Community & Economic Development Committee - Regular Meeting

To the Community and Economic Development Committee meeting of Tuesday, July 14th, 2026. The time is now 1.30 p.m. 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 myself or a clerk representative no later than 10 minutes after the start of this meeting or before the item is read into record, whichever occurs first. Registering to speak via Zoom is now due 24 hours prior to the start of this meeting, and this meeting came to order at 1.30 p.m., and speaker cards will no longer be accepted 10 minutes after, making that time 1.40 p.m. We'll now proceed with taking roll. Council Members Spive. Present. Unger.

Here.

Wong.

Oh, this is Ramachandran.

Oh, sorry, Ramachandran.

Excused.

Ramachandran excused, and Chair Brown.

Present.

Thank you, we have three members present, one excused, Ramachandran. And Chair, before we begin, do you have any announcements at this time?

Yes, so first off, just wanna make the announcement that this will be one of our last CED meetings until September the 21st. I just wanna thank all of the departments that have presented over the course of the last couple months, HCD, EWD, Planning and Building, and thank you all for all of your hard work. I also did wanna take a moment of personal privilege to shout out two interns in my office, Sanaa, as well as Mariana, who also served on the school board as the school board representative, and will be heading off to college in the fall. But we're so proud to have you in the office during the summer, so everyone, please feel free to go introduce yourself. and learn all about some of the things that they're working on. And then also, I would make the announcement, just to ensure that we are staying on time with the amount of agenda items that we have, I will limit public comment to one minute. Thank you so much.

Thank you, Chair, noting the presence of Council Member Ramachandran at 1.32 p.m. Reading in item one, approval of the draft minutes from the committee meeting of June 23rd, 2026. We have no speakers on this item, just need a motion.

Excellent, thank you so much colleagues. Council Member Fai. So moved. Second. Excellent, thank you.

Thank you, we have a motion made by Council Member Fai, seconded by Council Member Ramachandran to accept the draft minutes from the committee meeting of June 23rd, 2026. On the roll, Council Members Fai. Aye. Ramachandran. Aye. Unger. Aye. And Chair Brown. Aye. Thank you, item one passes with four ayes to accept the draft minutes from the committee meeting of June 23rd, 2026. Item two, determination of schedule of outstanding committee items. And we do have a number of speakers that signed up to speak on this item.

Okay, thank you so much. So to the administration, any changes?

No changes at this time.

Perfect, thank you. I'll go ahead and entertain a motion prior to hearing the public speakers. Council Member Unger. So moved. Second. Perfect, thank you so much. And then we can hear from the public speakers.

Okay, calling in the names that signed up to speak on item number two. In no particular order, you can come up to the podium, state your name before making your comment, or if you're on Zoom, please raise your hand to be easily identified. Lawrence Cox, Erin Benyus, Deshawn Taller. Sorry, give me one moment. Shinobi Howard, Marco Duncan, Joyas Meral, Margaret Grimalus, Sarah Amir, and Nita B. Again, in no particular order, you can come up to the podium, state your name for the record, and then noting the adjustment of the time to one minute.

Hi, my name is Margaret Grimsley. I'm a long term resident of Oakland, California, over 60 years. I'm here to suggest that an agenda item be added to the committee meeting to discuss the street vendor enforcement plan or rather develop an enforcement plan or a compliance plan with the street vendors and to ensure that the city is in compliance with state law SB 946 and with the U.S. Constitution and that they are giving the vendors due process and most importantly that they engage the vendors in solutioning for whatever the issues are or that the city is determining the issues are with street vending. Street vendors are a vital and important and necessary component of community and Oakland's authenticity. And destroying the street vendors and their source of livelihood in a city where it's so expensive

My name is Nita B and I've been a street vendor in Oakland since I was 19 years old and I'm 55 years old now. When I started street vending, there were no laws that existed, so what I was doing was not illegal. The first set of laws that were implemented that impacted my livelihood was six years ago and claimed that what I was doing was now criminal. The city should shift from its gatekeeping of street vendors into working in partnership with street vendors and include long-time informal street vendors, both permitted and not permitted in the decision-making to help us to waive and subsidize participation costs for low-income vendors, design programs rooted in equity and culture around street vending hubs like Lake Merritt, Fruitvale, and downtown, advocate for simpler, clearer, streamlined, accessible permit systems. I know lots of vendors who try to get their permits. It's a runaround. They get their permits and they're still getting messed with. You start treating vendors as participants and not problems, that we're leaders and culture keepers. And the city has been destroying property, both permitted and unpermitted vendors, without warning, without receipts, and with no way to get people's property back.

Hello, I'm Lisa Z. I am a homeowner, neighborhood is Cleveland Heights. I live near the Cascade Steps. I feel we need to keep these vendors here by educating kids today. We will.

Sorry, to the speaker, do you have a speaker card filled out for this item?

Yes.

Can you repeat your name? Lisa Z Brack. I don't have one for you, I'm sorry.

The rich and historic street vending culture neighborhood.

Please state your name for the record. Joyas Morali. Thank you.

economic system within the oakland community should not be criminalized or erased it is part of the oakland identity and should be protected and supported this is a quality of life for working class and black and brown folks now because all of us have multiple jobs and side hustles to be able to exist in the city we were born and raised in our culture and quality of life keeps getting negatively impacted in by the people who are not from here or can't figure out how to fit in there has been talk about the trash and loud noise at the lake and we vendors all agree. We ask our city workers to help support us as in getting us more trash bags so we can be able to hold each other accountable and our customers. They are literally not enough trash cans anywhere in Oakland, and definitely not around the lake. So the vendors have been organized to clean up the lake every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and making sure our customers pick up trash too. We encourage each other to turn off our music at the appropriate time in the coordinates, which is at 9 p.m. When we have the funds, we have been able to put quarterpotties for ourselves.

Hello, my name is Shinobi. I'm also a vendor on Lakeshore Avenue. So basically, we just ask the city, and especially Public Works, can they help us with larger trash so we can put more trash away? And we need porta-potties so we can get porta-potties for the vendors and also for our customers. This is a cultural thing. You know what I'm saying? I've been out there since 2018, so I've been out there about seven years now. Also, we have some of the city workers have been giving out fake tickets, fake parking tickets, which we took downtown. They said these ticks aren't even real. So I think that's just something to distract and tell people just don't come to the lake. Yes, that's it, thank you.

Hello, my name is Sarah Amir. I am an Oakland resident, long time Oakland resident, and also a teacher here at OUSD. And I'm always concerned about how the boards and the governments here are actually working in collaboration with the communities here. So there's this theory of practice defined by Paulo Freire called praxis, which is the continuous and dynamic cycle of reflection and action. You use theory to guide your action, to guide your reflection, and it's continuous. It's working towards a shared goal in collaboration with community members and the most vulnerable. Here you have the most vulnerable standing here before you, and nowhere do I see anything showing that you are working with them. What about the attacks on the vendors is based on theory? What type of reflection is taking place? And how is this committee actually protecting these community members?

Thank you.

Hi, I'm Aaron Fenyes. I live in the Fruitvale Diamond area, another area with plenty of street vendors. These are folks who are a crucial part of the area's economy and community. They really want to serve their customers and neighbors safely and in compliance with all of the safety rules that would be needed. And the county and cities really punitive and possibly illegal code enforcement actions against them are making that impossible. I have talked to folks who are trying to help street vendors in the Fruitvale area navigate the sort of the code compliance process with the county. And they are folks who have sometimes been trying for years and years and years to get their operations in compliance. And they can't because the city and the county are not supporting them. And the city and county are often setting them back by destroying their property without receipts, without any sort of like.

