OK, good morning, everybody.
Good morning.
Good morning.
We're still waiting on a couple of technical issues up here,
but I do have a couple of quick announcements.
We are going to move the parking issue to first in the queue,
because I believe that's what most of the folks
here are here to talk about.
And because we have such a large crowd,
we are going to do one minute per speaker.
And I will wait until you say, oh, and then I'd also
like to, um, adjourn into a full council meeting because we are joined by additional council
members who are not on the committee. So we'll do that in a second. Yeah. Okay. So we're
not, we're, we're going to, are you ready to go ahead and call this to order? We've
got three. Good morning and welcome to the public works and transportation committee
meeting for today, February the 10th. The time is now 11 39 and this meeting has come
to order.
Before I take roll, I will provide instructions on how to submit a speaker's card for items
on this agenda.
If you are here with us in chambers and you would like to submit a speaker's card, please
fold one out and turn into a clerk representative to my left, your right.
Before the item is read into record, online speaker requests were due 24 hours prior to
this meeting.
This meeting came to order at 11.39 a.m.
request will no longer be accepted ten minutes after the meeting has begun
making that time 11 49 a.m. with that we will now proceed to take roll council
member Gao thank you councilmember Houston is excused councilmember Wong
present and chair on girl here we have three members present and one excused
Houston and here before you begin you can announce your announcement thank
you nope just that we are gonna move the parking item to the front and we will
adjourn into a special special full City Council meeting we take a vote on that I
will make that motion that we adjourn into full council thank you due to the
presence of councilmember councilmember Brown we will journey this into a
a special full council with motion made by Councilmember Chair Unger, seconded by
Councilmember Gallo to adjourn the meeting of the Public Works and
Transportation Committee meeting and to convene into a special meeting of the
full council at 11 41 a.m. on roll. Councilmember Gallo? Aye. Councilmember
Houston is excused. Councilmember Wong? Aye. And Chair Unger? Aye. Thank you. We
will now proceed as a full council. Moving to our first item. Item one is
approval of the draft minutes from the committee meeting on January 27, 2026 and
you do have, you do not have any speakers for this item. I'll move that we accept
the minutes. We do have a motion made by Chair Unger, seconded by Councilmember
Regano, to accept the draft minutes of the committee meeting on January 27, 2026
is on role. Council member Gail. Aye. Council member Houston is excused. Council member
Wong. Aye. Thank you. And Chair Unger. Aye. This motion passes with three ayes. One excused.
Houston to accept approval of the draft minutes of the committee meeting on January 27, 2026
as is. Moving to item two, determination schedule outstanding committee items and this is also
as your pending list you do have one speaker for the site of okay do we have
any updates from staff or councilman none this time all right let's hear from
our speaker please mr. Sada I'd like to request that if there is a report that
can be given on the ticketing of stolen vehicles that are parked a report on
on where we stand, when we have to store RVs and cars
that have been told related
to the homeless encampment issues.
A report on how we are storing our homeless items
because they're saying that's not working correctly.
We need to have a report on the effectiveness
of street cleaning.
And I'm asking that because many of the efforts
to street clean involves cars that are parked
in the street personnel has to go around.
So we're not being very effective with that report
on how we are storing hazardous materials
or dealing with hazardous materials
that are part of the illegal dumping component.
We need to look at Caltrans announcement this morning
of the closing of 980 as a recommendation from Caltrans
because of the homeless situation being untrouble.
We need a report on-
Thank you for your comment, Ms. Asada.
And please note the presence of Council Member Houston
at 11.43 a.m., thank you.
Do we have a motion to accept the pending list?
All right, I'll second that.
We have a motion made by Council Member Gaius,
seconded by Chair Unger,
to accept the termination schedule
committee items as is on roll councilmember guy oh aye councilmember
Houston aye councilmember Wong aye and chair under aye this motion passes what
for eyes to accept determination schedule outstanding committee items as
is as discretion of the chair moving to item 5 I will now read it item into
record receive an informational report for the city administrator on the
proposed re organization of the Department of Transportation Park and
Division including one the rationale the proposal to a fiscal impact statement
including any new or unfrozen staff costs and analysis of the operational
cost savings three a summary of the outreach that occurred to the Department
of Transportation staff the public and the park individuals collaboration with
other departments and you do have 40 speakers for this item okay 40 speakers
That's great.
So I want to appreciate everyone who came out today.
There's been a lot of sort of sturm
and drawing around this potential change
to the parking division.
And I just wanted to take this opportunity
to get some answers, some transparency,
and highlight what's going on here.
You know, I'm not the kind of person
who gets wedded to any particular org chart.
I care about the functionality of the department.
And in the case of parking, you know, I have a few criteria.
Obviously, our revenues strong and growing,
our abandoned autos being removed efficiently and quickly,
is the public right of way being maintained clear and safe,
and our workers themselves safe experiencing high morale
and being given the agency and dignity
they need to do their jobs well.
If those conditions are met,
then I don't really care if the parking division reports
to the old woman in the shoe at Children's Fairyland,
as long as we're doing everything that we need to.
But I don't know yet whether this reorg
satisfies those conditions,
and that's what we're here to find out today.
So I appreciate the city administrator and staff
for being here for preparing this report.
And I think it's important to recognize
that parking is about a lot of different things.
Obviously, revenue is a big piece of it,
and I'm not gonna give short shrift to the fact
that we need to do everything we can to maximize revenue.
But it's about more than that,
and I think that's why we see advocates here today
from our business community who want to make sure
that there are safe routes to their shops
and that there is adequate turnover in parking.
And we also have advocates here from bicycle
and pedestrian world who probably will say
that parking isn't about money at all,
but it's about how we maintain the right of way
in the safest way possible.
So, you know, I have some initial feelings about this,
but I think we can get into questions there
and I appreciate all my colleagues for having questions.
So I want to thank you again for delaying this
until after the sort of chaos of Superbowl weekend
and delaying the move until after we had a chance
to ask these questions.
So thank you for that.
So why don't we hear a report from our staff first
and then we can move to questions.
Thank you through the chair.
And I'll certainly give space for Director Johnson
as well as we have Deborah Edgley on the line.
I think she's on the Zoom call as well.
So certainly want to echo your sentiments
with respect to the acknowledgement of the fact that
there's been a lot of work put forth
and a lot of transparency with respect to conversations
that have been had as we started this process,
which began with discussing it with leadership
from both the Department of Transportation
and the Department of Finance to figure out
is there a path forward that we certainly want to explore,
acknowledging the challenges that we've had historically
when we talk about our parking operations,
but also recognizing the opportunities and the benefits
that we've realized over the last several years
with respect to the transition
into the Department of Transportation.
So I have to make sure I acknowledge that.
But also acknowledging the fact that
there has been a lot of work that's been done
with respect to over the last two cycles,
the acknowledgement of the collection of revenue,
which this body has certainly, and the public,
has really placed a lot of emphasis
on making sure that the revenue collection side
is certainly top of mind.
But also, with that being said,
wanting to acknowledge the realities
that there are those levels of internal controls
customer service that we have to make sure are in place and continue to be
maintained. I won't seal Director Johnson's thunder but just very quickly
the acknowledgement that this report you know proposed shifting the day-to-day
parking operations to a couple of areas into the finance department as well as
the Oakland Police Department while keeping overall parking policy and curb
management in the Department of Transportation who quite candidly do a
fantastic job of doing that. And also the acknowledgement there's a minor
addition and staffing costs which you know Director Johnson can certainly
speak to as we get into deeper into the presentation or even just some of the
questions that you all may have. The administration certainly proposes the
reorganization to the city's parking functions so that finance can you really
can work towards addressing the enforcement component customer service
citation collections coin collection garages slash off-street parking lots and
and residential parking permits.
And as I already stated,
DOT retains the policy curve slash parking infrastructure
and OPD, which anecdotally, as I understand it,
about 70 to 80% of the abandoned auto operation
is handled in many respects by the department,
by the Oakland Police Department.
So I will pause there and certainly give some space
to Director Johnson and also Deborah Edgley,
who is on the line.
Thank you, Chair.
The proposed reorganization does transfer some functions
currently housed within Department of Transportation
to finance an OPD.
The key element is to align
with the existing functions within those departments.
I'll start with OPD.
As the city administrator mentioned,
roughly 70% of the operations related to abandoned auto
are housed within the police department.
The hope for realigning abandoned auto functions there
is to ensure that there's continued and built capacity
for ensuring that our right of ways are clear of vehicles
that are not operable, and that our neighborhoods are clean and secure, and OPD has the functions
by which to do that.
This would involve moving the unit that's currently working on that in total over to
the police department, including the supervisors over that unit.
As it relates to my department, the finance department, the functions that would be moving
are related to day-to-day parking enforcement, that is sort of the ticketing and collection
meter collections, the parking citation and mobility assistance center, and some
of the administrative operations over garages and other similar issues. The
idea behind the alignment with finance is to align with best practices in
collections that do already exist within finance and to synergize that. I'll give
you some examples as it relates to a patron coming in and paying a parking
ticket. That patron, while maybe not so super happy to pay that ticket, deserves
the city of Oakland an efficient fair and speedy collection process on that
ticket that they deserve seamless access to our methods of payment including
payment plans and the city deserves an efficient collecting process to ensure
that we are able to rapidly collect on that revenue via via via interceptor or
other mechanisms when it relates to revenue collections time is money in a
very specific way. Delays increase delinquency and having very tight and
clear collection practices is super important to ensuring that we're
maximizing our revenue that's both from citations and garages. I will note that
the Citation Assistance Center is also under planning to handle the ticketing
operations or the review of ticket ratings that are coming from our new
speed enforcement cameras and so additional oversight of that operation
is necessary as we increase the work and bandwidth of that.
And that's a grant that was proposed and received
by our DOT, thankfully, to increase public safety.
And so we want to ensure that all these operations
on the customer service and financial side
do align with what we do in finance.
And we want to build those synergies to ensure
that we have, again, good customer service, good
and timely collections process.
There are some fiscal impacts that are tied to this proposal.
There are two key ones we're looking at.
The first one, as it relates to the Department of Finance,
parking would come over as its own bureau.
And so we would need a new bureau lead
over this particular item.
