Good afternoon and welcome to the Community and Economic Development Committee meeting
of Tuesday, April 21st, 2026.
The time is now 1.34 p.m. and this meeting may come in order.
Before taking roll, I will provide instructions on how to submit a speaker card for items
on this agenda.
If you're here with us in chamber, would like to submit a speaker card, please fill one
out and turn one into myself or a clerk representative no later than 10 minutes after the start of
this meeting or before the item is read into record.
speakers were due 20 24 hours prior to the start of this meeting this meeting
came to order at 134 p.m. and speaker cards will no longer be accepted 10
minutes after making that time 144 p.m. we'll now proceed with taking roll
councilmember five is absent right now councilmember Ramachandran here
councilmember Unger here and chair Brown present thank you we have three
members present one absent five and chair before we begin do you have any
announcements at this time I know it no announcements thank you okay starting
off with item one as this is a special meeting there are no minutes to be
approved item to determination of schedule of outstanding committee items
and we have one speaker that signed up thank you so much so to the
administration do we have any changes for our pending list administrator Baker
no thank you so much we can hear from the public speaker missus out of alla
I'm going to mention just one item, and it's your sanctuary city status, and how being
a sanctuary city is impacting the economics of our African American community.
And we don't have information sufficient enough to actually do a data driven look into who
has come into this city via legally through work visas, who is coming through this city
without any legal requirement of documentation, but they're getting jobs.
And people say you against immigration, you against people who are here trying to make
a living.
I'm only against if it's impacting my people.
In my contention, it is impacting because nobody has unemployment across this country
like African-Americans.
In this city, it's 9 percent unemployment, and you don't give any in data.
It's hard to keep up with stuff because you keep data hidden.
Unemployment because people who are not here legally get jobs, the highest representation
of that is in the construction industry here in this city, as well as in the hotel, uh,
tourist or restaurant business.
So when Barbara Jordan said in 1994 to President Clinton, we have to look at immigration status
of how we allowing people to come into this country, because if it continues to be at
the level it is now in 1994, African American males are not going to have jobs and that's
just what's happening. So if you don't weigh in on that issue, and I have gotten to the
point where I know you're not going to weigh in on it. I know you're not going to do anything
about your sanctuary city status as far as having a discussion. I see you got in your
elevator anti-racist academy. Why are you having that? This could be considered racist.
Are there comments, Ms. Olobala?
Chair, that concludes all speakers on item two.
All right, thank you so much.
I did want to share with the body that thank you,
Ms. Asada, for consistently bringing up the need for us
to bring an informational report
from the Oakland Housing Authority,
and so I would like to note that that item
will be coming towards the end of May.
And so at this time, I'll go ahead and make a motion
to move the pending list and just need a second.
Thank you.
We have a motion made by Chair Brown,
seconded by Council Member Unger,
to accept the determination of schedule
of outstanding committee items as is.
On roll, Council Member Spey.
Aye.
Ramachandran.
Aye.
Unger.
Aye.
And Chair Brown.
Aye.
Thank you.
Item number two passes with four ayes
to accept the determination of schedule
of outstanding committee items as is.
Reading in item three.
Adopt a resolution authorizing the city administrator
to negotiate and execute a new exclusive negotiation
with the Museum of Jazz and Art for development of a museum and art facility
on city property located at 1310 Oak Street for an 18 month term
conditioned on payment of a $10,500 exclusive negotiation payment with
one additional six month administrative extension condition on sorry on payment
of an additional $3,500 and to adopting
California Environmental Quality Act findings
and we have four speakers that signed up to speak.
Excellent, thank you so much Madam Clerk
and so for this item we'll be hearing
from our EWD team on Brandon Wolinski.
Yeah, I had a slide deck prepared.
I'll just refer to it, perfect.
Good afternoon CED committee members.
I'm Brandon Wolinski from Economic
Workforce Development Department. Today I'm presenting a staff recommendation for a new
exclusive negotiation agreement with the Museum of Jazz and Art for the city-owned Fire Alarm
Building at 1310 Oak Street. The Fire Alarm Building sits at the northwest corner of Oak
Street and 13th Street in the Civic Center neighborhood directly adjacent to Lake Merritt.
The parcel is approximately 0.71 acres and the existing building is around 4,500 square
feet. The site is zoned downtown district general commercial and carries a green loop
combining zone designation under the downtown Oakland specific plan. The building holds
a B A one plus rating under the Oakland's cultural heritage survey indicating major
historic importance. About the project, the proposed project is an adaptive reuse of the
historic fire alarm building to develop in an approximately 83,000 square foot museum
facility. Moja's vision includes interactive exhibits on the history of
jazz, a public garden along Lake Merritt Boulevard, a flexible performance venue
accommodating up to 400 seats, youth education programming, rehearsal spaces,
and a rooftop restaurant with viewing deck. The developers, the Museum of Jazz
and Art, a California nonprofit public benefit corporation established in 2013.
project as part of the E. N.