Hello, my name is day Sean once again, I am a street vendor that make clothes and so close for Lake Merritt. I would like the city to not treat us like criminals and treat us as a partnership. I know everybody's having, well, the city's having meetings. We would like to be involved so you can understand where we're coming from and we can meet halfway instead of just going about your way and destroying the culture because as us, as a community, that's what we are. We are a family. So let's treat it like one instead of just having

it be one-sided so i would like to see that from the city of oakland thank you my name is marco duncan i'm a policy fellow at all of us for none in legal service for children and oakland resident um i i see a a lack of EMPATHY. YOU KNOW, YOU HAVE PEOPLE THAT ARE TRYING TO DO THE BEST THEY CAN TO MAKE IT HONESTLY. AND IT'S A WHOLE BUNCH OF OTHER STUFF GOING ON IN THIS CITY, TRASH ALL OVER THE PLACE AND EVERYTHING ELSE. AND INSTEAD OF DOING THE THINGS THAT PEOPLE CARE ABOUT THE MOST, THEY'RE MESSING AROUND WITH THE PEOPLE THAT ARE TRYING TO DO BETTER. AND THAT'S JUST NOT RIGHT. not right you know give give people an opportunity to to to make conditions better for themselves and their families and i understand that there's uh you know uh laws that that and and you know licensing and stuff like that that people must have to sell stuff but if that's the case then apply the laws and and policies equally because it's only one group of people getting messed with

Good afternoon, my name is Lawrence. I am the Regional Advocacy and Organizing Associate for LSBC, and all of us are none. And briefly, what I wanna say is if community matters and the power is with the community, then when decisions are being made for the community, I think the community should be involved. When we're looking at public safety, which should be important to everyone up here, The opportunities that we give those in our lower socioeconomic demographics is important. What we do for individuals who are returning home and may find themselves unable to be employed but find that they have some type of hustle where they can do something legally should not be discouraged or sent the wrong message as if they are still doing something criminal. And I think when we fail to realize that, and create that conduit to where there's a two-way street and there's understanding, we run the risk of jeopardizing our public safety. Because when you're killing the culture and you're killing economic opportunities for our communities under the guise of trying to make better, it doesn't work and it doesn't make sense. And I'll stop there. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments, Chair. That concludes all speakers on this item.

Excellent, thank you so much. Just wanna acknowledge and thank all of the speakers for coming out. I also saw the video that was posted online about just some of the activities that have been occurring, and I do think it's very important that our street vendors have a seat at the table and are included in the conversations that involve them. And so I look forward to need to be in all of us leadership at all of us or none. I believe you all know how to get in contact with me. And so I definitely welcome having a discussion and seeing how we can move that forward. So thank you so much for those comments.

Thank you, and we have 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 Five. Aye. Ramachandran. Aye. Unger. Aye. And Chair Brown. Aye. Thank you, item two passes with four ayes to accept the determination of scheduled outstanding committee items as is. Reading in, oh sorry, before reading in item S3, this does require an urgency finding vote as this was added at the three day.

Okay, thank you so much. I'll move with the urgency vote, just need a second.

Thank you, we have a motion made by Chair Brown, seconded by Council Member Five to accept the urgency finding on item S3. On roll, Council Members Five. Aye. Ramachandran. Aye. Unger. Aye. And Chair Brown. Aye. Thank you, urgency finding passes with four ayes. Sorry, to accept the urgency finding on item S3. Now reading in item S3. Adopt the following pieces of legislation. A resolution authorizing the city administrator to remove delinquent city of Oakland code enforcement liens and un-lien fees, cost assessment and civil penalties on certain tax defaulted properties for a period of four years to facilitate the development of these properties into affordable housing via Alameda County's chapter eight tax sale program. and limiting the aggregated amount of liens removed pursuant to the authorization to a nominal value not to exceed $10 million and acknowledging the transmutation of these code enforcement liens at all into prorated Chapter 8 sales proceeds that will be paid to the City of Oakland and A resolution authorizing the city administrator to remove delinquent city of Oakland vacant property tax liens on certain tax defaulted properties for a period of four years to facilitate the development of these properties into affordable housing via Alameda County's chapter eight tax sale program and acknowledging the transmutation sorry, these vacant property tax liens into prorated chapter eight sale proceeds that will be paid into, or paid to the city of Oakland and limiting the aggregated amount of liens removed pursuant to this authorization to a nominal value not to exceed $10 million and we have one speaker that signed up for this item.

Perfect, thank you so much. We'll hear from staff on this item and we'll do eight minutes.

Good afternoon, council members. My name is Caleb Smith. I'm a senior advisor in the City of Oakland's Housing Community Development Department. We have a brief presentation for this item. Thank you. So today's item is related to the County of Alameda's desire to move forward with the Chapter 8 tax sale process for some lots here in Oakland. So as we all know, there are a number of vacant lots in Oakland. A subset of these lots are effectively abandoned by their current owner and have entered a tax defaulted status. This means that they have failed to pay their property taxes for over five years. Normally, when that happens, the county will first try to sell the property at auction to try to repay the local governments as much of those back taxes as possible. However, what we see are that some of them are unsuccessful in selling at that auction. Sometimes the properties are undevelopable. They may have no road access. There may be other site conditions that make them difficult to develop. In other cases, the value of the back taxes is more than the value of the properties themselves, which deters people from buying the properties because under state law the minimum auction price is the value of those back taxes and liens. This puts these properties in limbo. There's no one to pay these back taxes and liens, so they're effectively uncollectible, but the property remains vacant and without anyone to move it forward. There is a provision in state law that can help with this situation. The Chapter 8 tax sale process allows the county's tax collector to negotiate a lower fair price to sell tax-defaulted properties to affordable housing nonprofits or to public agencies or nonprofits for other public purposes. The chapter 8 tax sale process has the potential to help address blight concerns in Oakland, as we know that a number of these vacant lots are significant attractors of blight and nuisance activities. Many of these activities ultimately have to be abated by the city of Oakland at expense to the city of Oakland with no one to recover those costs from. Now, in terms of the process here, this is very much led by Alameda County's Tax Collector's Office. The City of Oakland is in a supporting role. The Alameda County Tax Collector's Office, because it's their responsibility to collect taxes and dispose of properties where they cannot collect the taxes, they identify the locations that are suitable for sale under Chapter 8 tax sales, they identify which parties to sell those to, they identify the sales price, and they complete the mechanics of the transaction itself. The city of Oakland's role is primarily later in the process. After a property's been sold to a potential affordable housing developer, the city of Oakland has land use authority through our zoning code, and we also are oftentimes a funder of affordable housing. Now, today's council action is fairly narrow. We are primarily in the role of removing a constraint on this process. Most of the time when there's this tax sale, whether that is an auction or through this Chapter 8 tax sale process, the outstanding taxes are wiped out via the sale under state law. Based on guidance from our city attorney's office as well as conversations with the county council in Alameda County, we've identified that there are some specific actions the council would need to take to unblock these kinds of transactions from moving forward. Primarily removing vacant property tax liens and code enforcement liens to make sure that these historic liabilities do not unduly burden the new owners of the property who we want to take control of these properties. and then exercise responsible ownership moving forward and ultimately develop affordable housing on them. This item has an upper limit of four years or $10 million in liens, though we expect the actual amount of waived taxes and liens to be far lower. The city will receive a prorated share of whatever the sale price is. Even if we're not able to collect the full value of those back taxes, if the city had 50% of the outstanding taxes on a property, then whatever the sale price is, the city would expect to receive about 50% of those proceeds. Now, here is a list of properties that Alameda County has identified as the ones they think are most suitable to development. I'd like to emphasize that this is just Alameda County's first pass at this. In our follow-up conversations, there may be additional properties that are identified, whether that is properties that become tax defaulted that are not currently tax defaulted, or whether there are properties that are currently tax defaulted but have barriers to development that, in further conversation, we can help address. So in terms of the next steps here, we've been coming towards this for a long time. I know that Council Member Fife in particular has been seeking to use this as a lever opportunity to address some of the issues with these tax defaulted blighted lots in Oakland for a number of years really. And it's just mechanically relatively complicated process, which has required this sort of coordinated city county action. Later today, we're expecting the County Board of Supervisors to approve the first Chapter 8 tax sale this decade for 8215 MacArthur Boulevard to the Black Cultural Zone Community Development Corporation. After this item went to print, we heard that there's actually a second affordable housing developer which is interested in a different property here in Oakland. We're still gathering more information about that. We also are hoping to expand the range of properties available to affordable housing developers in Oakland. We know that there are a lot of brownfield sites in Oakland with environmental contamination, which can deter developers from wishing to move forward with this process. Just last month we got word that the city and county had successfully won $1.5 million from the Environmental Protection Agency for a brownfield assessment grant. which will help us understand which of these properties are relatively clean and are able to move forward into redevelopment into a productive affordable housing use quickly, and which of them need additional funding to address historic pollution issues before they can receive a more permanent use. So we do expect a majority of that $1.5 million grant to serve these tax-defaulted properties in Oakland, as well as some other sites that are going to be used for affordable housing. So that is a brief overview of this item. We're now pleased to take any questions. Thank you.

Excellent. Thank you so much, Hila, for a comprehensive presentation. I don't have any questions on this item. Colleagues, Council Member Fife.

I can't state enough through the chair how elated I am that there has been some movement on this process I've been working on it for almost a decade and to see this type of action happen at the hands of HCD I just my hats off to you this has been a Herculean task for whatever reason to get the county to move forward and I know this is on the city side and we're working in partnership with them but I just wanted to thank you publicly for that and I wonder if I'm looking at page six and the majority of these sites that are currently listed are in district three. Are they all zoned residential?

