Oakland Mayor Wary of Coast Guard’s Wish to Take Over Road Leading to Island Base

Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee said Friday she was surprised to learn that the U.S. Coast Guard is looking to take control of a city-owned road and bridge to the agency’s Alameda base, where protests erupted last month over a planned immigration enforcement surge.

Lee told KQED that she found out about the Coast Guard’s request like everyone else: through the news, which the San Francisco Chronicle first reported.

“We have a large immigrant community in Oakland. We don’t cooperate with ICE. This is something that we’re looking at and trying to understand what they’re talking about and why they would even think about doing this here,” she said. “They never called me.”

In a Monday email to Brendan Moriarty, Oakland’s director of real estate and special projects, Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Jordan Converse expressed interest in obtaining “permanent control of the roadway extending from the Embarcadero and Dennison St intersection back to the Port of Oakland Parcel Boundary.”

Converse, who heads the Coast Guard’s real estate management on the West Coast, said the agency was interested in purchasing the property through either a permanent easement or fee title to the property.

The road became a flashpoint late last month after the Trump administration planned to use Alameda’s Coast Guard Island as a staging ground for dozens of federal agents as part of a widely anticipated ramp-up of immigration enforcement in the Bay Area. The action was eventually called off after President Trump said he spoke with San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie.

While the rally on the bridge on Oct. 23 was mostly peaceful, two people were arrested, and federal officers injured some protesters with less-lethal weapons.

Tensions flared again at night when some protesters refused to leave the bridge and a U-Haul truck backed toward the Coast Guard blockade, leading law enforcement to open fire, injuring two people. The suspected driver has been charged.

Sean Maher, a city spokesperson, said the request to give up the land would require review and City Council approval.

But the Coast Guard may already have an ally on Oakland City Council. Noel Gallo, whose district includes the road to the island, told KQED on Friday that he has been meeting with the Coast Guard “on a regular basis” and is willing to consider the request in exchange for “their help” with issues in their vicinity.

This includes a nascent idea to build a $25 million housing project for veterans near Union Point Park, south of the approach that the Coast Guard hopes to annex. Gallo also said he wants the Coast Guard to continue to help the city remove abandoned boats and debris from the Oakland Estuary.

Gallo met with Converse and two other Coast Guard officials on Friday afternoon at the road, which is currently managed by Oakland’s Department of Transportation and provides the only public vehicle access to the island.

“We need to work together, and that’s what’s missing within government,” Gallo said. “For me, it is very plain and very direct that I need to work with the Coast Guard. They’re asking for access to property that hasn’t been used for years.”