A.
M. Moja CEO is David Allen who's
also principal of Allen
architectural engineering and
brings over thirty three years
of construction and design
experience to this project.
A brief overview of the project's
history Moja first submitted an
unsolicited proposal to the city
in twenty eighteen and following
completion of surplus land act
noticing the city council
authorized an E. N. A. in 2020.
Over the course of that
on the development of new
materials.
Early extensions address
impacts of covert on
pre-development activities in
July twenty twenty two more just
submitted a pre-application to
planning but the design
required substantial revisions
to conform with zoning and
historic preservation standards.
Further extension for granted
through December twenty twenty
four to allow additional time to
complete planning and
environmental review milestones.
The most consequential
This was made up of an application
from the Dost plan which introduced
new zoning standards applicable to the site
and prompted Moja to revise its project designs
before submitting a formal planning application.
That redesign process extended into late 2024
and the prior ENA expired in December
before Moja could satisfy old performance milestones.
Moja has made revisions in order to comply
with the Dost requirements and resubmitted
its planning application in January of this year.
okay to take a look at the
new e.n.a. recommendation today
for a new e.n.a. to provide
moja a structured time to
complete planning entitlements
and negotiate disposition terms
with the city.
The new e.n.a. we are
recommending has an eighteenth
month term with one optional
six month administrative
extension the total e.n.a.
payment is ten thousand five
hundred structured as for
installments the optional
extension is available at an
the city's city's city.
On community on community
engagement the E. N. A.
specifically requires moja to
conduct outreach the Oakland
heritage alliance and neighboring
stakeholders prior to public
stakeholder engagement assessing
the project's potential impact on
the city's fiber optic network
infrastructure.
Preparing a financial plan while
securing financing- letters of
intent and negotiating ultimately
the L. D. D. A. terms with the
and planning approval.
When Moja completes its ENA milestone, staff will return to the City Council to seek authorization
for the LDDA and long-term lease.
Therefore, staff recommends that the City Council adopt a resolution authorizing the
City Administrator to negotiate and execute a new ENA with Moja for the development of
a jazz and art museum at 1310 Oak Street.
Happy to answer any questions.
Members of Moja's development team are also in attendance, and I'm sure happy to answer
any questions you have as well.
Thank you.
Excellent, thank you so much.
So, we can hear from the public speakers first.
Calling in the names that sign up to speak
on item number three.
In no particular order, you can come up to the podium
and state your name before stating your record, sorry,
stating your comment.
David B. Allen, Asada Olavala,
Lee C. Chen, Grover Rudolph,
Errol Andrew Gellner, Herman Adams, and that's it.
Hello, my name is David Allen.
I'm the CEO and board chairman
of the Museum of Jazz and Art.
I'm so happy to be here today.
Can you speak into the mic?
You can move it up.
Thank you so much. Yeah, sorry about that.
I'm so happy to be here today.
There's three words that are very, very important here.
Trust, confidence, and motivation.
Those three words incorporates everything about this project
and everything about what the city needs.
No project of any value
can be developed without these three.
I wanna thank the mayor and their staff
for supporting this project
to help build trust into the marketplace.
Also, I wanna thank the council members
and the city administrators
for helping us implement this confidence
That's very important in terms of the marketplace.
And I think what's very important here
is that this project brings in two different types
of economic values.
One is economic value, the other is social.
In addition to 500 jobs,
in addition to prevailing wages
focusing on Oakland employment,
in addition to a positive contribution
to the general funds, hundreds of thousand dollars,
over a 99 year lease, a lot of money, just for one project.
But the social benefits are even greater.
We're talking about strong education
for our Oakland Unified School District kids.
We're talking continuous jobs.
We're talking the most important thing here
is we're gonna build and connect culture using the music.
And so the Black Arts Movement Business District,
I was part of the interviewing team.
And in that team, the BAM is now certified
as a state district.
So we are glad that we're moving forward
and we want to continue to build this trust,
confidence, and motivation.
And we thank you for your support and your vote.
Thank you.
Good afternoon.
Grover Rudolph from the real estate development manager
for the Museum of Jazz and Art.
And again, I also want to thank both Brandon and Teresa Lopez.
critical in assisting us in what we're doing and just asked for your continued
support. This project has been moving forward at all phases. We have a timeline
dating back to the beginning of the time when we got started. So again, thank you
for your support and we look forward to continue to build right here on Lake
Merritt. Hello, I'm Errol Gellner. I'm the director of architecture for Moja and I
I just had two quick things I wanted to bring up,
one regarding the fire alarm building,
which Brandon very capably gave us a summary on.
I've been an architect practicing over 40 years now,
I'm sorry to say.
I was also a syndicated architecture columnist
for many years, which gave me a lot of time
to opine on historical architecture
and write many articles about it.
I've also written three books on historical architecture.
I'm a member of Oakland Heritage Alliance.
And I tell you all this not to be pompous,
but to make the point that we fully understand at Moja
the value and we appreciate the value
of historic architecture.