Through the Chair to Council Member Fife, for the initial list of sites that the county's identified, they are indeed all zoned residential. There are a number of other tax defaulted lots in Oakland which have non-residential uses. However, rezoning is a complicated process at times. So at the moment, the county's been focusing on sites which do under current zoning allow for residential use.

outstanding um i know several of the lots i've i've investigated have a need for potential rezoning and that adds to the complication so i'm happy that these are all residential and then what role would planning and building play and potentially working with hcd to see if like tiny homes could be put on these lots do you know if uh there would need to be a zoning change for for tiny homes or if there would need to be an existing dwelling on the parcel in order to have additional uh dwelling units

Through the chair to council.

Accessory, I'm sorry, accessory.

Yeah, through the chair to council member Fife. I might defer to some of my colleagues here from planning and building department on that. I think it probably, the developable capacity of the lots probably depends on a case by case basis based on the current zoning as well as the specific use. I know that our colleagues at the Planning and Building Department are always happy to talk with potential developers about different potential development approaches and get a better sense of which might be suitable for current zoning or what the options might be if additional zoning action is required. Sorry, and I have a colleague here from Planning and Building to add further to that.

Good afternoon committee chair and through the chair council member five to answer your question yes I would my bureau as well as the planning bureau would have to meet and discuss how that would look for tiny homes on a parcel and what approaches we might take that would basically straddle both our permitting process as well as the planning review process.

and i i'm just asking for the public because through the chair i've asked director gilchrist this question many times um and there are a couple i see them back there um i i know roots clinic wants to put some tiny homes on parcels in district three they primarily operate in east oakland and so we've been in conversation about utilizing some lots they're privately owned but it's similar in nature so i just wanted to state that for the record this is exciting and i'm happy to make the motion i know we have public speaker but happy i'm i cannot again express how happy i am for this particular moment thank you both thank you yep thank you council member council member ramachandran

Thank you. Thank you for the report. This is great. I wanted to know, per the Chapter 8 sale laws from the county side, could it be used for not only affordable housing, but safe RV parking and transitional housing as well? Or is it limited to a housing developer and a building going up?

Sure, through the chair to council member Ramachandra, I think that that's a question that may require some further analysis with the county's attorneys. The chapter 8 tax sale law does allow for uses beyond structurally affordable housing. Public agencies are allowed to purchase properties and there may be other kinds of public use which is allowed. I think that the County Tax Collector's Office has given some early thought to what additional categories of public use would be eligible here. But I'm sure they would be happy to participate in the conversation about additional opportunities. Because some of these sites, like the ones here, may be highly suitable for permanent affordable housing development, but there may be other sites that would be a better fit for other uses.

Okay, thank you.

Perfect, we can hear from the public speaker.

calling in the name that signed up to speak on item number s three miss usada olabala so no more tiny home projects until we can stop the destruction that takes place when we put tiny homes at lake merritt and west oakland we had to destroy them after the the use of them were uh were finished This item says that the Alameda County Board of Supervisors expected to approve the Chapter 8 tax sales at their July 14 meeting. So they're meeting today to approve the use of Chapter 8. Expected to. The timeline is that you would wait until Alameda County Board of Supervisors approves this. Just to say they expected to do it, you need to have them officially do it. And why is this, is that the reason why this is rule 28? And you have to do this by the end of July? And that vacancy tax, another absurd tax, where you have people paying up to $6,000 annually.

Thank you for your comments, Chair. That concludes all speakers that signed up to speak.

Perfect, thank you. I'll second Council Member Fife's motion.

Thank you. We have a motion made by Council Member Fyfe, seconded by Chair Brown, to approve the recommendations of staff and to forward this item to the July 21st City Council agenda. On roll, Council Members Fyfe. Aye. Ramachandran. Aye. Unger. Aye. And Chair Brown. Aye. Thank you. Motion passes with four ayes to forward this item to the July 21st City Council agenda. And to the maker of the motion or... On consent? Thank you, on consent. Before reading in item three, this does require an urgency finding vote as this was added at the three day.

Perfect, thank you so much. So moved on the urgency finding.

I'll second that.

Thank you, on the urgency finding motion, we have a motion made by Chair Brown, seconded by Council Member Unger, to accept the urgency finding on item S4. On roll, Council Members, sorry, Council Members Five. Aye. Ramachandran.

Aye.

Unger. Aye. And Chair Brown. Aye. Thank you, motion passes with four ayes to accept the urgency finding. One moment.

Once he sits down.

Motion to adjourn into a special meeting.

So moved. Thank you. We have a motion made by Council Member Ramachandran, seconded by Chair Brown. Due to the presence of Council President Jenkins to adjourn the CED meeting and to reconvene as a city council, On roll, Council Members Spive. Aye. Ramachandran. Aye. Unger. Aye. And Chair Brown. Aye. Thank you. Motion passes with four ayes to adjourn the Community and Economic Development Committee meeting and to reconvene as a special city council. Reading in item S4. Adopt the following pieces of legislation. A resolution authorizing the forgiveness of a city loan to Athena MT LLC of up to $2 million in outstanding principle, plus all accrued and unpaid interest and fees, and be a city revolving line of credit to Savash Afshar with a final outstanding balance of $1,500,000. plus accrued and unpaid interest and fees for the Foothill Seminary Point Retail Project, each contingent upon sale of the transfer, the sale or transfer of the project to a qualified purchaser and making appropriate CEQA findings and Two, an ordinance authorizing the forgiveness of outstanding and future rent balances in an amount up to $40,000 for Seminary Point LLC pursuant to the ground lease with the city contingent on the sale or transfer of the leasehold interest and the property at a, sorry, property to a qualified purchaser and making CEQA findings and we have two speakers that signed up to speak.

Perfect, thank you so much. So for this item, we'll hear from our director of EWD as well as someone from the team as well.

Good afternoon, Chair Brown, Council President, CED committee members. My name is Ashley Cannett, Director of Economic and Workforce Development. Seminary Point was developed on city-owned land to address a longstanding need for neighborhood serving retail in the Foothill Seminary area. And like many commercial centers, it was hit hard by the pandemic and the departure of its anchor tenant created additional challenges and has contributed to decreased activity. Today, the project is at risk of foreclosure. The recommendation before you is a practical, forward-looking solution. Staff is recommending the forgiveness of the city's existing loan and line of credit, but only if a qualified buyer acquires the leasehold and takes over stewardship of the center. This action removes a significant barrier to a sale, improves the project's marketability, and gives us the best opportunity to attract an experienced owner who can stabilize the property and preserve this important community asset. Without this action, foreclosure becomes much more likely, and the city would likely lose its investment regardless because our debt is subordinate to the senior lender. This recommendation offers the strongest path towards protecting neighborhood retail, supporting existing businesses, and positioning Seminary Point for long-term success. With that framing, I'm going to turn it over to Teresa Lopez, Manager of the Public-Private Development Division within EWD, to move through some of the details. Thank you.

We have a PowerPoint presentation. And good afternoon, as just mentioned, my name is Teresa Lopez. I'm the Development Manager in the Public-Private Development Division. And I'm gonna provide an overview of the Foothill Seminary Retail Center and the history and to date what has occurred. So Seminary Point is located on Foothill Seminary. It is made up of 1.69 acres. with 29,950 square feet of commercial space with parking. The city developed the site in partnership with Sunfield Development via a lease disposition development agreement and a 66-year ground lease. As you can see here from the aerial, an example of the tenants in the property. It has provided services to the community. There is a Bank of America ATM, a grocery that provides women and infant and children's grocery services. Wireless Verizon, Metro PCS, and it's a grind cafe and pizza. A more recent tenant is the Flower of Yemenis restaurant that will be opening soon. there we do have a vacancy where the old walgreens was located and was left in january 2025 as a part of a larger walk walgreens closing in the bay area So the history of this site is that the former Oakland Redevelopment Agency acquired 11 parcels at the corner of Foothill and Seminary. From 2007 to 2012, the city worked on demolition of the buildings, cleaning up the property, the soil, And when that was completed, we released in 2012 a request for proposal to develop on the site. The specific goal was to create a retail center for the community to provide goods and services. So we were able to complete that process and In 2013, after release of the RFP, Sunfield Development was selected to construct and manage the property. In 2015, as part of the closing for construction, we provided a $2 million city loan and a $1.5 million line of credit to the developer to support the project. After signing the LDDA and the ground lease, completion of construction was in 2017. And the property, the center was doing well until the pandemic. Since the pandemic, the property has struggled to retain tenants and to pay the debt on the senior loan, which was used for construction, which is now at $6.2 million, and to pay the city's loan, the $2 million loan and the $1.5 million line of credit. Sunfield has, we have been working with Sunfield during this time to see if he could refinance a loan or sell the leasehold interest because we are the owners of the property. He has not been able to because of the debt on the property. With our loan and the line of credit and the senior loan, it's over 8.5 million. So it's, The value of the property is less than the debt on the property. So again, since 2023, we've been working with Sunfield real estate agents and its lenders to stabilize the project and sell or refinance the leasehold interest. And our efforts have not been successful because of this debt. So the problem that we have now is that if we do not take any action, we have a very high risk of foreclosure. We're gonna lose the city loan and line of credit because it will not be recoverable through foreclosure. It may create threats, threaten the stability of the retail center and the services there, and it may create negative impact for the neighborhood. When you don't have A property that's being managed that cannot pay debt, there's issues that come up. If it's in foreclosure, the lender will wait to get a buyer or it may stay unmanaged for some time. So that's our concern as well. So the action we're requesting, again, is to forgive the $2 million city loan, forgive the $1.5 million line of credit, and forgive the rent due of $40,000. all contingent on finding a qualified buyer and the benefits of doing this it would avoid foreclosure it would place the project in the hands of a qualified buyer it avoids retail vacancy and blight and it maintains sales tax and local economic activity for the community It preserves our relationship with the ground lease and the purchaser and ensures that the center can continue to serve East Oakland residents. So in conclusion, we would request your approval of the resolution that's being recommended to forgive the $2 million and the 1.5 million line of credit, and the ordinance to forgive the $40,000 in grant rent that is due. Thank you. If you have any questions, I'm here.

