Oakland's D2 residents want results. Their next councilmember will have 2 years to deliver

As the sun set behind the courthouse, Lake Merritt’s waters glistened and pockets of light shone through the scaffolding erected at E 12th Street and 1st Avenue. Mesh screens surrounding six stories of a half-finished apartment building rippled in the breeze. Next to the project, an overgrown field was fenced off, awaiting similar construction.

These two affordable housing projects are rising on a large plot of city-owned land long mired in controversy. In 2018, former City Councilmember Nikki Fortunato Bas was elected to represent District 2 essentially on a mandate to pursue low-income housing at the E 12th site. At the time, the developer of a mostly market-rate apartment tower slated for the location was receiving extension after extension from the city, frustrating affordable-housing activists. Meanwhile, a large encampment had grown on the property.

On the City Council, Bas oversaw the end of the stalled development deal and the approval of the two affordable housing projects in its stead. By the time she left her seat in November, having been elected to the Alameda County Board of Supervisors, Bas could look back at the E 12th Street scaffolding as an example of progress forged in the district during her time on council. A low-income senior apartment building broke ground a few months ago on the Lake Merritt BART parking lot, too.

But Bas also left behind a district still dealing with plenty of unsolved challenges, from deep-seated issues like sex trafficking and homelessness to more recent developments like concerns over crime and economic strife that have heightened since the beginning of the pandemic. And like all districts in the city, D2 — which includes Chinatown, San Antonio, Lakeshore and surrounding neighborhoods — is suffering unique consequences from the city’s $130 million budget deficit.



https://oaklandside.org/2025/02/21/oakland-special-election-district-2-safety-housing/