So the fab is gonna be the crown jewel
of the Moja development.
And the second thing, much briefer,
David Allen, the CEO there, I've known him personally
since he was in high school.
And he was one of those incurably overachieving guys,
and he's still the same.
He's still incurably overachieving.
And I think that Moja couldn't be in better hands.
And so I'm proud to work with this team
that he's assembled.
Thank you.
Good afternoon, Council members.
My name is Lisei Chen.
I'm a founding board member of Museum of Jazz and Art.
And also I'm a lifelong jazz artist.
I'm here today to express my strong support for MOJA
and its mission.
Jazz is more than music.
It's a living history of culture,
identity, and resilience.
And Oakland holds a powerful place in that history.
Through my late husband and musical partner, Michael White,
an Oakland native,
legendary jazz violinist,
composer and major recording artists who toured the world.
I came to understand how deep and important this legacy is
and how much of it remains under-recognized.
The Museum of Jazz and Art creates an opportunity,
not only to preserve this history,
but to teach it through a cultural lens,
reaching artists, students and communities around the world.
Jazz has always been a bridge between cultures,
evolving by embracing voices from across the globe.
Oakland can be one of its greatest meeting places,
of Moja, we often say, jazz is our music.
Thank you for your comment.
Good afternoon, Council.
Hi, my name is Herman Adams,
and I'm here in support of Moja.
I am excited to be a part of supporting
this great opportunity to help the city of Oakland
give something back to the community and the world.
There are a lot of things that this museum
world actually encapsulate, meaning it would teach, enhance, it would create a showplace
for a variety of different things, the art, the music, the history. Oakland has this fantastic
history that is really not spoken of when I'm originally from Memphis, so I'm the home
of the blues. There's Elvis Presley there. There's a moving here, I've been here 30 years,
I've learned so much about the history of Oakland
and how art and history and jazz
has actually affected this city.
I'm actually wearing a T-shirt today of Prince,
who's this 10th year passing.
There's a wonderful history of people respecting music,
and if we build this center,
there will be an opportunity for people to travel
from around the world to come to Oakland.
Wear T-shirts like this, represent Moja, Oakland,
and add to the culture that Oakland already has.
Not only for the music, the food, the history,
the politics, there are so many different things
that Oakland has to present and provide.
And this fantastic venue, this art center, Moja,
that will be just down the street here,
will be something that the city of Oakland
can hang their head on.
People will come by T-shirts.
The tourism industry will continue,
and we can actually do something
that's actually very positive and very informative,
not only for our current generation,
but the generations to follow.
And I wanna make sure that Moja is actually a part of it.
I'm happy to be here today and ask for your support.
Good afternoon, my name is Dimitri Thomson.
I am the Strategic Advisory, the Board of the Moja.
I've been a part of the project 10 years.
Thank you, Brandon, thank you, Council members.
I came here to speak for support of this project.
I was on a board with various places in the area,
Oakland Residence 2004.
This project will bring approximately 400,000 visitors a year.
It's a unique project that will preserve the culture
of the history of jazz that Oakland has,
and will teach new, develop the new musicians
to learn, and by visitation with the kids in schools,
they will learn more about the jazz.
It's not only about the jobs and preservation of the culture,
it's historically valuable,
as well as the tourism value for this project.
I would like to see if you remember,
but there's no similar project anywhere in the USA,
and that's the reason why this project is very important
to bring Oakland on a map historically for the jazz
and for the tourism.
And I thank you for your support.
These are such nice people.
They come and they're so eloquent in speech.
I got a problem with this project.
So when you have a project,
this is the fourth time we've had an ENA
between 2022 and 2024, fourth time.
The last time I heard this project,
It was an issue with the height.
The height was an issue in the design.
And that was like two years ago maybe.
Let's get this project moving.
This is an excellent project.
I'm from New Orleans and Jazz is,
has created a tourism money maker for the city.
If you could see the money that's made
off of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival,
two weeks, three days.
And right now San Jose is having Jazz Festival in Maine,
making big money.
But besides making money, that heritage, that culture,
that crosses all cultures.
I don't know a culture that doesn't embrace jazz all.
It's just a wonderful opportunity.
I'm not sure if we have concluded
that this is gonna be a shared property
because at one time you had that property
being utilized by the main library
and uh... some portions of their property still being used by the city
have we cleared this property for full usage of
the jazz museum or do we still holding that
uh... the main library will have access to some portions of the property as well
uh... i think that
we have a struggle here that doesn't have to be
uh... i think we need to put this on speed button microwave it forward
and see what we can do to make sure that we move.
I think we're in a design stage, is that correct?
Okay, that's like McClimans.
We've been in a design stage for four years.
And I don't wanna call this a race issue,
but it's very similar to what we experiencing
with the McClimans, what we experiencing with the trees
and everything else that comes up.
So please, let's move this forward.
It's a good project, it's gonna benefit.
Thank you for your comment.