Perfect, thank you so much Teresa. Let's go ahead and turn it over to our council president for his question since this is in District 6.

oh thank you so much chair brown and thank you committee for allowing me to join this is truly a crown jewel in the neighborhood that absolutely needs some work i know many residents use this place to get coffee pay their cell phone bills in the past go to sweet fingers a number of things and we're really happy that we have a new restaurant uh yimini restaurant in the facility and i'm happy that district three got sweet fingers and i know they will definitely be successful but it's truly need some help and i've talked with cj from the black cultural zone and i'm really interested in the black cultural zone running this facility but a barrier to that is the city loan and the city line of credit and so we um as a city need to ensure that we are uplifting East Oakland and doing everything we can to make sure that the residents have the amenities that they need. And I am in full support of staff and I know staff has been working diligently. I've been working with staff to ensure that this This parcel doesn't go to waste. And the community has access to coffee, which might not mean much, but in East Oakland it does. Access to coffee, access to restaurants, access to a police substation. And so I ask that you guys approve this. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Council President. I also agree and I hope that whoever takes over the property, I know that there was a lot of feedback about the current owner and just really making sure that we're able to attract an owner that can really pour into this space and attract actual businesses that the community needs, no matter what that may be. And then it could also be sustained. and avoid some of the things that you mentioned in the PowerPoint around blight and different things, and maybe welcome Walgreens back or something, right? I know so many community members had reached out about the Walgreens when it closed, so I am in support. Thank you so much, Council President, for your presence, as well as supporting moving this item forward as well. Council Member Unger?

Yeah, thank you. So, you know, I support moving this item forward, but, you know, sort of pulling back and looking at it from a larger perspective, this is the third loan forgiveness we've voted on this year over $16 million with the policy item and one in District three. And it just feels like we're always in a subordinate loan position with no real ability to drive these projects forward, even in this case, when we own the land and I'm all for the city taking risk and helping make important projects like this happen. This is a key space that we need to help, but I just think we need to have a larger, serious conversation about how we participate financially in real estate development and I also would love to have more of an analysis in general from finance and maybe the auditor. I don't think we've budgeted for receiving this money, so it's not going to hit our general fund or anything, but I just wonder you know, where we are, are we going to be forgiving a lot more loans in the future? Are we at sort of, are there other properties or investments that we have that are likely to go bust? Is this the end of the wave or just the beginning? You know, and obviously I'm not asking that directly to you, but I just think that, you know, we're in this space where we're forgiving a lot of loans and what that means for us and how we start getting ourselves out of the subordinate position and make ourselves more of the driver when these things go belly up.

I think you raise a really good question, and I'm almost curious exactly what you said. And I imagine that our EWD team potentially has a list of some of these properties and what may or may not be coming, and so that may be something we may wanna request as an informational item, just so that we can get the lay of the land. So thank you for flagging that, Council Member Unger. Do we have public speakers?

yes we can hear from the public speakers calling in the names I signed up to speak on item number s for miss Assata Olaballa and Blair Beekman you've done a lot of things related to forgiving loans and helping certain parts of the city remain viable but we haven't done a lot for a Councilmember Jenkins district where we look at the economic struggles of district six and district seven and we come up with a way to deal with those struggles and so the balance here is not so much we gotta look at we gotta put this as a priority because this district has many economic needs and this is one opportunity for for the community to have access to services and uh so that's why i'm supporting it and We got to give more economic opportunities for African Americans to have opportunities to be sustainable and to be.

Thank you for your comments. Switching to Zoom user Blair, you can unmute yourself and begin your comment.

All right, thank you. Thank you for the words of the previous public comment. This item is to be helping future communities of Oakland, communities of color. A real congratulations. I want to quickly comment that thank you for the previous item that you were able to work out a nice effort with Alameda County. The kind of things that that previous item can be working towards and addressing is in the good spirit of what working on the Oakland Coliseum things are about and good luck bringing those sort of items up for the previous item up your Oakland Coliseum things as a way to develop dialogue and Good discussion, thank you.

Thank you for your comments, Chair. That concludes all speakers on this item. Excellent, thank you so much. Council Member Fife.

Yes, I just wanted to ask you, the Chair, if there is not another entity that takes over the space by April of 2027, then what are the next steps?

If there isn't the lender and then we would have to go through that process. We may be able to negotiate with the lender and see if we can extend it, so that is an option, but we're gonna work diligently with them and with the developer to find another purchaser to take over the leasehold interest.

So that is something actively that EWD is doing, working to find another use. Yes, yes, yes. Thank you.

Perfect, thank you so much. And I think maybe my last comment would be just as we are looking at a potential buyer, just really ensuring that they have the track record in order to really liven up these retail spaces and attract key businesses. and to also be a very good, I guess, landlord, because I'm sure you all maybe heard some of the feedback that came from some of the business owners that were renting the spaces as well. So those were some of the areas of opportunity with the existing owner.

Yes, we have the ground lease, so we will have the say in the person or purchaser who's taking over, and we have our criteria as the financial capacity, history, and working in a similar area and addressing issues of tenants.

Yeah, and then really having the ability to take the pulse of what the community needs in that space. Awesome, thank you so much. Was there a motion on this item?

I'll make the motion.

Excellent, and perfect, thank you so much.

Thank you, we have a motion made by Council Member Fyfe, seconded by Council Member Ramachandran. To approve the recommendations of staff and to forward this item to the July 21st City Council agenda, on roll, Council Members Fyfe. Aye. Ramachandran. Aye. Unger. Aye. And Chair Brown. Aye. Thank you, item S4 passes with four ayes. To forward this item to the July 21st City Council agenda and to the makers of the motion, is that on consent? On consent, thank you. Reading in item five. Receive an informational report regarding the fiscal year 2025 to 26, quarter one and quarter two, update on the planning and building department's code enforcement activities, and we have one speaker on this item.

Perfect, thank you. And so we can hear from staff on this item.

Good afternoon, Committee Chair Brown and members of the committee. My name is Cici Muela, Chief Billing Official with Planning and Building. This afternoon, Principal Supervisor for Code Enforcement, Mariano Rojo, will be providing the biannual report. Mariano.

Thank you, Billing Official Muela. Good afternoon Committee Chair Brown and members of the committee. Today we are pleased to provide an update on the Planning and Building Department code enforcement activities for the first two quarters of the fiscal year of 2025 and 2026. Code enforcement plays an important role protecting public health, safety, and neighborhood quality by ensuring compliance with Oakland's building, housing, property maintenance, and zoning regulations. While today's report contains a significant amount of data, I'd like to point out three key takeaways. We are improving operational efficiencies. We are reducing our backlog by closing more cases than we open. Investments in staffing, technology, partnerships, and producing measurable improvements in service delivery.

Next slide.

