Another short council meeting, following a trend in the new year of canceled committee and Council meetings and short Council agendas. Here's the big items:
Council Weighs $0 Lease of Clinton Square Community Center to Trybe Inc. for Community Programming in Bid to Revive Moribund Community Anchor
Council will consider a potential three year 0$ lease deal with community non-profit Trybe Inc. to run programming at Clinton Square Park in the Little Saigon Neighborhood. The park has been underused since a fire that spread from a homeless encampment damaged the community center building there in early 2021. Programming at Clinton was previously run by the Vietnamese Community Center of the East Bay. The report from the City notes that Trybe will serve as the licensee for activities carried out by a broader coalition of groups that includes:
Asian Health Services, East Bay Refugee and Immigrant Forum, Oakland Asian Cultural Center and the Oakland Vietnamese Chamber of Commerce. The initial lease will be for one year, with potential for up to two years renewal. The programming will include music, dance, cultural, language, health and public services.
CM Nikki Fortunato Bas is bringing the legislation and her office wrote the report. Bas' report says that the unusual agreement, where by Trybe will provide an umbrella for programming by several different organizations, is the product of months of deliberation with the Vietnamese Chamber of Commerce that began in mid-2023 and included outreach and community meetings. Trybe has been in service for 15 years in Oakland and is currently one of the City’s Town Nights events coordinators.
City Council Set to Consider Approval of Half a Million in Settlements Tuesday
The City Council will consider settlement of five separate suits for dangerous public property conditions, failing sewers and, in the largest settlement for $185K, a police vehicular collision in 2020.
The City report on the police collision is subdued, but the plaintiff's suit alleges that an OPD cruiser was driving at "at a speed over 60 MPH...without any headlights or sirens turned on." when it collided at 80th and International in October, 2020. The plaintiff says they suffered significant physical injury from the collision, including "lumbar spine bulging, herniated discs, pain and suffering and anxiety." In settling suits, the City typically claims no fault.
There are three separate suits for failed city sewer systems totalling 170K, two of the sewer incidents happened in 2021, and one in 2022; and two for dangerous road conditions incidents that occurred in 2020 and 2021, totalling $220K. The total for settlements on Tuesday's agenda is $574K.
Loan For 12th Street Remainder Parcel 1
Council will consider allowing East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation [EBALDC], the affordable housing developer for 12th St Remainder Parcel development, to pay off early a $4MM “ground rent loan” in exchange for taking on a new loan for the same amount. There is no net difference for the city. The loan was originally intended to serve as lease payments paid over the course of 55 years, but the new loan will have the same terms over the same period. EBALDC would then use the new finance structure to leverage another $2 MM in financing for unanticipated costs in the project.
Sale of Raiders Training Facility for $24 MM
Council will consider the sale of the Raiders Training Facility site at 1150 and 1220 Harbor Bay Parkway, in Alameda to Prologis for a total of $24 MM, a steep drop from the original starting bid of $35MM when the City failed to auction off the project last July.
A legacy of the Raiders deal that brought the team back to Oakland, the site is currently being used as a training facility for local futbol clubs Oakland Roots and Soul. The facility was bought by the Raiders with a loan from the City/County, with a stipulation that if the Raiders left the Coliseum, site owner ownership would revert to the City/County. The site is 50% shared with Alameda County.
If the sale goes through, the City will receive $11.5 MM after splitting the proceeds with the County. The sale agreement with Prologis stipulates that Oakland Roots and Oakland Soul will be allowed to continue its rental use of the site. The site could be used as a team hosting site for the 2026 World Cup. It’s not clear if the proceeds from the deal will go to the current fiscal year budget, or to the next. The sale was factored into budgeting for the biennial, but at a higher profit margin. The City failed to sell the site during an auction in July, after the FY23-25 budget had already been passed.
Sundry:
The City will also receive several reports in the Consent Calendar that may get little or no discussion. The reports have been previously reviewed during committees. These include the Measure KK Update and the Q1 Revenue/Expenditure Report. The latter contains worrisome portends that Council may have to wrestle with another large deficit when it creates a new budget in June. The current report found that there could be up to a $130 MM deficit, as revenues performed poorly, but costs went up. But that report is already out of date, and the Q2 rev/exp report, which will have more stable figures, is on its way and about a month out.
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