So we would be creating a bureau administrator position.
There's a small delta between the current lead job
classification and a bureau administrator of about $16,000
annually that we would need to make sure is done to ensure
that that Bureau Administrator aligns with all the other Bureau Administrators within finance.
The other position, and candidly I would recommend regardless of whether or
not this move takes place, is to include that we have a parking supervisor
directly over the Parking Citation Assistance Center.
That center has right now three senior public service reps and
three public service reps that are reporting directly to the manager of the whole division.
As I mentioned earlier, the citation camera program, review of those tickets, is coming into this unit.
And candidly, that function had always been, that function deserves a dedicated
supervisor to oversee it on a day to day basis and provide support to those staff.
For a little bit of history, and I'm sure Miss Edgily will jump in and add additional color to this.
Parking used to sit within the finance department.
was reorganized at the same time the redevelopment agency was dissolved. At that point in time,
the citation assistance center and meter collection stayed within finance, while enforcement
operations went to the police department and then Oakland Public Works Department handled
meter repair and some of the other functions. When Public Works and DOT was separated, one
of the first actions that happened as a result of that was parking enforcement was transferred
from police to DOT and then subsequently, the citation to the sentence center and meter
collections were moved from finance to DOT.
So this is to say and I understand the concerns of our staff members.
There has been a lot of ping pong of these organizations.
I understand that that can be disruptive.
I will say both on behalf of myself and speaking for the chief of police, we really value the
work that these employees do.
their work and we're looking
forward to engaging with them
and ensuring that they have the
tools.
Equipment and support they need
to support to provide their
functions I'm happy to take any
questions that you may have as a
body or wait until after your
public commoners.
Thanks let's do questions first
and then public yeah.
Miss elderly are you.
Have your hand up.
Mr ever you may unmute your
have your hand up Miss Deborah you may unmute yourself we can also wait and if
there are specific questions that she'd like to jump in on did she have
something prepared or okay yeah yeah we do have Miss Edgley on so a couple of
questions you know I think we want to start with the the problem we're trying
to solve on on the revenue side how have parking revenues been in the last year
to the city. And that's what
we're doing here. So. We have
not generally achieved our
targets as relates to parking
overall we did a little bit
better on citations last year.
But we have over the last
couple years seen some declines
in that particular space that
are. Not entirely and I would
say this is not entirely due to
status some of these are
economically driven they're not
it's not entirely- the pandemic
that did affect us- but we do
know that we have some delays
the timeline to get a parking citation into collection is, again, really,
really important for delivery beyond just citing the parking patron that may have violated one of our muni codes.
I would also argue, similar to that same space,
we have seen a decline into greater and greater negatives in the fund balance in our multi-purpose reserve fund,
which is the resources that are supposed to be self-sustaining from our parking garages.
This is large to large extent an economic factor driven by the pandemic
but we need to ensure that we have good management of those contracts to ensure that those move back to being a
Space where they're at very least cost-covering if not revenue generating for the city
and can you help me understand that how there are not going to be additional costs accrued by these new positions because the I
Believe that the person who was overseeing parking before has been moved elsewhere. So his salary still exists so we'll be
creating essentially two new positions
So we have enough salary savings within the current fiscal year to cover this and just about any other reorg
When we move up when we move employee in over to another vacancy you actually kind of cover that vacancy
And so you do create a new vacant position. That is what we're at deleting
I will note that the new supervisor for the parking citation to center is a new cost
I'm like
Fully understood that that is new cost but again, it's one that I would recommend we would do
regardless of this particular move again in my
Opinion as a as a manager that unit does need it's a dedicated
Supervisor to oversee it on a day-to-day basis. So in our previous committee
In our previous committee, I think we
cognized that a lot of the reason why our Q4 report was better than expected was because we had so many vacancies and
you know, the hiring freeze so obviously we can't hire all sorts of people but
This does seem to me that we are going to instead of having one person doing this job
We're gonna have one person still being paid to do a different job and two new people created
so we're gonna have to collections are gonna have to
Increase by the amount of both of their salaries in order to get to zero
I think we can achieve some additional revenue revenue collection targets with the additional integration within finance
I do think we can get some better performance
So, you know DOT presented this plan at the last budget and and that was incorporated into our budget and so
Did you have confidence in the plan six months ago? Why are we changing it now in the middle of the year?
Rather than at the fiscal. I
Would I would note that?
Finances taking direction from the city administrators office in terms of sort of that timing and whatnot
I know we don't want to wait on opportunities as it relates to revenue collection for this body
You've made it very clear to us in our
Conversations at our prior Finance Committee meeting and over the course of the cycle that collection practices are really really important to you
We know that they're very important to the organization
can they support the salaries and wages of our employees across the organization?
And so this is a priority I know for the city administrator.
I'd defer to him if he has any additional comment on that particular time.
Sure, through the chair, members of the body, and that's correct.
Just a recognition that in our finance committee, whenever there is something that needs to be addressed,
I think this body has consistently said, look, when are we moving forward?
And so the identification of the revenue collection piece, and it's certainly not to say that there isn't confidence of what was presented six months ago.
us a reality that, look, we're trying to move as aggressively as possible with the recognition
of what's still outstanding. And so if we have the opportunity to address those issues,
to go ahead and move forward with the implementation of key internal controls, that's certainly
important to us, so we want to move as quickly as possible to do so.
Okay. Moving to the abandoned auto piece, and if that moves over to OPD, does OPD have
the capacity to do that? I realize they're doing a large chunk of it now, but asking
them to do more, I think reports show that when DOT was doing abandoned auto removal,
the numbers of abandoned autos removed went up. And we're also seeing the numbers of abandoned
autos that we have going up every year. So does OPD have the capacity to do this? And
do they have the capacity to do this without devoting any sworn officers to oversight?
Like I understand we can move the 15, you know, people over there, but we can't afford
have any OPD officers who are taken away from police work to supervise this?
Through the chair, and I'll certainly defer to Ms. Edgley, who I know met specifically
with the chief, one of the things I want to acknowledge is, as I understand historically,
when it was in the Oakland Police Department, as I understand, there were four individuals
that were assigned at that time.
I think over the years, and the wisdom and the leadership within DOT acknowledged and
really advocated for increasing the number of folks that are doing this work.
so that has helped tremendously.
But I will say that within the Oakland Police Department,
Chief Bier was very clear,
we're doing a lot of this work anyway,
so this does increase their ability to do a lot more.
One of the things that also that we're mindful of the fact
that it has been stated consistently
that there is a safety component,
and this is coming directly from within the Department
transportation that has been stated there is a safety component and there
are concerns for employee safety when we are addressing some of these abandoned
autos and so that's something we acknowledge and realize that but I don't
want to and this elderly can certainly chime in because she did have I don't
want to speak for her but I want to give her the space to kind of chime in on
that conversation as well I'm as Deborah I have allowed you to speak please
unmute yourself and begin.
I just unmuted myself, can you hear me?
We can, thank you.
All right, thank you.
Yes, I met with the Chief and his staff
to see if this request to move with Bandon Auto
was feasible for his department.
And I expected someone from the police to be there.
They said they would, but however,
The chief felt that it was beneficial,
that it would be better coordination
between the two departments.
We talked about the fact that sometimes people will call
the Department of Transportation and it turns out
and they wait for however long they have to wait
and then find out that it's really a stolen vehicle
so it ends up in the police lap anyway.
I specifically asked him about additional sworn staff.
He said it would not take any additional sworn staff.
They would, the three supervisors that are coming over with the unit would report directly
to the current lieutenant that is handling that.
And sort of moving to the question of finance, do you all have the capacity to do this work?
That's a lot of additional responsibility.
We are prepared.
I have the pleasure of dealing with an incredibly resilient department.
I think we do have the capacity to do this, to take on this work at this current time.
We're going to continue to connect what would then become the parking bureau and integrate
it with our revenue and operations bureau.
That particular bureau has a lot of the experience and again with our synergy across those two
operations I think we can actually get some immediate wins and some key performance metrics
met in this space and so I'm really looking forward to ensuring that we have that alignment
And I do think we have the capacity
to bring this particular function in as a separate bureau.
And I very much believe that you have the capacity
to do the collections and the call center and all that.
It's the boots on the ground piece
that I'm a little more concerned about,
like whether you have the expertise and the ability
to oversee that kind of sort of day-to-day ticketing
and meter collection work.
No, I think we.
Bradley, do you mind?
Absolutely.
Let me just say, let me say two things.
I'm a real proponent of fiduciary responsibilities
belong in the department, in the Department of Finance.
So that was kinda my first, when I first looked at this.
In terms of boots on the ground,
the Department of Finance ran parking enforcement
for over 23 years.
So we understand boots on the ground.
We have non-compliant officers
that go out to businesses, that's boots on the ground.
And the other thing for me was,
when I came back to the city,
the Citation Center operations were 1030 to 130.
And I just found that to be,
in terms of customer service,
you want every opportunity for customers to come in
and give us this money, their money.
Now, as of December 8, they do have longer hours,
but in finance, we run business tax and other operations
that are very forward facing.
So I don't think having enforcement officers
on the ground is going to be any different than what
we did for 23 years.
OK, thank you.
Moving on, I think the fullness of this room
is testament to public interest in this I've gotten a lot of reach out from the business
community around this did you all engage with the the business community or the sort of
bicycle pedestrian advocacy community prior to announcing this move through the chair
we did not yeah I know there was a request from the bike pay committee or coalition for
some engagement but quite candidly I'm very much a proponent of the fact that there's
There's still staff work that needs to get done.
So we're not gonna get into a space
of having a broader public conversation
when the staff is still trying to do their work
and put the plan together
and have the requisite conversations
with the department, with labor, et cetera.
So we were not, and I did not give them the direction
to have those conversations, so no.
If this moves forward, I think it's important
that we engage with both the business community
and the bike-ped community to make sure that,
you know, there are concerns that we might not be thinking of
and what they need to especially make the right of ways
clear and safe.
Through the chair, so I don't disagree with you.
I think at this point, now that we have this thing,
the courtesy is given to the council first,
but I also am committed to having those conversations now
that you have something more substantive in place
that we can have a fuller conversation
with requisite stakeholders outside.
