Good morning and welcome to the Public Works
and Transportation Committee meeting.
For today, May 12th, the time is now 1133
and this meeting has come to order.
Before taking 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 fill one out and turn it to a clerk representative.
My left, your right, before the item is read into record.
Online speaker requests were due 24 hours
prior to this meeting, making that time yesterday
at 11.30 a.m., this meeting came to order at 11.33,
speaker request will be due no later than 10 minutes
after the meeting has begun, making that time 11.43.
With that, we will now proceed to take roll.
Council Member Gallo.
Present.
Thank you, Council Member Houston.
Present.
Council Member Wong.
Present.
Thank you, and Chair Auger.
We do have four members present.
And due to the presence of council member Brown,
we will now convene into a special
of the full city council.
I just need a motion.
So moved.
Thank you.
We have a motion made by council member Unger,
seconded by council member Gayo, excuse me,
to adjourn the Public Works
and Transportation Committee meeting
and convene into a special meeting of the full council
at 1135 a.m.
And then we go to roll, Councilmember Gallo?
Aye.
This is roll call.
I'll roll.
Thank you.
Councilmember Houston?
Here.
Councilmember Wong?
Here.
And Chair Unger?
Here.
Thank you, we have four members present.
Moving to our first item of the day,
which is Councilmember Announcements.
Do you have announcements for us today?
Yeah, I'd like to move item five up to the front, please.
Thank you, Chair Unger.
Noting, we will move, we will take item five
after item two.
Moving to our first item of the day, item one.
Approval of the draft minutes
for the committee meetings of March 24th
and April 21st, 2026.
And you do have one speaker.
No speakers for this item.
This is the pending list.
Do you have anything?
Approval of the draft minutes.
Approval of the minutes, sorry.
So moved.
I will approve the minutes.
Thank you.
I have a motion made by Council Member Chair Unger.
seconded by Council Member Wong to accept
their approval of the draft minutes
from the committee meetings on March 24th,
2026 and April 21st, 2026 as is on roll.
Council Member Gallo?
Aye.
Thank you, Council Member Houston?
Aye.
Council Member Wong?
Aye.
And Chair Unger?
Aye.
This motion does pass with four ayes
to accept the draft minutes from the committee meetings
on March 24th and April 21st,
2026 as is.
Moving to item two.
Determination and schedule outstanding committee items
and this is also known as your pending list.
You do have one speaker.
Okay, any changes for the pending list?
Okay, Council Member Gallo.
Members of the council, members of the public,
but what I'm requesting is that we place on the agenda
and as soon as possible a report back from waste management
that provides our delivery of services here in the city of Oakland and what I'd like to
specifically have a better understanding in terms of how we're using the franchise dollars
that we are collecting from the taxpayers besides the waste management service bill
that they have because my record that what I have, what waste management collects in
addition and returns to the city monthly is 2.8 million dollars per month but
annually they collect thirty four point six million dollars to give right back
to the city and my on my understanding from the beginning was to be able to
utilize that money to make sure that our streets are safe and clean and the
The garbage is being picked up but I like to hear from administration how are we using
that money that most of the time goes to the to the general purpose fund but I want to
make sure that that money goes back into making sure our streets are safe and clean and I
like to get an administrator report how are we using that franchise fee because it's been
challenged legally many times but we're still collecting that money and where is that money
going to specifically to support the streets in Oakland.
Thank you.
Councilmember Gail, I think if you want to schedule an informational report through the
Rules Committee, I'm sure the staff would be happy to respond.
Councilmember Gail, I'm happy to work with you and staff to bring it to Rules and pick
a time.
Moving to our public speaker, Ms. Asada.
That's a real good one.
I'm asking based on the fact that we had a recent issue with a violation, a notice of
violation being submitted to the violator three years late.
So I'm requesting that what is, what are the list of violations that can be noticed by
public works and what are the fees and fines related to those violations?
