The lede for this Council preview—an increasing number of legislative items go straight to Council meetings and bypass committee review with Rule 24 designations that claims urgency. Council members have argued in the past that committee review allows items to proceed directly to Council consent agenda, where they’ll receive no discussion. But an increasing number of items have bypassed committee completely this year using Rule 24—and this agenda, like many others over the past few months, has a high percentage of such items. All but one was scheduled to the consent portion of the agenda, where discussion is unlikely.
The bar for Rule 24 is pretty low, almost any argument of a deadline of any kind is accepted in the experience of this publication. There’s 10 Rule 24 bypassed items on the agenda, and some seem significant including: illegal dumping ALPR camera system; several multi-million dollar infrastructure contracts; a use policy for Israeli-owned cellphone cracking system Cellebrite; CAO power to set MOUs with Caltrans for encampment closures.
Unless a CM pulls the consent items for further discussion to the non-consent calendar, the items will pass in bulk. There are only two items on non-consent–and one of them bypassed committee through Rule 24. The items that bypassed committee via Rule 24 are noted in the list below.
A not exhaustive list of noteworthy items on this week’s Council agenda
Non-Consent
—Authorization of $840K in Measure BB Funds for additional staff & third party IT support for the city’s civilian abandoned auto detail.[Rule 24]
The legislation would allocate 200K per year, in a two year contract with Autura for towing management software designed to reduce backlogs; unfreeze a parking and mobility analyst in OakDOT, and cover one time costs associated with adding a parking control technician. A report on OakDOT’s first years in civilian abandoned auto removal, after the task and its associated budget was officially removed from OPD in 2022, is also included elsewhere on the consent calendar and is likely to be paired with this item. That report paints a grim picture of increased auto dumping in the city, and the OakDOT abandoned vehicle details struggles with getting on its feet amidst covid and ransomware.
Consent
—Encampment Assistance Agreement with Caltrans.
The City Administrator is seeking City Council authorization to independently pursue MOU agreements with Caltrans for support in closing encampments. The CAO has at least one encampment in mind for such a partnership, the mostly vehicular encampment located on Leet Drive adjacent to a canal that runs from San Leandro Bay on the periphery of MLK Shoreline Park.
—Additional $25K for OPD Staffing Study to Include Deeper Dive into Calls for Service Data [Rule 24]
The Office of the Inspector General, under the Police Commission, is requesting additional funding to enhance the PFM Financial Advisors contract for an OPD staffing study. The additional funds would cover a deep dive analysis of OPD calls for service. The analysis would identify incoming call trends and quantify resources dispersed per call.
—OPD Cellebrite Use Policy [Rule 24]
The use policy and impact report for cellphone cracking technology from controversial Israeli-based tech company cellebrite skipped committee with Rule 24. The OPD has ignored many requirements of Oakland’s surveillance ordinance which require use policies for technologies that impact on the privacy rights of residents, including this one, despite using the technology for over a decade. A settlement with Secure Justice changed all that, and OPD must now provide the use policies. OPD will likely also increase its contract with Cellebrite and purchase new equipment, though these requests are not before Council Tuesday. Read more about this here.
—Mandela/34th Encampment
During the large-scale eviction of homeless encampments on Wood Street in late 2022, Council member Carroll Fife proposed legislation that would amplify existing city run encampments and pursue adding a new one on Caltrans-owned property at Mandela and 34th, for the spillover effect from the removal of the encampment. Fife is bringing new legislation that amends that legislation to specify the use of rapid response transitional units and to focus the intervention on homeless people currently residing in the D3 area. The legislation also directs the CAO to identify funding for the project. According to discussion in Committee last week, the negotiations between Caltrans and the City lapsed for reasons of unidentified funding and design–this legislation would revive the negotiations. Caltrans has the 34th/Mandela site identified for the purpose on a current Oakland “action plan”.
—C.R.I.S.E.S. Act Pilot Program Grant Agreement With Family Bridges, Inc/3.5 MM Grant Allocation
Legislation for the City’s Economic and Workforce Development Dept. to partner with Family Bridges to run a community safety pilot program using a state C.R.I.S.E.S. grant of $3.5 MM for public safety services, conflict resolution and ambassadors. FB already runs an ambassador program in the Chinatown area which this grant would supplement. Housing navigation services and outreach to the unhoused, especially those living without encampments, support in navigating services for basic needs and obtaining documents like ID and healthcare registrations.
—Ordinance prohibiting discrimination on the basis of non-traditional family structures
Legislation from CM Janani Ramachandran would add protections for non-traditional family structures to the Citys legal code. The City itself and private businesses would be unable to discriminate on the basis of “multi-partner/multi-parent families and relationships, step families, multi-generational households, diverse family structures, consensually non monogamous relationships, and consensual sexual and/or intimate relationships, including
asexual and aromantic relationships.” The protections would probably be most pertinent in rental housing.