And I did have a very brief conversation
with someone from the uptown downtown bid on this weekend
about this so I think that's an important discussion
to have and I think it clarified some misinformation
that was being communicated
so that conversation was helpful.
And along those same lines have you completed
to the satisfaction of all parties any meet and confer
or labor discussions around this?
Through the chair I'll certainly defer to Ms. Edgley
because I know both she and Brett have been having
a number of conversations and I do recall
that back in December there was a request
for meetings and there was a large gap in time
by which we were given dates, as I understand,
but Ms. Edgley, please feel free
to add any more color and context.
Yes, we have, I have met and Bradley has met
with both SEIU and Local 21.
I think 21, we've had three meetings
and answered a number of questions,
I think around 26, 27 questions.
And with SEIU, we have met and we are going to meet with the staff.
SEIU requested that we meet with the staff and that meeting was put off, but we're going
to finish that and so we should be complete once we do that meeting with the enforcement
officers.
Okay and then just just wrapping up two questions are you aware of other cities
that house parking within finance? I did not I did not do a survey of other
cities in terms of the organization. And then and then finally how will we
measure the success of this? It's not just revenue there are other factors how
do how will we measure that if this change goes through? Absolutely I think
we need to so it's not just the revenue collection I think we need to actually
ensure we have good metrics consistently done on our time to collection, our
compliance with our internal cash handling policies. I would candidly my
perspective the even the subjective opinions candidly of our staff are
really important to me. I would I would hope that at the end of a transition
window we have gotten some good buy-in and some good thoughts and some
additional feedback from them that we're moving in the positive direction around
this and I think that's a continual assessment that every manager needs to
do. I would want to see improvement on our performance as it relates to our
garages. I would want to see us successfully delivering on the new
proposal that has come out regarding speed cameras and ensuring that we are
accurately moving through that ticket quantity and backlog. I would want to
ensure that we have any backlog of tickets that is currently existing
performed. I would want to ensure that our voided ticket process is both
audited collected and resolved because there's a backlog in that space so
there's a couple of these spaces where we have some technical backlogs on the
OPD side I would ensure that I'm sure that the chief would say he would want
to see the volume and number and speediness by which we have vehicles
moved off the street and moved and we want it would want to ensure and this is
really important that we maintain connection with DOT in these spaces. DOT
remains the policy arm in this space, which curbs should be painted blue or
red. Where should we have a residential parking program? We will need to
maintain an ongoing and clear line of communication with DOT to successfully
operate these programs both between OPD and within finance within DOT. So those
are all metrics of success that we will need to achieve as we move through this
transition. Yeah, I'm not sure how we measure the success of the bicycle and
pedestrian safety piece of this but I would encourage you to work with some of
our advocates to see if they have any good ideas. So those are my questions I
want to turn it over to councilmember Brown as co-author of this
informational request and then we can go from there. Excellent thank you so much
Chair Unger and also you know thank you to Administrator Johnson and
Director Bradley Johnson for just you know giving us the space to
have this public conversation especially given you know just outreach from you
know employees right wanting some more transparency in the process so I have a
couple questions I would love to actually start kind of where councilmember
Unger started around you know what is the problem we're hoping to solve and I
just want to pick up on something that you mentioned director Bradley around
the timeline for the collections,
you mentioned that very briefly.
I guess I'm curious around, you know,
what is currently occurring and what is the goal.
Right, so the optimal timeline,
and I don't have my collection people here on me,
but the key timeline that we would want to move
is we want to move through no more than three months
to trying to get to a final collection space
if at all possible.
That's kind of the magic window for collections.
For us, that means interacting with a parking patron
as soon as we possibly can,
moving through the appeals process quickly
as it relates to anyone that has filed a valid appeal,
moving to D in the intercept or other collection process,
or ideally moving to everyone to a payment plan.
We do offer payment plans within the city.
We have a number of circumstances
where we have had some customers, unfortunately,
subject to dual collection,
where they're receiving both a payment plan
and they've been sent for DMV intercept,
I want to ensure that that sort of thing is not occurring
because that's not good for our parking patrons to both,
and there's fees that accrue when that sort of thing happens.
Is that helpful, sorry?
Yes, definitely helpful.
I'm hearing that the goal is a three-month collection
and what's currently taking place now.
We're seeing things that are delayed
sometimes beyond six or seven months
in terms of the collection window.
One of the things that, one of our first steps
is to actually open up and ensure
that we have a really detailed look at the backlog
of where we set, we know that we're seeing a backlog
in the data that we're able to receive right now
as it's transferred over from finance,
just in terms of the dates of the collection.
Obviously, as we, the function would move into finance,
we do a lot more detailed analysis
around what needs to be looked at there.
I see, and I also know that there's some historical precedent
around, you know, this particular division
kind of moving, you know, at one point it was in finance
and then it went to OPD
and now it's in Department of Transportation.
I guess I'm just curious,
do you have an understanding of kind of in that first move?
Why?
Like, why did it move from being in finance
in that first time to then OPD and then to Oak Dot?
And then I guess maybe the follow-up question there is,
you know, so what were the learnings
so that now we're kind of circling back,
and it's back here with the goal of it being in finance.
Totally understood.
So to come back to that time span, that is 2012.
That was probably the largest set of reorganizations
we did in the city.
That's the point in time actually where we broke down
not just the redevelopment agency,
but some of you will remember we used
to have an agency called CETA, which was actually
the combination of your housing, planning, and economic
development departments.
Those actually were separated in that moment.
So there's a very, very large series of reorganizations
that happened across the city at that time.
Then city administrator Santana
wanted to see a different org structure
sort of broadly across the organization.
She felt at that point in time that,
and I think the specifics was,
that the enforcement operations,
I think this is where I think the driver was,
if I remember correctly,
the enforcement operations should be co-located with police
in terms of driving additional one revenue collection
and enforcement of public order.
That was her sort of perspective, I think, at the time.
I'm doing that off of memory, it's been a while.
At that point in time, the revenue,
the citation collection and meter collection functions
did stay within finance.
They were actually incorporated
into our revenue management bureau.
And again, the meter infrastructure elements
had gone over to Public Works,
which then ended up transferring over into DOT
when DOT was separated from Public Works.
In terms of lessons learned,
there is no such thing as a perfect organizational structure.
Like, that goes without saying.
Maintaining the connective tissue
between elements of the city is really, really important.
I want to make sure that at the city administration's
direction, you know, based on this reorganization,
that we maintain that connectivity,
that we have units that are specializing
and what those key functions are, in my mind.
DOT is very clearly the policy lead arm
on how parking policy should work
and they should be able to lean in
and focus on that function.
As Ms. Edgerly noted, I think we have
some particular advantages related to revenue collection
and customer service within finance.
And we've noted earlier that there's a lot
of this operation related to Bain and Otto's
already happening in OPD and synergy in that operation
should hopefully allow for greater efficacy
in more delivery of services.
I see, thank you.
And that kind of leads me to my next question
that was gonna be around just like policy decisions.
But it also reminded me that in our last budget cycle,
I know that the council made huge investments
in ensuring that we could bring on
more parking technicians, right?
And we know that as a result of that,
that of course would further increase revenue as well.
And so I guess I'm just curious
with even, well, if you know the status
of how that hiring is going, and then also,
how does that kind of encompass this switch over to finance,
and being able to manage an even larger staff?
Absolutely.
I want to thank DOT for doing a really, really aggressive job
of getting the list set up for a parking control technician.
That's probably the bulk of the FT in this group.
We do have a list.
We have every intent to hire everyone that's qualified
and eligible off that list to fill our vacancies.
DOT has also done a large work,
which I think is really important
to moving our parking control technicians
who want to from part-time status to full-time status.
That's been a long-term desire
of both our bargaining partners and SEIU,
and of this body to ensure that we have,
where people want to be full-pies employees of the city,
that they're able to do that.
So we have, DOT has made really good progress
over the last six months in doing that.
We do have a list.
We do, the intention would be, regardless of the entity,
to fill those vacancies.
They are revenue generating positions.
I will note there also is a list created
for parking control technician, too,
to help support the abandoned auto work.
There's some questions around that
that we're still having with our bargaining partners,
but DOT has been really, really important
in getting that classification established
and getting a list for it as well.
I think we'll want to double down
and ensure that we have good lists.
Also, for the public services reps
who serve in our citation assistance center,
we right now only have a three person
meter collection unit for the entire city.
That's another space that I think we'll want to look at
as we go into the budget process.
I'll be, as director of these entities,
make sure we have clear evaluation of any spaces
that are, of any needs that are happening here.
Again, this unit is largely revenue-delivering,
and with that as a lens, should augmentations be necessary?
They should be able to more than cost recover
if we find those needed in the future.
But again, we have really good statuses on hiring,
and DOT has done a really good job
of setting us up for success in this unit.
I see, and so ultimately, it's still a work in progress
to get those technicians hired.
I think we just did a hiring round, if I remember correctly for the parking control technicians.
There'll be another round that will be necessary when we move staff permanently into the abandoned auto roles.
They're currently sort of dually occupying for their prior spaces, parking control technicians and their new roles until we get permanent assignments.
The second those assignments happen permanently through internal promotion, we'll have a series of vacancies and we'll move really aggressively then to fill those as well.
There isn't a list which is the key thing
to being able to move.
Okay.
And let's see.
I just want to see which question I want to ask.
I guess I am really curious around
like the joint responsibilities
between the finance department and also OakDOT
and just really having an understanding
of how those would be managed.
I believe the report states parking meter,
parking fee collection technology,
expansion, installation, repair,
also included associated contracts,
apps, machines, contracts, and payment options
listed as joint responsibilities.
So key elements of those joint responsibilities,
if you think about a single space meter, right,
there is both a meter head that would remain
DOT's job in terms of servicing,
and there's actually a collection box.
And that actually sits within the meter collection unit.
And even when these were separated units,
we have to make sure that those are,
we're using the same technology,
aligned with it, you typically do those through master contracts, and so we would collaborate
in that process.
We use a number of apps to ensure that we have the ability for patrons to pay for parking
across a number of spaces.
We would want to maintain that sort of diversity of ability for people to pay for meter collections,
but also to drive the parking policy that DOT is responsible for.