Because obviously something is wrong when we have a violation and it takes them three
years to notice the violation.
I'm all concerned of a report out on the commitment we made to do the work of Cal Tran with using
you know we have to take care of our employees how that works out because I didn't think we should be doing that.
Since it's the responsibility to take care of all public buildings coming from public works.
I want to report out on the police administration building and how we are facilitating the maintenance of that
poor building that should be demolished and what are we spending to keep that building in place I think we
instead of demolishing that building.
I would like to see a report out on the process
for a commitment to cut down 70 trees
over by West Oakland BART because the trees
were being cut down, supposedly cut down,
were also on the side of the BART train station,
not just across the street.
So I'd like to see also, lastly,
a project like the one taking place across the street
where they were supposed to paint
after they fixed the bike lanes.
It took a month to put the white paint down.
When you have a project, everything that needs to be done
in totality should be a part of the project
not broken up in pieces.
Thank you for your comment, Mrs. Sada.
Thank you.
That concludes your public speakers' item, too.
Can I entertain a motion?
second that we do have a motion made by Councilmember Gallo seconded by chair
Unger to accept the termination schedule outstanding committee items as
is on roll councilmember Gallo aye Councilmember Houston aye Councilmember
Wong aye and chair Unger aye this motion does pass with four ayes to accept the
termination of scheduled of outstanding committee items as is moving to item 5
adopt a resolution acknowledging the urgency expediting actions to the
a remedy illegal dumping through an illegal dumping
expeditious action idea plan.
One, authorizing the city administrator to A,
implement the idea plan by negotiating
and entering into a contract,
grant agreements, expeditious to set forth into table one,
and a total amount not to exceed $1,100,000,
and B, pursue partnerships with the county,
regional, and state agencies to enhance these efforts.
Two, waiving to the extent necessary,
the city's advertising competitive bidding and the multi-step technology acquisition
requirements for the contracts and waving
the small local business enterprise program requirement for the big truck rental contract.
Three, appropriating and allocating an amount not to exceed $1,100,000 from budgeted funds
in fund 1720, cleanup fund from these purposes.
Four, accepting and appropriating additional funds from public and private sources
authorizing the city administrator to actively seek and apply for such funds and to amend
existing contracts into new contracts consistent with the purpose of this resolution and further
errants of the plan in the total amount not to exceed value of such additionally appropriated
funds and five directing the city administrator to return to council within one year of the
adoption of the resolution to provide information or report on actions taken funds received
expanded and contracts awarded pursuant to this plan
and the authority granted for this resolution
and you do have two speakers.
Okay, why don't we hear from our speakers?
Mrs. Asada and Dwayne Nelson.
You wanna hear from the staff first?
All right, we can hear from staff first.
I'm here.
Good morning, Chair Unger and members of the committee.
I'm Kristin Hathaway, assistant director for Public Works
and I am pleased to present our proposed
Legal Dumping Expenditures Action Plan
that Public Works developed in collaboration
with the city administrator's office.
And this item is also sponsored
by Councilmembers Wong, Fife, Houston, and Brown.
So we're really pleased that this item has broad support.
We have a short PowerPoint for this item.
Great, thank you.
So the staff is proposing a series of expenditures
to utilize the $1.1 million that council set aside
in its fiscal year 25-27 budget
to address illegal dumping.
These proposed expenditures follow the city's strategy
of addressing illegal dumping through eradication,
enforcement, and education.
Next slide.
So to address illegal dumping through eradication,
we're proposing to use up to $190,000
to rent two lightning loader trucks.
These are large trucks that allow crews
to clear large debris rapidly.
We're also proposing to expend up to $95,000
for additional equipment to support KOCB crews,
including pickup trucks, trailers, and things
that are needed to support daily operations
and increase capacity.
Third, we're proposing to restart some bulky block parties
where residents can dispose of large unwanted items
and block parties that facilitates when they can't
bring it to Davis Street or schedule a curbside pickup.
