Community & Economic Development Committee - Regular Meeting

To K Top, can we have the chamber unmuted, please? Good afternoon, and welcome to the Community and Economic Development Committee meeting of Tuesday, 03/24/2026. The time is now 01:44PM, and this meeting may come to order. Before taking roll, I will provide instructions on how to submit speaker cards for items on this agenda. If you're here with us in chamber and would like to submit a speaker card, please fill one out and turn one into to myself or a clerk representative before the item is read into record or no long no later than ten minutes after the start of this meeting.

This meeting came to order at 01:44PM, and speaker cards will no longer be accepted after 01:54PM. We'll now proceed with taking role. Council members five?

As sent.

Council member Houston?

We gotta have a special

Sorry. Council member Unger?

Here.

Oh, I'm miss council member Ramachandran? Present. And chair Brown? Present. Thank you. We have four members present.

Mhmm.

We need a motion to adjourn into a special meeting due to the presence of council member Houston. So moved. Thank you. That's a motion made by chair Brown, seconded by council member Fife, to con sorry. To adjourn the CED meeting and reconvene into a special meeting due to the presence of council member Houston at 01:45PM. On roll, council members Fife? Aye. Ramachandran? Aye. Unger. Aye. And chair Brown. Aye. Thank you. This meeting is now reconvened into a special meeting. Moving on to announcements. Chair, do you have any announcements at this time?

Yes. Thank you so much. My first announcement is that in an effort to keep our committee meetings on time, we will move to have public comment be just one minute. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Reading in item one, approval of the draft minutes from the committee meeting held on 03/10/2026. There are no speakers on this item. Move approval.

So moved.

Thank you. That's a motion made by council member five, seconded by council member Unger to accept the draft minutes from the committee meeting held on 03/10/2026. On roll, council member five? Aye. Ramachandran. Aye. Unger. Aye. And chair Brown. Aye. Thank you. Item number one passes with four ayes to accept the draft minutes from 03/10/2026. Reading in item two, determination of scheduled outstanding committee items and there are no speakers on this item.

Excellent. Thank you so much. Do we have any changes from the administration?

None.

Colleagues we just need a motion on the pending list.

I'll move the pending list.

Second. Thank you. That was a motion made by council member Unger, seconded by council member Ramachandran to accept the determination of scheduled outstanding committee items as is. On roll, council members Spike? Aye. Ramachandran? Aye. Unger. Aye. And chair Brown.

Aye. Thank you. Item number two passes with four ayes to accept the pending list as is. Reading in item number three, adopt an ordinance authorizing the city administrator to negotiate and execute a lease agreement with the nonprofit Oakland Parks And Recreation Foundation for the Tyrone Carney Park at ten sorry. 10501 Achalanes Drive, Oakland for a license fee of $0 for a term of two years with five one year options to extend for maintenance and workforce training. Two, making findings that the below market license fee is in the best is in the city's best interest. And three, making California Environmental Quality Act findings and we have two speakers that signed up to speak.

Excellent. Thank you so much. We will hear from staff on this item.

Good afternoon Chair Brown, members of the committee. My name is Shana Hirschfield Gold. I'm in the city administrator's office in the sustainability and resilience division and one of the honors that I have in that role is overseeing the final stages of implementation of the Better Neighborhood Same Neighbors program, which is funded through transformative climate communities grant from the state of California. Total grant amount is $28,200,000. We received that grant in 2020.

And one of the projects of the Better Neighborhood Same Neighbors project is the revitalization of Tyrone Carney Park, which as probably most of you know has been shuttered for over two decades. The community the community coalition that came together and developed a very grassroots plan for Deep East Oakland that led to the Better Neighborhoods Same Neighbors Project led by the East Oakland Neighborhoods Initiative, EONI, highlighted the revitalization of Tyrone Carney Park and not just revitalization of the park, but the creation of a community led stewardship program. They highlighted that as a major community priority. And the Oakland Parks and Recreation Foundation is one of the subrecipients of the transformative climate communities grant through Better Neighborhood, Same Neighbors. Oakland Parks and Recreation Foundation has been working with EONI as well as with the Sobrante Park Resident Action Coalition or SPRAC to develop a robust community stewardship program that also includes workforce training at Tyrone Kearny Park.

And so we have here Mandalynn Kadera Redman, Redman

who is the executive director of the Oakland Parks and Recreation Foundation, and she's gonna speak

a little bit to the work that they are planning for the park.

Good afternoon. Hello. Mandalyn Mandalynn Kadera Redman, executive director with the Oakland Parks and Rec Foundation, members of the council and the public. We are very excited to implement this stewardship program at Tyrone Carney Park specifically because of the the long shedding of that park. This has come from a lot of collaborative work with community as well as several different departments and entities surrounding the area.

Internally at the city, we're working with the real estate city administrators, of course, the Oakland Parks Recreation Youth Development Department, Public Works, all together to implement the stewardship program. Often, we are partnering with the city to bring in dollars for restoration projects around playground equipment, park spaces, green spaces. We plant trees. This agreement that's before you or at least agreement allows us to actually then implement programming once we're complete with the project, and that's this very profound next step that allows us to activate that space beyond the building. So that is what is before you.

We are in partnership every week with our tree services department as well as our community members. Shana had mentioned Sprack and Eone so that we can get our work plan really in order and engage community right where they are and then continue to activate the space beyond beyond the opening of the park. That's what I wanted

to do. Do I have to answer questions? Thank

you.