Okay, baby.
Thank you for your comments, Chair.
That concludes all speakers on this item.
Excellent.
Thank you so much.
So first off, grateful for the detailed staff report outlining the history and what brings
us to this moment.
This was actually my first time hearing about this project, and although the project has
experienced some setbacks, I'm grateful to see some of the meaningful progress.
As mentioned by the public speakers, this project will do a lot to support our Oakland
youth, as well as just overall education around the rich history of jazz.
And so, of course, I fully support this ENA.
I did have a couple questions to staff, just to make sure we clear the air.
So there are some obstacles that caused the delay, I believe during the pandemic, delays
during the pandemic specifically.
What has shifted this time to ensure forward progress?
And then I believe the staff report states
the existing use of the property as storage
for Oakland Public Works and then the library as well.
Just wanna clarify that.
of the needs of the city.
Yes so the changes have been
mostly related to revisions due
to the downtown Oakland specific
plan and its adoption.
The issue of the height that was
raised earlier has been
addressed and that's one of the
things that were revised and
their plans that were recently
resubmitted.
As for the current uses by city
departments I think at a time
It looks like the fire alarm
that is no longer their desire
for that space.
But it is still currently being
used by certain staff of public
works, as well as being a hub
for the city, county fiber optic
network, which the fire alarm
building is a hub for.
Excellent.
Thank you so much.
Colleagues, any questions on
this item?
Councilmember Fyfe?
I do want to support with one of the public speakers who said I don't want to make this
about race.
I never, ever want to make anything about race, but in this country, in this city, we
have to face the facts that black developers have a different pathway forward.
And I don't want to rain on the parade of the beautiful comments that were made today,
but sometimes there are obstacles for black developers that don't exist for anyone else.
and I've seen it from everywhere from this project
to Brooklyn Basin, the differences
in how the Kaiser Project moved forward.
So I wanna be honest about the difficulties
that black developers have,
that what we're experiencing right now in my district,
even about communication, we can be in process for years.
I met Mr. Allen in 2018.
We sat down at Pete's Coffee on Telegraph
to discuss this project and how I could help it move forward.
I will continue to do that.
So I do support this project.
I have from as long as I've known about it,
and I'm going to continue to help.
I look forward to working with you on outreach
and incorporating this project into the Black Arts Movement
and Business District.
And in fact, when I fought to get Oakland's
first art designation in the state of California,
the first that Oakland has ever had,
this project was a part of that application
to the state of California that we now have,
along with the city of Los Angeles
to acknowledge the history that is right here in our city.
So I would like to make a motion to move this forward.
And I also want to make a public commitment to you,
Mr. Allen, because we have a lot of private conversations.
But I wanna make this public commitment to you
that I'm here with you in this fight for the duration
until we build this so that our children have this
in perpetuity as a resource for education,
for career advancement and economic development
for the city of Oakland.
So I appreciate your work and your dedication
to this project because sometimes I was a little concerned
that it would fall through.
So I wanted to make that motion and thank you staff
to all your work in supporting this and moving it forward.
Excellent, thank you so much.
And I'll second that motion.
Council member Ramachandran.
Thank you.
Again, just a comment, not a question.
Mr. Allen, I've really appreciated getting to know you
over the years and hearing your vision and passion
remain firm in the face of challenges.
Having been in four different jazz bands myself,
I am partial to wanting to be able to have a space
in Oakland, you know, on this gorgeous stretch of property.
I'm so excited that this is finally the space
that is being moving forward with.
I'm excited that this is going to be a location
generations to come to celebrate the history of jazz in Oakland and beyond.
And I have to give a personal shout out.
I hope you, I'm sure your programming is going to be vast and intersectional in many ways,
but as a classically trained Carnatic vocalist, the intersections between Carnatic music and
jazz is the hottest thing in a lot of parts of the world right now.
and I love, and we have incredible scenes
in both of those communities here in Oakland,
and I can't wait for a space to be able
to meld those worlds and showcase that,
along with the intersections
of so many other cultures as well.
So, very excited for this to move forward
and thank you staff for putting in a whole lot of work,
because I know this is not easy
and there's still a ways to go,
but it's many, many people on the inside
that go unrecognized, so thank you.