And also we're proposing to use $150,000
for the air bits contract, the aerial camera imagery
that was approved through,
previously through Council Resolution 91112.
Next slide.
These items fall in the bucket of eradication
and enforcement, so we are proposing
to use additional staffing resources
to strengthen our proactive zone based surges.
Additional staff time would also go
to reviewing camera images
and putting up our illegal dumping cameras.
And so we're proposing up to $300,000 for that.
Similarly, we'd like to invest in new technology systems,
like software and applications
to improve data management for violations,
improved routing for eradication and improved systems to issue and track citations and penalties
up to $50,000.
Next slide.
To improve enforcement, we're proposing to use up to $50,000 to purchase technology such
as tablets to improve data management for illegal dumping violations, to better issue
and track citations, and that our environmental enforcement officers could issue citations
in the field and we're proposing to enhance our contract
with Security Lines U.S., our camera vendor,
for more cameras, solar powered cameras
and monitoring assistance.
Next slide.
In the realm of education, which is really important
to the overall strategy, we're proposing a $40,000 grant
to non-profit Keep Oakland Beautiful, specifically
to assist us with targeted outreach to the community
and education around preventing dumping and utilizing bulky services, and we're proposing
up to $60,000 to contract with a local Oakland firm for outreach and education support around
proper waste management and ensuring people are aware of and utilize bulky services that
are available through our waste management contract.
I believe that's the last slide, and I also want to mention, as is mentioned in the resolution,
we are proposing that we are allowed to apply for and accept funding to address illegal
dumping through this resolution and to enter into partnerships. I'm available for any questions.
Council colleagues do we have questions? Let's start with Councilmember Brown.
Excellent. Well thank you so much. Also thank you chair Unger for allowing me on the committee.
thanks to the staff I've really been waiting for this item because last year
when we were working on the council budget myself and my team along with the
budget team we work really hard to dive into what were some of the allowable
uses for some of the various funds and so fund 1720 we identified as an
an essential fund to help support these efforts
and so really grateful for just the whole team
that has put a lot of thought into this expenditure plan.
So just really wanna uplift that.
I do have a couple questions about some of the allocations.
So I'm having a look at the fund 1720
and some of the allocations and so there was,
For technology, we set aside $850,000,
and so if I'm doing the math right
with some of the items that we've seen maybe prior,
perhaps that has been fully expended.
Also, we had some follow-up questions
about some of the other items that we also funded
under 1720, Environmental Enforcement Officers,
seeing if there's any updates there,
and then in addition, a handful of other positions.
So just had a question on that.
And then in the staff report,
I was delighted to see that some of the,
I believe it's $100,000, but correct me if I'm wrong,
would be going to the nonprofit Keep Oakland Beautiful.
And I just had a question of the specific outreach
and education that they would be completing.
Sure, I can start with that.
So it's actually a $40,000 grant to Keep Oakland Beautiful.
And that's for a collaborative effort
with Keep Oakland Beautiful and Oakland Public Works
to do targeted outreach around utilizing bulky services.
So looking at neighborhoods where maybe bulky services
that's available through waste management
is not utilized as much as in other areas.
So looking at high priority areas
and doing targeted outreach through social media posts,
mailings, community events, that kind of outreach.
I see, okay, and so then the other 60,000
is this bulky waste outreach,
and it just says a local Oakland firm.
So is that yet to be determined?
And then how would that 60,000
actually be utilized specifically?
Right, so we have an existing contract with a firm
who can do this kind of work that are a local Oakland vendor,
and they would be doing outreach directly
to property managers of multifamily dwellings
so that it would be onsite, one-on-one direct outreach
to make sure that those property managers
and property owners know how to make sure
that their waste sorting is done properly
and that they're fully utilizing bulky services
that are available through waste management.
I see, and so with the current timeline
of kind of getting this through council,
do you anticipate these organizations
being able to start by July 1 or do you have a time frame?
