Oakland's First Protests
Oakland right away was like, damn! We've been robbed! Greedy Mr. Carpentier and the Board of Trustees.
May 9, 1852 (Only 5 days after the Town was created!) – Mr. Carpentier's Board is challenged to a reform election. The official ballot count shows forty votes for reform and between seventy and eighty for the incumbents. Seventy Citizens later swore affidavits that they had voted for reform.*
Sept 19, 1852 – The People petition the Board to rescind the waterfront agreement. Rejected!
Oct 22, 1852 – The People rise up in fury. The Trustees destroy vital documents relating to the waterfront while 'moving the town records to safety.'
Mr. Carpentier successfully sues the Town of Oakland for the destruction that occurred to his property.**
And in 1854 Assemblyman Carpentier, pushes a new act through state legislation, incorporating the new City of Oakland. This act changes Oakland's government from a board of trustees to a mayor.
Mr. Carpentier, our first Mayor
Carpentier humbly becomes the first Mayor of Oakland.
Horace W. Carpentier continues to be an ass the rest of his life. Unfortunately he was very good at it. The early history of Oakland seems to be completely frustrated by this man, who continually created cunning monopolistic maneuvers that pillage the early wealth and opportunity of our beautiful city, Oakland.
Countless lawsuits failed to recover the waterfront while Mr. Carpentier added a ferry monopoly and a southern bound toll bridge to his repertoire of megalomaniacal control over all traffic in and out of Oakland.
Carpentier's greed turned Oakland into the Industrial Thoroughfare it is today
Carpentier's seize-and-sell capitalism directly led to the development of Oakland into the industrial thoroughfare which it has become.
With all the goods and traffic passing through this city, why are there so many people in Oakland impoverished, struggling and forgotten? With the massive port, airport, highways, rails and bridges, joining our city to the entire world, why are our schools struggling? Why have so many turned to crime, addiction and despair? Is our Waterfront still stolen? Who profits from Oakland?
Villains are in our past, our present, and they will be a part of our future. But in our world of dualities, we have Heroes too. There are those who seek to serve all life.
Oppression and liberation is the story of our city, the story of our world, the story of each one of us.
* Cummings, Oakland, A History
** Bagwell, p. 45-46
Oakland right away was like, damn! We've been robbed! Greedy Mr. Carpentier and the Board of Trustees.
May 9, 1852 (Only 5 days after the Town was created!) – Mr. Carpentier's Board is challenged to a reform election. The official ballot count shows forty votes for reform and between seventy and eighty for the incumbents. Seventy Citizens later swore affidavits that they had voted for reform.*
Sept 19, 1852 – The People petition the Board to rescind the waterfront agreement. Rejected!
Oct 22, 1852 – The People rise up in fury. The Trustees destroy vital documents relating to the waterfront while 'moving the town records to safety.'
Mr. Carpentier successfully sues the Town of Oakland for the destruction that occurred to his property.**
And in 1854 Assemblyman Carpentier, pushes a new act through state legislation, incorporating the new City of Oakland. This act changes Oakland's government from a board of trustees to a mayor.
Mr. Carpentier, our first Mayor
Carpentier humbly becomes the first Mayor of Oakland.
Horace W. Carpentier continues to be an ass the rest of his life. Unfortunately he was very good at it. The early history of Oakland seems to be completely frustrated by this man, who continually created cunning monopolistic maneuvers that pillage the early wealth and opportunity of our beautiful city, Oakland.
Countless lawsuits failed to recover the waterfront while Mr. Carpentier added a ferry monopoly and a southern bound toll bridge to his repertoire of megalomaniacal control over all traffic in and out of Oakland.
Carpentier's greed turned Oakland into the Industrial Thoroughfare it is today
Carpentier's seize-and-sell capitalism directly led to the development of Oakland into the industrial thoroughfare which it has become.
With all the goods and traffic passing through this city, why are there so many people in Oakland impoverished, struggling and forgotten? With the massive port, airport, highways, rails and bridges, joining our city to the entire world, why are our schools struggling? Why have so many turned to crime, addiction and despair? Is our Waterfront still stolen? Who profits from Oakland?
Villains are in our past, our present, and they will be a part of our future. But in our world of dualities, we have Heroes too. There are those who seek to serve all life.
Oppression and liberation is the story of our city, the story of our world, the story of each one of us.
* Cummings, Oakland, A History
** Bagwell, p. 45-46