So as we would look to onboard new apps, we would want to make sure that they are not
not only efficient and compliant with revenue collection practices,
which is really, really important that we have good audit logs, good trails.
We make sure that any vendor that's remitting resources to us is doing so in a financially responsible way.
But also has to meet obviously our parking policy goals across the organization and be properly audited.
And so those are spaces where we would need to collaborate.
Again, even in small spaces, DOT will still be responsible for submitting and
making sure we have properly established residential parking permit zones.
The citation center will issue those permits.
We obviously have to interface with one another to know is this a new zone, are we changing
the zone boundaries, who's sitting there doing the right permit to be issued.
So there's lots of communication that will continue to happen.
I see, and I think maybe the question that comes to mind, maybe it's twofold, you know,
do we have the internal infrastructure to manage that and or in the staffing?
And I know the staff reports only mentions the bringing,
the staff that you're gonna bring on,
which is ensuring that we have the infrastructure
to actually go about that joint responsibility.
I think we're not, DOT remains,
DOT is maintaining its engineer positions
that do a lot of this work and its policy people.
We in finance will have the current staff coming over.
I mentioned the one ad immediately
is the supervisor of that citation center
So I think can actually do a lot of work
to ensuring a lot of this collection activity happens.
We won't necessarily have a person in that role right away,
although I would move pretty quickly
to get some interim support and coverage over that unit.
As I mentioned earlier, these are the bare minimums,
in my mind, for taking over this function.
Again, I think the biggest one is the one-position ad
that I would recommend one way or another.
I reserve the ability to assess this whole function as it comes in and
make recommendations to this body through that budget process.
Should we find anything else that is necessary, I want to reserve that capacity as we see it.
I want to make sure that we're maximizing our ability to comply with our parking policy,
generate revenue, and be customer friendly.
And so if there is something, especially something
that I think is cost covered,
I will make sure we propose it to you
as we get through this process.
So this is what we've been able to sort of see
on the front end that we would need to do an immediate move.
If there's anything else that we discover in this process,
we'll wanna get to that as well.
Excellent, thank you.
All right, we have council member Wong next in the queue.
Thank you through the chair
and thank you for scheduling this item.
I think for me it's just really important that the city,
as the city we engage in data-driven decision-making
above all and I've heard some compelling reasons
as to why we might reorg
but I don't see it in the report.
And so I will be blunt,
I found the report to be inadequate
in terms of providing the rationale for doing the shift.
I would like to see in a supplemental that we can see the historic parking revenue generation,
including before and after the re-org that happened in 2012, I'd like to see a breakdown
of meters, how much was collected through meters, garage, tax, fines.
And then to Councilmember Unger's point, I've heard a lot from the business community.
I would actually, I know this is not necessarily
a direct causal relationship, but I've been interested
in seeing overlaying the sales tax revenue
alongside that to see if there's an inverse relationship
at all between parking revenue generation
as well as sales tax, and then there were some things
that were commented on, abandoned vehicles,
collections time, parking fines that were not collected.
I just, I wanna see the data that substantiates this
and see what were the collections time
before the reorg versus now,
what was the abandoned vehicles,
how many vehicles did we tow before the reorg versus now,
and that's just my main goal,
is I want the transparency of the data,
and I think that's important for a decision of this type.
Council Member Houston.
Good morning, Mr. Bradley.
Through the Chair, many of my questions
was asked from council member Unger and Wang.
I just wanna, for the record,
are we moving the towing over
to the police department from DOT?
Is that what we're doing?
Do this here, yes.
Yes, because let me share this with you.
From my personal experience last week,
I had worked directly with DOT to remove 38,
that I moved off of city property, 38 stolen vehicles,
two of them was in felonies.
And that happened for about a couple of days.
And I would not want the police to be out there
removing these cars and data, collecting the data
that you just asked about Councilmember Wayne.
I wouldn't want that to happen.
So I just wanted to hear if that's what we're trying to do.
I totally disagree with that part.
But I do want to hear from the public first
before I ask any more of my questions.
Councilmember Gallo.
Yes, thank you.
And thank you for the information.
It's about the delivery of service to the community,
not the collection of resources.
We've got to make that very clear.
Because I was here when we made some changes.
Not only did we deal with transportation,
but we also dealt with the crossing guards.
Why did we take the crossing guards from the police
department and gave them over to transportation?
Not only for the safety issue, for the delivery of service
with the schools, but at the same times,
the police department had gone and reduced the numbers,
what are we now today?
500, when I remember we started here,
we were at 850, 805.
And we don't have the capacity to be able to
be on the streets, like our parking assistance
through transportation.
The community has a lot of respect and they'll listen
and don't see it as an intimidation, right?
And the only time being in the hood all the time
doing delivery service and not sitting in City Hall talking about it. What helps me
out a lot, you talk about abandoned carts. I can call transportation and go there
immediately. The police, well I got to give a hundred reasons why I got to have a
police officer there. And so that work is done but then at the same time
we're at a new time where when we made the change and where we are today we
We didn't have the bicycle program with the new lanes, the new this, the new that.
And some of our business areas became AC transit related.
They became red zones, but the Department of Transportation were able to respond to
my calls to address those needs and were not challenging or intimidated because 90% of
the time the police said, well, they're too busy.
And the only time that an officer will respond to me that if a vehicle is blocking your driver,
that's the only time though comes, so, sir, you got to move your driver so the gentleman
can get out of his home.
But for me, I want to hear from the public, but we made some changes to make sure that
the public and the residents received the service level that was not intimidating, that
you know people were there on time that were respectful and that's why we are
where we are today with the Department of Transportation and Parking.
And I'll leave you with this last thought I still remember you weren't
here when I used to have the motorcycle officers with a number of good 16 they
went down to eight and now they're down to how many I never see them around but
But at the same time, when there's an issue of parking violation, parking on the sidewalk,
is the department of the vehicle right here.
They come out, respectfully, and say, sir, I'm sorry, but you cannot block the sidewalk,
and people move.
We don't have to have a confrontation or a challenge that if I send an officer, well,
it becomes a whole different discussion.
So anyways, I want to hear from the public, but I think we have to recognize why we made
these changes in the past thank you councilmember Houston yeah through the
chair I do want to make it clear that when those 38 vehicles that I removed
personally and had the OT to take them away the police department did come out
and they did work in unison with them to get the cars that were felony charges
like shooting homicide it was two of them on that lot so I do want to hear the
public. I've got one more question. You know, obviously I'm not an expert in
these processes, but it just strikes me as someone looking from a bit of a
remove that the structure whereby DOT does the actual boots on the groundwork,
finance does the collections and call center, OPD does the stolen vehicles, and
And DOT does the true abandoned 72-hour vehicles,
strikes me as sort of a natural division of labor.
Are you willing to consider other structures than the one
you've presented today?
I'm going to say the finance will do,
as is instructed by our city administrator,
I do want to defer to him and his wisdom in terms
of what would be done there.
If there is a request of, through him or through action
that is taken through at the policy level,
finance will make sure that we deliver
as best we can services in whatever structure.
But city administrator please.
Sure, through the chair and members of the body,
we're certainly open to exploring all options.
I think the analysis that was done initially
to get us to this point,
we looked at through a specific lens,
but certainly open to explore a multitude of options
that will make this, like you said,
a natural division of labor.
but in its current form I think there is an opportunity to explore something a little bit
more broader. Councilmember Gayle. Just one more example all right okay we have a young
lady that was hired to work here for the city of Oakland for the city council her car was stolen
broad daylight in front of the city hall she tried to call the police to come and get a report to get
They never came.
So she asked me five, six days later,
Mr. Guy who I've tried to get a report,
but I gotta get my insurance.
Somebody stole my car in front of City Hall.
So I made the call, didn't get a response.
Well, I had to put her in my, get her in my car,
drive down to headquarters
so I can get through the police chiefs
who get someone to give her a report.
To get her insurance,
cause the car was stolen, wound up in San Jose,
wound up in the parking lot and I had to get the towing truck
and get the mechanic to take it out of there and get his service
where the service from the city that should have been delivered
stolen right in front of City Hall
police never came and gave her a report of what happened for her to collect the
insurance
and that's an example what's going on throughout the city throughout my
neighborhood
we're not getting the the response and of the services that we did we're due
From the public safety issue. Thank you
Okay
Seeing no more blinking lights. Let's hear from our public speakers
Thank You chair younger I will call the speakers in two sets of 20
Please approach the podium in no particular order state your name for the record
You have one minute to speak if you are seating time you you will receive one minute of speaking time for each seating speaker
For the first set to 20 its missus sada
Brooke Levin, Noel Puno Doncic,
excuse me if I mispronounce your name.
Ms. Ruth Meza, Skirre Holtz,
Carlos Rosas, Derek Kilgore,
Ms. La Magana Lee, Tammy Bird,
Ben Kuez, Shayla Azimi,
Siobhan Hauser, Michael P. Ford, Dana A. Irving, Dante Hollowell, Andrew Jones.
Those are the first sets.
Once again, please line up in no particular order, state your name for the record.
You do have one minute if you're exceeding time.
You receive one minute per speaker up to five minutes,
and if you're participating via Zoom,
please raise your hand so you're easily identified,
and we are taking Zoom speakers after in-person speakers.
Thank you.
Micah?
Hello, my name is Brooke Levin,
26 year employee of the city of Oakland.
I retired as public works director.
I'm pretty familiar with the parking enforcement function
as when I first came to the city,
I believe it was in public works.
Why is this large reorganization
happening outside the budget process?
That's my major question.
Every reorganization I know of in the city of Oakland
has happened with the budget process
so you can dig in and get all those financial pieces lined up.
There's a lot of things and a lot of moving parks here.
I don't agree with this proposal,
but it should be done with the budget process
so you can actually see the dollars and cents on paper.
What are the real costs?
What is the existing vacancy savings in the parking
division under 1010?
And what is the existing vacancy savings
in the multipurpose fund, which is 1750?
That was not in the report.
It said that some of this cost would be covered by that,
but I think that should be defined,
and it would be if it was in the budget cycle.
The abandoned autos.
I was on the re-imagining public safety task force.