I don't have an exact time frame,
but I don't anticipate it would take more
than a couple months to stand up.
Excellent, okay, thank you so much.
Yeah.
In noting the presence of Council Member Fife
at 11.44 a.m.
All right, Council Member Wong, you're next in the queue.
Oh, great.
Thank you, first of all, this is really thoughtful work.
I've been in touch with you as well as Rebecca Caplan
on this and just really appreciate the thoughtfulness
on this and I'm excited because I know we increased
those fines and one of my main things is let's make sure
that it's not a symbolic increase but actually ensure
that there's the enforcement that coincides with that
as well as the necessary outreach.
So for example, people who are renters who are actually
using our bulky waist pickup services.
One thing I wanted to note since we've had this
in our private conversations just for public knowledge
is that we have only 36 cameras dedicated at this point
but this expenditure plan is actually going to
double the number of cameras including
the solar powered cameras so they can be moved around
since the audit that came out had noted that
a number of our cameras are not actually even placed
in illegal dumping hot spots,
and that may be because of wiring
and all the challenges that come with camera placement.
Can you just confirm that or explain that to the public?
Yeah, so we wanna test out solar powered cameras
to test their efficacy and make sure
that they can operate, they can hold enough charge
to operate through the night when a lot of dumping happens.
So we wanna place those in a couple of hot spots
and see if they're effective, and if they are,
we would probably move to more solar powered cameras.
Additionally, we want to purchase additional cameras
to place them at more hotspots,
and then the overtime funding that's in here
would also support additional overtime
for moving cameras around.
So sometimes staffing availability is a limitation,
as well as the availability of electrical poles.
Right, do we have a sense of,
for the now doubled number of cameras,
what is like the radius of the coverage
how many hotspots we have across the city?
Well, we have hundreds of hotspots across the city.
So yeah, it's a limited amount of cameras, but they are spread across the city, and I'm
happy to share with council members the locations of the cameras.
They're spread throughout all districts.
Okay.
Yeah.
And then I know one really important thing is just the additional staff time.
Is this going to fund also additional positions since I think we have, what, five EEOs?
Especially with the budget conversation coming up, how many EEOs do we have?
Does this fund additional staff or just ensuring that those folks have overtime to have more coverage?
Yeah, this isn't not proposing to fund any new positions.
We have seven budgeted EEOs.
Five of them are filled, one is frozen.
So we had eight, one is frozen.
This is not proposing,
this funding is not proposed to unfreeze that position,
it's proposed so that those staff have over time
to do additional work.
Right, okay.
And my final comment is just,
I was looking or reading through the audit today
and I think one thing that was noteworthy to me
is that the Keep Oakland Clean and Beautiful Division
is separate from the Environmental Services Division
in which the EEU, like the Environmental Enforcement Unit,
sits.
And I don't know how much the folks who actually
do the cleanup communicate with environmental enforcement
officers.
But I have to think that the folks who are doing the cleanup
are often seeing the dumping in the field.
They're seeing the addresses, all the things.
and I wonder if there's opportunities to ensure
that the folks that do the cleanups in the field
can actually supplement or augment
what the Environmental Enforcement officers are doing
as they're already out there cleaning it up
if this is not already happening.
Yeah, so they do talk.
So if we have staff in the field
and they see a piece of mail or other piece of evidence,
then they are instructed to contact
the Environmental Enforcement officers.
And so we're working on systems to make sure
that that communication is strengthened.
Both divisions are within Bureau of Environment
and we meet every other week to talk about how to collaborate.
Okay, great, thank you.
Okay, Council Member Fife.
Thank you, Chair Unger,
and thank you for allowing me to sit on this item today.
Anytime.
This issue is so critical to my district
and before I say anything,
I wanna ask Rebecca Kaplan to come up
because I want to thank you personally
for working with my office to identify real ways
we can address illegal dumping,
particularly in the flat lands,
where you don't have as many people necessarily calling in,
like you do with the hills,
some of the illegal dumping that we are plagued by,
that is consistent, persistent, always comes back.