Excellent. Thank you so much. And did you all have more to present?

Good afternoon, council and committee members. I'm Quincy Williams, and I'm the capital improvements project coordinator for OPRYD. I'm here today to highlight our relationship with OPRF and park stakeholders in general. I've collaborated with OPRF on a variety of items as relates to OPRYD. I enjoy the working relationship I have with them, and this project will enhance our partnership.

How you might ask? Well, the maintenance of our parks and rec facilities is performed by Public Works or OPW. This is enormous undertaking. OPRF with the help of other community groups will perform maintenance tasks as well as opening and closing of Tyrone Carney Park. This will allow for OPW to focus its limited resources on other sites. Also, OPRF will provide consistent stewardship of the space by ensuring that any vandalism will be addressed promptly. With the renovated park reopening soon, OPRYD and the city as a whole will need stakeholders such as OPRF and others to act as entities who will safeguard the space which will encourage community activation. Thank you.

Excellent. Thank you so much for the report. Colleagues, any questions or comments? Council member Houston, I know that this is in District 7. Wanted to go ahead and give you the opportunity to, share remarks or ask any questions. Thank

you. Through the chair. I just wanted to find out who in that department is the the executive director, who's the board of directors, and what neighborhood outreach did they reach out to. And I wanna know, actually, who was is Madeline? Do and I'm a ask whoever's out here. Do they know the history of why that park was shut down?

That is a complicated history. I don't know if that's something we wanna answer that do you want me to answer?

Yeah. I'll answer it because I was there and I'm the one that had it shut down with Larry Reed because of the homicides on November. But I wanna know if you know.

I do know.

Okay. Okay. So my thing is this, is what part of the neighborhood did we speak to? Because there's two worlds there. Right? And the first time it was opened up in the last twenty three years was when I just opened it up on 11/05 this year. No homicides, no shootings, no stabbings, nothing is showing that we can we we we can act up we can act right too. Right? So because I'm from there. I'm from Stone City 115 up to Brandy Park, all those areas. They probably never elect another person like me in on on this seat because I'm from there. Right? So I just wanna know who did who reached out to me to talk to me about this?

I I have personally talked with your aide, Ladette, I think is if pronouncing that correctly. We've been talking with the previous council member before that. It's as we know, it's been a long time of a lot of engagement. The SPRAC really was instrumental in providing engagement to bring the state dollars to restore the playground. They are they have very detailed engagement around what the park wants to do, what it has been doing in the midst of it being gated.

There's activation all around the space at the moment. There's connectivity with the with the Surani Park and the and the field there over at Brookfield. There's been all kinds of connections. A lot of that we've been building through the transformative climate communities grant and the better neighborhood same neighbors initiative. So it's been going in many different iterations. This is almost the last step that allows us to activate. So it's been many years.

Yeah. I I got it. I understand through the chair. It's the last step, but I'm the council member now, and I understand what's happening in that community. I'm from that community. Right? And I wanna know because that's it's gonna be a very touchy situation there if it's not handled the right way. Agree. Don't want it to be closed down another twenty three years. Right? So I never SPRAC never reached out to me. I'm just trying to figure out why nobody reached out to talk to me about

this part. I apologize. If there's a way that I can reach directly to you, we can do some walk throughs and walks you could see some of the activities that we have done. I'm happy to do that with you.

Right. So I don't wanna move this until I have these meetings and speak to the the the the the the the individuals that's gonna manage it, I'll speak to you and find out who in the community, not just one side. There's three parts to that community that need to be spoke to so we can be successful. We want this to be successful. We want it to be just like the eleven five day I opened it up. I opened it up without permission too. I did that. And no shootings, no killings, no murders, happiness. It was straight straight happiness. Like my council member Ramishana said, happiness day. It was a happy day. So I don't wanna move it until I have until I have have these meetings.

Yes. I'm gonna pass it to staff. Thank you.

Hello council member Houston. So in our recent meeting, we established the fact that with the ribbon cutting ceremony, we have a planning process. And so obviously you, your office will be involved in that process and we intend to have weekly meetings. And these weekly meetings will involve obviously you, members of Eone, Sprack, also the foundation and obviously city staff members. And so we encourage you to come to those meetings, those weekly meetings and provide whomever you see fit that needs to be a part of those meetings. We encourage that. So you know, I'll have communication with you and with your office also Madeline. So that's all.

Excellent. And so I guess my question at this time to the staff, can you briefly walk us through the importance of I guess passing this item in this moment? And then I did hear the staff say that they look forward to ongoing engagement with the district seven office but just wanted to get a clear understanding of of the item we have before us today.

Yes. Absolutely through the chair. As as we mentioned, this is one of a host of projects through the Better Neighborhood Same Neighbors project and that project serves several specific neighborhoods in Deep East. So Sobrante Park, Brookvale Village, Stonehurst, Elmhurst. And the community engagement process that went into establishing the Better Neighborhoods Same Neighbors plan that was led by the East Oakland Neighborhoods Initiative, sort of a coalition that was made up of multiple nonprofits and community leaders identified park and several other sites as neighborhood priorities.