Thank you for your comment.
Hi, everybody.
I'll try to go fast.
Savlon Houser, I'm the chair of the Oakland Bid Alliance.
Please state your name for the record through the chair.
Oh, probably Savlon Houser,
chair of the Oakland Bid Alliance,
representing 11 districts,
reinvesting over $13 million
and offering daily stewardship
of our commercial corridors in partnership with the city.
I really appreciate the city administrator
and our elected willingness to discuss this publicly
given its gravity.
Parking and enforcement is an integral part
of transportation and mobility in Oakland.
It is also critical to the success
of our commercial districts,
our effective response to encampments
as well as safety access and mobility for all.
Feedback is severed if functions are disbanded
and is out of alignment with other cities.
Finance also does not oversee building permits, by the way,
even though there are revenues collected.
These key objectives are a mandate of our DOT.
They have done a stellar job.
It is huge progress in responsiveness and public trust,
as a council member was mentioning from previous operations.
Revenue collected should not be the only metric of a successful parking system, but the DOT has reached record revenue levels.
This is a bright spot in Oakland government.
Oakland's commercial districts are the cultural, social, and economic lifeblood of our city.
Any restructuring of parking management should strengthen rather than…
Thank you for your comment.
Good morning, Michael Ford, and I'm requesting that three other public comment cede their
time to me.
It's Derek Kilgore, LeMigianne Lee, and Doug Mount.
Other President Chambers are online.
Please state your name for…
Thank you.
You will have up to three minutes.
Thank you.
Four, yes.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Okay.
Thank you very much.
I'm going to go off script here.
I actually prepared a four-minute talk, but I'm going to go off script in order to address
some of the great questions and the information that we received from the administration and
Director Johnson in particular.
One of the things that really struck me when I was listening to Director Johnson, who I
have a great deal of admiration for, and I think the city's very lucky to have him in
role he's in right now, is he said that there's no such thing as a perfect organization.
I would beg to disagree.
I think that what this administration is proposing to dismantle is the closest thing that this
city has to a perfect organization.
Moreover, I want to pick up on what Brooke Levin started to say before she was cut off.
department and this division in particular are the product of 10 years
of public processes and council authorized decisions that build this.
Second, as far as the capacities that Director Johnson can bring to bear in
terms of finances ability to improve cash handling, increase the the
the turnover time of collections, all of these things should be happening now.
They should have been happening the last ten years that I've been responsible for
overseeing parking enforcement.
We are here ready and willing to work with you.
We don't need to be re-orred.
Third, the fact that the administration is attempting to
solve problems by adding two management positions.
And when every problem they've identified, apart from those that finance can help with,
are actually due to severe staffing shortages on frontline employees.
So if we are not answering the phone, if we are not turning around administrative reviews,
it's because we're at historically low staffing for our public service representatives.
Third, abandon auto.
Thank you so much for talking about abandon auto.
VOT recovers stolen vehicles.
We help our city recover stolen vehicles quickly.
We have a clear division of labor, as Councilmember Houston explained.
We took 36 stolen vehicles and OPD came in to take the two that had felony warrants associated
with them.
That's what we've been doing for four years.
Okay, and now I want to get to my actual original points, okay?
there's there's two and I'll talk about them briefly first of all the this the
city's plan is to delete my position my parking I'm sorry my project manager to
position it is a protected position as your parking manager I have spent the
last ten years talking to people in power and telling them no I can't do
anything about your citation. I cannot give you special privileges when it
comes to monthly parking. I'm able to do that with the confidence that nobody can
take me out and that I can consistently uphold the law and and city policies. If
you put a parking administrator at a bureau level they will be at will and
the next time they will be tested they're gonna have to make a decision is
Is my career more important or is the interest of the city more important?
Finally, I only have 10 seconds left, but I want you to look very carefully at the supplemental,
the unofficial supplemental report that Local 21 and staff has prepared.
It tells the story about the revenues.
Look at the revenues as they were presented last.
Thank you for your comment.
Good afternoon, Chair Enger and City Council, City Administrator Shala Azimi with the Department
of Transportation.
I wanted to just mention over the past several years
that I've been with the department,
with the parking and mobility division in Oak Dot,
it has undergone a remarkable transformation.
Since the vision moving to the Department of Transportation,
we have been seeing stability, improved performance,
accountability, and extremely engaged team.
The proposed move back to finance
does not address a performance problem,
because there is no performance problem to fix.
Instead, it risks disrupting a high-functioning team,
undermining morale, and reversing hard-earned progress.
Re-organization always carries consequences,
and in this case, those consequences are clear and avoidable.
We truly recognize and support finance's critical role
in fiscal oversight.
However, oversight does not require.
Thank you for your comment.
Hello council members.
My name is Ruth Mazen.
I'm a proud IFPTE Local 21 member
and a resident of District 2.
I've been with the city for six years
and serve as a transportation planner
in the major projects division in Oak Dop.
Thank you council member Unger and Brown
for requesting an informational report
for the parking reorg.
I'm here to request a pause
for the parking division reorg for several reasons.
Parking plays an essential role
for Oakland's transportation system.
It falls under traffic safety and helps provide safe access
and mobility for everyone,
as everyone has already mentioned.
It's a tool for supporting local businesses,
which in turn supports our local economy.
The revenue we get from parking enforcement
is a useful byproduct,
but managing our curb holistically is an essential part
of how we create vibrant, accessible, and safe streets.
There's no evidence that realigning parking
under finance department will increase revenue,
but there is evidence parking revenue has grown
and consistency and consistency of parking enforcement has improved under
Oak Dot leadership. There needs to be more information on the cost and
transition and analysis on how this move would affect staffing, project
delivery. Thank you for your comment. Hello council members my name is Keith
Sherholton. I'm a proud IFPTE Local 21 member. I've been with the city for 26
years in service of public service rep Brie. Thank You council members Unger and
Brown for requesting an informational report on the parking reorganization
of the organization proposal, I'm here to request a pause.
In this reorganization, parking plays an essential role
in Oakland's transportation system.
It's about traffic safety, accessibility,
supporting local business, not just revenue collection.
Moving parking from Oak Dot to finance
disregards our hard work building public trust
and reduces our employees to fee collectors.
The numbers prove parking has thrived under Oak Dot.
Citation revenue is up 50%.
meter revenue is up 30 percent and assistant center revenue is up 37 percent there's no
evidence that this move will increase revenue but there is clear there are unclear impacts on
staffing service delivery and costs i urge council members to examine why this enormous change is
being proposed thank you for your comment good afternoon council carlos rosas i c'd my time to
Thank you to all of you.
My name is Dana Irving and I also concede my time to Kirby
Olson.
Good morning council members for the record, Kirby Olson.
What do we do across three minutes?
You may begin.
For the record, Kirby Olson speaking as a concerned Oakland
resident and local 21 union member.
Thank you to council members Brown and Unger for bringing
this item to the committee.
The administration's report says they want to reorganize the
parking division in order to align parking with revenue and
collections.
contradicts the council's own direction when you created Oak Dot in 2016.
That direction was to align parking with transportation, where there is a much stronger nexus and
where every other major city in America places their parking divisions.
The administration also wrote in their report that there are high rates of delinquent citations and
some unnamed customer service issues that justify the reorg, yet they offered no data or evidence to back this up.
In fact, they provided no data or evidence at all.
They're basically saying, trust me bro, the most misleading part of the report is about staff costs.
They want you to believe that the staff costs of this reorg include only the marginal cost between the current manager, Michael Ford, and the new manager they're going to hire.
But Michael, who you ironically just honored for his parking innovator of the year award,
still works for Oak Dot and will continue to do so after the reorg.
Therefore, the full cost of the new manager to replace Michael must be included in any staff cost calculation,
bringing the total new management costs to about $750,000 per year.
The administration conveniently didn't mention at all in their report the two staff who would need to be moved out of DOT overhead and
project funding and into the general fund at a cost of an additional $660,000 per year.
When you add this cost to the two other net new management positions, you're looking at a general fund hit of 1.42 million per year in additional staff costs.
I'm sure you have better ideas for what to do with 1.42 million per year than Game of Thrones style hostile takeovers between departments.
So now the question becomes if you agree with all of us speaking here today with the 83 parking division staff who signed the petition opposing this.
With your business improvement districts, with your bicyclists and pedestrian advisory commission, and with your transportation advocates that this is a bad idea, what can you do?
We ask you three things.
Number one, forward this informational item onto the full council on non-consent.
So all council members can have a chance to make their opinions heard.
Number two, use your power of the purse and publicly state that you will refuse to fund these unnecessary positions and budget transfers.
And number three, if necessary, reassert your charter authority under section 600 to provide the form of organization through which the functions of the city are to be administered.
Under the charter, the council, not the city administrator, provides the form of organization.
And you can pass an ordinance to define parking as an integral division within the Department of Transportation.
We don't need to go back to the way things were in 2008.
We don't need to go back to the days of cronyism and nepotism.
We need to stop this reorganization now.
And to the public speakers, in order to see time,
every member of the public must fill out a speaker's card.
Thank you.
Please proceed.
My name is Dante Hollowell, I'm the SEIU 10 to 1 shop steward,
I'm also a parking control technician. I would actually like the opportunity to speak as both. I have 50 seconds
SCIU is currently still in the bargaining
The impact bargaining stage with the city. Yes, but I would also like to state that moving parking enforcement under finance
Raises the risk of increased pressure to generate revenue instead of prioritizing parking compliance fairness and safe interactions with the public
A lot of people don't know that we are literally under physical attack
due to the strain that this department is perceived to produce money and punish citizens and
Doing this like a councilmember Gallo stated could be seen as intimidation or
Antagonization to the citizens and could put our members in real danger
Yeah, and I would also yeah
My name is Benica. It's cross. I've been with the city for eight years
I'm a member of the
Parking Mobility Assistance Center. I just want to express my concerns about this reorganization. I don't understand
The point of it we work really hard to to get the work done
I want to acknowledge my co-workers who definitely are are doing everything they can every day to
Accomplished and move mountains. Um, it's really been the past five years have have what we've been able to accomplish
In the midst of the pandemic with very little resources
I'm just very amazed and and impressed with what what we've been able to do
And so what we really need is additional resources when I first joined this team. There was 10 10 people on the staff
We're now five people
A year ago we had four people and so of course if there are concerns with processing
We need more people, we can't do everything.