—Black Cultural Zone [BCZ] shifts to primary leaseholder for Arroyo Viejo Commercial Kitchen Lease
Council passed legislation to provide a contract for the Black Cultural Zone and the Alameda County Deputy Sheriff’s Activities League [DSAL] to run a commercial kitchen and food hub in an under-utilized area of the Arroyo Viejo Park Recreation Center last year. In an apparent reevaluation of DSAL activities under a new Sheriff’s administration, DSAL has dropped out of the project, which means that BCZ must now solely assume the contract. While the Rec Center has its own kitchen for in-house activities, this contract would allow BCZ to rehab and modify an existing area for another commercial kitchen for use by community organizations and low cost rental for small food businesses. A BCZ representative told the CED committee last week that the kitchen would be used in conjunction with what is planned as a site-shift for the Akoma Market fully to Arroyo Viejo as the current site is developed into affordable housing and commercial use. BCZ will not pay rent during its renewable three year lease, but promises to invest $1MM in the rehab.
—Brookdale Rec Center 3.1MM Rehab Design and Development Grant [Rule 24]
The legislation would allocate $3.1MM in Measure KK and Measure U funds for the pre-construction development process to create a new recreation center at Brookdale Rec Center in D5. The current rec center fell into disrepair several years ago and has not been used since before the pandemic.
—Illegal Dumping Surveillance Camera Program - Approve U.S.’s License Plate Recognition (LPR) Cameras [Rule 24]
The City’s Public Works department, in conjunction with the Privacy Advisory Commission, developed a surveillance camera program in 2022 to capture illegal dumpers in the act at dumping “hot spots”, and record identifying information including license plates and vehicles. Public Works initially proposed the company Verkada, but further analysis from the PAC revealed that the company has suffered several data breaches, and was not without its own scandals, along with other considerations. The City then went with Security Lines to develop “PODS”, a surveillance unit placed at designated hot spots. But in the meantime, according to reports, the cameras proved inadequate for capturing license plates. This legislation will amplify the current contract with Security Lines, at an additional cost of $750K, to add License Plate Reading cameras to the POD units, with 15 additional units, and the addition of LPR to the existing 15 PODS. The use policy for the cameras has already passed the PAC.
—State Trailer Donation And Programming, Amplifying Current Grant Agreement [Rule 24]
The City of San Francisco is giving up on its Pier 94 homeless trailer intervention and seeking to donate dozens of trailers to the City of Oakland. If Council passes this legislation, about 15 of the trailers will support one of Oakland’s most successful homeless interventions, the Homebase lot on Hegenberger, which is reserved for elderly and medically vulnerable homeless people. Another 25 trailers may be used to support other interventions with the Interfaith Council, potentially on privately owned land, throughout the City. Oakland will have to transport the trailers from San Francisco. The legislation also has authorization to increase funding by up to $3.5MM to Housing Consortium of the East Bay, which runs the Homebase site to accommodate the amplified program and extend the contract by 2 years. The trailers come from a state allocation in 2020, the same allocation that delivered trailers to Oakland for Home Base.
—BAMBD Reports and Recommendations, Returning to Council with Reports/Recs/And Funding Availability [Rule 24]
Following the city council's decision to allow a large development next to Black cultural icon Geoffrey’s Inner Circle, CM Carroll Fife promised her constituents that she would focus on strengthening the vague and mostly useless policy of the Black Arts Movement and Businesses District [BAMBD] legislation. This is the start of that process, with a request for the City Administrator to return to Council with recommendations and funding options to create new infrastructure and preservation processes for Oakland’s rapidly disappearing downtown Black-owned businesses.
—Cultural Affairs Commission Appointment of Ramachandran Staffer
A small tempest brewed on the issue several weeks ago when it became clear that a current staff member of CM Janani Ramachandran’s office had applied for an open seat on the Cultural Affairs Commission—and that their application had stalled on the legal question of whether the Mayor can appoint a Council staff member to a city commission or board. During that meeting, a representative of the City Attorney’s Office stated that they were still reviewing the legality of such an appointment.
With the appearance of the staff member’s appointment on the Council agenda it appears there is no prohibition. The precedent would seem to allow any Council member’s staff to apply for boards and commissions that do not specifically bar such appointments; the Police Commission’s enabling legislation bars city employees, for example, but the Planning Commission does not. There may be a discussion outlining the legal aspects of the appointment.
And:
Several informational reports were heard in Committee and being forwarded to Council, but will not likely be discussed:
—The Oakland Redevelopment Successor Agency (ORSA)
Audit Report For The Year Ended June 30, 2023
—Annual Comprehensive Financial Report
—City Auditor’s Report Of Measure Q Performance Audit
Significant Infrastructure Contracts
—Garland/ DBS Inc, $3 MM increase for replacement Main Library Roof: extends existing contract with matching Measure KK funds. The initial project was funded up to $4MM paid with state funds to complete roof project. The KK funds are a required match.
—Construction contract for citywide curb ramp rehab for $3.3 MM: covers 240 curb ramps and approximately 25,000 SF of concrete sidewalk replacement citywide. The project also relies on Measure KK funding.
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