But where we are now, we received the $28,200,000 grant from the state in 2020, appropriated it and began work. And the grant initially, it was a shorter grant, we're on the third or so extension at this point and establishment of the stewardship plan is one of the deliverables of the grant. So the license agreement is sort of the innovative mechanism that through the state support, the city, our real estate division, our parks and youth development department, and our community partners have come up with as a way of establishing that kind of shared model of leadership. But again we are we're kind of up against the grant deadlines. Our implementation is supposed to end in at this point, our implementation is supposed to end at the April.

That doesn't mean that the stewardship would work would end but it does mean that we should have the agreement for OPRF and SPRAC and EONI to launch into the stewardship activities at that point. And we do, Quincy and Mantelin I think mentioned, we do have a number of safeguards built into the license agreement. So it's a two year agreement with five one year extensions and annual at minimum checkpoints, partnering with or you know having ongoing communication with our economic and workforce development department the workforce training, partnering with OPRYD, around programming, partnering with OPW, around maintenance. So we're building in a lot of checks and balances. Excellent.

Thank you so much. So I guess from what I'm hearing given the current deadline, I think I heard there was a deadline of April, April in order to get this agreement rolling especially given that the project I think the report said that the dollars were funded in 2019 and then the allocation in 2020. So it's actually taken us some time to even just get to this point. And so I guess you know through to council member Houston kind of based on what was articulated would you be comfortable with this body kind of moving this item? I believe it's gonna go to the special council meeting which is after our recess.

And so that then in the meantime you can connect with staff to get more of an understanding and then if at that council meeting you still have concerns then we can address it as a body. But I would like this body to move the item forward so that then we can ensure that the We are on track to meet that April deadline.

When is the ground Through the chair, when is the groundbreaking? Because I heard it was put off till like June.

Yeah. I don't know.

We're looking now at probably July.

July. So I'm a say this, none of these organizations reached out to me on that and I'm not gonna go into any of you guys districts and tell you what to do. None of those organizations reached out to me about this because this is a complicated location. Yeah. Which which I I Complicated. When I say complicated, got three different worlds you gotta deal with over there. Yep. So I'm just saying it's a complicated situation and everybody has to be embraced on that. Everybody. So I'm saying no because they didn't reach out to me in I never heard from none nobody. Three organizations. I've been in office for thirteen months. I mean, I know I was there at the ground I mean, they opened it up and did the groundbreaking, nobody reached out to my office.

And so, thank you council member Houston. So to the city staff, can we how can we how can we ensure that council member Houston's office is engaged with all of the groups? I know I know you mentioned a weekly meeting. Is that correct?

Yes. So I'll personally follow-up with council member Houston's office and ensure that there's gonna be consistent communication so that we can move this forward.

Excellent. And then prior to so that communication would be prior to our upcoming I think that what's the date? April 14 is our next council meeting. And so in between that time if we just go ahead and move if we move the item and in the event that you haven't received the proper updates that you're interested in, then as a body we could then just not move forward with the item. Does that sound reasonable? And then also wanna open it up colleagues

for any questions as well. I wanna hear what my colleagues have to say about my district. Okay. Council member Fife.

I resonate resonate with that sentiment. Council member Houston. I have some very sensitive areas in my district as well. And I have to say, one of the the the shootings that happened in Downtown Oakland where seven individuals were shot and two lost their lives, when we, as a body, set aside a million dollars to deal with entertainment zones, I think should have been used to secure safety in the uptown downtown area before adding additional services or programs. And so I am definitely resonating with your position on what the sensitivity needs are for your personal district because you know what's happening on the ground.

I'm also concerned about potentially losing losing time with a program that has been in in progress. And I will say my first two years in office, it was very rare that staff reached out to me about what was going on in my district. And I've I've it's been six years and now my relationship with Parks and Rec is amazing. And Quincy, you've been great. So I appreciate you you overcommunicate and I love it.

And I want council member Houston to have that opportunity as well. I've worked with Eone when I was a director in East Oakland. I do know that they do good work, but I do think there needs to be a special I'm not sure what happened with Ledette or what happened in terms of communication there, but he does need to be brought into this conversation as someone who's on the ground and actually was a part of closing down the park. What you said twenty three years ago? Twenty three years ago. Yeah. It's it's it's tense in some neighborhoods and so because we are going to get blamed for anything that goes wrong and we have to deal with the repercussions of what happens, I would like to see that occur.

Council member Unger.

I'll defer to council member Houston and his district but I don't want to lose this money. Is there any way we could do a couple of weeks worth of engagement and bring it back on the fourteenth? I mean I don't know what the risks are of losing this money but I do want to make sure that council member Houston's involved in the process.

Yeah and it's my understanding when I read through the report is it $400,000 that is being allocated? Yes. So therefore that's why we have the deadline as well.

Through the chair you're saying $400,000 be lost if if we don't move this today. That's what you said?

Well not today specifically. Think I heard

When when would it be lost?

End of our deadline is April. Is that correct?

Through the chair, yes. That that is correct. And I the fact that this is an ordinance and therefore requires two readings gives us a a little bit more time to do extensive coordination.

Council member Unger.

Can we do that then? Can we bring it back on the fourteenth so that council member Houston has a chance to consult with stakeholders? Does that work for you?

I through the chair, can I hear what council member Janani wants to say has something to say too? Council member Ramachandran?

