The downtown specific plan is being conducted by a Coral Gables-based consulting firm. Our planning director moved here from the East Coast just a few years ago. The group guiding the process is SPUR, an SF-based advocacy organization. It's hard for me to trust the process when it's being managed entirely by outsiders. Why couldn't an Oakland-based organization such as OCO be part of the public outreach process?
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Created
Tiffany Eng over 8 years ago
Yes. Also, it is not clear to me if any of the SPUR staff that wrote their report lives in downtown Oakland or even Oakland at large. More transparency would be helpful. There are some blindspots in their report that warrant further community engagement from locals.
Please also proactively engage downtown neighborhood (NCPC) groups and community leaders too, such as Old Oakland Neighbors which has not had any formal contact with the hired planners to date that I'm aware of.