Schaaf lays out priorities for Oakland in annual speech

Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf reacts to a band playing after her "State of the City" address at City Hall in Oakland, Calif., on Wednesday, October 28, 2015. Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf reacts to a band playing after her "State of the City" address at City Hall in Oakland, Calif., on Wednesday, October 28, 2015. Photo: Scott Strazzante, The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Scott Strazzante, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 8 Caption Close Schaaf lays out priorities for Oakland in annual speech 1 / 8 Back to Gallery

Mayor Libby Schaaf deemed Oakland the “hottest new center of urban innovation” in a region that’s full of such centers during her first State of the City speech Wednesday. But she also emphasized the disparities that cut through Oakland even during a period of optimism and prosperity.

Schaaf’s goal, laid out in four priority areas — public safety, equitable housing, robust transit infrastructure and trustworthy government — is to mend those inequities.

“There’s a buzz about Oakland like we haven’t seen in years, and it’s not just a feeling,” said Schaaf, beginning her speech on an upbeat note: More than 16,000 residents have moved in over the last few years, along with 300 restaurants, bars and cafes. The Golden State Warriors won a championship in June, and city officials regaled them with a massive parade. Uber announced plans in September to expand its headquarters to the hulking Sears building at 19th Street and Broadway.

But victory parades and encouraging statistics don’t tell the whole story, Schaaf said. While many parts of Oakland are flourishing, others remain stagnant. Residents in the East Oakland neighborhood of Sobrante Park have twice the unemployment rate and a lower life expectancy than residents in the tony Grand Lake district. Homicides have surged in Oakland this year.

And, Schaaf said, “Oakland has an affordability crisis.” Rents are ballooning, and there is fear that longtime residents increasingly will be priced out. The good news is that Oakland has 1,300 housing units under construction and another 15,000 on the way — 920 of them reserved for low-income tenants — but it also has to learn a “cautionary lesson” from San Francisco, not to block construction of market-rate housing, Schaaf said.

Building new office space, new retail and new housing is the only way Oakland can retain its historic flavor, developer John Protopappas said in a recent interview with The Chronicle.

“Two years from now, Uber is going to bring in 3,000 employees,” Protopappas said. “And if we don’t build several thousand additional housing units, those employees will displace existing residents.”

As residents look toward Oakland’s future as a retail and technology hub, many fear their city will become an enclave for the rich — or that its economic prosperity will mean the loss of something sacred.

“People are very interested in making sure this is a mixed-income community,” said Victor Dover, an urban planner whose design firm, Dover, Kohl, & Partners, has contracted with the city to craft a new land-use and development plan for Oakland’s downtown districts.

The city that Dover envisions is a mosaic of narrow roadways, dense buildings and bicycle lanes, with parking lots converted into plazas and flower beds planted in curbsides. His team gave a work-in-progress presentation on the plan at the Paramount Theatre on Wednesday, just as the mayor wrapped up her speech at City Hall.

Dover and Rachel Flynn, the city’s head of Planning and Building, ultimately dream of razing the 980 freeway that separates West Oakland from downtown — a project that could take generations.

But it won’t take long for scores of technology upstarts and new real estate projects to sprout up in the city’s downtown corridor, and for thousands of newcomers to move in.

Schaaf, who grew up in Oakland, said she understands residents’ fears “that today’s dramatic changes could whitewash our rich cultural heritage.”

She ended her speech by urging people not to be overcome by their anxieties about the city’s future.

“We must turn toward each other, not on each other, as we navigate these changing times,” she said.

Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: rswan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rachelswan