Some of the things we're gonna talk about today is gonna be quarterly complaint volume by category, enforcement actions issued, and cases abated and closed. Next slide. This slide shows some of our top complaints by category. It's important to note that some of these complaints can be climatic in relation to summer or winter months where we experience unpermitted work taking place or heating and mold issues due to cold and rainy weather and or blight resulting from overgrown vegetation by grasses, trees, fruit trees, avocado trees, trimmings, et cetera. Next slide. As shown here, we continue to receive high volume of complaints each quarter. However, a key takeaway is not the number of complaints received, but how effectively we're responding to them as shown in the reduction of cases from previous quarters. Next slide. As shown in slides five and six, increased staffing and technology have allowed inspectors to spend more time in the field, resulting nearly 11,000 inspections during the reporting period. Next slide, please. These are enforcement tools we use only when we don't, or to gain voluntary compliance efforts have been exhausted. And these are stop work orders, compliance plans, and clean up contracts. Next slide. These before and after photographs demonstrate the tangible improvements occurring in neighborhoods throughout Oakland. Perhaps one of the most encouraging trends is the improvement in case resolution times. Blight response improved approximately 35%. If there's one slide I encourage the committee to remember, it's this one. We opened 3,905 cases and closed 4,709 cases, meaning we closed more cases than we opened. Open cases decreased. That shows the source of Code Enforcement's team's great work. The slide summarizes the enforcement fees assessed during the reporting period. I'd like to emphasize that the fees are not intended to generate revenue. Their primary purpose is to recover the city's costs associated with investigating violations, conducting inspections, performing administrative work, and pursuing compliance when property owners fail to voluntarily correct violations. Property owners are first provided an opportunity to voluntarily comply through courtesy notices, notices of violation, and the appeal process. Fees are only assessed when those compliance efforts are unsuccessful and additional enforcement actions become necessary. The next slide shows how these assessed fees are ultimately collected. One encouraging trend we've seen is an improvement in fee collections. It's important to note that collections in any given quarter are not necessarily tied to fees assessed during the same quarter. Many enforcement cases take months to resolve and payments often occur after liens have been recorded or when property taxes are paid through the county. During the reporting period, we saw an increased collection because staff, I mean, I'm sorry, increased collections because staff continued to improve follow-up on delinquent accounts and transferred priority liens to the county for collection. As those liens are paid through the property tax process, the city recovers costs that were previously outstanding. This is why you'll notice collections in quarter two exceed the amount assessed during the same quarter. Those revenues reflect payments on enforcement actions from prior reporting periods, not just new cases. That being said, one of our goals is to maximize voluntary compliance whenever possible. When that does not occur, we have responsibility to recover the public resources expended on prolonged enforcement efforts. Improved collections reflect better fiscal stewardship. As I conclude today's presentation, I'd like to highlight some initiatives that are strengthening our code enforcement program and positioning us for continued success. First, we're continuing to leverage technology through our code enforcement inspector app, which allows inspectors to document violations, generate notices of violations directly from the field, and spend more time serving the public rather than completing administrative tasks. The investment has contributed to improved inspection capacity and faster case processing. Second, we've made significant progress in building our workforce by bringing on code enforcement staff and support personnel. As reflected throughout today's presentation, those staffing investments are producing measurable results through the reduced response times, increased inspections, and reduction in overall backlog. Finally, none of this work happens in isolation. Our success depends on strong collaboration with our partners across the city, including the fire department, housing and commuting development, economic and workforce development, public works, the encampment management team, the city attorney's office, and many others. These partnerships allow us to address complex cases more efficiently and provide coordinated solutions to our community. In closing, this report demonstrates that the Planning and Building Department Code Enforcement Division continues to make measurable progress in improving service delivery, reducing our backlog, increasing inspection capacity, and strengthening compliance throughout Oakland. While there is still important work ahead, the results presented today reflect the positive impact of our investments in staffing, technology, operational improvements, and strategic partnerships, thank you.

Thank you so much for the report and thank you to you and staff for bringing such a comprehensive report. I wanna say this is maybe the second time that we've, at least for myself, I've heard this item. I am curious as I'm looking at the slides, I think it's slide 26 and 27, I would be curious if when we get this item again, I guess in the next six months or before we, yeah, maybe in the next six months, I would be interested in seeing the data presented, I guess as a, I know this is a quarterly report, but I would be interested in seeing it reflected like year over year so that we could actually get a true understanding of like, okay, these are all of the cases, these are the categories, And so in 2025, we were able to close X amount. And now in 2026, we have this many cases, and this is how many we were able to close just so that, because as I'm looking at the numbers, there's this on page 28, it says, you know, open cases at the end of Q4, and then it immediately jumps to Q2. And, you know, like, I think I want a better perspective of how well we're doing, but when you're looking at these columns from left to right as it's presented, and I'm looking at Blight to be specific on the slide, I'm not really, it just seems kind of stagnant if I had to be honest, but I would love the opportunity to be able to see, hey, this is the work that we've been doing in this year, and then this is what's happening in the next year as well, just a true compare and contrast. But all in all, thank you so much for, I think one of the key highlights that I was really delighted to see was it just showcased the cross departmental collaboration in order to get all of this accomplished. And that is something that myself and my colleagues, we were all on finance and we just had a report about the city's strategic plan. And one of the key components there is around cross departmental collaboration. And so I think that this is a clear example of how that's happening. So thank you so much. And so I'll go to my colleagues, Council Member Unger.

So this is great. You guys are crushing it. I love that you're closing more cases than are getting opened. How's your staffing?

Through the chair, honorable council member Unger, we're not currently fully staffed but we have an ongoing recruitment and in fact we just have a first round of recruitments that we're going to start the interview process shortly. They've gone through the initial application process and then the vetting and the testing and we're just waiting for a list to be given to us so we can start conducting the interviews. But we're looking to get fully staffed as quickly as possible, but that may take a while.

Yeah, I guess that's my question. How's the HR process working for you? Are there hiccups that we can help resolve or that need to be resolved?

Through the chair, Council Member Unger. Yes, we have been working actually closer with HR to ensure that not only our job descriptions, but the type of work that we're looking for and experience is clearly depicted so that we can allow for more applicants. I'm happy to report that this last go around, we did have about 65 applicants for our principal supervisor position. That's great. And that was just in a two week timeframe. So we were very ecstatic to hear that. So we are working closely with our HR team.

Very cool, keep your foot on the gas, appreciate it.

Thank you, sir.

Perfect, thank you. We can hear from the public speakers.

Calling in the name that signed up to speak on item number five, Mrs. Sara Olaballa.

The department's that collaborate to work on blight, housing, building code, maintenance, noise complaints, and zoning. But in order for you to deal with environmental health code enforcement, which is air, water, and food quality or safety, that is the Alameda County Department of Environmental Health. And you haven't specified Related to code enforcement around those areas of water air and food safety how you collaborate with the county and This is very important. So right now we got this explosive diarrhea thing going on and they're saying it is very serious and it has to deal with raw vegetables raw fruit meat not being cooked correctly, this is a serious issue and And so how do we have the enforcement with our vendors or with any food vendor?

Thank you for your comments, Ms. Olopola. Chair, that concludes all speakers on this item.

Thank you, thank you so much. Council Member Fife.

On that note, I just wanted to say to the public, cyclosporiasis, cook your vegetables. and I will make a motion to wash them and cook them.

Yeah, wash them really well. I'll make a second.

Thank you. We have a motion made by Council Member Fyfe, seconded by Chair Brown, to receive and file this informational report. On roll, Council Members Fyfe. Aye. Aye. Ramachandran? Aye. Unger? Aye. And Chair Brown? Aye. Thank you, item five passes with four ayes to receive and file this informational report. Two staff, is this to receive and file in committee or forward?

Does staff have a preference on this item? File in committee or forward to the full body?

Through the chair, city administrator's office, receive and file.

okay thank you that's the receiving file through the filing through the committee okay perfect thanks thank you now reading in item six adopt a resolution authorizing the city administrator to enter into a professional services agreement with barretto co llc an oakland certified small local business enterprise for signage and wayfinding graphic design services at 25 or sorry 250 Franco Galva Plaza for a one-year term with an option to extend for an additional one year for a contract amount not to exceed $300,000 and waiving the competitive request for proposal slash qualification requirements. And we have one speaker on this item.

Okay, thank you.

Oh, hey, good to see you again.

