Reclaim
The Career Center.
The community put $1.2M into an abandoned building and built a working school in ten months. Then it was taken — by landlords the Oakland City Attorney once called “textbook predatory landlords.”
Oakland Career
Training Depot.
We're a community school in East Oakland training the next generation of barbers, cosmetologists, and nurses. To grow the work, we bought a long-abandoned building down the block and rebuilt it — floor by floor — into a working career center with housing for our students on-site.
Before.
During.
After.
The encampment outside wasn't swept away. It was invited in.
“Pending — Rose's words about what East Oakland built in ten months.”
The doors closed.
It worked. It was taken. We want it back.
The community put $1.2M into rebuilding the building, with a contract to buy it at year's end.
The contract said the soil was fine. It wasn't — an estimated $600–800K of undisclosed remediation. No bank would refinance.
Our work raised the appraised value to $3.2M. The landlord foreclosed and sold it to himself for $300K.
22 students lost their housing. Two accredited programs went dark.
$3.2M APPRAISED VALUE
SOLD TO HIMSELF FOR $300K
Figures pending final confirmation.
22 students. Housed, training, months from licenses. Now displaced.
“I was six months from my license.”
Marcus
The landlord.
The building's owners are Baljit Singh Mann and Surinder Mann, operating through Dodg Corp. In 2019, the Oakland City Attorney sued them over conditions at six East Oakland rental properties.
“Textbook predatory landlords who have profited for years from willfully violating the basic legal and human rights of tenants.”
After a 13-day trial, an Alameda County judge ordered them to pay
$3.9 million
for a “willful, reckless” “pattern and practice” of violating Oakland's Tenant Protection Ordinance. A court of appeal affirmed those findings in 2024; the penalty was vacated on a technicality. The findings stand.
Then it happened to us.
The demand.
- 01
Remediate.
Pay for the soil cleanup the community was never told about.
- 02
Return.
Give the building back so the Career Center, its programs, and its student housing can reopen.
We, the undersigned, demand the remediation of the soil at the Career Center's East Oakland home, the return of the building, the protection of the $1.2M of community investment inside it, and the restoration of its programs and student housing.
Every signature is one more receipt handed to the Mann family and to Oakland's electeds: this does not get to be normal.
Questions, answered.
In September 2024, a building abandoned for 20 years began a second life. Over the next ten months our team refurbished it floor by floor — 85% complete when operations stopped.
Two accredited programs opened: Barbering and Cosmetology. Twenty-two students were housed on-site with wraparound support. The encampment outside wasn't swept away — it was invited in.
The community invested $1.2M in renovations under an agreement to purchase the building at year's end. The initial contract stated there was nothing wrong with the soil. During refinancing, we learned otherwise — the soil needs an estimated $600–800K in remediation, and no bank would refinance without it.
Our investment and the neighborhood's turnaround raised the property's appraised value to $3.2M. Instead of remediating, the landlord foreclosed — and sold the building back to himself for $300K. All-cash buyers are now lined up. Twenty-two students lost their housing.
Has something like this happened to you?
If you or someone you know has been affected, tell us. Your story goes only to the campaign team.