Mayor's Economic Development Advisory Panel/Economic Recovery Task Force - Regular Meeting

Let's get started in a couple of minutes.

Yeah. There. Sorry I can't be with you. I'm I'm sick, and I don't wanna get anyone else sick.

So I hosted Congresswoman Simon

When? Today? Last week. Think was it Friday? That's early?

Thursday before her I think she had a town hall or interview.

Good. I'm glad. She's amazing. She's a neighbor.

She's excited about Sandro. But I try to give Alameda try to focus on because what she had kind of asked, what can she do on the federal level to help Sandro. And I said, besides passing a budget I said, the infrastructure at Alameda Point, companies like Sandrone, I took her out to the water. And it's like, the seawalls were failing. The piers are old and need refurbishment. I said, that's where federal monies could help cities like Alameda fix that infrastructure. And so that would bring companies to sell jobs. So I gave you plugs.

Yes, cities that's

should

go after this. If the Trump administration really wants to invest in the maritime industry, Alameda's point is the perfect place to get some of that money. And she loved us. She wants to come back.

She visited so far also Exelixis. And I believe this Friday, she's visiting Phenomora, I think. She visited science, and then she had a townhome in Alameda. And she gathered the the Bay Area, like, cooling off chambers at her office in Oakland to see what we're looking for and what we need and everything. So she's getting involved. So is Jessie R. D. We have a good team.

Eric, I don't think we have quorum, or do we have a quorum?

No. There's no quorum.

Mm-mm. Okay. Well, just Is is Gia on the collar right here? No.

I apologize for not being there in person, but I'm recovering from a cold.

Okay.

So we can get started. I think I think well, our chair and vice chair weren't able to make it. So then today. So then they're usually running a meeting, And then we talked to Chia about running the meeting as well, that she's not feeling very well, but it'd be better for her to be home rather than coughing on us. So we're gonna be running the meeting today. K. So so that was it. You want me to start here

then? No.

This? Okay. So starting the meet so this meeting is being recorded. We currently have three two remote participants so far. So for remote participants, please make sure you're using the most current version of the Zoom app or updated web browser, but they're here.

You must register using the link in the app or the browser, and then click raise your hand when you wish to speak on an item and click unmute once you have called to speak. And then you can also submit written comments by emailing Eric. So at e fonts yeah. Efawnsdine@almedaca.gov. And comments submitted during the meeting before the conclusion of the public comment section will be read into the record. So if any of the remote participants, if you're having difficulty, you can call 669909128, and our meeting ID is 821. And that's changed? That's changed. Okay. We can just do the

phone number then. You want it? Is it correct on you? No. 816.

So we had an issue in that that that there's another meeting happening at the exact same time that is using the same Zoom account.

Got it.

So right before this meeting, they we had to send out a new Zoom link because that wouldn't allow us to log in with them at the same time. I don't I

don't don't think we have any. There's two. Yeah. So they're here already.

And that's it. We don't have any in person speakers, so we can start the meeting. So the meeting is now called to order. The time is 06:09PM. And roll call. So David Mick and Becca Parotta are not here. Matt is is also not here as well as at. So I'll just go down the list. Brock Runt. They're Doctor. Finard is here remotely. Gia Schneider?

Yep. Here.

Joe Burns? Here. Madeline? Here. Mark? Here. And then Matt is is not here either. Oh, Oh, right here. Oh, that's right. Yes. You are here. I am. Crossed off, so you're here. So and then staff members myself, Dwayne Donovan, economic development manager, and Eric Fonstein, development manager. So the next item on the list is our minutes.

But in order to approve the minutes, we needed to have majority approval of six people who were at the last meeting. So because we didn't have that, two of them were absent tonight. We're not gonna be approving the minutes tonight. We'll just table that for the next meeting that we have. And those six people were David, Becca, Brock, Doctor. Fennard, Eva Jennings, and Madeline, and Sandy. So any questions on that part? Okay. So oral communications from the public. If the public would like to comment on any item, click raise your hand.

So we went through that. If the public wants to call in or we can do written comments. And if there are any questions from the public, if not, we'll move on to the consent calendar. We don't have any items on consent, so now we'll move into the regular agenda items. So the first agenda item we have, six a, discuss local business climate and potential impact tariffs or potential impacts that tariffs may have on local business sectors.

So kind of going through all these items, just as a reminder, we'll have the staff presentation or introduce the item. We'll have public comment. We'll close the public comment, and then we'll have our our kind of panel discussion. So we have any public comment or other people that wish to speak? If not, we'll we'll we'll start off our discussion.

So this both the items that we have tonight are really discussion purposes only. We're not there's no action that's kinda required. So we can kind of start that discussion. So I think chime in as well. But from from our perspective, I mean, one of the things we thought we'd bring this item up tonight is is, you know, everything we hear, everything we've seen today practically is about tariffs.

So we want to get your perspective on, you know, how are they potentially affecting your company, your industry? What should the city be aware of? And in in in our dealings or our workings, how should we be who should we be talking to or advocating to that we could, you know, help with the situation. But part of it was, at least from our standpoint, just understanding how it's potentially impacting your companies individually or from the industries that you work in. So that was that was really the purpose for this particular discussion.