Please go ahead. Good afternoon, Chair Brown and members of the CED committee. My name is Rose Ruppel. I'm an assistant to the city administrator with the city administrator's office. The proposed resolution before you would authorize the city administrator to enter into a professional services agreement with Beretto Co. LLP, an Oakland-certified small local business enterprise, for signage and wayfinding graphic design services at the Single Storefront Permit Center in 250 Franco Gawa Plaza, for a one-year term with the option to extend for an additional one year for a total contract amount not to exceed $300,000 and waive the competitive request for proposals, qualifications, requirements. The proposed professional services agreement was initiated under the ongoing Oak Permit citywide permitting program led by the Office of the City Administrator to develop and scale efficiency solutions across various customer journeys, from digital platforms available through the city's website to in-person services offered at the permit center at 250 Franco Gala Plaza. Under the proposed project, the city is seeking design services for an updated wayfinding signage deployment at the permit center commensurate with other physical and operational upgrades. The public service areas of the permit center occupy the first and second levels of 250 Franco-Gall Plaza, where in-person permitting and related services are provided by city agencies, including planning and building, transportation, public works, fire prevention, housing and community development, and business tax. On March 17th of this year, city staff issued an informal request for proposals to nine firms in total. Four of the vendors were identified from the city's business directory, and the other five were identified from the City of Oakland local small local business enterprise certified directory. Each with North American industry classification system codes related to graphic design services, sign manufacturing, and or interior design services, and with experience performing similar relevant work as depicted on their business websites. Responses were due to the city by April 10th, and staff received one proposal from Beretto Co LLC. A cross-departmental team of staff from the City Administrator's Office, Planning and Building Department, and Oakland Public Works Facility Services Division evaluated the proposal from Barreto Co. LLC and engaged the firm in a Q&A session and presentation of the proposed scope of work and other contract terms. The review team found the proposal to be extremely thorough and well-structured, and the firm's portfolio of past work to be aligned with the proposed outcomes of the project. The proposed agreement with Beretico LLC will deliver a comprehensive catalog of signage typologies and associated specifications, as well as a style guide with colorways, typeface hierarchy, and other details, a resource the city does not currently possess for its existing signage and wayfinding assets. In 2023, the original design documentation for the facility, including signage design specifications, were lost in the ransomware attack. Staff had intended to provide these original specifications to the selected vendor to update and revise for the new signage program, but after learning from facility services division staff that the files have been lost, staff determined the scope would need to be expanded and the dollar amount increased to allow the vendor to develop specifications for existing assets at the permit center. Additionally, increasing the proposed contract amount will also enable staff to include an optional fabrication planning and management component, allowing the vendor to deliver the newly designed assets to the city for installation at 250 Franco Gala Plaza, rather than separately contracting out this portion of work. The expanded, currently proposed, professional services agreement includes the reconstruction of lost design assets and consistent deployment of customer wayfinding in a key public facility. Staff expect this project will have citywide benefits, as we anticipate the deliverables to be applicable at many, if not all, city facilities in addition to the permit center at 250 Franco Gala Plaza. Additionally, all design layouts and location specifications produced through this project shall comply with current Americans with Disabilities Act requirements under federal ADA accessibility standards, Title III, Chapter 7. Some of the existing assets in the permit center do not meet current standards, and this project will prioritize replacing these fixtures. As mentioned earlier, the proposed vendor, Barreto Co. LLC, is a small minority-owned creative agency that is certified by the City of Oakland as a small local business enterprise for graphic design services. The firm has completed similar projects for the University of California at Santa Cruz and the Jack London Business Improvement District, among others. Oakland Municipal Code Chapter 2.04.040 stipulates that contracts procured through an informal advertising and bidding process cannot exceed $50,000. While staff initially believed that the scope of work could feasibly be performed for this amount, and again, this was by not including a fabrication component in the scope and also by providing the original design specifications for the building, we've since learned we're not able to provide. In addition, through discussions with the proposed vendor and internally, we developed a much clearer picture of the tasks and steps required to meaningfully achieve the project's goal to create a visually cohesive, brand-aligned, and ADA-compliant wayfinding signage system for fabrication to enhance orientation and visitor experience at the permit center. The revised currently proposed professional services agreement reflects this, facilitates the reconstruction of the lost design assets, and will ensure consistent deployment of customer wayfinding and signage in a key public facility. For the sake of time, I won't go into it now, but I'm happy to provide more of a breakdown of the cost for each phase of the proposed expanded contract if there are questions about this. So in conclusion, staff are recommending that the city council waive the competitive request for proposals, qualifications, requirements, and authorize the city administrator to enter into professional services agreement with Barreto Co. LLC, an Oakland-certified small local business enterprise, for signage and wayfinding graphic design services at 250 Franco Galva Plaza for a one-year term with the option to extend for an additional one year for a total contract amount not to exceed $300,000. Thank you, and staff are available to answer questions.

Perfect, and while we have either of those, can you actually highlight the cost breakdown for us?

Sure, so just noting that we are still kind of finalizing the contract details and negotiating this with the vendor. We have currently laid out five phases of this project. So phase one would be approximately 50,000. This would include at least one site visit by the vendor and allow for the creation, as I mentioned, of the design specifications for existing assets at the permit center, which were lost previously in the ransomware attack. Phase two is about $50,000. This includes graphic design, styling, and refinements. Phase three is $75,000. This includes creation and delivery of a comprehensive system style guide and layout production recommendations for all signage types. Phase four is $23,000 and includes the delivery of templates for signage typologies and production of digital files for all digital assets. And then phase five is the optional $100,000 component, which would include the fabrication of the site, so construction of the actual signs and associated materials, which would then be delivered to the city for installation.

And so in that breakdown, would the vendor also be actually doing the install?

We would, I think that's still being somewhat determined, but the idea would to have as much of that done in-house by facilities services staff as possible.

I see. And this is my first time seeing a contract of this amount for signage. And so do we have some historical context around how much we've spent in the past

I think, so I can start by saying that to our knowledge, a project of this type has not been undertaken by the city in quite a number of years. And so through this process, through discussions with the vendor and internally, there was, we really gained a stronger understanding of the tasks that would be required to meaningfully achieve this. I'm gonna, I don't know if Robin, do you have anything to add there? I'm gonna ask that my colleague, Robin Abad, add to that as well.

good afternoon chair brown council members robin abad with the city administrator's office working with rose on this project you know we basically lost all of our design documentation for the signage program at 250. that's the entire facility the permit center is a key facility for conducting business and providing service to our constituents. Currently, we have a very inconsistent strategy for ensuring that folks can navigate the facility with clarity, with consistency in language, and with graphics that are ADA compliant. We've basically just been making new stuff ad hoc as we've gone along. So one thing we'd like to emphasize is that by creating, recreating an asset that we lost, which is basically design guidelines for 250, this project is actually an investment in the building that will pay forward for another decade. Facility staff will be able to use this to update signage, not only in the public portions of the building, but throughout the entire facility. So we're really having to reinvest in something that was lost in the ransomware attack.

I see. And then in the selection of the said vendor, would you happen to know offhand what other local projects they were able to complete?

i can share that they have done as i mentioned a similar project for the jack london business improvement district and i believe there are some other local examples that i'd be happy to share with you directly and follow up interesting and do you know specifically what was it at jack london square I believe it was a similar sort of signage type of development, a creation of a comprehensive signage plan for that entity.

Okay, excellent. Thank you so much, Rose and Robin. Council Member Unger.

Yeah, I mean, I can't help but think that this seems like an enormous amount of money for signage and maybe I'm thinking about this wrong. I mean, in my mind, this is like permit counter to the left, pay your parking tickets to the right, and that's $300,000. I mean, is there not a way to do this more cheaply that would also help people just find their way around the building?

Thank you, Council Member Unger. It is a not to exceed. So these are you know, the budget is built around a conservative element. Important to note, too, that fabrication is part of this. So materials actually, you know, printing things, fabricating things. That is a huge part of the sort of projected cost of the project. As Rose mentioned, we are wanting to rely on our internal facilities, public works to actually do install. So My assumption is that if we were to go through, for example, through a city contracting process or event, we're going to get really high numbers when it comes to actually procuring materials, fabrication. The production piece is really the largest share of this not to exceed budget amount.

And is this... Are we actually in a situation where people are giving up on applying for permits because they can't find the right office? Is this a genuine problem that needs to be solved or is it just a nice to have?

I think that since we've consolidated more and more public services into building 250, this really, us wanting to create a dignified and clear environment for our public to navigate is part of a general program we have at 250 to provide better service, more efficiency, clarity, and continued consolidation. part of the investment we're making here is developing a scalable system and a standard that will evolve with the building and the facility as we consolidate more public facing services into that facility as we're up staffing the departments that provide counter staff and creating more positions, physically reconfiguring the permit center over time. Right now, we just don't have adequate guidelines to be able to provide the the way finding and the navigation that really our public deserves when they come to visit 250.

And do you see this as a first step, as something you're gonna come back to us for more signage later?

um this is a big first investment for sure to create the system um and so what we anticipate being able to accomplish with this is a a comprehensive implementation in the public portions of the first and second floors of building 250. so we do anticipate that this will cover that it's also important to note that this is funding that is not coming out of the general fund these are this is fee revenue that's specifically collected for fee related services and facilities for the city so it is it's it's money that it's funding that we have that's actually dedicated for us improving this the experience of our customers and my understanding is that those funds are more in better shape than the general fund I would say for the moment, thankfully they are, Council Member.