We don't always have the same response
in terms of people calling in like other places
in the city more wealthy, wealthier areas,
and you have made it a priority to work with my office
to communicate what's going on,
and I wanna thank you for that.
And to Kristin, you as well,
we've been trying to figure out and wrestle with
how to deal with District 3 areas,
particularly the hot spots around San Pablo,
our business corridor around Ramondi Park,
and I think these are ways that we can really
get to the heart of what's going on.
I do want to encourage you when you are looking for organizations that can communicate and
educate the public on illegal dumping to also include education on privacy and privacy concerns.
Because as we will be utilizing drones in this particular program, there may be some
concerns that people have around their privacy.
And I know AirBits has done a lot of work and they don't use facial recognition software.
they don't collect license plates,
so I think it's important to let the public know
what that means as well in this education process.
But I also want to give a shout out to Liam
for going on a tour with me in my district
and seeing some of these hot spots
and why this is so critical to District 3,
who we bring in a bulk of the revenue to the city
that often gets used in other parts of the city as well.
And it's important that residents of Oakland
feel good about being here.
And trash just really spoils that.
It's a beautiful city and trash just makes it trashy.
And so I encourage this committee
to send this to the full body on consent.
Thank you.
All right, council member Houston.
Good morning through the chair.
I am so, so happy about this.
Been fighting for this for over 15 years
and I'm glad they picked up.
Supervisor Nate Miley has been leading this,
and leading this with the three E's,
eradication, enforcement, and education.
Before I get to a couple of the questions that I have,
I wanted to find out, piggyback on my council member Brown,
what she had mentioned, about the consultant,
the consultant firm providing resources
for directing education, Oakland residents.
And what firm was that that you said?
This local firm, I know you said local,
but what's the name of that firm?
Yeah, we have SCS and R3 as a subconsultant.
And I can send you more information about them.
Okay, and have they worked with us before?
Yeah, that we have them currently on contract
doing work around our solid waste
and recycling requirements.
Okay, all right, thank you.
So when we go back to my budget priorities
for 2025 to 2027, they were real simple.
They were just so simple.
They were public safety, homeless and housing,
which I've addressed, and beautification of Oakland.
And we have spearheaded for fines, and I appreciate that.
I really appreciate the fines.
However, fines have not been working,
and in my budget, priority's under three,
and you can go as public record.
It's a beautification of Oakland, bullet point four.
EEOs need hazmat training to collect intensive data
to collect environmental for misdemeanors and felonies.
And we have put some money to decide
to get them trained for this,
because the city attorney can only submit fines.
But if we collect the data,
if you go back to the data that I've collected over 10 years,
Council Member Unger, they have a bestos.
I mean, they have things that they dump
that the waste management won't even take, right?
So we have to protect our EEOs and our community
and our waterways at the same time.
How do we do that?
And my budget priority is was to add for the EEOs
to be hazmat and contaminated trained
to protect them and our community
so they can collect this data.
Councilmember Brown, so they can collect this data,
so not just fines, these individuals will be prosecuted
to committing crimes against our community.
So I'm gonna talk to the city administrator about that
because I knew it was some money put to the side
on that enforcement.
And I'd like to thank Councilmember Brown,
I mean Councilmember Unger and the mayor
for that enforcement on dumping 26-0527, that measure.