I'm gonna open up to see if how if there's any personal instances or how you're being affected. Or

I mean, I can say for the local commercial real estate industry, that we were expecting 2025 to be the year of a recovery. Part of that recovery is this fallout that needs to happen in kind of the office and multifamily sector around the commercial loans. There were a lot of properties and loans made in the last five to seven years that are coming due now and those properties are worth a lot less than what they were to either build or when the current owners acquired them and banks have been doing what we call pretend and extend meaning you know, not wanting to take the properties back, those that came due in 2024 and just waiting to see what unfolds. You I was at this presentation here with Alexander Quinn, and he's kinda saying the same thing. It's kind of this fallout, he used the capitulation, has has to to happen, has to start to fall out.

But I mean, it's just capital markets are locked up. And companies aren't getting new capital. Real estate markets aren't getting new capital, most capital is looking for a distressed deal. And so there's just not a whole lot happening. And all of the uncertainty is just keeping us in that pause.

Not helping those markets.

Not helping, just not helping to move things forward. So the leasing market over the last two plus years has been the slowest we've seen it. And, you know, it's not because our innovation economy went away. It's just everybody's hunkered down and not expanding, not looking for new space, not making do with what they've got. And I don't think we're going to quickly get back to where we were a few years ago.

I mean, we've been running on cheap money for many, many years. And when we were working at Harbor Bay years ago, all of our construction loans were 7%. And that was the norm. And I think that's back where we are. I think values of certain types of assets are more impaired than others, but we're not going to suddenly just bounce back up.

We've had a lot of cost inflation, construction cost beyond just other things. And but, yeah, it's it just didn't you know, things are in a pause.

So from a from a capital side, understand that. How about I mean, are are we are you seeing it yet, or is there on on the actual cost side of building the project, whether it's the cost of steel, tariffs, or wood coming from other places.

I mean, Frank, have I seen it? No. Because, you know, we're not building anything new right now. I mean Yeah. Fortunately, we finished a lot of what we were building here recently.

So I haven't directly seen it, but everybody's talking about it that it's it it at some point will ripple through.

Yeah. I would would agree. I mean, there are there definitely are businesses that are right at the front lines of the tariffs. You know, Gold Bar, for instance. Mhmm.

You know, they had a significant hit because of the tariffs because they import bottles from China. Whereas a lot we're just what the steel and aluminum tariff that was just announced, I mean, it has an effect. I mean, you take a business like Google Bar, let's say, maybe a good example, where they can't immediately just tell all their customers, you know, we're gonna jack the price of Yeah. Every bottle up $5 or whatever whatever it equates to. So they they end up eating some of that.

But over time, if that's the way it continues, you know, they're gonna wanna bring bring that into get that recover that $5. I think that I think that the the issue has been there's been no clear path. If there was a long term roadmap that the administration would publicize or whatever and actually stick to it. Right now, it it just feels like everything's just at the whim. It's just like a poker game or something.

And, you know, one day it's there, one day it's not. But in that one day, if you get caught in that one day, like Mhmm. Gold Bar gets caught in the one day, you know, next week, the the bottles are potentially back down, but you still ended up you still ended up paying this huge upcharge for that shipment. So for us, we're not we're not direct importers in our business, but, you know, steel does get hit. We use steel.

We use we use a lot of stuff that eventually, you know, I was just thinking I I had my car at the tire shop and I was thinking, I wonder I wonder if the tires or, you know, I'm gonna replace a tire I just recently bought, I was kinda curious. I I don't know yet, but those are the kind of things you suddenly would see when you have you have a direct comparable. We don't always have a direct comparable, So there's always a certain amount of fluctuation that's happening. And then there's so if a tariff happens and then this this person eats a little bit of it, then this this level eats a little bit, and this person that gets to us, and we eat a little bit. Right?

Everybody everybody takes a little piece of the of the pain. I don't you know, I don't really know what the city seems like. They're such small fry in the game too. It's unclear what what the city could really do to to help damper that. But what Joe's talking about is so true. I mean, we rely on on the market. Joe's at the front end of a lot of stuff that we would otherwise be doing, and that stuff is just shut down.

Yeah. It's just everything relies on certainty if we don't have it. Mhmm.

Yeah. I would say just on on that front, like, the 10 because so much and, like, where the space I deal in, a lot of the construction financing is tied to the ten year, and, like, nobody ever like, everybody's on pause just because there is there's so much uncertainty out there right now about what's gonna happen, not just with tariffs, but ultimately with the cost of capital. And so I'd say we we're seeing a little bit. So so far, again, we're we're working hydro, so we're working with you know, our business is is really more on the services and technology side of it. So we have not actually seen a direct hit to our business.

But one thing that is going I do think we'll start to see ripple through is that in hydropower, almost all of the manufacturing happens outside The US. And and so, like, the cost of there will be impacts. And if if the tariffs don't stay on pause. I think I think the uncertainty point that has been mentioned already is just there's there's just a lot of volatility. Right?