I'm a little bit relieved to hear that it's not coming from the general fund. That does help a little bit. Thank you.

And just to piggyback off of what Councilmember Unger was bringing up, I really wanna say out loud that I think it's not only 250 that needs some support in ensuring that our community members know where to come when they just come to the plaza. And so I would be interested in the future, given the success of this very robust way finding plan that you all have established, what it would look like to expand that to other coming into city hall, how to get up to the chamber, second floor, et cetera. I think that that could be of great, great value to the community as well. And so council member five, did you have your? Hand raise and then council member Amish hundred.

Yes I wanted to just say through the chair that I was actually happy to see 2415 listed in the actual Packet to show where the funds were coming from. It seemed a little high to me as well So I definitely want to echo what my colleagues have stated here, but I also wanted to know if I know you stated that you reached out to 9 different vendors is that the widest net that could be cast for this type of quote or is that just what we had on hand through our existing partners through the city's system.

In this case, and being that, you know, initially this was, and through the chair, this was initially an informal process and not subject to the same sort of advertising, you know, noticing requirements that a formal RFP would be. We followed sort of the standard process for informal RFPs whereby we went, We went into those different resources and tried to identify as many applicable firms as possible to cast that wide net to the extent that we could. I personally heard back from a number of firms responding that they weren't able or don't typically do this sort of work and declining to provide a proposal. So we did ultimately have the one from Beretto, but yes, that's sort of, process that led us to those nine firms.

So to be clear, did you reach out to nine firms and heard back from who you heard from, or did you reach out to more than nine?

We reached out to nine and that was based on the specific classification codes that I mentioned to be able to do this sort of work and wanting to ensure primarily a significant number of firms that we knew to be certified as small local business enterprises.

Okay, I'll talk more to DWES. It just seems like with signage, there would be more firms that could be responsive, but maybe they're not in the system, and if they're not in the system, then we need to figure out how to get more people, more small businesses to be aware when these contracts come up, because for a small business, a $300,000 contract could be significant, right? So we wanna make sure that, I would like to see double digits um and and up when we're reaching out to small businesses for these type types of contracts this is almost a half million dollars um so that you know that's important thank you thank you okay thank you so much for your your work on the oh council member ramachandran

Thank you. How many signs are gonna be constructed total with this?

Through the chair, I don't know that we have a specific number yet. I will note that the scope sort of includes not just development of signs specifically, but also other fixtures. There, for example, is a large directory on the first floor of the building that has at this point rather dated and inaccurate information. So this would include like those types of assets as well beyond just sort of directional signage or that kind of thing and see if Robin has anything to add.

Or if there's a range of the number of physical products.

Yeah, we don't know for certain at this point. I think that's part of the scope is for this contractor to come in, assess the building, the various different ad hoc signs that we have are they in the right place are they duplicative can we streamline and reduce the number of assets that are currently deployed right now we have things made out of acrylic out of aluminum things that are printed on a photocopier that are stuck up on the wall and so part of this is really to sort of clean up and establish a more streamlined number of fixtures. We also have new digital way finding. So Rose has led a huge project at the Building 250 facility for folks to be able to sign up. for appointments or walk in for appointments and you know get get a ticket we have digital monitors and displays that have since the pandemic been installed throughout 250 that aren't graphically aligned nor potentially sort of fully ada accessible that we need to assess as well so Part of the reason it was so difficult to Council Member Fife's question to get the right mix of skills is because this is a highly specialized design project and sort of space organizing project. So we really needed to find a firm that had the right profile, that could do the design work, that could do the spatial planning work, and then also deliver on different kinds of assets, whether they were digital or physical.

Okay, well thank you so much. We can hear from the public speakers.

Calling in the name that signed up to speak on item six, Mrs. Sara Olabala.

So I was in the, let me see. I was in the office of the, uh, citation parking citation office, and they had a sign and a sign reference. Uh, this office serves citizens. And it also said, if you act in a disrespectful way, you will be asked to leave. So you're telling people you only, uh, dealing with citizens. So y'all need to check that. No signs will have citizens on it. And then you say you asked to leave, but you gotta pay the ticket. So you don't give no other instructions on how to pay the tickets on the sign. So the sign has to be complete. If you're asked to leave, you will be asked to pay the ticket through email or whatever. Okay, so that's just one example. Then I heard somebody say we use the informal process. How do you use the informal process in any way having to deal with spending the public money?

Thank you for your comments, Chair. That concludes all speakers.

All right, thank you so much. I'll entertain a motion on this item. I'll make the motion to move this item to the full city council on consent.

I was going to make a motion with the definition of what's the informal versus formal bid process. Sure. If that could be answered by staff.

Okay.

These processes are outlined in the Oakland municipal code. They have different requirements and procedures and also are associated with different not to exceed dollar amount thresholds. And I can, so with the informal process that is a not to exceed of $50,000, as I mentioned, in order to execute contracts above, and I apologize, I'm remembering this off the top of my head, but the contracts exceeding $250,000 are outside of the city administrator's authority and therefore require council approval in order to proceed. Yep, thank you, second.

Thank you.

Thank you, we have a motion made by Chair Brown, seconded by Council Member Fife to approve the recommendations of staff and to forward this item to the July 21st City Council agenda on consent. On roll, Council Members Fife. Aye. Ramachandran. Aye. Unger.

No.

And Chair Brown. Aye. Thank you, motion passes with three ayes, one no. Due to the no vote, this will have to go on non-consent. Okay, thank you.

Okay, sorry, reading in item number seven.

Adopt a resolution authorizing the following actions in fiscal year 2026 to 2027. One, accept an appropriate workforce innovation and opportunity Title I formula funds for adult, dislocated worker, and youth. and rapid response services in an amount up to $4,827,587 to accept and appropriate California Volunteers Youth Service Corps funding in an amount not to exceed $1,993,914 from California Volunteers Youth Service Corps program for the Oakland Forward Initiative through December 31st, 2027. And three, authorizing the city administrator to execute grant agreement amendments and related documents necessary to implement the programs. And four, authorizing, sorry, authorize the city administrator to apply for, accept, and appropriate grant funds and contributions for workforce development services beyond the WIOA Title I formula funding and other budgeted funding sources up to $250,000 per instance with the approval of the Oakland Workforce Development Board. And we do have two speakers on this item.

Okay, thank you. We can hear from staff on this item.

Hello, good afternoon. Speak into the mic. Honorata Lindsay, Economic and Workforce Development. So staff is requesting an approval of a resolution that will authorize the city to accept and appropriate, it's approximately 6.8 million in federal and state workforce funding. And this is for fiscal year 26, 27, so the current fiscal year that we're in. i also want to just start out by noting that this particular item it's not going to approve any new service providers or create any new programming at this time the council already approved our workforce innovation and opportunity act or what i'll refer to it now as weoa service provider contracts on june 2nd so that action already happened And so today what we're requesting is that this body just authorize the city to receive the funding that's necessary to implement these services that have already been approved. So this funding package includes two allocations, 4.8 million in WIOA funding, and then nearly two million, so it's 1.9 million from the California Volunteers Program, and that is to continue our Oakland Forward Youth Service, Public Services Career Pathways Program. For this program year, these investments for WIOA are expected to serve approximately 900 residents, Oakland residents. Oakland residents. and um and the california volunteers funding will support approximately 45 youth and young adults in paid public service positions through the oakland public works program and lastly this item has included a request to authorize the city administrator to accept and appropriate future workforce grant funding up to 250,000 per award with approval of the Oakland Workforce Development Board. And by doing so, this will allow the city to respond quickly to smaller grant opportunities where we're able to remain competitive for workforce funding without having to come back to council for a separate action for each individual award. These funds are critical to maintaining Oakland's workforce development system and provide residents with access to training, career pathways, and employment opportunities while also supporting employers meet their workforce needs and also supporting the city's economic development goals. Staff is respectfully requesting approval of this resolution and I'm happy to answer questions, thank you.

Thank you so much for the report. And I guess just for clarity, is it routine that the item comes two times?

This is not. Again, this is a second.

Oh, let me add some clarity. So in the first item that we had earlier this year, we were approving the recipients of the WIOA dollars, and so can you explain what is the, so that was for the recipients, and so in this moment we are simply allocating the funds that we are going to receive, is that correct?

That's correct, yes.

Okay, and then, so my question has to do with the table on page four, when you were looking at the last component, so can you explain Refresh my memory. Who receives the funds that are slated for program rapid response? Who is the awardee?

The program rapid response dollars go directly to the city who has oversight of the services directly to the businesses. There's some funding that's utilized there that goes out to service providers through the supports that are provided around the response activities, the largest buckets that go out to the service providers through the WIOA funding are gonna be the adult, the dislocated worker, and the youth dollars.