Thank you for your comment.
Traffic violence, rapid response.
We stand with IFPTE and their report to council,
analyzing the poor reasoning, higher costs,
lower efficiency, and dubious legality of this proposed move,
which ignores the recommendations of
the Reimagining Public Safety Task Force.
This is all from an annuitant employee who was fired as
city administrator by Mayor Ron Dellums in
2008 for mismanagement and we underscore Council's power through ordinance and
resolution as well as through the budget power to organize the departments of the
city as it sees fit and can grant or revoke permission to the CAO to make
these changes independently. Given the demonstrably poor decision-making of the
CAO here, council has the power and the responsibility to step in and correct
this error of government and potential malfeasance. Parking is transportation
And the enforcement is in an intrinsic part of any policy and the two must be kept together for their immune for their mutual
Coordination. Thank you
Kevin Daly transport Oakland, I repeat parking enforcement is
Policy but mostly I'll talk about process here January 2016. The council created oat dot
Thank you councilmember guy. Oh who supported it and at that time
they decided the right time to move parking enforcement was at the end of the budget process.
It was delayed for a few months so they could make sure everything was in line.
After that, 2017, there was a report from the auditor that encouraged the change of
of combining the, combining enforcement along with policy,
there were some problems the way it was in the police,
the public safety task force,
but let's jump ahead, January this year,
the BPAC Policy and Legislative Committee,
city administrator refused to provide staff.
I'm looking forward to seeing you talking to you
in April at our next meeting, thanks.
Calling in our next set of speakers.
Once again, if you hear a name and
you're participating via Zoom,
please keep your hand raised.
So you're easily identified.
Mr. Al Marshall, Mr. Newman,
I see us Newman, Robert Pritz,
Brian Culbertson, Craig Rafael,
Charlotte Niles, Artesia Rose,
Ben Matlow, Colin Pice,
Michael Ford and Shante Denham, Lakeisha Montavolo, Monique Ussery, in no
particular order you may line up at the podium and you do have one minute thank
you. Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen of council my name is Al Marshall just
retired last year in July after 37 years I've been through at least five or six
reorgs. I want you guys to everybody's talking about everything else but this
one very important thing I actually that you guys focus on is the women and men
in, that's in parking enforcement.
Please ensure that they have a feeder class system
from PC-1s to PC-2s so that they can elevate
and continue to bring in greater incomes for their family.
Please don't miss that boat,
because you guys are focused on everything else,
but it's imperative that even if they go to OPD,
that they still be allowed to be the feeder class
to go over there so that they can continue improving
their salaries and conditions for their families.
Thank you for your time.
Good afternoon, Council President and members of the Council.
My name is Acacia Newman, and I am a 27-year Oakland employee
with the parking enforcement.
I've been through re-orgs.
This makes no sense.
We are directly affected by the proposal,
and I respectfully urge you to reject moving parking
enforcement under budget and finance.
Parking enforcement is a field-based operational service
focused on safety, accessibility, and community mobility,
not a revenue function.
An organizational placement signals policy priorities,
moving enforcement into a finance structure
risk enforcing the perception that our work is
revenue-driven, which undermines public trust and conflicts
with Oakland's equity goals.
Operationally, it removes us from aligned field functions
and may weaken coordination and responsiveness.
It also appears to add two new supervising positions
at substantial salary levels during serious budget constraints,
increasing costs without clear operational benefit.
Please align.
I'm sorry.
Thank you for your comment.
Good morning, council members.
My name is Artisha Rose, and I have
been a proud member of parking enforcement
for the last 29 years of my life.
And I have also been, out of the 29,
I've been a supervisor for three.
So, yes, I have been boots on the ground, and I have been able to make sure that the new class,
which I have eight people now, they are also being trained to be boots on the ground to bring in the money.
Again, before you guys decide to make that move, let's,
before we start thinking it's going to bring in money, you need to know that it's going to bring the money in.
And just because you move from one department to another, that does not mean you're going to bring in extra money.
You have to have the boots on the ground, you have to have the information.
So please, before you decide to make that move, look at everything.
There should not be anything that you guys are not aware of, and
we're hearing that you are not aware of certain things.
So again, before you move, take a look.
Thank you.
Hi, good morning, my name is Craig Raphael, I'm speaking as the project manager of the automated speed camera program and as a representative employee of Local 21.
As part of this reorganization, the finance department will assume responsibility of speed camera citation, administration, and management of associated staff.
I'm concerned that this transfer could undermine our ability to deliver the speed camera program from a management and customer service perspective.
Right now, there are several related programs currently run by Oak Dot, parking citations,
residential parking, automated speed enforcement, and a potential future red light camera program.
And there's customer service and project management benefits from these functions being contained within one department.
When you remove some functions and place them in another department, you risk putting programs in jeopardy.
There's also potential misalignment between finance and transportation,
since revenues from speed camera citations must go into a dedicated fund for traffic calming and not the city's general fund.
And so I urge you to consider the impacts of this change as it relates to the speed camera program.
It took years of lobbying from this body to get the program off the ground, and we really want it to succeed.
Thank you.
Hello, Council members.
My name is Collin Pithi.
I am a proud Local 21 member and Oak Dot employee, co-chair of the Race and Equity team with Ruth Mesa.
I want to ask what so many folks have been saying here, what are we doing?
We don't have a data-driven rationale for this proposal.
We're not considering the employees.
Under Oak Dots leadership, we saw a great share
of those employees go from part-time to full-time,
receiving much needed benefits and improved salaries.
There's no guarantee that the finance department
could deliver these improvements to our staff.
And I also wanna remind you, to my knowledge,
I don't think there's any other city
that does this within finance.
It makes sense for Oak Dots to do this
for the multiple reasons that people have already mentioned.
I really urge you to oppose this proposal
and keep parking enforcement within Oak Dot.
Thank you for your time.
Hello, Council, I'd like to,
my name's Mel Pondantik and I'd like to cede my time
to Ms. Charlotte Niles.
Hello, City Council, thank you for your time,
Unger and Brown for bringing this up.
Firstly, I'm asking you to please pause this
until we have the data.
Also to use your purse string
in order to not fund those positions.
And also to see who is in charge of making these decisions.
It seems to, we keep referring back to Edgerly
and I don't know if we've went asking questions
and I don't know if that budget has been even put down
how much that's gonna also cost the city.
Under transportation, we've become 24 hour service.
We engage with the community.
We also have a way of going from parking control technicians
one to parking control technicians two.
And a lot of these things were done within the last eight
years.
Finances, they had us for 23 years,
and none of the things that I've given you and sent to you
have been done under that department.
When a person comes to you, if there's
a house that has a window that maybe needs to be fixed
or has a little bit of hole in their roof.
And an architect comes and says, hey,
I can fix that for you.
And they don't give you any blueprints.
They say they have this person that's going to fix it.
And they keep telling you, it's going to work out.
The house will be OK.
Sometimes that might seem like a gift.
But oftentimes, in my experience,
it winds up being a grift.
So be careful.
Watch our purse.
it's your responsibility to make wise decisions
when it comes to moving departments around.
They're undermining your ability that you have already
voted these things in.
And now they want to go back to even bringing back
boroughs and divisions.
That's what the power you had before.
And now that was taken away, and now the administrator
can make a unilateral.
Please, please look into this before you make any decisions.
Thank you.
Good afternoon, Councils Monique Usery.
I'm gonna give my time to Sharnelle Smith.
Lakeisha Montalvo, I'm also gonna give my time
to Sharnelle Smith, but I would like to say one thing.
We are trying, you're trying to make the VU go to OPD.
When OPD already sent one of their PCTs to our division,
so how are they gonna take 15 more to know?
Unfortunately, you ceded your time, thank you.
And please state your name for the record.
I believe I will, to be called in the next group, but these two see that they're timed
to me, so I wanted to be present.
Ms. Smith, you filled out a card?
Yes.
The speaker requests?
Yes.
Okay.
You do proceed with your three minutes.
Thank you.
My name is Chanel Smith.
I'm a resident of the city of Oakland.
I'm an SEIU member.
I've worked with the city for over 35 years in parking enforcement, and you guys say,
we're just gonna reorg that doesn't make a difference it makes a difference it
doesn't make a difference on paper but let me tell you we've been to OPD and
we were just a kid in a closet they really never paid attention to us true
enough we were under finance but again they really never paid attention to us
all we were the people to go out and write tickets and come back but under
the last eight years we've been housed under DOT where they paid attention to
that's what's important to us.
They've improved our work abilities.
They've brightened what we do for the city.
We've created a whole new department
where we're now a theater group for the PCTs
where we have somewhere to go.
We have momentum.
We have somewhere to hope for a different position.
So we have growth as a unit in DOT.
We've had movement.
We're better able to serve the citizens.
And now we don't even know if
our department is doing yet that
we don't tow stolen cars my
co worker who just seated her
time to make quiche Montalpo.
For the first time in over thirty
years someone in our department
was recognized as employee of
the year because she told over
five hundred stolen cars out of
the city of Oakland.
For the first time in over thirty
years our department head was
recognized for the innovation
have our vehicles read the license plates where we're now able to get clock tickets
on the screen and see that that new camera thing that I haven't even done. There's our
improvement better ways of the way we serve the community and boots on the ground that's
parking enforcement we were boots on the ground after that earthquake when we were monitored
the city and eighty nine to see what were the damages that needed for attention right
way because our resources were widely spread. We monitored the grounds when
that freeway fell on Peralta and we needed to go around and see what was
safety and how that affected the neighborhood. We monitored the grounds
when the fire in the hills happened. We monitored the grounds when the riots
were happening in the protests. We were always boots on the streets. We are here
to serve the community. Our department has always been consistent and what we
do for the city regardless of where we're at but never have you put this
much into the employees of that department never have the city paid
attention to the growth of me as an employee in the city of Oakland and now
in DOT this is something we have we're not only serving the community but you're
serving your employees and this is something that has touched the morale of
our department that we haven't had in over 20 years so they say a happy life
I'm a happy wife. I'm a happy and rich city. Thank you for your comment miss Smith. Moving to our zoom speakers, Brian Colbert son, please unmute yourself and begin your one minute comment.
