Finance Committee
Cooperative Agreements Authorization
This legislation authorizing the City's Cooperative Agreements with other jurisdictions would normally pass unnoticed, but it may get some added scrutiny due to a recent contracting disparity report that highlighted cooperative agreements as a vector for discriminatory contracting processes.
In her presentation several weeks ago, Dr. Eleanor Ramsey, the founder of Mason Tillman, the firm that carried out Oakland’s disparity study, highlighted cooperative agreements, alongside on-call and emergency agreements, as one way Oakland may be systematically limiting non-white and women contracting opportunities:
“And then there's cooperative agreements, which is the third method that's used [that can engender disparity]…it is preferential when you can make a selection without a competitive process…cooperative agreements are those that use a contract awarded by another governmental entity, and that contract is then adopted by the city and an award is made to the vendor that was actually selected through a competitive process of another government”
Budget Advisory Commission Recommendation on Tax Ballot Measure
There’s no written materials here, so the report will be oral. The deliberation may be interesting in that it may reveal whether the City Council members intend to actually legislate a tax ballot measure or leave it to third party unions to do it if they see fit.
Public Works and Transportation
Most of the legislation at Public Works concerns a $4MM seismic retrofit on one of the main entry points for trucks into the Port of Oakland, the Adeline St Bridge. The bridge forewent repair for the past several years while state leaders directed hundreds of millions of dollars at the potential A’s ballpark infrastructure, despite Caltrans ratings of poor condition and widely known seismic vulnerabilities. Most of the funding will come from Caltrans, but it requires a matching grant of $500K which will come out of remainder Measure KK funds.
Community and Economic Development
Two planning ordinances that require a deeper coverage than Oakland Observer has the resources for. However, one thing to keep track of here is the proposal to exclude from SB 79 higher density requirements over three transit-adjacent site areas. SB 79 requires cities to expand density in areas a half mile from any transit stop, which includes stops along the International corridor BRT as well as BART stations all over Oakland—some BART and BRT stations are outside of city limits but the half mile capture area lies in Oakland. The three half mile areas to be excluded, however, are only in North Oakland around BART stations—Macarthur, Rockridge and Ashby, mainly single family home residential areas.
Life Enrichment Committee
HHAP 6 Acceptance and Contract Authorization
Legislation to accept and appropriate the state of California's Homeless Housing Assistance and Prevention [HHAP] Round 6 grant for Oakland and authorization to enter into contracts with service providers. HHAP 6 became a lightning rod during recent attempts by CM Ken Houston [and his partner in the endeavor, the chief of staff of CM Kevin Jenkins] to update the City’s homelessness policies. Houston's policy was a visible departure from previous policies, focusing on a punitive cast and emphasizing displacement over housing. The first drafts of the policy spurred a rebuke from the state agency tasked with reviewing the HHAP grants, and likely delayed Oakland’s receipt of the grant, which it has relied on for nearly ten years to provide housing and services to homeless. At several recent meetings, Houston implied that the City Council's failure to hear and pass his legislation had resulted in the City losing the grant, but this was obviously a baseless claim.
The City’s report to Council, however, suggests that leaner days are ahead for these services. The state has narrowed the allowed uses of the grants, limiting HHAP monies only to funding transitional housing pipelines and permanent housing solutions. And the state has decreased the flow of HHAP dollars to California cities—the City’s homelessness division is already in a $22 MM shortfall relative to the previous year because the state didn’t award HHAP grants for the FY 25-26 budget year. Oakland's HHAP 6 is significantly smaller than previous grants as well, and in the coming years is also likely to shrink. The City is prioritizing the pipeline to housing and is promising to have stricter data-driven criteria to evaluate contractor performance in permanent housing outcomes.
Race and Equity Department Report
CM Brown has requested a report on the activities and history of the Race and Equity Department, which originated from legislation successfully passed by former D6 Council person Desley Brooks. The department has guided city activities and spending, from infrastructure to law enforcement and services, for almost a decade to serve historically marginalized peoples and neighborhoods. The department remains small, with only three staff members.
Black New Deal Report Survey Findings
A survey on Black Oakland resident views requested by D3 CM Carroll Fife will be presented to the Committee. The survey was commissioned by the City as product of Fife's focus on Black Oakland resident’s outcomes after generations of redlining and other discriminatory practices in Oakland and potential policy changes to mitigate those past and ongoing impacts. The survey polled and interviewed about 88 African American Oakland residents on issues and personal experiences around Housing, Public Safety, Education and Economics and Arts and Culture in the City. Fife previously sought to champion legislation that she called the Black New Deal that would counteract the City and state’s expropriation of Black wealth and property as well as redlining and discriminatory processes.
Public Safety Committee
OPD 2024 Surveillance Tech Reports
The reports come to Council remarkably late, after being the instigator for much of the controversy around the OPD's pursuit of a permanent Flock contract and being well-interrogated at the Privacy Advisory Commission.
Skelly Improvements Report
You can read more about the Skelly process and its ongoing problems here.
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