Thank you, we have them
Thank you
We have a motion made by councilmember five seconded by chair Brown to approve the recommendations of staff and to forward this item to
the May 5th
2026 city council agenda on roll council members five
Hi Ramachandran
Unger and chair Brown. Hi. Thank you item number three passes with four eyes
Support this item to the May 5th 2026 City Council agenda on consent
Reading in item 4 adopt a resolution to declare four city-owned parcels located at two eight two four eighty-second Avenue and
Eight three two seven two two sorry two eight three two nine golf links road as surplus land
Pursuant to the California surplus at Land Act to authorize the issuance of a notice of availability under the surplus
land act three
Prioritize offers that provide affordable housing consistent with the surplus land act and for make related, California
Environmental Quality Act findings and there is one speaker that signed up to speak. Excellent. Thank you so much. And so we will hear from
staff on this item
Thank you, Christa Katz, Mulvey strategic
initiatives manager with the Oakland HCD and I have this
PowerPoint ready to go brief PowerPoint
So just to summarize
These are four parcels that we're seeking to declare a surplus land in council district six
our intent is to issue a notice of availability under the state surplus land act and then evaluate and recommend responses either
Open to market rate or affordable housing with a priority for development of market. Sorry affordable housing
consistent with the open municipal code
Just a little bit of
Summary of the locations the parcels are located just east of MacArthur Boulevard and 82nd Avenue
Two other nearby vacant parcels have already been deemed surplus land that are we're working closely with economic and workforce
Development staff on on MacArthur Boulevard. Those are the red stars
Just a little bit of history the parcels and several other parcels along the Gulf links Road
were originally purchased by the city in the 1960s as part of a road widening project and
Then made available sometime in the late
1990s
for development
Oakland HCD went through several different rounds of seeking development
Proposals for the property that are outlined in the staff report
About 15 years ago a handful of the parcels were developed as affordable home ownership
But the rest have been kind of lingering since then
Part of the reason for that is that the parcels are pretty small. They're regularly shaped
They're very sloped and they have some challenging soil conditions that make development costly
And so just going through again the it's a little bit of the process of what we'll do in terms of declaring the land surplus
seeking proposals if we don't get bids will initiate a
And so, this is a city RFP process.
We'll be prioritizing affordable housing development,
but in the event that we don't get proposals
for affordable housing development,
we would look at selling the parcels
for market rate development, returning them to use,
and using the sales proceeds for affordable housing.
And I just wanna thank, we've been working closely
with economic and workforce staff on preparing for this,
especially since they've got parcels around the corner,
So on doing some maintenance on the properties,
including some fence repair in the last six months or so,
as well as planning and building staff
for assisting us with trying to figure out
the development potential of the sites.
And we're available for any questions,
and I just wanted to also thank Nikki Duesberg
on our staff who helped write the staff report.
This is one of our last staff reports
first of all, where she retires next month.
That is correct.
And so thank you both so much for the work on this item
and special congratulations to Nikki on retirement.
As it relates to this specific item,
I know that this is in District Six
and so just wanna note from my colleagues,
Council President Jenkins is also in the loop on this item,
staff has met with him.
And then some of the questions that I had around this
was how do we ensure, especially the property
and I think that's that's at
twenty eight twenty four eighty
second- a hundred percent
impacted by illegal dumping and-
did you want to say just on the
record- who is the who who- city
had the city of Oakland has been
partnering with to ensure that
both the fencing and- just the
area is maintained certainly- so
we've been working on on the
development who has a contract with men of valor for doing that cleanup for
fencing we did have to go to an outside contractor because that was work that
they couldn't do excellent thank you so much did we have public comment excellent
we can hear from the public speakers mrs. sarah olivala when you read the
report the question is is it in the best interests of the city to sell these
properties for development at Gulf Link Road and the reason why is because it
There are property decline issues, and it says that the cliff, the challenge of irregular
slope terrain, the challenge of the soil condition, the landscape, the seismic activity, the drainage
challenge, bordering the property is bordering on sensitive habitat along
creek and waterways. Now who wants to build on that property? And are we being
good stewards to put that property out there for sale? And you even say it's
going to be a challenge to sell a property. I know that property because I
pass it regularly and it's nothing but a cliff, it's a decline and you have an
alternative if you can't sell it as a as housing project to offer it in some
other form but my question is are we doing well to even consider to put this
on the market is it feasible to have housing on that property and I think not
So that's why I don't want to
talk about that.
But if y'all want to pursue to
spend the time how much we're
going to have to invest
financially to get this property
to selling stage do we have a
financial fiscal commitment that
has to be taken in order to sell
this property.
And what is that because I
think it's going to be very
challenging.
To sell the other property.
That's on oak I'm sorry eighty
Because that's a high safety issue legal you say the legal dumping and who wants to live bill
I don't know but the effort is there. Thank you for your hard work
Chair that concludes all speakers on this item. All right. Thank you. Any questions colleagues on this item?
All right, and so then I would entertain a motion on this
Sorry, I had a question. Oh, sorry on councilmember Rama Chandra. Thank you
So what is is there any are there any structures on the land right now?
so through the chair
There may be some old foundations from prior work, but there aren't there it is the sites are vacant
Yeah, okay, and I'll second
Second Oh Councilmember five
Yes through the chair to the staff
Do you have any hi do you have any idea how long it would take for this to potentially sell once on the market?