I think what council member Unger just proposed of hearing it at full council on the fourteenth, and then there is a second reading before the April. So that's two different opportunities before this this body's forwarding it to the full council, but we will all still have a vote on the fourteenth.

Okay. I'm gonna take the lead of council member Wood, Fife, Brown, Unger, and you said, I'm taking your lead. Alright? Yep. Okay.

Alright. And so I'll make a motion to go ahead and move this item to the special city council meeting on the thirteenth, three thirty, fourteenth at 03:30.

Second.

And I just wanna I'll second. I just wanna make it clear that I I want I'm not gonna vote on this on the fourteenth until we are sure that you're satisfied. Yep.

Good now. Councilmember Brown, I'm good.

Excellent. Thank you so much. And then we can hear from the public speakers.

Calling in the name that signed up to speak on item number three, mister Derek Barnes. If you're here in chamber, you can come up to the podium. Or if you're on Zoom, please raise your hand. Okay. All names have been called then. We have a motion made by chair Brown, seconded by council member Unger, to approve the recommendations of staff and to forward this item to the 04/14/2026 special city council agenda at 03:30PM. Honorable council members, five? Aye. Ramachandran? Aye. Unger? Aye. And chair Brown?

Aye.

Thank you. Item number three passes with four ayes to forward this item to the 04/14/2026 special city council agenda at 03:30PM on consent. K. Now reading in item number four. Adopt the following pieces of legislation.

An ordinance amending the rent adjustment ordinance to, a, eliminate tenant tenant petition deadlines, b, require that an owner provide evidence of possession of a current business tax certificate, payment of or exemption from the wrap service fee, service of written notice to the rent adjustment program to affect tenants, and registration with the rent adjustment program in order to file an appeal or a response to to a tenant appeal. And c, make various changes to the remedies, remedy section including increasing the damages remedy in civil actions against residential rental property owners and making appropriate California Environmental Quality Act findings. And two, a resolution ratifying amendments to the rent adjustment program regulations to permit any category of member of of member of the housing, residential rent, and relocation board to serve as a board officer, and we have over 32 speakers that signed up.

Excellent. Thank you thank you so much. I believe that there's an announcement from the administration on this item.

Yes. And through the chair, we are requesting that this item be pulled at this time. We have additional information that we'd like to gather before it comes back to this council.

Okay, thank you so much. So I guess to the parliamentarian what are our actions and next steps?

According to council to the council rules, the committee has to vote to table item. You may the committee may take public comment first or the committee can can vote first because this is only a special this would be a schedule scheduling vote. So the committee can can either take public comment first and then vote to reschedule the item or or vote to reschedule the item and then take public comment later or the committee can also just take public comment or take action on item just like any other item.

Okay. Thank you so much. So we'll hear from the public speakers.

Calling the names that sign up to speak on item number four. In no particular order, you can come up to the podium, state your name for the record, and make your comment. As standard practice, we will take in chamber speakers first and then Zoom speakers. If you're on Zoom and hear your name, please raise your hand to be easily identified. Again, in no particular order, you can line up.

Linda St. Julia, Kiran Chenoy, Steven Eddington, James Vaughn, Stephanie Vaughn, Anthony Abdullah, Elizabeth Delgado, Marin, Juan Connem, Leona, Chris Tipton, Michelle Owe, Jill Jalene Jajarou, John Williams, Petra Brady, Steve Williams, Derek Mohammed, Dennard Ingram, James Bond, we have you twice, Chris Moore, Adriana Donnas, Mark Janowitz, David Hall, Noel, Justin, Ricky, Janet Halliburton. Sorry if I'm pronouncing your names wrong. Galen Yun, Kathleen Sims, Derek Barnes, and Emily Wheeler. Again, you can come up to the podium, state your name for the record, and noting that, the time is for one minute to make your comment.

Let me properly introduce myself. I used to be commissioner Linda St. Julian. I just left the board about three weeks three months ago. I was set on the board for people with disabilities and seniors, but I'm a landlord. And what I'm here for is the condition that you guys put on landlords is just ridiculous. We have tenants problem tenants that have problems, and you guys don't expect for us to, you know, get rid of them and pay $11,000 for them to relocate. I've had three in a row. Three people that has ruined my place. You guys say we can't get rid of them.

You make and right now, I'm going to a tenant where I'm paying $11,000, and she's a hoarder. She has really, really messed up my place. So what I'm saying is you guys wanna keep on point putting these fees on us as landlords. They're not gonna have a place to stay because you guys are outbidding us and making us pay all these different fees that are just ridiculous. And I'm fed up with it. So like I said, she has torn at my place. I'm going through it right now. Just paid her $11,000 to get her out, and now I have to pay $20,000 to get it back in place. This is the third tenant in a

Thank you for your comments. Your one minute is up.

Good afternoon chair and members of the committee. My name is Karen Shanoi and I'm here on behalf of the Bridge Association of Realtors representing more than 2,000 members working in and around Oakland, many of whom are also property managers, small housing providers, and owner occupants. We appreciate that this item has been pulled. These amendments carry significant consequences and taking additional time for review is the right call here. Bridge AOR was not even reached out to before this item came forward.