Like or, like, like, potential for volatility. You know, we're I I think it's, like, July 8 or ninth, I think, is the next, like, big day when the current pause will roll off and then or or or not. And I think it's really, we're we're we're definitely starting to see folks kinda, like, start to just wait, to to see if the pause extends, if it you know, like, what yeah. Certainty is helps create a stable environment for investing or for in in general. And right now, you know, whether it's at a higher interest rate or a lower interest rate, the the thing that's really the the difficult thing to manage right now is is just not knowing where to peg planning.

So

I would say at College of Alameda, major concern is around construction. We haven't seen it yet. We just finished our new transportation technology center. We're moving into it right now. And but I have another construction project for my aviation program. So one hangar is being refurbished. Another is being demolished, and we're building a new one. And there are always concerns about cost overruns. We're behind already, so the costs are going up without the tariffs anyway. So it's it's just a a big concern, and we'll just have to wait and see how it affects our construction budget.

How much contingency are you building in and not? It's a complete unknown in some categories.

There's a limit. I mean, it's it's the the the the funding is really tight. There's very little flexibility. You can't we're gonna have to come out of pocket, you know, if it's if it's over budget. So yeah.

An increase in our unit prices for the items on a certain date. So then the kind of kind of telling us, hey. If you wanna order at the current price you're paying, order now, which and we do. And then we'll see

what happens after the day. Like you said, it's if it's if it's still

really there, they may be sending us letters on the threat of an increase. Now with the aluminum steel, 50%, I'll I'll wait and see how it impacts if it lasts. And then the lead times from the mills have been longer. Well, we noticed that. I don't know. That's terrible.

And then do you have

I mean, do you feel

like there's uncertainty with your with, like, the government contracts in general, or or this Not uncertainty on

the government contracts. What there's uncertainty is that we have no idea when they're gonna pass the budget. They've already heard of this because, yeah, they didn't delayed us funding all Noah, and that impacted our business. In fact, we just told Noah that we weren't gonna able to actually even if they get funding, we wouldn't be able to work their contracts this year because of the timing. Like, example is that we've been doing for the last three years is doing supporting them through the hurricane season around Florida and The Caribbean.

And we usually send out a bunch of drones. And this year and those drones actually have to start leaving leaving the ports in May so they can get to the locations in the Atlantic where they want stationed. And they didn't get the funding. We didn't get the contracts. So those folks are all still here in Alameda. And if hurricane season start, too busy. So we are not there, and we're not gonna be there. So if hurricanes are coming through, we won't have our out there

So it seems kind of I mean, this kind of

Yep.

Whole broad Yes. I think. Spectrum of depending kind of the the capital markets, depending where you are on the front line for your individual businesses and industries, but still kind of this everyone's in the same boat of wait and see. But I think your point about, like, what can the city do, I I feel like, you know, yes, we can be educated about it. I don't know if we have if if we're impacted necessarily where we have a high concentration of businesses that are on the front line, It may be that we're seeing

this later on.

Things up right at the state level. You go to the government office and see what the nuisance office can do for the federal level. Right? We have our congressmen and our senators to try to put pressure. I don't wanna put pressure on them to the best work through the issues to get a budget that in a that the country needs and remind people how the tariffs impact the people all day long. Mhmm. So A

push from the bottom.

So then how do we then just practically speaking, would that be, you know, something that you would tell us that, hey. It'd be great if you as a city could give the word to our local congressmen, senators with this message. And that could be across to any kind of injury or Yeah. Message. Okay.

I'm pretty sure that's

something the overall message is some amount of predictability. Businesses businesses rely on predictability. We're constantly trying to make projections. And when when there's a lot of big pieces in flux, it just makes business really hard. And it locks up decisions.

We've been hearing anecdotally from our retailers who now have to make their orders

for the holiday

season. Yeah. They have to

Yeah. Potential tariff Yes.

Or or where their products are

manufactured and stuff. So, yeah, it's a certainty of locking in the price point, they're not quite sure.

Okay. I think we've had that.

Other discussions on this? I

can contribute. You know, in my business, we haven't seen a a big impact because we still have current inventory. But I suspect when inventory levels go down and and tariffs have affected the supply chain, I expect we're gonna we're gonna feel it more. I think it's just a matter of time.

It's impacting all all the businesses, all types of businesses.

Okay. So if there's no other discussion on that one, we don't have any, like I said, action required. So for this, it the next topic is really more for us to get a better understanding. So 6b, then moving on to the next agenda item, discuss marketing messages for Choose Alameda business attraction website. So I can start off because or maybe if you want to start off, Madeline, of kind of but essentially, this Choose Alameda website is a partnership between

The Chamber and the City, yeah. And the purpose of that is to brand the island because there was a strategic, session hosted back in 2020 saying that island doesn't have a brand. People will not find us easily. We have a challenge in, transportation as well. So speaking with Jen Art, she said she wants a website that is focused on branding the island to attract businesses easily to Alameda and make sure that we retain business in Alameda. So that's the focus of Choose Alameda website that we're building right now. It's all economic development.