I mean cuz it it piggyback don't measure or are that
That I did along with
Councilmember Cobb and I also like to thank Senator Jesse for doing his about the
DMV it was all right here my simple my simple
Priority, so I really appreciate that
But we do have to protect the EEO so I want to know where that's at and we have to collect the data
Everything is data driven if you can collect the data and get that in the proper form and fashion to the DA
the district attorney
she said
she will prosecute and
The individuals that are committing crimes and I'm gonna say this public forum
That are committing crimes against my community and my council members community
We will prosecute you to the full extent of the law because it has to stop it's been going on too long
So I'll yield the floor
Councilmember Gallo
Not about what we say. It's about what we do and sometimes we some of us writing policy and recommendation
I never see you on the street picking anything up
And I've been here for many years, but I never see people out there
But they're gonna tell me how to do it what to do and when to do it
So those are realities you can shake your head and growl, but the reality is I have seen Oakland in many different ways
And one of the realities that we're facing
We have a contract with a waste management
company
That can deliver the service
to allow
No, well to go dump at waste management and not create a bulky pickup where I won't have all my workers doing overtime work
You know with dumpsters and trucks where I could go to waste management like other cities do
I'll go to Tucson, Arizona. I get to go if I have a bill I go straight to the dump yard waste management
And they only charge me three hundred dollars not
three thirty dollars not three hundred dollars, so I don't have to go to the
Public works yard and the public works yards got to go to the waste management
Yard, so I think that you know for those who wrote these policies. Please come out and help me
We're out there every day. We've been out there every day for 10 years picking it up
I'm not sitting here to making more excuses
All right, so the reality is
that we have to deal with
Waste management and what the city's not doing city employees are not doing
administratively sitting here at City Hall because there are many businesses and
Oakland that don't have a garbage license
so what they do is they come and leave it on the corner down the street so we can pick it up and
We're not charging any fees and certainly at one time waste
Public works used to do that on a daily basis
Early in the morning clean the streets up
Pick it up and make it be say not only dealing with graffiti but dealing with I mean garbage
but dealing with the graffiti
you never saw graffiti throughout the city because
We used to have cameras at certain places and the police
Department would go with me at nighttime to cap capture those doing the graffiti and arrest them
And I still get people from the sheriff's department that come volunteer with me
Because they legally dump or they dig graffiti, but they're coming from the city of Fremont Castro Valley
I don't see any people in Oakland getting arrested or
Cited to come work off their tickets and they're coming from other cities in Alameda County
So what I'm asking the city administration
where is that franchise fee dollar going that
illegal we're like one or two cities in the state that ever did that because we
they went to court and sue the city because I was illegal because the voters
never paid for that or voted for that but we're still collecting 28 million
that where is that money going is supposed to be going back to keeping
our streets clean and so if you need to report that not only that fee but also
the cannabis operations because I still remember when I was here when we
started that they used to bring their trucks and give us millions of dollars
and but now we changed the process so where is that money going to a city
administration to keep this city safe and clean so so for me it's you know we
can do a lot of writing a lot of talking but I want to see those the rotor didn't
and put her together.
Come on the street and help do it
so you know what the hell is going on in the neighborhood.
You can see it yourself.
Get your hands dirty.
It's easy for me to sit here all day long writing to do this
and do that and over here and feel sorry.
But the reality is we need to hire more people
within Public Works.
And if you go to Public Works today right now,
you're gonna see trucks, 50, 60 trucks that are not working
because we don't have the mechanics.
We used to have 10 mechanics, but now I only have three.
And the trucks are sitting because I drive city trucks
every weekend and throughout the week.
But most of the time they're not working.
And our people are not able to go on,
collect the trash and do what you're saying
we should be doing.
So for me, it's we need to get,
Oakland needs to get his act together,
and public works, transportation,
we need to have that cooperation,
not just with waste management,
but California Waste Solutions,
because they used to bring their big trucks on Saturdays
to volunteer and help me clean up.
But now they don't do that anymore,
because the city, well, something's going on
with negotiations.
So for me, it's whether you're in West Oakland
and East Oakland, I think what we need to do
has improved that delivery of service.
I don't need more laws and more ordinances.
I need to get the job done as we've done
in many years in the past.
And so the only other recommendation I have for you,
you wanna do education?
Well, we used to receive that information
during our high schools.
