Black Developers Forum celebrates their achievements

By Ken Epstein

Ward 6 councilmember and mayoral candidate Loren Taylor says she supports office buildings, retail and residential development on a “part” of Mills College’s 135-acre campus in Northeastern, which is in her council district.

The proposed zoning change came to light two weeks ago in a report to the City Council. Buried in a preliminary plan for future housing in Oakland, presented to the City Council by Mayor Libby Schaaf’s Administration, is a map of zoning changes that would allow for higher-density real estate development, including condominiums and retail stores.

While city staff did not say who had submitted the proposed zoning change, and Schaaf did not respond to Post questions, Taylor did discuss his position in a text message to the Post.

“I’m not opposed to rezoning part of the site, not all of it. (I) need to further explore the current zoning plan to have a definitive answer,” he told the Post in a text.

“A number of proposals have been put forth, to my knowledge, from affordable housing to downsized corporate offices to much-needed retail stores in East Oakland,” he continued. He added, “However, I haven’t seen/reviewed(ed). As I understand it, each proposal retains the vast majority of the campus for higher education through Mills/Northeastern. (However,) I don’t know what’s happened since Northeastern took over.”

Taylor also said he did not know who requested the rezoning of Mills at Northeastern nor did he know Schaaf’s position on the rezoning proposal.

Mills College officially merged with Northeastern University on June 30, 2022, despite considerable opposition from students, faculty, alumni, and community supporters.

The map shows the entire Mills campus in East Oakland with the zoning designation change “RM-4 Residential Mixed Housing Type – 4 Zones”.

As defined by the City, “The intent of the RM-4 Zone is to create, maintain, and improve residential areas typically located on or near major arterials in the City and characterized by a mix of single-family homes, townhomes, small multi-family homes. unit buildings with densities somewhat higher than RM-3, and neighborhood businesses where appropriate.”

City Council staff indicates that Zone RM-4 would allow for site-wide development with condominiums, townhomes, and retail businesses.

The current zoning of the Mills property, Zone RM-3, has been in effect for at least the last 20 years, according to a staff member with the City’s zoning division. Dramatic changes are now in the making after Northeastern University in Boston took over from Mills, with promises of a merger of many of the best aspects of both institutions.

Taylor has been outspoken in favor of Northeastern’s acquisition of Mills, as has Schaaf, with whom he has been closely allied.

According to a Northeastern University (NU) newsletter article, Taylor has been deeply involved in merger discussions between the university and Mills.

“Taylor says he was involved in conversations with the college and university as the merger evolved from idea to reality. ‘When I’ve had conversations with leadership at Mills and Northeastern,’ Taylor says, ‘I’ve always come away calm. I hear, I feel and I sense that there is a real commitment to guarantee the legacy of what Mills had. I look forward to seeing that happen,’” the UN bulletin said.

Although the proposal is to rezone the entire 135-acre campus, city staff told the Post that only part of the campus was being considered for development.

Press conference on July 19, 2022, at Oakland City Hall supports the fight to save Mills College and calls for an independent state investigation of the merger with Northeastern University. “This merger was sudden, confusing and done with very little transparency,” said Councilman Sheng Thao, a Mills graduate. Photo courtesy of Sheng Thao Office.

“The undeveloped western edge of the Mills College campus adjacent to MacArthur Blvd. was identified as a potential location for the addition of infill housing. Any rezoning of that portion of campus would only occur if the community and decision makers support such a change and only for the purpose of facilitating the addition of housing along this undeveloped edge of the campus,” according to zoning staff at the City.

The housing element, including zoning changes, is scheduled, after discussion and modification, for a final decision in January.

A lawsuit has been filed against the merger between the two institutions, and the coalition of groups and individuals working for Save Mills is still pushing for a state or federal investigation of the merger.

A June 6, 2022 headline in the Huntington News, Northeastern University’s independent newspaper, stated, “Some Mills College Students, Alumni, Upset About Northeastern Merger.”

The newspaper quoted Meena Ramakrishnan, a 2013 Northeast graduate who earned a master’s degree from Mills in 2022.

“It is integral to the DNA of Mills that marginalized people receive an education. It is part of the educational curriculum, the staff and faculty they hire are people of color or people with disabilities or gender non-conforming people. It’s been that way for a long time, so there’s a lot of disappointment on campus that Northeastern doesn’t share that kind of ethos and those values, and they’re going to go in and try to change the structure of Mills. ”

While Mills has been a liberal arts college for generations, “Northeastern has a reputation for science- and business-oriented studies, (and) was considered a predominantly white institution until 2014, with white students still overwhelming other groups in Northeastern,” according to the news article

The article continues: “Racist incidents at Northeastern are a cause for concern for students of color who call Mills home. As recently as 2019, the #HereAtNU and #NUExperience student movement saw dozens of students of color share their experiences with racism and discrimination on campus, with #BlackAtNU forming for students to demand improvements.”

“There were incidents where campus police targeted students of color, primarily black males. So my question is: are you bringing that nonsense here? asked Tasha Poullard, a Mills graduate quoted in the Northeastern newspaper.

“Mills College, in my personal opinion, is one of the most peaceful, serene and safest campuses I have ever been to,” Poullard said.