Do the mayors of Oakland, San Jose, South San Francisco, West Sacramento and Watsonville have anything in common? Quite a bit when it comes supporting and growing regional exports through the Port of Oakland.

Exports have already outpaced imports at the port, and the elected leaders pledged at Friday's Northern California MegaRegion Summit to share their ideas and cooperation to try and double the amount of cargo moving through the port by 2015, and in the process cement the region's role as a global competitor for trade and jobs.

The White House last year launched a National Export Initiative that offers federal support to grow the country's manufacturing base, increase jobs and regain its competitive edge globally. Ro Khanna, deputy assistant secretary for the U.S. Department of Commerce provided an overview of the initiative during Friday's summit in Oakland.

Oakland Mayor Jean Quan, San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed, Watsonville Mayor Daniel Dodge, South San Francisco Mayor Kevin Mullin and West Sacramento Mayor Christopher Cabaldon still managed to tout their own cities' assets while strategizing about the importance of regional cooperation to draw and retain new businesses and technology that benefits the economy and creates jobs.

"We don't talk about the A's but we talk about everything else," joked Quan about Reed and their cities' competition for the baseball team. Quan said she not only wants to streamline the route to the Port of Oakland and on to Asia for Central Valley produce and wine, but also for goods produced by factories in the Midwest.


For his part, Reed said despite his city's size and importance as the heart of technology, Oakland and its port play a very important role in Silicon Valley's competitiveness.

"We are tremendously dependent on Oakland for our trade," he said. "Ninety-five percent of the marketplace (for our technology) is overseas. If we are going to be competitive, we have to export."

Oakland's port is the fifth busiest container port in the country and the third busiest on the West Coast. About $39 billion worth of goods moved through the seaport last year, providing 25,000 direct and indirect jobs, said Delphine Prevost, senior maritime projects administrator for the port who participated in a panel about challenges and opportunities. The port is also taking steps to modernize facilities, improve infrastructure and comply with environmental regulations to reduce pollution, such as installing electrical shore power for ships and helping replace dirty diesel trucks.

Brian Beveridge, co-director of the West Oakland Indicators Project who also sat on the panel, said it is critical that the regional effort include solutions for reducing the health risks that disproportionately affect residents who live near the port.

"We would like to feel some of the economic opportunities and not just shoulder the burden," he said.