It was in the past that former council member Cal would reach out or Shanay Franklin Minor would reach out and ask us to weigh in before this thing even came to committee. And perhaps there's a turnover and we understand that, but hopefully that can change moving forward. We also want to raise a concern about public participation members repeatedly tried to register to comment by zoom within the required twenty four hour type time frame and did not receive confirmation from the system. Public participation should not be further limited by these technology issues. Again, we appreciate that this item has been pulled, and we ask that any next

Thank you for your comments. Your one minute is up. I

council member Fife. Yes. I I do want to state I'm I'm also deeply concerned about community input. My committee for life enrichment doesn't start until four. And since this item was pulled and we're not hearing a presentation, I respectfully request through the parliamentarian to make sure that this is legal for people to have their full two minutes to speak.

Yeah. At the onset of the meeting I stated that it would only be one minute for the public comment. Thank you.

The speaking time has to be consistent for all the items.

Excellent. And so at this time we're still moving forward with one minute and if there's any and I welcome any of the public speakers to engage with any of the council offices on this item, city staff, as we continue per the administration to work on this item. So at this time it is one minute. Thank you.

Good afternoon. I'm Steve Edrington. Did you know that 90% of landlords in New York City are corporate landlords? Don't take my word for it, Google it, New York Times, Wall Street Journal. When you pass crazy rules, the little guys leave, the mom and pop, and the corporate people take over because they they can under take on the risk. Don't do that in Oakland. It's best to have a small mom and pop be your landlord. They're the best landlords. Secondly, this ordinance does an interesting thing. You have the city created a legal scheme, that's what they call it, with the rent board.

What this proposes to do is to bypass the rent board and go straight to court. You're creating lots of lawsuits. It's fine if you wanna help your friend's lawyer make their BMW payment, buy a bigger house, but you're creating more litigation here. And this is wrong, that city council should really think long and hard before they implement this because it just allows a bypass of the ramp board altogether. Thank you.

Good afternoon, committee members. My name is Dennard Ingram. I am a commissioner on the rent board, authorized by the board to present these items, these recommendations to the committee. I first wanna highlight that these recommendations are not staff recommendations. These are recommendations that come from the board.

So I would, raise the question on whether or not, the administration can pull these items. As I understand the rules, the item has been scheduled and belonged to this committee. So, it is up to this committee as I understand it on whether or not to pull this item. Secondly, if there are questions about outreach, concerns about the recommendations, both myself and Steph are here prepared to present on these items so that both the tenants and the property owners who are here with questions can get those answers publicly here today. Do not pull this item because this item has been in the works, many of these recommendations for years. Thank you.

Denard's a lot taller than me. Hi. My name is Emily. I'm a volunteer with Oakland Tenants Uni, and I'm here representing our members who are generally at work and not able to be here today. We're an all volunteer organization with no paid staff, but we have been aware of this legislation for months if not years due to the fantastic work of the Rent Board and RAP staff who went above and beyond their due diligence in reaching out to all stakeholders and gathering feedback.

I see many landlords here today opposing this item and I'm sure they're all really great landlords who would never break the and never harm their tenants and that is why this ordinance would not affect them at all. There's a lot of misinformation appearing to go around today about this ordinance. It has nothing to do with evictions or relocation payments. Landlords. In fact, all it does is provide a slightly larger window of opportunity for tenants to file, to protest an illegal rent increase. Let me highlight that, An illegal rent increase. This rent increase would be illegal already, and right now, the law would allow it to essentially become legal if a tenant didn't know their rights and file in time. These are incredibly small changes that only impact landlords who are breaking the law and do not do anything

Thank you. You can go ahead and begin. The timer will show up.

Sure thing. I'm also a volunteer for the Oakland Tenants Union. I wanna second what my

Please state your name for the record.

Oh, Leona Malika. I wanna second what our friend Emily just had to say. And also I wanna add that like from the perspective of just law generally, what the current regime allows is current regime about filing about illegal rent increases allows is just totally abnormal. If someone's picking your pocket for six months and then you say hey, not illegal, you can't do that. Because they can't say, oh well I've been doing it for six months.

So what's your problem? So just as a matter of like consistency with laws generally, we oppose this. It's a totally unreasonable imposition on tenants and as stated, it doesn't affect anyone except landlords illegally increasing their rent. Again, I wanna second everything Emily had to say. Thanks.

Good afternoon, councilman. John Williams. And currently, I think you need to make some more policies that are equitable for landlords, mom and pop folks. Because this particular another erroneous policy that weighs on small folks like myself. Putting us out of business, no one treats mom and pops like we're a business, you know.

I've currently have a rental increase that's been on hold on appeal with the written board for a year and a half, but the very first rental increase in fifteen years with my tenant. I'm still in litigation for three and a half years of back rent with my tenant, and they continue to appeal them and appeal them and prolong it. It's exhausting my funds and putting me out of business. Yeah. So no more policies that are laying heavy on small landlords. Make the tenants more accountable or make policies where the rent board is more respectable and also accountable to their own policies. Thank you.

Good afternoon, committee. My name is Chris Tipton. I'm speaking on behalf of the East Bay Rental Housing Association representing housing providers across Oakland and the broader East Bay. First, I just wanna acknowledge the position you're in. I I do understand you're being asked to make decisions on a very complex housing in this issue, and we understand and we respect that responsibility.

