By Globe Staff

Fed up with a median home price of nearly $500,000, Oakland residents rallied last Tuesday outside City Hall under the slogan “Build Oakland for Everyone: the Key is Affordable Housing.”
    The rally included local clergy and labor leaders, hundreds of residents and community leaders. They urged the City Council and Oak-to-9th project developers to enter into affordable housing negotiations with the community.
    At the City Council’s first public hearing on the proposed Oak-to-9th mega-development, also held that night, the Community Benefits Coalition urged council members to be responsible stewards of Oakland’s public resources by orchestrating a plan that includes 20 percent affordable rental housing and units of two to four bedrooms, all for families making under $50,000 a year.
    Residents also dropped hundreds of keys on the council table to symbolize their likely displacement if substantive affordable housing measures are not included in the deal.
    The controversial Oak-to- 9th project, planned for waterfront Port of Oakland land, will be the largest housing construction in Oakland since World War II. Developer Signature Properties has proposed up to 3,100 units of market rate housing and 200,000 square feet of retail space. Community members say affordable housing at Oak-to- 9th would be an opportunity to stem the loss of housing for existing residents and create a neighborhood on the waterfront that reflects Oakland’s diversity.
   “The key to preserving the unique cultural diversity and vitality of Oakland is to ensure that existing residents can stay in Oakland,” said Chanda May, member of the East Bay Asian Youth Center. “The key to building an Oakland for everyone is affordable housing.”
   “Oakland is at a crossroads,” said Wei Ying Leung, a member of the Asian Pacific Environmental Network and a longtime resident of Oakland. “How our leaders deal with Oak-to-9th will set the tone for future development in our city for years to come. We are calling on our City Council members to stand up for the interests of the people of Oakland and require real affordable housing at Oak-to-9th.”