Community Impacts: Oakland, Tacoma

Things are looking up in Oakland – all the way up to the top of the port's 36 container shipping cranes. Port of Oakland cranes – some of them 240-feet tall – have become symbols of a city on the rise.

"I think there’s a great sense of pride in Oakland," says port spokeswoman Marilyn Sandifur. "We’re glad people think our cranes are cool."

Long the city's most powerful economic engine, the port has become the muse of artistic expression. Murals, apparel and storefronts now adopt its cranes as design elements. Here are a few of the places you can find folk art portraying the port's cranes in Oakland's business district:

On the wall outside Oakland Grill, a coffee shop serving truckers, forklift drivers and newly arrived hipsters;
Cat Town Cafe, the nation's first coffee house/pet adoption center;
Screen-printed tote bags and sweatshirts at LuckyLo Art Gallery;
Beast Oakland, the boutique that has sold 5,000 crane T-shirts;
Street art murals.

Click here to what the YouTube video featuring the artistic expressions of the Port of Oakland cranes.

"They’re urban, they’re gritty, they’re industrial," says Loretta Nguyen, owner of the LuckyLo art gallery & boutique in the port's Jack London Square. "People just like them — they say something unique about Oakland."

There may be another reason, as well. It seems residents generally feel good about the Port of Oakland. In an independent survey of 1,200 Oakland voters last May, 79 percent said the port is a positive presence in the community.

Legend holds that Oakland's cranes inspired the giant, robotic walkers in the "Star Wars" movies. Revisionist pop culture now credits hydraulic-lift trucks as the model. Regardless, the port's giant workhorses are inspiring a new era of Oakland pride.

They’re a hit in neighboring Alameda, too. The cranes feature in a Port of Oakland fourth hole at Subpar Miniature Golf.

Real estate and marine cargo operations at the Port of Tacoma supported more than 29,000 jobs in 2013, which generated nearly $3 billion in economic activity, according to a study presented earlier this month to the port commission.

That’s an increase in more than 3,000 direct jobs since 2004, the last time the port commissioned an economic impact study.

Real estate and marine cargo activity produced more than $223 million in local and state taxes to support education, police, fire services and road improvements. That’s $92 million more than in 2004.

If the farmers and manufacturers who ship products through the Port of Tacoma are factored in, the port’s activities reach 267,000 jobs overall in Washington.

"We see every day how important these trade-related jobs are to our friends and neighbors who raise families, build businesses and establish homes," said Clare Petrich, president of the Tacoma Port Commission. "This study demonstrates that every person, job and dollar spent in the community adds up to a significant impact in our community."

View the presentation. Download the fact sheet. Read the full report.