I I appreciate that this this item has been pulled. That said, the proposed amendments are not small and insignificant, and they raise fundamental concerns. These policy changes are being considered without clear or comprehensive data to support these changes, that they are necessary or that they will produce the intended outcomes. A policy should be grounded in more than just anecdotal experiences. Allow the process to be informed by data. Allow time and engagement with stakeholders. Hear from court judges who are actively trying to divert rental cases away from courts and encouraging resolutions rather than encouraging more litigation. Eventually, this is actually happen evaluate what's actually happening before

Thank you for your comments. Your one minute is up.

Good afternoon, committee members. My name is Jolene Drew. I'm with Housing Provider Resource Center. I am a housing provider specialist. I also work with EPRA, East Bay Rental Housing Association, as a member support specialist growth and engagement.

Through Alameda County, Resource Center, we work directly with small housing providers, many of them who are first time or accidental prop providers receiving a property through pro grade, who are trying to comply with Oakland's complex and evolving regulations. What we're seeing on the ground is not resistance to law, it is confusion, intimidation, and procedural errors, processes that they don't understand that they're being forced to move through without the proper support. When there is no limit to how far back a claim can go or penalties can escalate even for small unintentional mistakes, many small property owners feel like they are one error away from a situation that becomes financially overwhelming as they've spoke to here. More importantly, this kind of framework increases the likelihood that issues escalate straight into litigation. At the Alameda County Housing Provider Resource Centers, that is what we're there for to provide support through.

Thank

My name is Adriana Cardenas. I'm a small housing provider. I'm requesting that you retain the existing provisions for renters who never receive wrap notice. That protection that protection is already in the ordinance, and it works. Eliminate an open ended window, combined with troubled damages.

This creates in indefinite, uninsurable litigation exposure for small owners operating in good faith. Limit, trouble damages to willful violations for owners who knowingly violate and act with reckless disregard of the of the ordinance consistent with San Francisco. Ensure there is a real rent board parity, and require proof of board member designation for proper balance and rental property expertise. Add a guardrail that the chair and vice chair may not be both drawn from the same stakeholder category, and provide a thirty day cure period before damages are enacted for properties of four units or less where small owners

Good afternoon, committee. My name is Petra Brady. I am a member of EBRA, but more than that, I am a small property owner. I own a duplex in West Oakland. I have been trying to remove squatters from my house, in April will be a full year from violations and abuses that they take advantage of like the ones that are being proposed right now.

I unequivocally object to these things that would allow renters to challenge rent increases for property owners such as myself. My case has been thrown out at least once because of these minor administrative things that the wrap board puts on property owners such as myself. And I feel that tenants having more opportunities to delay evictions or sue small time property owners like myself is

Thank you for your comments.

Hi. My name is Ricky. This is the first time I come and speak to all your council members here. I've been a long time housing provider. I have a lot of good tenants, but some bad one, they try to turn the next door tenants causing trouble.

And even though those tenants don't like them too, don't like that trouble tenant, we are gonna have a hard time to deal with this and which with the law that you guys have created. And I don't think it's fair for the mom and pop housing provider. And as you know, last the living costs are up like crazy. The the the garbage and and water utility, everything's up like crazy, and we can only increase by less than 1%.

Thank you for your comments.

Good afternoon. My name is Derek Mohammed. I'm a resident of West Oakland and a small mom and pop property owner. Thank you for pulling this item. I wanna say that the policy making process should always be guided by accurate data, accurate information.

And it doesn't appear that that is the case here. Questions, what is the basis of this look back on rent petitions? What is the basis for the introduction of treble damages? And what is the basis of developing or creating more causes of actions. All of these things serve the purpose of creating a hostile work environment for small businesses. And they dis they disincentivize investment and incentivize freeloading and a kind of gimmicking that allows people to play games and milk the system. And I'm a

Chris Moore. Small housing providers are leaving. About one third say they plan to exit within the next two years. Housing starts fifteen year alone, and units are sitting vacant. And yet, we continue to see these proposals that are driven by advocates who have never owned or managed housing, and they don't understand or have a full understanding of real world impact of the policies adopted really over the last six years.

Those policies have not hit everyone equally, and you can see it right here. They've disproportionately hurt undercapitalized mom and pop housing providers, many many of whom are black homeowners, and who relied on this income to stay in Oakland and bid generational wealth. The proposal today makes that worse. No deadlines, unlimited retroactive liability, trouble damages. It's not balanced. It's pushing these small owners out. So thank you for putting this aside today. Please spend time talking with owners, talk with Evra, and make

My name my name is David Hall. I'm with I'm a director of the housing team at Centro La Gala de la Raza. This this these policies were put together by the members, the commissioners of the rent board. They are subject matter experts. This was unanimously passed by both the landlord, tenant, and unaffiliated representatives. Now today, your landlord comments have been about these amendments are very short on specificity of what they don't like about these proposals and long on complaints about being a landlord. This has nothing to do with evictions. This affects evictions in actually zero way. There are two important things that these these proposals do. The first is to give tenants more time to to challenge an illegal rent increase.

That's a good thing. There's no complaint about why that would be a bad thing. I'm sure all of these good landlords aren't trying to pass illegal rent increases, so they're not gonna be affected by this. The second thing this does, it it revolves around penalties of, disobeying the ordinance. The treble damages only is in effect is in effect for willful, fraudulent, or, malicious activity. Again, nothing that probably

Thank you for your comments. Your one minute is up.