Hi, my name is Brian Colbert son, I am with traffic violence rapid response, and I'm here to comment against this change you should put a pause.
I'm going to tell you about why this matters from a public safety and traffic safety perspective.
The purpose of parking policy and enforcement should not be just a myopic revenue stream, but it is a useful tool for supporting our local businesses, and for ensuring traffic safety on our streets.
Since parking in the band and autos and Band and autos had moved to Oak dot Oakland has been more accessible, productive and livable for the past eight years you've heard from the workers, you've heard from the businesses, you heard from everyone that the program has been way more successful
in its current incantation than what it was prior to that.
Please put a pause to this change as, and keep the current program. Thank you.
Thank you for your comment moving to our next zoom speaker.
East Bay bike East Bay, please state the name where you filled out your card under.
This is Robert Prince advocacy director with bike East Bay.
Thank you so much, please proceed with your one minute comment.
Thank you, bike East Bay was also part of the reimagining public safety task force in
2020 2021.
The outcomes included recommendations for moving some responsibilities out of OPD which
don't require a badge and a gun, allowing the police to focus more fully on violent
crime response.
One of these actions included moving abandoned vehicle response from OPD to Oak Dot.
The result was faster response times at lower costs.
So this was a big success.
But the main issue was that after that first year, funding for Oak Dot to operate this
program wasn't continued.
The currently proposed reorganization takes us backwards.
What we need is to find more opportunities to move responsibilities out of OPD and make
sure that sustainable funding is also committed with these moves.
And I just want to note personally,
while I was waiting for public comment today,
I got an email from an OakDot staffer
promised to expedite removal of a abandoned car
that's just a few blocks away from City Hall right now
and 14th Street blocking the protected bikeway.
That's the type of customer service
that people have come to expect from OakDot on these issues
in which we want to see continue.
Thank you.
Thank you for your comment.
Chair Auger, that proceeds
with all your public speakers.
Okay, anything else from council?
All right, I would like to make a motion
that we forward this to the full council on non-consent.
Council Member Wong, did you want something more on this?
Okay, did you want your supplemental?
Did you ask for a supplemental?
Okay, so what is the timing for that, through the,
to the city staff?
And I'm not sure that I can get the list of Councilmember Wong's supplemental questions.
You had a number of data, different questions, and I would also request that you do e-mail
us those so we have them in writing too.
I tried to write them down as you were talking.
I don't think we could have that published to make the packet for Thursday supplemental,
which would trigger your next council meeting.
I just think that that's probably not doable, so it would probably be the subsequent one.
So where does that leave us?
Two council meetings from now?
I don't know the date off the top of my head.
March 3rd with the supplement. Are you okay with that? All right. Let's do March 3rd non consent with the supplemental
Oh, can you state the supplemental on the record?
the supplemental information I'd like to see includes parking revenue and
specifically I'd like to see it inclusive of prior to the reorg just think the
The historic parking revenue generation that dates back to prior to 2012
I'd like to see it broken out by meters garage as well as the parking tax and any in the fines
I'd also like to see along the same timeline the sales tax
Collected during that same period I'd also like to see the abandoned vehicles that were towed
Any data that we have related to collections timing since that is part of the rationale for the move
as well as parking fines that were not
Collected
Okay councilmember Brown
And and I guess through the chair to the administration is more than okay to submit the questions via email, right?
Okay, excellent. I'll do that
Councilmember Houston, did you have something?
Excuse me through the chair. I just wanted to see the supplementals. I wanted to hear about I want to see him
I wanna see him in writing.
That was all I was gonna say.
Okay.
So we have a motion and a second, am I right?
Council Member Wong, did you second it?
Thank you, we have motion made by Chair Unger,
seconded by Council Member Wong
to receive and forward this item to the March 3rd
City Council Agenda and through the body,
is that for consent or non-consent?
Non-consent, please.
Thank you.
City Council on non-consent with a supplemental
the motion is seconded by the.
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resolution to increase the change order limit for the contract with McGuire and Hester for project
1006337 citywide pavement
rehabilitation from 25 percent to 27.5 percent of the original contract for their total contract amount not to exceed
19 million two hundred and thirty seven two hundred and thirty two thousand four to eighteen seventy five cents and
Waving the competitive process with the extent necessary and you do have one speaker for this item
All right, I guess the crowds don't want to hear about the change order. That's right. Let's let's hear from staff here
Yes, mr. Chair Josh Rowan DOT director
This is really just a housekeeping item
There were there were a number of items that we experienced on this contract that were unforeseen
That we had to address at the moment we discovered them and as such we needed we didn't need an additional about
$300,000 to close this contract out
Got it questions from my colleagues councilmember Houston
Yes through the chair is this this is for change orders, correct?
Through the chair. Yes, sir. Okay, so when it comes to
SLB ease when they do this these change orders, how are they?
Helping in building because this is for McGuire and Hester, right?
How are they I'm building the SLB ease with these change orders because if they have a certain amount of money that they
Appropriate it for their estimate and now you got this millions of dollars of change orders
I need to hold every contract. I don't care who it is across the board
How are they are they helping with the SLB ease with this change order piece? That's what I want to know
Through through the chair so that the participation levels don't change with a change order
This specific item is actually we we exceeded the change order amount due to unforeseen conditions
So I don't know which SLB ease would have been helping with things like high ground water table and
Excess rails that we encountered on this project
so through the chair
how can we
Talk to them not force them but suggest that that this is a certain this is extra money, right?
How can we suggest to them to say, you know embrace small local businesses to come up with that skill set to?
Work it within those scopes of work not forcing them just say how can they make it more money build some skill sets
How could we do that through the chair through the chair of the council member? I'm I'm not prepared to say they haven't
I just don't know their numbers on this this contract. It was a it was a big paving job
Oftentimes we struggle with the paving because of the cost of the mix is so high
But we could we could easily give you a breakdown of the the total contract
But but I think we're we're agreeing with each other that we want to be promoting the program even when we experience change orders
Okay. Thank you
Councilmember Gallo
Okay, there you go. Thank you for the information and certainly I know
has to for many many years and certainly he has included local vendors from the
paving to other work they've done and so with that I appreciate their work
they're doing the inclusion of the neighborhood and I'll make a motion to
approve the item thank you councilmember Houston and I'll second that also but I
want to just say I see my youngsters out there in the future of Oakland out there
they came to visit us to City Hall and I just want to recognize you guys out
There counsel member Wong. Oh
I do have some questions
It's noted that their performance of McGuire and Hester was
Evaluated as satisfactory. How are we measuring?
These contractors and their performance. I think my concern is just of all
The departments this is the committee where I wind up voting on like consistently multi-million dollar contracts
I don't always see like measurements associated with the added money that's being asked for.
This one I do, but I just want to make sure that we're not just, you know, we're just
giving more money to contractors and we're not as part of the original contract that
they were held to specific accountability metrics to deliver on.
through the chair typically we're looking at fairly basic performance
measurements are they are they meeting their schedule are they maintaining a
safe work site traffic controls a big thing I would add that again these are
items that were unforeseen and so it's actually a benefit to the city to have
an experienced contractor they jumped in and address these issues that that
that needed to be dealt with immediately.
And so we do have evaluation forms that we do on them,
but McGuire and Hester typically is acceptable.
We seldom have problems with them.
The only times we do maybe are when they're busy
in other places, not in Oakland,
and it might, schedules might slide a little bit,
but they've been a good contractor for the city
for quite some time.
Okay, thank you.
Moving to our public speaker, Mrs. Sada.
And that concludes your public speakers for this item.
We have a motion made by Councilmember Gail,
seconded by Councilmember Houston,
to approve the recommendations of staff
and afford this to the February 17th City Council agenda,
and would that be on consent or non-consent?
Thank you.
On roll, Councilmember Gail.
Aye. Councilmember Houston.
Aye. Councilmember Wong.
Aye. And Chair Unger.
Aye. This motion passes with four ayes
to approve the recommendations of staff
and afford this item to the February 17th,
2026 City Council Agenda and that is on consent.
Moving to item four.
Adopt a resolution awarding a grant of Measure DD bond funds
in an amount not to exceed $843,875 to the Sagara T land trust
and the purpose of the crime of property
for the conservation and restoration
of the proportions of the Sal Soul Creek
and CEQA Act findings.
and you do have five speakers for this item.
All right, let's hear from our staff first, please.
Good afternoon.
My name is Mike Perlmutter.
I work for the Watershed and Stormwater Management Division
of Oakland Public Works.
And we brought this item.
We're recommending that council make this award
of $843,000, $875 to the Saguerite Land Trust
to acquire and permanently protect
Approximately 16 acres of undeveloped, forested,
beautiful, creekside canyon at Two Blatchford Court.
This property is near Joaquin Miller Park
in the Piedmont Pines neighborhood.
It's at the headwaters to Cobbledick Creek,
which is a tributary to Sausal Creek
and which runs through the parcel.
The funds we're talking about are designated specifically
for the acquisition of watershed protection easements
on Oakland's ecologically valuable lands and waterways.
Oakland already has spent more than $2.2 million
of funds in this category to acquire other properties,
such as Butters Canyon, Beaconsfield Canyon,
Properties in Diamond Canyon, Diamond Park,
Glenoco Park, and also near the Dunsmere House.
We did a very thorough analysis to find the best use
of these Measure DD acquisition funds.
We analyzed every property in Oakland
for its natural resource conservation potential.
We focused on undeveloped properties,
which typically have higher natural resource potential
and lower purchase price.
We considered presence of creeks, wetlands,
rare plants and animal habitat,
potential to expand existing protected lands
and regional conservation targets.
We also reviewed historical prioritizations,
reviewed the county assessor tax defaulted property
auction list, and consulted with partners
such as Friends of Sausal Creek, Butters Canyon,
Land Trust, and the East Bay Regional Park District.
From our priority properties,
we needed to find a willing seller,
someone who is willing to sell the property to the city
at no more than the fair market value
and at no more than the funds that we have available.