Yeah. And typically, I mean, for almost all the cities I've worked for, economic development has wanted, you know, in many cases, a separate website. So the difficult thing you have is you've got, you know, a city website that not everybody is on. And even when you go to most city websites, you're not really it's hard to figure out, well, do I go to the department? And the department gets me to economic development, and that's where I find out about or some cities have a business tab.

So the thought about Choose Alameda, a separate website, is that it's designed just to get the the messages and the information across that we want and that we could then market. So rather than say, you know, more information about choosing location in Alameda, go to city slash economic development slash this. It's just go to choose Alameda. Yeah. So we have a there's a designer in place. We've got a lot of information kind of that's content that can put into the site. But what we really like to get feedback is is kind of essentially how what are the messages from your standpoints

That we want to relay.

That that we really want, that you feel like when you're thinking about and I should back up a little bit because in my mind, this site is is is primarily geared towards our the strengths that we have. So that's, you know, our biotech, our clean tech, our blue tech, and as well as our, you know, industries like yours. So it's like we have these companies here. This is then what is the information that they want when they're looking at a potential Alameda site? What's the information they need to gather to help them make kind of that decision? I mean, if

I think of Alameda County, I think Fremont has always been very strong on the economic development side and particularly around large businesses, tech businesses, manufacturing businesses. And so I would, as part of this effort, really look at what they do. I think they have a separate website for what you just described. And so I would really recommend taking a peek at what kind of messages are they delivering, you know?

Right. And just to be clear, is this website primarily geared towards business attraction?

Yeah.

Yes. Primarily geared towards new investment in the city. So whether that's a new business, new development, but, yeah, it's it's the attraction side of it versus, like, a visit website. We're certainly wanna talk about you know, because we've the message we've heard from a lot of companies is, well, we're making the company decision to to come here, but then we're also looking at the community.

So You probably yeah. I mean, for retail businesses, for those types of businesses that deal with the community directly, there is a component Yeah. About our demographics,

I put Pacific Fusion find out. We they're out there in more labs. So how did they come online? How did they go to a website or did some

Through their broker.

Broker said they land up.

Through their broker. Yeah. So maybe we could start off because because the way that we're looking at designing this is, you know, like most websites, you're gonna have a home page. So the home page in our mind is, k. What are those key messages? And I really think this it's more of the companies. There'll be less kind of probably retail than more of, you know, if I'm the if I'm the Pacific Fusion or another kind of tech company, what are the key messages that I need to see out that I'm looking for on that home page that are gonna help me make that decision? That and so we kinda put some of these down. Like

I mean, do we have land? Do we have Right. We have power? Power is huge in my mind because the power is a big piece. What are our processes for getting projects approved, getting business licenses, getting you know, how can the city help with that process Yeah. You know, in terms of getting air permits and getting certain things.

So what we're gonna do is we're gonna have the way it's gonna set up is we're gonna have a home page with those kind of two or three kind of key messages, and then we'll have, you know, tabs. And so part of our discussion is kind of, is there a way for us to kind of, you know, narrow down,

you know,

what are those what are those first messages versus what are the messages that we, you know, will have on the side. Yeah. So just just and and so in that executive the staff report, could just read over those. When we have and not in the order, central location. So the location of Alameda where we're we're here in this in this part of the Bay Area, and that includes our transportation corridors, the airports, the port, that kind of stuff.

So that Yeah. Proximity to job centers, job creation, you know, the lab, the UC, Stanford, Central Bay Area, port, airport.

I think I think emphasizing quality of life for potential employees too just because of this you know, the the city of Alameda itself isn't really attractive to employees. I mean, assuming they can afford it or whatever else. But, you know, that's that's a major plus.

And I'm gonna look at it and either brokers even try to kinda help guide me as a new company. But if I'm looking at it and now Neil's on the list, yeah, it'd be interesting to know. It's like, almost almost how are you gonna help someone go through the process because they're gonna look at four different cities that all want them there. And how could they all need to stand out? Is it a a on the website, a portal, like, kinda almost gives you a a mock to get operational within the city kinda takes these general steps.

We generally take this many weeks to months to accomplish that. You could you knew knew this is gonna be up and running in LME in a short six months. Right. And that may stand out of of Fremont, and they say it takes eight months.

Yeah. And I don't know. I mean, not I've I my initial impression is that most cities are hesitant to come. Right. So if if they're in the same room, are hesitant to kind of Commit

to a timeline.

Commit to a timeline. I don't think we are. But, I mean, if someone's looking at five cities, there there may only be a

couple there. Does the city offer a dedicated specialist to help them walk through the process?

So the website will have a so it'll have a very easy kind of portal for a saying where you could go in and say, I want 100,000 square feet of office space or warehouse space. Then what do you have? Or land for sale or whatever that category is. So and and they'll be able to see that twenty four seven whenever they log on, what's available. But then it's really then, okay. Then what are those other what are those key things? And it may depend maybe on the industry.