Good afternoon, council members. Mark Janowitz, a volunteer with East Bay Community Law Center. Thank you very much for the opportunity. I just wanna caution us about misinformation about what the ordinance what the proposals do, what they don't do. These proposals are reasonable for the purpose of carrying out the intent of the ordinance to protect the renting population of the city.

One of the one of the speakers said we should hear from judges. Well, in 1989 in a case called Kelly versus Yi, judges addressed the attorney's fees provision and said the attorney's fees provision of these ordinances, similar ordinances, are vital to the enforcement of these ordinances because nobody else does it. Tenants can't bring actions, effective actions by themselves. The city doesn't represent individuals, so it's left to private attorneys to enforce your the city's ordinance. And that's why the court of appeal said these attorney's fees provisions are vital. Now, of course, it doesn't affect anybody who's following the law. Pay your taxes. What's wrong with that? You don't wanna pay your taxes? Of course, everybody has to bear their burden except, you know, the

Thank you for your comments. Your time is up.

Good morning, council members. My name is Janet Halliburton, and I stand here as a realtor and a representative of people who would like to own rental property in Oakland. Many of those people are dissuaded by the current laws. And I'm really glad to hear that the informed data and encouragement of resolutions are being looked at, and I do encourage another look at this ordinance. Also, I'd like to bring something that nobody has said yet.

As I was going down BART the other day, I saw a sign that say, rental housing is a business. And then I saw, at the Oakland Post where there is a new look at equity in business. And I just like the city council to look at the fact that it is a business, and it should it doesn't have the same respect in the city or with the laws as any other business. I urge you to look at the with that land.

Madam secretary, I think I've got I've got some seated time from Steve, William, and Michelle away.

Are they both in here? Okay. Thank you, mister Barnes. You'll have three minutes.

Great.

Just give me one moment to adjust your time.

Thank you. Good afternoon, Chair Brown and committee members. Derek Barnes, small property owner and CEO of East Bay Rental Housing Association. As you know, the EBRA represents small owners across Oakland and Alameda County. These are working class Oaklanders, retirees, community members of color, over 70% are small owner operators who provide the vast majority of below market rate rent, deeply affordable housing in Oakland.

Oakland's community and economic development committee focuses on fostering a vibrant, equitable economy by attracting industries, supporting local businesses and workforce workforce pathways, particularly in underserved communities. And that is the charter of this body. That is the charter of this body. The rental housing ecosystem in Oakland moves about $2,800,000,000 through Oakland's economy. That's not insignificant, and it contributes to this huge share of the city's business license tax at about a $125,000,000 in addition to property taxes.

And why this matters is that the policies this committee passes needs to support our local housing providers who are also small businesses as the previous speaker said, provide opportunities for them to start, operate, and grow. But right now, we've created conditions that chase our local owners out of business, out of Oakland, and out of housing, the most vulnerable people in our community, and that has to stop. I submitted a letter outlining my concerns and a set of recommend recommended changes, but I wanna be clear about where we stand. We are not here to oppose reasonable tenant protections or compliance. Our business is educating our members and keeping units on the market.

We have been actively partnering with the city and HCD in ways to help small owners who are not EBRA members get remain compliant. Let me say this for the record. This these amendments before you should never have reached your desk without proper stakeholder discussion and input. Good policy development requires that. And thank you for taking taking the steps to look at this and and and take the ample time to work out these this this this body of updates because we need to minimize the disparate impacts that small businesses like ours are up against and have been reported in other functions of the city.

One size does not fit all of, as I said before, in housing. You all know that I'm here about solving problems, and I wanna make that very clear too. Recommendations for moving forward, operationalize the practice of convening regular joint stakeholder meetings with a c you know, HCD and RAP to ensure that the lived experience that everyone talks about is included in these discussions. And we have to run new policies and amendments through the Department of Race and Equity for assessment and input because this city operates in silos and that must change. And then seat the rent board with qualified individuals who currently run rental housing, that helps because you have the context at the

Thank you for your comments, mister Barnes. Your time is up. If your name was called and you're still here in chamber and would still like to speak, please come up to the podium. Otherwise, we'll switch to Zoom users. Juan C, please unmute yourself and begin your one minute comment.

I'm Juan. I'm a d resident and member of Oakland tenants union. I support these incremental common sense changes that are coming from a panel of tenants, landlords, and homeowners. I'm disappointed that you're pulling this item to appease landlords who often don't live in Oakland, such as Chris Moore, who we know lives in Piedmont, putting the interests of your donors above those of your constituents, especially, one of the proposal I, especially support is extending the time tenants have to file a complaint. It's ridiculous that if you find out you've been defrauded for too long, you just have to continue accepting the fraud.

These aren't com complex changes unless Everett is full of idiots who aren't familiar with what is being proposed or the existing law. Council shouldn't pull items just because your donors refuse to read them. Also, it's ridiculous that council meetings are in the middle of the day, making it hard for people with jobs to participate and easier for people to leach off the working class of Oakland. Businesses provide services, averages buy up homes, and make more people homeless.

Kathleen Sims, please unmute yourself and begin your one minute comment.

Good afternoon. Kathleen,

I see you are logged on to two. Please mute one or end one. There's an echo coming through. One moment. Please begin your comment.

Sorry, Kathleen. I will mute you. You if you're on a phone and laptop, you might have to mute one or the other. There's an echo coming through. So I'll mute you for now, and we will come back to you.

Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay.