Through the chair. I'm gonna pull up my staff report. I
Don't I don't recall seeing that can't okay
So I think we've got a timeline for the the notice of availability, which is you know, probably
three to six months
and
then
Yeah, looking it's I think honestly we're looking at
something close to a
year to two years
just to be reasonable at work and
Economic workforce development because we're gonna turn somebody peek around the column to yeah
It's gonna be a few years
Come on up brain. Do okay. So from the state process through the chair. Thank you
60-day open period and the 90-day negotiation
That's if we get proposals through the surplus land act process and then we still would have to come back to counsel
with a disposition
Recommendation once we'd work through that and then if we don't then we ensure go into our own RFP process. I see. Yeah
Okay. Thank you. I did. Yeah
Thank you
We have a motion made by chair Brown seconded by council member Ramachandran to approve the recommendations of staff and support this item to the
May 5th
2026 City Council agenda on roll council members five
Rama children. Hi hunger. Hi and chair Brown. Hi. Thank you item number four passes with four eyes
Support this item to the May 5th
2026 City Council agenda on consent
Reading in item five adopt a resolution authorizing the city administrator to execute a grant agreement
With the Oakland Parks and Recreation Foundation as fiscal sponsors
For the East Oakland neighborhood initiative in an amount not to exceed twenty five thousand dollars
have signed up to speak.
Excellent thank you so much and so for this item we'll be hearing from our city's sustainability
team Nick and I don't want to pronounce your last name wrong but good to see you.
Good afternoon Nick Cordesh from the Sustainability and Resilience Division of the City Administrator's
Office.
and pronounce your last name wrong, but good to see you.
Good afternoon.
Nick Cordes from the Sustainability and Resilience
Division of the City Administrator's Office.
This resolution would authorize payment
of PG&E resilience hub grant funding to Oakland Parks
and Rec Foundation.
Oakland was awarded a feasibility grant under PG&E's Resilience
Hub Program for $25,000 to fund an assessment
of resilience hub needs.
The definition of resilience hubs are physical spaces
that support communities in the face of climate-driven
extreme weather events like wildfires and smoke,
as well as the day-to-day interruptions like power outages.
They typically provide access to power,
shelter, and information.
And the purpose of this grant is to help the community
build a network of local resilience hubs.
These should be trusted spaces that can also be accessed
year-round and build community connections.
The Oakland's Equitable Climate Action Plan
includes a commitment to build three Resilience Hubs
and the city needed input on features
and desired locations in East Oakland.
This grant provided that.
We selected East Oakland Neighborhood Initiative
to conduct the implementation.
The city's requirements were data on trusted locations
for Resilience Hubs, including city-owned properties,
data on community needs and features in the Resilience Hubs,
and a workshop that provided community benefits
that we've been asked for repeatedly
including real-time translation, child care, food, stipends,
and recording of community stories.
East Oakland Neighborhood Initiatives was selected
after their work on the Better Neighborhoods
and Same Neighbors program,
and for their ongoing work on convening groups
to work on resilience hubs in East Oakland.
The result of this engagement was a successful summit
about a year ago, successful closeout of the grant
with PG&E, and we have members of East Oakland
Neighborhood Initiative in the audience today.
I wanted to recognize Kita Price and Iana Jeffers-Fabro
for doing a great job on the event.
We collected valuable feedback that the city will use
to apply for further funding
and to inform our capital improvement program.
Thank you.
I'm open for questions here.
All right.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
Do we have public speakers?
Let's see here.
Calling in the names that sign up to speak on item number five, Aya Jeffers-Favro, Keeta
Price, and Mrs. Sada Ullabalah.
What's up, everybody?
How y'all doing?
My name Keeta Price, also known as the Hood Planner from East Oakland.
Today I'm representing the East Oakland Neighborhood Initiative as a project manager.
As Nick said, we worked with the city about a year ago to host a resiliency summit for
And so I think for the East Oakland Neighborhood Initiative first of all who we are we've been together for about five six years now we came together to kind of build a gap that three to the redevelopment dollars that used to be allocated from the state to actually fix neighborhoods outside of the block by block money.
There was no more money to kind of redevelop neighborhoods so instead of us waiting for the city and the city had no plans.
I was an intern in the planning department and I saw that the city literally had no plans for DP Stokeland.
And so our initiative as the
east Oakland neighborhood
initiative is to really anger
community planning and D. P.
Stokland.
And so whether the city is
willing to put together a plan
of 13 different groups that
create the east Oakland
neighborhood initiative, black
and POC groups, we worked with
the city as a lead applicant and
was able to use that plan to
attract twenty eight point
million dollars and other
different funding.
And so our initiative as the
east Oakland neighborhood
initiative is to really anger
but again I don't even like the
word resilience because in my
community just what we from like
we would part of the was the
summit was about defining what
resiliency means to our
community because for us we've
been experiencing.
You know whether in the storm
forever so so yeah that was part
of what the resiliency summit
was all about not just trying to
identify for the city and check
a box where where do you want to
do whatever you want to do.
So yeah, I'm going to have to
talk about resilience.
I'm going to talk about resilience
what to do I want to know what
you're going to do with the
city by for the city and check
a box where where do you want
to have the east Oakland
resiliency hub it was also for
us to do the work we already do
and further understand from
community again what does
resiliency mean to you.
