Frank Ogawa Plaza · Initial Proposal to the City of Oakland
A plaza
worthy of
Oakland.
An initial proposal from HiiiWAV Inc. and its City of Belonging Initiative to operate Oakland's most prominent civic plaza as a year-round outdoor music and cultural venue — modeled on the Oakland Ballers' partnership at Raimondi Park.
01 · The Opportunity
A 1.3-acre civic plaza waiting to be activated.
Frank Ogawa Plaza — also known as Oscar Grant Plaza — sits at the civic heart of Oakland. A site of protests, celebrations, and democratic assembly for generations. Today it remains largely underutilized as a year-round cultural and economic asset.
We propose to change that while protecting the plaza's civic identity — through a permit-ready operating model, private capital investment, and binding public access protections.
02 · The Vision
Community-driven design. Architect-led execution.
Concept rendering from The Ripple Effect community design process — developed with ARUP (MassMotion transit modeling) and Oakland residents through interviews and GIS network analysis.
03 · Three Design Concepts
Each rooted in community process — and what Oakland needs.
Design 01
Playscape
Family-centered activation with play and gathering as the organizing principle. Designed for all-day, all-ages plaza use anchored on the southern arc of the plaza.
Design 02
Roots of Oakland
Stage, playground, moss wall, root benches, fabric shading, tree tables. The 'roots' extend to mobility hubs in partnership with AC Transit — optimizing transportation capacity for high-attendance events.
Design 03
Oakland Takes Center Stage
Two-story welcome center with information desk, conference rooms, and dress rehearsal space. Adjacent Lionel Building rejuvenated with coffee shop and makerspace. A 5-stall food hall in the Dalziel Building.
04 · Year-Round Programming
A predictable cultural destination.
70+ programmed days at Year 3 steady state. 25 ticketed events. 35+ free community days. Anchored by flagship festivals and a free 12-month heritage observance series.
June · Flagship
HiiiWAV Fest
Multi-day outdoor music festival — hip-hop, R&B, electronic. The summer anchor for the plaza.
December · Flagship
Holiday Fest
150+ vendors, culinary pop-ups, live music. One of the Bay Area's largest winter markets.
Year-round · Free
Oakland's Calendar
12-month heritage and observance series — Women's History, Earth Day, AAPI Heritage, Juneteenth, more.
September · Free
Oscar Grant Memorial
Annual memorial in partnership with the Grant family, as a permanent fixture of the programming calendar.
Annual · Free
Plaza Paint-Off
Live mural competition for Oakland youth. Temporary murals and permanent installations.
Summer monthly · Free
Oakland on Screen
Outdoor cinema series — community-focused selections and local artist showcases.
Seasonal · Free
Oakland's Got Talent
Multi-round community talent tournament — singers, dancers, poets, musicians, comedians.
40 weeks · Free
Weekly Vendor Market
Free vendor pop-up activating the plaza on a predictable cadence — 70% BIPOC priority.
05 · Deal Structure
Key terms at a glance.
- Operator
- HiiiWAV Inc. (501(c)(3)), operating as City of Belonging Initiative
- Agreement
- 7-year initial term; one 3-year renewal contingent on compliance audit
- Pilot Period
- Years 1–2: max 30 programmed days/year; phased infrastructure buildout
- Capital Investment
- $1.72M in private capital over 24 months — no public expenditure
- City Revenue
- $1/year rent during pilot; 15% of Gross Event Revenue post-compliance-gate; $75K annual minimum
- Public Access
- Civic Use Charter: protest rights, 24+ free community days, Oscar Grant Memorial
- Equity
- Community Benefits Schedule: 70% BIPOC vendor priority, free youth programming, Oakland hiring
06 · Honoring Oscar Grant Plaza
A binding Civic Use Charter.
Frank Ogawa Plaza is a public forum environment with deep political and cultural significance. The following charter would be embedded as a binding exhibit to the operating agreement — content-neutral, consistent with public forum doctrine, and grounded in precedent from Ward v. Rock Against Racism.
First Amendment Assembly
Plaza remains available for protests, rallies, and civic assembly at all times — including event days.
Oscar Grant Memorial
Annual memorial event in partnership with the Grant family, at no cost, as a permanent calendar fixture.
24+ Free Community Days
Reserved for civic events, graduations, and cultural celebrations — bookable at no charge.
Ticketed Day Cap
No more than 30 days per calendar year may be ticketed events.
Reservation Hierarchy
Protests → City events → Community days → Operator free events → Ticketed → Private rentals.
Blackout Dates
Oscar Grant Memorial, Juneteenth, Indigenous Peoples' Day, MLK Day, May Day, New Year's Day.
07 · Leadership
The team.
Miles Dotson
Project Lead
Musician, serial founder, investor. Electrical engineer and product manager. Leads operations, finance, and City partnership.
Bosco Kante
HiiiWAV President
Grammy Award–winning music producer. Cofounder & President of HiiiWAV. Music director for E-40's Tiny Desk Concert (2025).
Jeremiah Tolbert
Director of Capital Improvements & Design
Architect leading capital improvement design, construction oversight, ADA compliance, and site planning.
Active venue operations partnership
HiiiWAV is in active conversations with three prospective venue operations partners who will co-invest in capital and bring permanent outdoor venue management expertise. Critical hires — Venue General Manager, Director of Programming, Safety & Security Director, Permitting & Compliance Lead, Production Director — are targeted for pre-agreement execution.
08 · A Proven Model
Comparable nonprofit-operated venues.
SummerStage
Central Park, NYC
City Parks Foundation (nonprofit), since 1986. 300,000+ annual attendees.
Levitt Foundation Pavilions
Multiple U.S. cities
30+ permanent outdoor venues, each operated by a local nonprofit partner.
BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn!
Prospect Park Bandshell
Nonprofit operator. 250,000+ annual attendees of free outdoor performing arts.
Economic Activation
Reactivating neighboring assets.
Surrounding retail and restaurants benefit from sustained activation. Adjacent buildings — the Dalziel and Lionel — return to productive use through adaptive reuse, makerspaces, food halls, and street markets along a pedestrianized stretch of San Pablo Ave.
09 · About the Operator
HiiiWAV Inc. — Oakland's creative-tech 501(c)(3).
HiiiWAV is an Oakland-based 501(c)(3) supporting artists, civic culture, and creative technology. City of Belonging is HiiiWAV's place-based initiative for civic space activation — producing Holiday Fest and Hella Juneteenth, with active engagement with the City of Oakland's Office of Real Estate and Economic Development on a proposed multi-event Civic Concert Series at Frank Ogawa Plaza.
$650K
2024 revenue
81%
program allocation
220+
artists supported
90+
events produced
500+
vendors / artists annually
150+
Holiday Fest vendors
4,200+
Oakland Tech Week '25
$450K
multi-year funding secured
Partners & funders include: Kapor Foundation · Akonadi Foundation · Marks Family Foundation · Meta · Salesforce · Mozilla · Anthropic · Northeastern University · ARUP · Oakland School for the Arts · True Ventures · Panta Rhea.
10 · Next Steps
We respectfully request a presentation meeting with the Office of Real Estate & Economic Development.
This page summarizes an initial proposal. A full version — including design schematics, financial pro forma, regulatory compliance plan, and Civic Use Charter — is available on request.
Contact
Miles Dotson · Project Lead
miles@hiiiwav.org