Noel F, please unmute yourself and begin your comment.

Hi. My name is Noel. I'm a tenant of color in Oakland. I'm calling in, in the middle of my workday, trying to make time for for this. I am for the proposed sorry. I am, I support the agenda item. For landlords, one error doesn't mean you lose your housing. Landlords come in with the same talking points for all tenant protections. We'd have to look at the incentives. We can't forget that the business people are referring to, is mine and other tenants' literal livelihoods.

This would only affect illegal rent increases and should be allowed to be addressed with more time. And, yeah, regulation like this helps address the homelessness crisis, so we should take it seriously. Thank you.

Kathleen, you can unmute yourself and try again. Kathleen Sims, if you can unmute yourself. Okay. We'll go back.

Oh. Can you hear me?

Yes. We can hear you without an echo. You can begin your comment.

Okay. My name is Kathleen Sims. I'm a small housing provider, and I work closely with many housing providers throughout the city. I'm concerned about the provision allowing tenant petitions to be filed at any time during a tenancy. Removing the current timelines may appear procedural, but in practice, it requires property owners to maintain extensive documentation for the entire duration of a tenancy to defend against claims years later.

In many rent adjustment hearings and appeals, tenants are represented by legal aid attorneys or advocates, while small housing providers often represent themselves due to the legal costs that frequently exceed $400 an hour. In addition, many members of the board are represented by the city attorney. As a result, housing providers find themselves in in a room full of of attorneys. This is not equitable or balanced. Please consider these issues. Thank

James Vaughn, you can unmute yourself and begin your comment.

These, proposals did not come from tenant advocates. There were no proposals from the tenants themselves. These were developed by the board members in session because they're trying to carry out their duty on the aims of the rental ordinance. So they saw these loopholes and proposed these ways to fill them. We are not we are certainly for these reasonable proposals and most jurisdictions already have these actions already proposed.

So we think they should be acted on. They were sent out at least a month ago to all representatives, widely to all representatives to consider and make comments. There were no comments received at that time. So we think that everybody had a chance to see these, to react to them, and to propose alternatives. We think they make sense. They are reasonable. They are good sense, proposals, and we're behind them. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments, chair. At this time, all names have been called. We just need a motion, to withdraw, please.

Okay. Excellent. Thank you so much. So I just wanna thank everyone who showed up, for public comment on this item. Of of course, you know, the advocates that, support our our tenants as well as our, you know, smaller landlords in the city of Oakland. I guess it's my understanding from the administration that in the department that there will be more community engagement on this item and so look forward to having it return prior to. Colleagues any questions or comments?

Council member five.

No.

There's been one minute given to speak on these items and I do want to get a little bit more clarity because I came here to actually hear a presentation on this item and engage in active deliberation. I I I need to get a better understanding of why this item was pulled and why and and what is happening next. So I'm not sure who to direct that question to, but I just want I think it's important to to state that for the record.

To the administration?

And to the chair. Thank you for that question, council member Fife. Staff feels that we need to provide more outreach, get more engagement to understand this issue. It's very nuanced and, the basis for pulling it was to get more information so that we can understand all the fiscal impact, from the city, obviously for the landlords and the tenants and do a deeper analysis. And so, that's essentially why we're we're pulling the item and we we don't have a date yet, but we will get back to the group with the date once that analysis has been conducted and we've done more additional outreach.

Well, I am the queen of outreach. So I think having conversations and and having a

lot Order of conversations in the chamber. Helpful.

Yes. Stop it. And and I think it's important to have have those kind of conversations. I just want it to if we're going to engage in a certain type of activity, I want that consistency. We just had an item where council member Houston as the council member of his district was respected in a way that hasn't been done across the board.

So what I'm asking for all of my colleagues and for all city staff is to if we're going to gauge in principled activity, let it be consistent not not because of who's mayor, not because of who's chair, but because we seriously want to get to an outcome that benefits all people. Because the way that I see this body move sometimes, it's inequitable and I'm going to call it out when I see it. Just wanna say that for the record. Alright.

Alright. So so we just need a motion on the on the item.

I'd like to move this to the pending list.

Second.

Thank you. To the maker of the motion, is this to the pending list no date specific?

Correct.

Thank you. That's a motion made by council member Unger, seconded by council member Ramachandran to withdraw and place item number four on the pending list no date specific. On roll, council members five? No. Ramachandran? Aye. Unger? Aye. And chair Brown? Aye. Thank you. Item number four passes with three ayes, one no. To place, item number four on the pending, sorry, community and economic development pending list, no date specific. Moving on to item number four sorry. Moving on to open forum, calling in the name that signed up to speak, David Boatwright.

How much time? Really? Good grief.

David Boatwright, District four. After such an exhaustive anti displacement plan, now is an opportune time to report on the housing department's efforts to increase housing in Oakland over the last ten years. This report should show how many housing units by single, multiple and family of three or more persons have been completed per year and the number of persons housed in each housing group per year. State the cost per unit for each of the housing groups of item one. And final, show the different types of housing and cost per unit for the housing groups of Item one with types defined as refurbishments and new construction with the latter broken down by conventional ground up, modular, small houses and others, such as three d printing, and with the average completion time start to occupancy ready for each of these types of housing.

Thank you.

Thank you for your comments, chair. At this time, all names have been called.

Excellent. Thank you so much. Meeting is adjourned.