And also how do you wonder
whether the different storms
that's coming from the island
effect and other things and so
yeah again we've completed this
about a year ago.
On a completely of another side
note while this was a very good
event and stuff.
more that you would like to say you you can go ahead you can keep speaking
it's fine sorry I'm speaking really fast right now because I'm speaking fast one
from time and just tools I just got a lot on my mind right now and in turn
when it comes to the city and these processes just like curify said I ain't
been to the City Council in a minute I've been since I first met you in city
council here as a student on a cannabis issue I haven't really been back once I
I started getting my footing in this stuff
because I've been out in the trenches.
It's hard to be in both places at once.
And so, again, just long story short,
this is like one of like three or four projects
that I'm personally a part of
that the city processes are dragging their feet
as on, and it's like really becoming an issue.
And we'll come more formally to like really lay out
what those four projects are,
and like what are the actual issues
and barriers of the community
literally going out $500,
and we are having issues with the staff,
like just meeting us halfway to get us the funds to complete to get the license agreement
so we can work on the Tali Angel Creek is just so much beautiful things that's going
on and I don't even have time to share it. Talk about it or enjoy it because I'm just
tired. I know some of you are tired and stuff too and there's all kind of stuff going on
out here but I just had to express that like I'm trying to be cool and diplomatic but honestly
like the city got us fucked up right now in D.P. is the Oakland like because we've been
doing what we need to do to beat y'all halfway and it's like where y'all at or
but not and I'm not talking about Ken he just got here but not and we did meet
with Ken Houston, Ione after the last item didn't pass because we want to keep
get him up today on what we've been doing so we can work together have a
working relationship where it makes sense but it's just like yeah like I
said I can be doing anything as a 30 something year old person in East Oakland
but I'm instead of going to be in corporate and something like that I'm
out here working in my community as a for outside of E.L.
I'm a for profit for for profit consultant and working as a
community centered consulting because we don't have those
people looking for our best interest in the community. So I
just wanted to put that out there that it's just it's been a
year, a year or whatnot. It's only 25 K. The work has been
done. The residents have been paid and Yoni, we don't have no
money. My mother's not saying like that, but our funds are
and we're in financial crisis.
And so, yeah, thank you.
Thank you so much.
I met with them.
Can I, can I, can I apologize to council member Houston,
because we need to adjourn into a special meeting,
and it's also public comment.
So if you can hold your comment for the next speaker,
then we can have you speak, thank you.
So I'll make a motion to adjourn into a special meeting
of the city council.
Second.
Thank you, due to the presence of Council Member Houston,
a quorum of the City Council, it was noted,
and a motion made by Chair Brown,
seconded by Council Member Unger,
to adjourn the Community and Economic Development
Committee meeting and to convene as a special meeting
of the full council at 2.23 p.m. on roll.
Council Members, five?
Aye.
Ramachandran?
Aye.
Unger?
Aye.
And Chair Brown?
Aye.
Thank you, motion passes with four ayes
to convene into a full council meeting.
Okay and at this time, if you submitted your name
for public comment, please come up.
Lower that down.
Good afternoon council members.
My name is Aya Jeffers-Fabra
and I'm here along my sister, Kita Price,
as a co-project manager
for the East Oakland Neighborhoods Initiative,
otherwise known as EONI.
Just building off of what my sister said,
as EONI continues to advance our projects
and plans from our community plan created in 2018,
at the root of our work, we're anchored in the vision
for creating better neighborhoods
while keeping the same neighbors.
Building off Okita's remarks,
bringing a resilience hub to the deep
is in alignment with both ECAP
and the EONI Community Plan.
And again, this summer happened last year.
It was a success, it was a beautiful event
full of storytelling, education.
There was laughter, there was tears.
It was multi-generational.
And it was a place where our residents and stakeholders
could bring their visions into fruition.
Working with our collaborative partners,
the climate action fellows we held a successful event where we were offer able to offer child
care interpretation food and stipends as the only centers a culture of care culture of
care for our community going forward we're taking the data gathered from this event to
do neighborhood scale pop-ups led by our resident leaders in the three engaged neighborhoods
Brandy Park Brookfield Village in Columbia Gardens and working with the local architects
for feasibility and design and we'll continue to collab with the city and council member
Houston's office as we co-build our next steps this reimbursement is critical for carrying this good work forward happy to answer any questions
And thank you for your time
All right. Well, thank you. Thank you all so much
Councilmember Houston. Did you want to share some comments?
Thank you. Thank you. I met with Kita and
She had mentioned we was online and she had mentioned that she hadn't been paid in a year
And I said, how can you function without getting paid?
How much was it?
She said 25,000.
I said, she need to get her money.
And she'll tell you.
I said, get your money so you can continue
to do what you're doing.
At the same time, this was happening
before I was council member.
So I've been getting some emails about their scope of work.