I see. And so is the table, would the table be, the dollar amounts that are listed in the table, are they also representative of the prior kind of funding that's going out of the, that is going out for those grantees that we awarded earlier it is inclusive of those dollars okay perfect thank you for clarifying um any questions on this item colleagues okay we can go to the public speaker calling in the names that signed up to speak on item number seven miss asada olabala and blair beekman

So the race equity statement says that you're going to provide for the populations that experience the highest degree of disproportionality of barriers to employment. So that's going to be African Americans because we 10% of the unemployment in this city. The next group is Latinos, which is 4.7. unemployment. Now you are this is a department that has applied for a grant from the state for non citizen. Support for small businesses so you serve non citizens of the 900 residents served how many of citizens are going to get that how many non citizens is that going to be equally done halfway all citizens halfway non-citizens how do you do it how do you verify that a person is a non-citizen or citizen you know y'all just don't have these discussions at all but it's important that that's why south africa is being torn up because the south african people black people in this city not addressing this issue you're not getting

Thank you for your comments. If your name was called and you still wish to speak on this item, you can come up to the podium or raise your hand. At this time, all names have been called.

Perfect, thank you. Colleagues, is there a motion to move this item? Council Member Unger.

So moved.

Second.

Thank you, we have a motion made by Council Member Unger, seconded by Council Member Ramachandran to approve the recommendations of staff and support this item to the July 21st City Council agenda. On roll, Council Members Pipe. Aye. Ramachandran. Aye. Unger. Aye. And Chair Brown. Aye. Thank you, motion passes with four ayes to support this item to the July 21st City Council agenda on consent. Moving on to open forum, calling in the names that signed up to speak. In no particular order, you can come up to the podium. State your name before making your comment. If you're on Zoom, please raise your hand to be easily identified. Shinobi Howard, Asada Olabala, Blair Beekman, Margaret Grimsley, Sarah Amir, Joyous Moral, Deshawn Tuller, Nita B, Hi, I'm Margaret Grimsley.

I spoke earlier on behalf of the street vendors who are here to talk about the problematic enforcement of supposed laws and regulations around street vending. I mentioned that I've lived in Oakland for over six years. Street vendors have been a major part of the community here for me. And I also want to speak to the fact that I walk Lake Merritt every day and have never seen vendors bring anything but like joy and community and love and delicious food. I don't see any of the problems that are being cited. I also want to read from talking points provided by NIDA. The city should shift from gatekeeping to partnership, include long-term informal vendors in decision-making, waive or subsidize participation costs for low-income vendors, design programs rooted in equity and culture, advocate for simpler, clearer, streamlined, accessible permitting systems, and treat...

Joyous Morali. Instead of going out to the lake and talking to us about these issues, the city had meetings and text messages and emails that didn't include us and decided to smash instead of communicate. So we are taking it upon ourselves to handle it ourselves and let you know we read up on the concerns and don't agree with your approach and we'll handle it ourselves since you don't want to work with us. Protect our culture and support real grassroots community economic development. And for the neighbors who can't stand us, have you ever had a conversation with us? Have you tried our food or our sweets? Have you sat in the sun and listened to the live music that Oakland natives make and share out there? Have you supported your local clothes and jewelry marketers that work and make everything from hand? Or do you sit on your balcony and see a sea of black folks in our own hometown and don't like what you see because it's not your people? From what we have seen over the past two and a half months, the city needs to stop all raids.

My name's Nita B. I'm a local street vendor. Just make sure folks understand that street vending isn't just commerce, it's survival, it's mutual aid, it's ingenuity, it's how working class black, Latino, and Asian, and immigrant families have made ends meet, and the formal economies have shut us out. What the city is currently doing to street vendors is not meaningful legislation, it's violent gatekeeping. The shift transforms vending from community survival economy into a managed experience that squeezes every dime it can get out of street vendors through permits, fees, and licenses. One vending becomes overly curated. Someone decides who gets to vend, who doesn't get to vend, what they can vend, and how they can show up, and whether they even belong in street vending at all. This kind of thinking and behavior can't be separated from the broader forces of gentrification. the issue is how street vending is allowed who benefits and who's being excluded the same four dollar tacos and overpriced street food celebrated in upscale food halls food halls become become the become legal vending and then while the illegal preventing are the two dollar tacos where the street oh she's giving me her time my name is deshawn i'm giving you my time The issue is how street vending is allowed. The same entrepreneurial hustle praised by the middle class startup culture becomes noncompliance when practiced by the Flatland family's curbside. This is nothing short of cultural displacement. Our culture gets stigmatized, is regulated out of existence, and then repackaged and sold back to us, sanitized and expensive. From what we've seen over the past two and a half months, the city needs to stop all raids on the vendors and do a serious legal review of Oakland's enforcement policies and practices. The vendors and their advocates have collected enough factual support for investigating whether Oakland exceeds its legal authority and whether or not it has deprived vendors of property without due process. And this destruction of property has happened without warning, without receipt, without any appeal process or any opportunity to get property back. Our legal representative has requested documents twice already around citations, around enforcement documents, around any kind of writing, around any kind of implementation. He's been ignored and Friday filed a lawsuit against the city of Oakland in violation of the California Public Act.

Hello, I'm Lisa Zebrack. I am a homeowner in the neighborhood of Cleveland Heights. By educating kids today, we will all have a better tomorrow. It's important that we keep the vendors. One of my wellness tools is going to the lake and dancing and talking to all the vendors. I feel it's really important to keep especially the local Oakland women vendors like the ones that help educate kids and cook ethnic foods that help for the community, the art therapist, the local artists and educators that are now dear friends of mine and are teaching me how to educate. I was born in Berkeley. I was raised in Oakland, California, and we need the vendors here to educate the kids. Thank you.

Good afternoon, my name is Regina Davis. I'm here representing the Black Cultural Zone. I wanted to speak just very briefly on the seminary.

I'm sorry, did the speaker, okay, thank you.

Wanted to participate, and we congratulate you on being able to move forward past some of the financial obstacles in this project, so thank you very much.

Aaron Penas again, District 5. During this meeting, we saw the city council show tremendous amounts of supportiveness and leniency toward the developers of a multimillion dollar commercial real estate project because the council recognized that that project is important to the economic fabric of the city and to the community around it. We just want to see the city and the county show that same kind of consideration to Street vendors who are smaller interests but are also just as crucial to the fabric of the community giving the rest of my time to Sarah To the member of the public once you start your time, you cannot see the rest of your time So Sarah you'll have one minute.

That's okay. All right Hi again, it's there again just coming back to just ended off close it off with some thoughts on praxis again, I making sure that this committee is dedicated to finding the theory, why exactly is all of this happening, and making sure that the actions you take are in line with what the community is saying. Again, answering the questions of what exactly about the attacks on the vendors and is based on theory, what type of reflection is taking place, and how this community is actually protecting the community. I want to just close it off by saying the city should shift from gatekeeping to partnership, including long-time informal vendors in decision-making, waiving or subsidizing participation costs for local income vendors, designing programs rooted in equity and culture, advocating for simpler, clearer, streamlined, accessible permitting systems, and treating vendors not as participants in problems, but as actual leaders and culture keepers. Thank you.

Marco Duncan, policy fellow at Legal Services for Children. All of us or none. You know, at first glance, sometimes things can appear one way and be another way. And I think I said some of you guys, I said all of you guys had no empathy. And I don't think that anymore. I think a few of you guys understand what's going on. And I think you mean well. And I also think that You know, Oakland don't look like it used to look 40, 50 years when I was growing up. It's different now. But people that are coming into this space, they still need to understand the history behind it. You know, people, we have a right to be here just like they do. You know, and they may not like a lot of things, but everything ain't for everybody to like. you know, and just, I would just ask that they be mindful of that, you know what I mean, when they want people to turn music down and don't drive this way and don't.

You get all upset when you talk about privacy. These people are talking about their private property is being confiscated by the Oakland Police Department, Public Works, and Code Enforcement. That is a violation of their human right. You have no right to take their property. They can be cited. You can confiscate illegal alcohol and drugs, but you cannot do this. And somebody needs to investigate what's going on, and somebody needs to file a lawsuit. Because you cannot take it upon yourself to want to have that space at Lake Merritt appropriate for them white folks at the expense of violating the rights of these black people and other people that decide they want to be on that lake. That is public property. It is not private property for the...

Thank you for your comments. If your name was called and you still wish to speak for open forum, you can come up to the podium or raise your hand to be easily identified on Zoom. At this time, all names have been called.

Excellent, all right. Well, thank you everyone for coming to CED and to all the public commenters. I'll have some additional conversations and get more information on the street vending issue. But until then, this meeting is adjourned.