I mean, that availability piece, they get that from their brokers. Yeah. I wouldn't I don't know if that would be a huge focus because can you keep that updated? As updated as the brokers. But then once, you know, you find a space or have options Yeah.

It's the process, you know, to getting approvals, to getting building permits, to getting, you know, is my use approved? Is my use acceptable? And it's an issue for, you know, to say it, you know, Alameda Point, you know, if you need our business parks are easy because there's there's plans in place. You know? There's zoning in place that is very clear on what can and can't get done. It's you know? But if it's new ground up development, that's likely at Alameda Point. That's more of a political process. Right. And so

So do you feel then then that, you know, if a lot of this is led by brokers so if you're a company and say, we're gonna hire a broker, you find us available spots in the Bay Area in this kind of circle. Do you feel, though, that we need to initially push to be on that list as far as where we're located? And do people think because one of the things I wonder about is

Well, if

you could on the information about, yeah, about, you know, as it relates to make sure they have the information about how easy it is or what you know, to do business.

Mhmm. Yeah. Okay. So we had on here so I'm hearing we had down certainty and timeliness in the approval process. We had that as a category.

So it sounds like that is one of the key things.

But I think to Mark's point, you know, that hand holder that I mean, when it when we submit something in Oakland, it's like going into the a dark tunnel. Yeah. You know? And you get in between departments and from intake to plan check to planning to this and that, you just you really get into the dark tunnel because you just you can't there's

rarely somebody your own system.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. And so, you know, being able to provide that definitive process and support. And Okay.

Engineering department. You you plan check. So, like, it is a person who who covered multiple cities. And so then when I say, hey. I wanna bring my my drawing back in. They're like, well, I'm only in that office on, like, this Thursday.

We have here. The only thing that I've also seen cities farm out is they may not have, an on staff structural engineer who does those kind of calculations. I'm not sure if we have any. Yeah. Contract You know,

one thing we sorry. Go ahead.

Go ahead.

I'm just going to

you know, one thing on the building side that I think more cities should look hard at is self certification. Know, when you say you don't have a structural plan checker or mechanical plan checker, it's like, you know, rely on the license and the insurance policies of the architects and engineers designing them, they must have some minimum qualifications. But I think to me sometimes checking plans seems, you know, what's you know, have a good inspection program, but you know, if an engineer is designing a building and is there really something to plan check? You know, is is the person sitting at the plan check desk know it better than the engineer who designed it? So let's rely on, you know, again, they meet certain minimum qualifications.

You rely on their license. You rely on their e and o policy and and and then, of course, inspections to make sure it's built per plan. But that would help expedite Yeah. Permits because

What is it duplicating?

It's dupe it's of engineer architect

in the city of California, and I understand the

rather than I'm sure someone there will push back. At the same time

And when plans here get sent out to the third party, was it CSG? It seems like 90% of the comments around ingress, egress issues and ADA issues. And again, I would almost rather be required to get a CASP inspector as part of my submittal and From your end? From our end. Yeah. And submit and certify that it complies. And then, you know, you have a robust inspection program, but just really shrink that that plan check process.

The approval process. Shrink that. You're still able to inspect the project as it's being built. Correct. Mhmm. So that doesn't change. It's just that it's just beginning to that stage.

Because the developer can control if if they're higher, they can control the speed a lot better than Right. Putting it into the, oh, I've got six other plans I've gotta look at first.

So then we had,

you know,

we had this category called infrastructure advantages, water, sewer, kind of power. Do you feel like though like, from a cost perspective, do you feel like that should be then put into this category of project cost certainty? If that should be separate, like, so, okay. Here, if you come down Alameda, you

know, we're we're gonna

give you certainty and the time frame to build your project, but also know that the cost of your project here

And the ability to get it quickly. We did seven, eight power upgrades in PG and E territory recently. It took us three years.

Yeah. That's a lot of hope too.

Electrical side is a big advantage. You do control the sewer side.

That would be publishing of standards, really clear standards that are dependable, predictable. Mhmm. Yeah.

A couple of things. The city has offered what we've called at your service program. It's kind of like similar to what Hanold and so forth. There's a major project or something, we could arrange a meeting with fire, public works, camp to look over what are the preliminary plans and just say what are maybe the right flags or give more certainty to the project fees or what the city internally will be looking at on this project. And that seemed to help at least for what we've heard, provide more certainty or at least get the discussion before permits are filed.

And I think definitely on the planning side, might be if there's more subjective things around how things should look or feel, but the code is the code. Know, everybody uses the uniform California building code. You know, they may have their own little tweaks and adjustments to it, but published standards, you know, around would be really helpful that, right, design teams could use. And then it's like, I'm certifying, I'm representing, that I'm building and designing per these standards. And, you know, I have an E and O policy that meets your requirements.

The the other thing that we did years ago, but I don't think we've done it recently, is through to kind of like a rough back of the envelope cost estimates, cost comparison. Mhmm. What our rate for using x amount of electricity That's compared to the surrounding area? Absolutely.