So what I would like to do is put their scope of work
in the report so people know so they can't be questioned
on what work they did and what work they performed.
So, when somebody wants to find out what they did,
they can look it up, look at the report,
scope of work, things, data, things like that.
So, let's get them their money, it's been a year.
You know what I mean?
Whatever it takes to get it to them so they can keep up
the work that they're doing.
Excellent.
Okay, all right.
All right, thank you so much, and thank you,
Keita and the East Oakland Neighborhood Initiative.
I know that you all have been doing work
on behalf of Oakland for quite some time.
And so, you know, know that, you know,
I genuinely value all of the work that you're doing.
And, you know, we go back to our days at community college.
And so, if there's anything that you need,
please don't hesitate to reach out.
But I guess I do have a larger question of like,
what contributed to the delay in them getting paid?
Yeah, I can, I can speak to that.
So it has been a series of learning the city's processes
together and I'd say that one delay was
With the previous fiscal sponsor. There was an issue with the contract. So we've really had to go back through the entire process
Going as fast as we can but that takes number of weeks
We're close. I think I think we can get the payment out
Very soon. Okay. Excellent. So I'm hopeful that my colleagues will approve this authorization
I'll make a motion to do so so that we can move this forward to the full council
Councilmember five. I I just wanted to say to Marquita. I
Listen, I remember when you was an intern. I was here
I mean the the work that we did I want to make want to make it clear to the public that
We're not questioning the work of Eoni or the the validity of the work that's been done. My questions are more
concerned
About why this is a consistent issue for small organizations throughout the city where this keeps happening
Persistently, we have a prompt payment policy that's consistently violated
and if there's something that needs to happen legislatively for this to
Be to be minimized then we need to make that happen. Eoni is
An amazing organization. We've worked in collaboration and coalition when I was at ACE when I was a director
We did a lot with communities for a better environment about cleaning up East Oakland and a lot of my members lived in that area
and it's an area that is consistently disregarded like many places in my districts and
Small what what seems like a small grant to many of us
$25,000 can mean a lot for a small organization. I want this to never happen again
And if there's something again that needs to happen legislatively that we need to pass as a body
to make it easier for these smaller organizations
to get funding more immediately than I want staff
to let us know what that is.
Because listen, I don't, I was over there
before I was over here.
And I understand the challenges of what it takes
to make things happen in invisible communities.
Kita, thank you for continuously doing this work.
I know, I have not forgotten that meeting
we was at, around the black culture zone, so we need to have some conversations, but
at the same time I recognize the self-determination and what you fight for and I have your back
and don't let this go for another year, don't let it happen where you don't come and communicate
to elected officials about the challenges that you're having, so we can do what we need
to do on this side of the dais so you can continue to fight for your community, you
Okay.
I second the motion if it has not been seconded already.
Yeah.
Administrator Baker.
Through the chair, could we just articulate
what the specific issue is for the public
with the Oakland Parks and Recreation Foundation,
the fiscal sponsor, what specifically was the issue?
Thank you.
Thank you, I'd like to clarify.
The issue was not with Oakland Parks and Recreation Foundation.
They're the current fiscal sponsor
that we are paying through.
through this was we initially had attempted to pay this through Eoni's agreement under
the TCC grant with higher ground and that contract was suspended before the payment
kick it out. Thank you. We have a motion made by Chair Brown
seconded by Council Member Fife to approve the recommendations of staff and to forward
this item to the May 5th, 2026. City Council agenda on roll Council Members Fife
Aye.
Aye.
Ramachandran.
Aye.
Unger.
Aye.
And Chair Brown.
Aye.
Thank you, item number five passes with four ayes
to forward this item to the May 5th,
2026 City Council agenda on consent.
Moving on to open forum,
we have one speaker that signed up, Ms. Asada Olawala.
Open forum, right, let me get my book.
We have time.
It's important that particularly African Americans
Find out what your capacity is.
And as it relates to economics, we
have had a history of tremendous capacity.
I recommend every African-American
who is engaged in an economic arena to read this book.
You have this book?
It demonstrates, chronologically, year by year,
how we have successfully participated
and development of business and economic initiatives.
It shows you, like I've given this to my grandson,
it shows you we are capable because the misinformation is
going around, the brainwashing that
has been successfully achieved, that we are underachievers.
And we are not.
That doesn't take away from anybody
who has been put under this umbrella of race
instead of all of us being under the umbrella
of being human beings and that's sufficient.
We've been pushed into an identification process
where people have labels and we can't all work
at the same level because a part of those labeling,
some people don't deserve or some people aren't capable,
some people just because of the color you're skin,
you're much better and that's unfortunate.
But this book gives you an opportunity
to see the volume of success under that economic umbrella
year after year.
And your children and you people have to do that.
Because we come here, like that young lady,
and you see that elevation we get to?
It gets there because we have been so pushback, unheard,
Disrespected.
Thank you, Chair.
That concludes all speakers on open forum.
All right, thank you all so much.
This meeting is adjourned.