Updated: Oakland Hires San Francisco Redevelopment Director

The City of Oakland has hired San Francisco’s respected redevelopment director, Fred Blackwell, to become an assistant city administrator who will oversee redevelopment, high-ranking city sources said this morning. Blackwell is known as one of the most effective redevelopment directors in the state. UC Berkeley professor Karen Chapple, a redevelopment critic, recently complimented Blackwell for his work in leading the San Francisco Redevelopment agency, saying that “San Francisco’s may be the only good redevelopment agency out there.”