We did that all the time. We, you know, we did yeah. For power users, the present value of the delta and power costs. Yeah. You know, for big power users, it can be significant. A rough cost comparison. Yeah. And then

Mhmm. That would be So in kind of like what you're how you phrased it, there's the cost of of doing your building project, but then the cost of operations. So it seems like it's kinda common theme if we're if we're really pushing certainty. The ease and predictability to get set up and operational. Right.

Labor availability. It's telling me to consider a a low crime area compared to maybe other cities in this valley. So, again, you're you're coming to an area that offers you even longer Right.

Fitness finding employment. So that Yeah. I mean, I like that kind of transition from the cost ability, the certainty, getting your project approved, getting the project on the ground, and then moving into your operations, your the utility rates and finding employees and that kind stuff.

Yeah. Maybe there should be somewhere in there, like like, compare amenities or quality of life things. You know? What's our crime versus surrounding area? What's our

And once you hear the traffic's going, yeah, yeah, yeah. You

know, where you have Ferries. We have the ferries that Yeah. Are

How much do you think then because we the other thing we have is synergy with other light businesses. You know, do you feel like that needs to be a primary focus or a secondary focus? So if you're a if you're a biotech company, how important is that? I mean, you thought that that was an

important thing. Was not or wasn't? Or that it was. No. I think talking about the industries that are here, you know, both broadly and more specifically, but, you know, innovation companies, r and d companies, and then further dialing down, you know, into certain sectors within that if we have enough concentration and, why do they choose to locate here? Business is

definitely like the cluster. You see it everywhere. Whether or not they already know those businesses exist.

We generally I wouldn't want a another light company across the street from you, and then we'll just be fighting over later.

But how about because we were before this meeting, we had we were touring Pikka. And so I I'm I'm almost positive they made the comment that, oh, we have there are some employees that we have Ex employees. Yes. That are sales driven, Pika, Astra. Right. Similar kind of backgrounds.

Yeah. The talent but I think the point is is not to make you try to in this area. So it's not all like, if you I was trying to do what I'm doing now and I was in, let's say, Palo I'd have a hard time finding a seller who didn't who wasn't driving from really far away. Right? Because, you know, when I'm paying someone

Okay. So that talent pool Yeah. That's a good idea. Across the across the spectrum Yeah. And able to pull in from the universities, the local colleges from take the Fairfield San Francisco. So you're not just the town pool that's right here immediately, but in the surrounding area.

One thing you might do is, you know, talk to a handful of companies. How do they make location decisions? And I think you'll start to find some common things they look for, things they want to analyze, things data they need and then make that data available. Okay. But I think, you know, people who make facility location decisions, you know, whether that's through an HR consulting company, something of that sort, you know. And then as far as developers who are building speculatively, again,

a lot of

the things we talked about, you know, how quick can I get my approvals, permits

Yeah?

You know. And and, you know, I think a lot of folks in this market know that Alameda Point is a different process. It's a it's a more political process. And so Mhmm. You know, that creates its own With time being a big Right. Time is money. Yeah. And the certainty part.

Yeah. I do getting back to the talent pool part, I think that also allows us to then go into the topics of, you know, quality of life more too. Yeah. So you're able to draw from this talent pool because they're they're living here close to in Alameda or close to Alameda because they can, you know, be afforded by a house versus the San Francisco, and you're tying in them. Okay. I don't know.

Not seeing any here.

If they have any other one, assume the people

Yeah. I think that's why the reason we started setting interviews with companies that anchored here. We're asking them why they selected Alameda and what attracted me to get stabilized there and

a year here, Madeline. That's why. You know, I think of my career in the 2000s, early 2000s, Alame, we competed largely on cost, low cost. You know, everybody had the perception that it was so hard to get here and it was easier to get up and down the $8.80 at the time. But we didn't have other means to get.

We didn't have the ferries, know, getting people to come through the tunnels and over the bridges. You know, I would say probably 10 times in my career I went and picked up a tenant and drove them over here to show them, hey, it's not so hard. But for a long time, Alameda competed almost strictly on a cost basis. But I think as the labor pool has moved from the Peninsula and San Francisco to the East Bay, You know? And as

Yeah. There was a one biotech company over in Harbor Bay. What convinced them was showing them a map that was basically a crescent moon of labor from Davis all the way down Fremont, our concentration of biotech companies was as big in the East Bay was as big as San Diego, almost as big as Boston.

Yeah.

It's, like, the fourth largest cluster right here in the East Bay. Yeah.

Now we haven't yet, and we could do that homework certainly. I don't I don't know off the top of my head, like, what what are our office industrial rents, you know, compared to South San Francisco, Bishop Ranch, other areas? Getting back to your comment on on strictly on cost.

Yeah. No.

We haven't had to compete as aggressively on rents as we used to because, you know, you know, Dan Peritzky and and Varina Village, you know, they created a program to focus on on r and d and tech and lab and Mhmm. You know, improvement dollars and and Right. Spec space so that it's quicker to get in. And so with that investment and that focus, it, you know, you become it it you you're not just competing on price.

