S.F., Oakland Vie for 3,500 Workers : Bay Area Mayors Feud Over Federal Jobs

Lionel Wilson, Oakland’s usually soft-spoken mayor, Thursday hurled epithets at his cross-the-bay counterpart, Dianne Feinstein, in an escalating public feud over jobs, 3,500 of them.

At the moment, San Francisco has them. But Oakland, which has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on urban redevelopment, and continues to have an unemployment rate of 8.7%, wants them.

On Thursday, Wilson accused Feinstein of being on “an ego trip,” and trying to salvage her political career in a fight to hang onto the 3,500 federal jobs.

Planned Move to Oakland

The jobs at issue are among the 14,500 federal jobs located in San Francisco. The General Services Administration has proposed moving 3,500 of those who now work in privately owned, leased buildings in San Francisco to a planned $150-million, 1-million-square-foot edifice on two city blocks in Oakland. To lure the federal workers, Oakland has said that it will donate the land for the building.

The prospect of seeing 3,500 federal office workers cross the Bay Bridge prompted Feinstein to write to congressional leaders two weeks ago urging that they keep the jobs in San Francisco and move into a leased building that is now under construction.

Wilson, in turn, traveled to Washington last week and has hired a lobbyist to help out. “I don’t wish her luck and, furthermore, I intend to win this fight,” he said.

“Frankly,” Wilson added, “I think it’s a matter of greed, and I think it’s tied into her political ambitions.”

Feinstein’s term as mayor expires this year, and she is considering running for governor.

Dueling With Figures

The two cities, meanwhile, have come up with dueling figures to bolster their position. Oakland says one-third to one-half of the federal workers already live in Oakland, and that its proposed building would be larger.

A study commissioned by Feinstein says the federal government could save $56 million by staying in San Francisco. It could move in next year, at least three years sooner than if it moves to Oakland, and have more than twice as much parking.

“I can understand why Oakland wants this. But if Lionel Wilson were mayor of San Francisco, you’d better believe that he would be fighting this,” said William Witte, who is in charge of Feinstein’s economic development operation.

The issue is especially sensitive for Feinstein. During her tenure, several major corporations, including Bank of America, Pacific Telephone and Chevron, have moved parts of their operations to suburban Contra Costa County. A total of 30,000 such jobs have left, although smaller companies have moved in, giving the city a net increase of roughly 5,000 jobs, her assistants said.

Vacant Office Space

The exodus seems to have slowed, but not without having caused problems for developers of downtown San Francisco real estate. In 1981, less than 1% of the office space in downtown San Francisco was vacant, but today as much as 20% of the office space stands vacant.

And office rents, which rivaled and in some places exceeded costs in Century City and Beverly Hills, have dropped by as much as 30% in recent years.

Feinstein’s staff on Thursday reacted to Wilson’s remarks with surprise. “He’s desperate,” one aide fumed.