We hope you join the conversation to learn about current initiatives and changes.
RETAIL IN JACK LONDON
In conversation with:
Erika Elliott, Colliers International
Gaye Quinn, Westlake Urban
Renato Sardo, Baia Pasta
Gaye Quinn, Westlake Urban
Richard Weinstein, Weinstein Local
Moderated by: Michael Berne, MJB Consulting
July 15th, 2015
SHAPING JACK LONDON, A HISTORY OF DEVELOPMENT
In conversation with:
Mitchell Schwarzer, Professor of Visual and Critical Studies, California College of the Arts (and author of the recently published article "A Tale of Two Waterfronts", Journal of California History
Patti Rossi, Owner, The Fat Lady Bar & Restaurant
Gary Knecht, (Former) Planner, Historic Preservation Program, City of Oakland & Member, Estuary Policy Plan Advisory Committee
Richard Sinkoff, Director of Environmental Programs and Planning, Port of Oakland
Preceding the panel talk, Diane Heinze of the Port of Oakland lead a short walking tour highlighting the historic landmarks of Jack London Square.
February 5th, 2015
ART, SOCIAL SPACE, AND PUBLIC DISCOURSE
A conversation with Mike "Bam" Tyau, Ala Ebtekar, and Kevin B. Chen
An evening to celebrate and unveil the newly commissioned temporary wall painting at 334 Broadway Street by Iranian artist GhalamDAR Ghalamdar قلمدار and local Bay Area artist Mike "Bam" Tyau, in collaboration with Stanford University Department of Art & Art History students. The project was directed and envisioned by artist Ala Ebtekar for Art, Social Space and Public Discourse at Stanford University and in partnership with the Jack London Improvement District
“It is the way to illustrate the dialogical nature of the construction of space through global visual conversations. As a native of Oakland/Berkeley who grew up in the area, I have no memory of a representation from this region of the world seen through public art. Besides speaking to a younger and more diverse audience, the project helps to bring visibility to an alternative representation from Iran and the Middle East at a time fraught with tensions and misrepresentations.”
- Ala Ebtekar
Art, Social Space and Public Discourse is the first sequence of programming from an unprecedented three-year initiative on Iranian art that investigates the multiple contexts that shift and define changing ideas of public space. This multi-site framework across the Stanford community, Bay Area locations, remote partners, online allies, and anchored through multidisciplinary presenters on the symposia panels will facilitate discussions and questions to hopefully be explored over the next three years.
This initiative is supported by Stanford University, the Hamid and Christina Moghadam Program in Iranian Studies, the Department of Art & Art History, Institute for Diversity in the Arts, Stanford Global Studies, Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity, Stanford Arts Office of the Associate Dean, Associate Dean of Humanities & Sciences, Bita Daryabari Endowment for Persian Letters, and Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, and brought to this site by the Jack London Improvement District.
Learn more at www.artandsocialspace.org
INDUSTRIAL JACK LONDON
Jack London’s Role in Oakland’s Industrial Future: Savior or “Sayonara”?
On April 7 the Jack London Improvement District convened the latest installment of their Panel Talk Series; this evening the subject was how to support and maintain a thriving industrial sector in Jack London. As noted in the SPUR report, A Downtown for Everyone, “Preserving land zoned for industrial uses ensures a diverse supply of jobs downtown. Industrial enterprises in downtown Oakland and adjacent areas benefit from proximity to the Port of Oakland, Northern California’s major port, and are a significant source of middle-wage jobs for workers without a four year degree.”
Yet the challenges to preserving Jack London’s industry are many. As SPUR’s Egon Terplan - the panel moderator - pointed out, industrial tenants are facing the same pressure of recent rent spikes as commercial and residential renters are. In fact, panelist Steven Shaffer admitted that if he was renewing his winery’s lease in today’s market he would not be able to remain in Jack London. Never-the-less, Steven was also quick to point out the many benefits that Jack London holds for his and many other local industries: proximity to both suppliers and consumers being chief among them.
Panelist Gurmeet Naroola expanded on this point, noting that Oakland has, in near measure, the same four ingredients that make Silicon Valley such a thriving hub of industrial innovation. He would classify [name]’s location benefit as a form of Social Capital, which also includes infrastructure. The other three ingredients are Intellectual Capital (good schools/talent pool), Venture Capital (money, experience, customers), and Cultural Capital (entrepreneurial mindset).
One common challenge that these assets can help address is the “1-10 gap”. As explained by panelist Jeff Williams, it’s relatively easy for an enterprising industrial startup to create a prototype, and also pretty straight forward to scale up from producing dozens of a product to hundreds. But where many enterprises fail is getting “from one to ten”. Nevertheless, he sees low-volume, high-value production as the future of the U.S. industrial revolution.
So what can Jack Londoners do to make sure this revolution doesn’t pass them by? Panelists and audience members discussed the pros and cons of a number of interesting ideas, including an industrial inclusionary ordinance, using zoning to protect a contiguous industrial-only area, allowing mixed industrial-residential developments, and establishing a lobbying organization dedicated to supporting local industry. While opinions on how to get there varied, there was broad consensus on one point: a thriving industrial sector was key to a vibrant and sustainable future for Jack London and Oakland.
April 7th, 2016
WHAT DOES THE ULTIMATE JACK LONDON LOOK LIKE?
In Conversation With:
Kelley Kahn, Project Director, Economic and Workforce Development, City of Oakland
Rachel Flynn, Director of planning, City of Oakland
Robert Ogilvie, Oakland Director, SPUR
Pamela Kershaw, Director of Real Estate, Port of Oakland
Moderated by John King, Urban Design Critic, San Francisco Chronicle
Highlight questions to the audience:
"Is Jack London a 'District'?" 24:00
"How many people would like to see a Ballpark at Howard Terminal" 50:00
"How many people live in a restored building, or new ground-up construction?" 55:40
"How many people are comfortable with the idea of a 20 story building in Jack London Square?" 1:22:50
November 12th, 2015