Fact, no one has an office there. So in the old years, they've all hired. So when you go to school there, people actually probably like living there in the Park State, Florida, Tampa area. And then they graduate, and they find jobs right there because there's this light industry that matches the university, what they're cranking out. And it's the states. And so we opened an office in Sydney. And I've hired oceanographers that actually work for us, and they they are not moving to California. They don't want to stay in Florida. So he was like, what kind of what is the what are some of the biggest degrees come on out of, like, Berkeley

Okay. Another another takeaway just Yes.

Thank you. I remember a number of meetings ago, we had this conversation about exploring relationships with local universities, and I think this kind of goes back to that, and I think being available for, you know, the students somehow or allowing programs to come on to the, Alameda Island can maybe start to foster those relationships. I think that's a great idea.

Yeah. Just looking at this list, I I'm kind of not surprised or struck by You know, from what I'm hearing from you guys, it's much more it's much more of the nuts and bolts Yeah. Kind of technical side. It's tell us the numbers. Tell us the you know, that to me is what you know, versus the typical thought. I mean, we we had these all these categories, and so we were gonna have you know, we were trying to figure out what's the hierarchy of our location with nice maps and quality of life with nice pictures and synergy with testimonials from what Make it easy for me,

and that'd be very competitive on cost.

Yeah. Give give them the

predictability and stability that they're not getting from the federal government.

Well, you can put that on the website. There you go. And now and having heard that, I would say that that's that's quite a bit different from most of the websites that I see in our industry.

Now go easy button. Easy button. Let me show you how to Yeah. Set up and not tell me.

I mean, I know a lot of cities talk about it, but it I don't see that as the focus of these type of websites typically, where it's let's let's get right down to it. So I think if you know?

Usually, the websites just take you here's all list of all the forms that are available on the city's website. Yeah. You can download and fill out to see it in this department. You know?

So I think as we're designing this Yes. If that's if these two things are the main focus, I feel that at least just based on the websites I've seen, the cities I've worked for, that would be a diff that would differentiate us from other cities having it be that kind of, direct that way. Yeah. Not to say that we're not we'll still have the tabs that have the the, you know, the quality of life stuff and the other things. But if if you're getting hit at the very beginning with that kind of certainty and ease and predictability kind of words

The power comp I mean, it's the greatest asset. You know? You really gotta put that front and center. Right? Yeah. You think about how hard it is to get through PG and E, how expensive it is.

People might not know this, so you have to actually, like, educate them, hey. You know, they may not know this, but working with PG and is a pain. Yeah.

You know, we have those numbers about how much the the companies have saved, what their diff typical discount is, and even examples of,

Like Joe said, you know, the brokers will bring them here. It just we have to let them know what are the steps, the facts, everything to make it easy for them to do business in Alameda.

Yeah. And and and you gotta see this, like, for a broker. If you're a broker at, you know, big, you know, big firm or insurance company, you're you're looking for and someone says, I wanna go to the West Coast, and they're pulling up listings, and they actually go in and help in this area. They don't know anything about that has. It's not. Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, there is an angle to play with brokers, and it's a how do I make you know, in just very blunt terms, how do I make your job easier? How do I get you paid more quickly? Right.

How do you make sure this deal is going to happen? Yeah. They're going to close on this land, buy this building, lease this space because you've helped them make that decision. That's

I how it mean, we use that a pitch all the time. It's like, we're going to make you look good with your client.

What what is the city's commercial vacancy right now? Oh.

Our retail kind of vacancy because we deal with it as part of extra streets. I don't know if

the shop has numbers, but I I don't think it's bad. I don't

I I don't feel this is I mean, I just I read 35% for San Francisco. I don't think we're Oh, yeah. Feel like I drive around and see that kind of vacancy here.

Yeah. Certainly from an office perspective. I mean, we don't have that.

We don't have a lot of that peer office. We have a lot of flex. And I think Yeah.

This is good. This is good. This information is going to help us a lot more.

Yeah. Any other comments on this topic? This has been yeah. Oh oh This is good. Good direction. That. This has been really good direction because Yeah. And and it's perfect timing for us because we're right at the stage of how are we gonna design this thing. We have this we have this whole pocket of information that we can drop in.

Yes. But

now it's okay. Now we can now we can really design this to have that look and feel, And we're happy to kind of, you know, share that progress. Our hope is that we have something, you know, June, early July.

Yes. And I think I know that the next EDAP meeting will be in September, but that's gonna get very close to the economic forecast where we're gonna unveil officially that website. So hopefully, can share it with EDAP, and maybe we can have a good discussion whoever wants to chime in to see what we what the progress is so far.

Yeah. I mean, they'll they'll be the short term kind of pain Yeah. While they're doing that. But then then, yeah, once it's done go through the tunnel. They'd rather sit on these streets. You're just sitting. Yeah.

They have they they've probably done a study. Mean, there's probably they've probably placed a percentage on that or something.