We found a match with the property owner
at Two Blatchford Court, the APN 48D-7268-1-12.
The landowners love the canyon
and they have owned it and stewarded it for many years.
They wanna see its natural beauty
and function preserved in perpetuity
and have been coordinating with us permanently
to permanently protect the canyon.
The owners did a comparative market analysis
to assess how much the land was worth.
They did that in August, 2024,
and it was estimated to be worth 1.295 million dollars.
The landowners value the protection of the land
and are willing to sell undermarket to us
for the $800,000 that we have available.
Our next match that we made was with the Sigurite Land Trust,
which is a local indigenous-led nonprofit
that facilitates the return of indigenous land
to indigenous people.
It includes members of the confederated villages of Lishan,
the Chochenyo-speaking Lishan Ohlone people
have lived in this land in Huqian,
or what is now known as the East Bay for thousands of years
and continue to live here today.
In January, 2023, the city returned stewardship
over to a spot in Joaquin Miller Park,
known as Rinemu Pulti Irechnu.
I'm not saying it right,
but it's formerly known as Sequoia Point.
That was through another city council ordinance.
Funding the land trust purchase of the property
offers both short and long-term efficiencies to the city.
In the short term, the land trust
is going to assume the administrative logistics
of the sale, such as negotiations
with the property owners, conducting site investigations
and other due diligence, and they'll
coordinate close of escrow.
In the long term, the land trust will own and maintain
and steward the land in perpetuity,
managing it for fire fuel maintenance,
managing against encroachments, and managing it
for natural resource value and habitat restoration.
The long term maintenance of the land
would be especially challenging for this city
to do on its own, because it eliminated its open space
maintenance program in 2008.
At the closing of the sale, a restriction
would be recorded against the title
to ensure that the property can only
be used for watershed conservation restoration.
The restriction would ensure the city
has the right to monitor the property
and enforce the restriction, which
It could include the right for the city to transfer the property to another qualified non-profit,
or take title to the property in cases of unresolved violations.
This would ensure consistency with Measure DD.
This plan aligns with the intent of Measure DD acquisition funds.
Also aligns with the open space conservation and recreation element of Oakland's 1996 general plan,
the Creek Protection Ordinance, Bay Area Regional Conservation Initiatives, and
practices and principles to conserve and protect nature for wildlife and
watershed health. The plan also aligns with Oakland's race and equity goals by
conveying land ownership back to indigenous Jochenyo speaking Lishjana
Loney which have lived on this land for thousands of years. Sir, are you close
to being able to wrap up? We hope you approve the plan. That's it. I got you
right at the right time. Thank you. Questions from my colleagues. Council member
Yeah, so thank you and I certainly know the so what a land trust land trust from the very beginning and
When you make reference to walk-in Miller parks also Creek and the other creeks along the area
Know them extremely well and thank you for bringing this forward and I'd be honored
I'm honored to make a motion to support the item. Thank you. Thank you
I'm sorry. Was there an amendment? Did you say?
Okay councilmember Houston
So I understand that there's a clerical error on the first whereas clause just like a typo
that needs to be addressed.
Would you mind providing some clarity and then the body can vote as amended?
Yes.
Thank you.
There is a typo in the first whereas clause.
The amount that's referenced for measure DD should be corrected to $198 million, $250,000.
50,000 it says 192 so it's just a historical correction so then the body
would then vote as presented I will make a motion to make that amendment
we have a second second all right let's take that over calling in our public
speakers miss Asada oh do we need to vote on the amendment first no okay all
right then let's let's hear from our our council members then council member
Well, thank you through the chair. I just wanted to commend you on this effort
I think this is a really exciting and beautiful project
I used to work on Native American issues at the EPA and I think this is such an important
process to
Re-matriate the land back to our indigenous communities. So that's it
Council member Houston through the chair long time Michael. How you doing? Got that new look. I like it. I like it
This is in District Four, right?
And environmental justice looks a little bit different
in my district in District Seven.
Just looks a little different.
And I wanted to know, you know,
we got creeks in District Seven, too,
so I'd like to see if we can do some of the same things
in my district that's been underserved for so, so many years.
And you know about the San Leandro Creek,
you know about all that.
So I just wanted to say,
think about my district that's been underserved
for so many years, my children and my people,
just like all these junctions out here.
I wanna say it again.
Some of you guys weren't out in here.
I wanna thank you for coming
because you are the future, all right?
So thank you.
For sure.
Okay, anything else from council?
Let's go to our public speakers then, please.
Thank you so much.
Mrs. Sada, Francis Randstead, Brady Moss,
Ariel Lucky, Nikki Alexander, and Ben Metlaw.
If you heard your name, please approach the podium
in no particular order.
You do have one minute.
If you're participating via Zoom, please raise your hand
so you're easily identified.
Thank you.
Good afternoon, Council members.
My name is Frances Randsted,
and I'm the Land Back Coordinator for Sagorte Lantras.
I'm also speaking on behalf of the Confederated
Villages of Leshon Nation, whose territory we are on today.
Over the years, Sagorte, the Lantras,
the city of Oakland have built a positive working relationship and we are committed
to continuing this work together for future generations to come. I'm here to ask you to
vote yes on the agenda item for Measure DD grant agreement awarding Sagorte Land Trust
for the acquisition of property to conserve and restore portions of the Salt Lake Creek
area. Sagorte is the first indigenous women led land trust in the country and this funding
supports real environmental restoration, long term conservation and indigenous stewardship
of this watershed through an easement
with the city of Oakland.
We appreciate the city's partnership
and we ask that you pass this item today
so we continue this work in a good way
for the land, the water, and future generations.
Thank you.
Good afternoon council.
My name is Ariel Lucky.
I'm here with my coworker, Francis.
I'm the development director at Seguritate Land Trust.
I've also born and raised in Oakland
and lived here my entire life.
I'm here to urge you also to support this motion
to allocate Measure DD funds to the acquisition of this land.
Segorte has existed here based in Oakland and the East Bay.
For 10 years now, we have a number of different land sites
that we're stewarding, including the almost four acres
that Michael referenced in Walking Miller Park,
Renimu Pote O'Rikne.
We've been working there with Cal Fire
to do really important fire restoration work
to reduce the fuel load.
And we have a lot of experience taking care of land,
planting native plants,
restoring creek ecosystem and restoration projects.
This is what we do.
And it's my understanding that this is what the money is for.
And so we encourage you to pass this motion
and approve the process.
Thank you so much.
Good afternoon council members.
I'm Nikki Alexander, Executive Director
of Friends of Sausal Creek.
I'm hearing strong support of awarding measure DD funds
to the Segorte land dress for the acquisition
of the referenced property.
Protecting the headwaters of a creek
is crucial to maintaining watershed health,
safeguarding water quality,
and supporting climate resilience downstream.
The potential acquisition represents
one of the most important conservation actions
ever taken on behalf of Sausal Creek.
Opportunities like this are rare,
and once lost, they are lost forever.
We appreciate the opportunity to partner
with the city and Segorte to help establish
and steward a headwaters preserve
that protects vital headwaters
while honoring the land's cultural and spiritual importance.
This proposal reflects the best of Measure DD's intent,
restoring ecosystems, honoring indigenous stewardship,
and investing in land for long-term public
and environmental benefits.
We strongly urge the council to adopt this resolution
and move this pivotal conservation effort forward.
Thank you for your leadership
and your commitment to Oakland's Waterships.
Good afternoon, Chair and members of the committee.
My name is Brady Moss.
I'm a land conservation professional
with 25 years in the field,
currently working part-time with Trust for Public Land,
and I'm here today as a consultant to Segurite Land Trust
in support of the measured DD item before you
regarding the acquisition of property to Blatchford Court.
From a land conservation standpoint,
this property is highly significant.
It is a rare, intact, forested canyon
containing the headwaters of Cobbledick Creek,
a tributary to Sausal Creek, and protecting land
like this safeguards water quality, wildlife habitat,
and directly advances the original intent of Measure
DD to preserve Oakland's most ecologically valuable lands.
Segurite Land Trust is an indigenous, women-led,
intertribal, and community-centered urban land
trust based here in the Bay Area.
And this project fits within the broader land-back movement.
Oakland has already shown leadership
through its prior transfer of land in walking Miller park to Sega or a day.
Thank you for your comment.
Strongly support approval of the item. Thank you.
That can include your public speakers for item four.
We do have motion made by council member Unger chair Unger seconded by council
member Wong to approve as amended recommendations of staff and afford this
item to the February 17th, 2026 city council agenda and through the body.
Would that be on consent or consent on non consent or consent?
you. Thank you. And that's on
consent on rope. As amended
with the amendments to the
whereas clause. Striking one
hundred and ninety two million
in replacing with one ninety
eight million. On row council
member Gaya. Council member
Houston. Council member Wong.
I. And here under. This motion
passes with four I. To approve
as amended the recommendations
of staff and the for this item
to the. February seventeen city
meeting will come up soon.
So we're doing two open forum.
We do have two speakers, Kevin
Dahle and Mrs. Sada.
Kevin Dahle, Transport Oakland.
I do appreciate that the parking
changes have been moved to the
council meeting coming up soon.
What I would like is reassurance
And then we'll have a chance.
Uh, before the council meeting, as you know, this,
this item was originally on the agenda. Two weeks ago,
city administrator suggested changing the parking reord to today's
meeting.
And the staff got the announcement that the change would happen this
last Saturday. It was great. The city administrator delayed it.
we won't have another change before this comes to council thank you that
concludes your public speakers for open forum all right and we want to hang
around or should we councilmember Houston the question we got all these
youngsters out here I don't know are we gonna stop the session be what did they
come to say something I mean do you guys want to say something at open forum or
something. You can they came. I just didn't just sit in here to
watch us talk. I think I think they're gonna stay through to I think they're
gonna stay through to the next committee. Okay all right I didn't know I just I'm
not I mean if you can do it yeah can they ask a question? We're already 15
minutes over for the next committee meeting. You gotta wait till the next one I just didn't want you them to be
overlooked that's all I didn't know what was going on but I'm not gonna do it. Yeah yeah we're already over there they're
gonna hang out for a minute. All right, all right, cool. All right, let's adjourn here.
All right, thank you. Thank you.