How that will be improved. Okay. Okay. Well, thank you. I think we can go actually, the last agenda item six c, request suggestions for future discussion topics. So other and we we don't have to come up with all of them now. But

I think continuing the discussion on Chuse Alameda is important because that's going to help the city quite a bit, bring more businesses here. Think that should be ongoing until we put the website up. And I know it's going to evolve because it's never going to stay that way. There's things that are going to change and come up and stuff so we can update all the time. But we would like to get something realistic put together where we can show it to our group here. Yeah.

And kind of on a related topic, I think that that I definitely see, you know, next year going in the direction of much more targeted kind of attraction. Yeah. So so I mean, we're we're doing things like the San Francisco Business Times, which is a it's more of a general kind of Bay Area. I would

recommend maybe Chicago a little bit. I think on Illinois Point specifically, in general, get business at I mean, if I was to come look at Eliminant, I go over to Bay Farm, and I have this green village, and, like, it's all kind of nice to my escaping these trees. The buildings are a new model. But then I have a Illinois Point. Right?

Table and they actually paid money to have something small. And maybe it's almost like you put at the main entrance into Alameda Point, it's a small welcome center that people could come to and say, this is kind of the vision of where Alameda wants take and point to where you could show where you want the parks and where you want the housing and where you want the the industry business. Yes. So some of you then see it, ah, I get it. Okay. There's a road up. What I'm looking at now is actually the chain. It's ugly now.

I think that's what Chuma mentioned today from Pika. He said he would like to see a vision of where Alameda Point will be because that's going to help him attract the right people to come to their company too.

Yeah. I mean, he was saying it from a standpoint of we're already here. Yeah. And it'd be great for us that are already here to know what

kind of What's the future?

What's the next years they're looking

like out here? What's on the horizon that we don't they

didn't know.

Yeah. Yeah. But I was I was getting back to saying that I've I've we wanna do more kind of targeted attraction. Yeah. And so part of this process, this committee work could be, okay.

You know? If we're gonna go directly out to find blue tech companies, then, you know, what is that message that that we should be saying to, you know, finding those specific companies. Right. And and so I think in the future, that's gonna be more of our role to to reach out directly rather than just kind of broad audiences. How about I know we've just kind of general, and maybe that's you know, any other ideas as far as, like, do you feel like this group, you know, should give input on, like, doing business in in Alameda?

Or

what do you mean by that?

Ways to improve our kind of process or or how we're viewed. Now it may be that you said, well, we've already gone through that. We're already here.

Through Yeah. Painting and being in the city or I go to the private Right. Parking rights.

Well, I guess the the oh, go ahead.

Well, I was just gonna say, I mean, the other thing is, I mean, if if we've already made the decision to be here, like our company, we've made the decision to be here. So what kind of support do we want beyond that? I mean, we don't we don't need to go through permitting and all that stuff anymore. We want the services. We want police. We want graffiti gone. We want cleanliness. We want homelessness addressed. Those are the things we want taken care of once we've made that choice.

Building building maintenance and response. Our south facing side, right, gets the weather in the winter months, and we had two main doors that were leaking pretty bad. Last summer, they they were repaired, one of them, and there's one left to do. And I can't get a commitment on a timeline when they're gonna come and do that repair.

Okay. So it's kinda frustrating.

Well, go ahead.

Do we have a a a list or a roster of business owners in Alameda, like email list? And if not email list, then some way to contact them? Because I think this is a very easy survey that you can send out to business owners in Alameda.

Yeah. We do You did. Alright.

To answer your question, we have a we have an overall city business license list. We have and then we also have it broken out. We have just down in the point. We have Harbor Bay.

And Research Park.

Yeah. At Research Park. So we we can break out.

Right.

This is just by certain geographic area too.

And so has there been either an annual or, you know, some frequency query as to how they are doing in Alameda and what kind of needs they have?

So we just had a it's a good question. Sent

it. Yeah.

Tightening. So we just sent out a survey, and we decided this year rather than just doing all of Alameda, the blanket one, to try to do it for these kind of geographic areas. But we just haven't gotten good results back. Mhmm. Percentage wise, good feedback.

Is it snail mail, or how what what form is it?

We we email that

out. Okay.

So it's just a a lower so we're still trying to figure out a way to get that.

Just a lower response rate.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

But it gets back to your point that this committee, this group, it's not just about the attraction side, but it's also talking about

Retention.

Retention. What's businesses are here? What should we be focusing on to Mhmm. To, you know, make sure they're getting services they need to wanna stay here?

Know, we don't want our cars broken into in our parking lot, which has happened. We our office has been broken into. We want the police there right away. Okay. You know, those sorts of things are yeah, they're a big deal for retention.

Okay.

They're a big deal for company morale.

Mhmm. True. Well, I think the benefit you know, from this group is that we have such a it is a varied group from small businesses to large businesses, different sectors. So that's that's the benefit

of the

The benefit of the community. Kind of feedback

from across the spectrum. I think that's it. That was it. So the the last says, any oh, panel member communications are not agenda. So do we have any panel members that wanna bring up any kind of topics or communication?

No. Any oral communication from the public? No? Okay. So then we're that is it for us. We adjourn the meeting at 07:21.

Thank you. You.

Thank you very much.

Thank you. So for your feedback. You.