No, it's not okay for you to throw your trash
out the window as we're doing today.
And it's not okay for your school to be
like it is in the condition today
because the youngsters used to volunteer
to keep it clean every day,
and that's my high school years.
I used to, once a month they make us all work
around the school, inside the school, in the neighborhood,
to make sure the neighbors saw us caring for the community.
So I think that there are many ways to get this done,
but at the end of the day, waste management has a dump yard
that we can go and dump our trash,
like we do when we pick it up during the week
during the... And it's over. It's clean, but waste management, California Waste
Solutions, Civic Corps would be out on the streets daily unloading your trash
cans, picking up whatever's on the sidewalk and on the streets, and so we
need to get back to the work attitude. And that's what one of the things that's
missing in all these policies that I'm creating, doing this and that, but it's
about work. It's about cleaning Chinatown. I can write all the laws I want, but unless
you get out and go clean it, it's not going to change. So what I ask is that, you know,
be able to report back in terms of what is the condition of Oakland of Public Works?
What is their need to fix those vehicles? How many more employees do they have? Because
are not here anymore and as an example and I'll leave you without go to the
public works yards and Coliseum way you've been there lately in front of
Oakland public works yard it should be the cleanest area around as a
demonstration of cleanliness it is dumb left and right you come out with your
Your truck is the whole street, even though I asked them put no parking at any time.
It is filled with garbage and trash and we allow that in front of our property and that's
in a role model that we need to correct that.
But go take a look, go take a look and then you can decide what to ride and what to do.
But at the end of the day, I need more individuals working with Public Works and make sure that
that their vehicles are repaired and are able to assist the workers that we do have.
So anyway, so thank you.
I know I don't mean to express my frustration, but Oakland's got to get its act together
and it's not about how many laws and rules I have.
We've got to go get it.
Look at Lake Merritt.
You used to help me with Lake Merritt.
Look where it is today.
Not like where it used to be, where you had Olympic trials.
one in the high school kids all rowing at Lake Merit but nowadays well I'm not
going to go to Lake Merit I'll go somewhere else. So anyways thank you but
and I do value that and it's more than more about than just 1 million dollars.
Got to remember that through Waste Management they collect 36 million a
year. In my garbage bill on top of the garbage bill I have to pay on a monthly
basis. Thank you. Thank you. Councilmember Gail. Councilmember Wong. Thank you. I will
soon make a motion to second Councilmember Houston's motion but I just
had some final questions I had just on implementation so is this once we
approve this are we poised to immediately implement this or because I
see a number of specific vendors name so it sounds like you don't need to do now
like a lengthy RFP after this so when can we expect to see this
Executed to councilmember Houston's points. Yes through the chair
so to that point know some of many of these things are already underway, so we
You know, we've queued up to purchase tablets, right?
And we just need the funding approval to to purchase the tablets
We are already working on a new city works module
For tracking illegal dumping citations our asset management system
And we're working with finance department. So so
And we've already identified for example the lightning loader truck. So all of these items are already in the works
There's nothing that we're starting from scratch on and so as soon as this is approved
Many of these things will be able to be implemented very shortly. Okay, great, and I'm just wondering to
How we can measure our success?
Um, I know with this new drone system that perhaps there's an objective way to actually
measure the piles.
The other measurement is the 311 or the work orders, which I'm not sure is actually an
objective measure.
So I would love to see in like a year's timeframe to see if what we're implementing today is
in fact making inroads in the illegal dumping issue and how we can actually find a metric
or a methodology to measure the illegal dumping piles?
Yeah, absolutely, through the chair.
So, when we return for our annual report on this item,
as it's called for in the resolution,
we'll make sure that we're reporting out
on the success of that pilot program for air bits,
and we are developing KPIs for that,
so that we make sure that we are having metrics
that we're trying to hit,
And we'll report on how well we how well we did that.
OK, great. And then I would just say, too, that I agree with Councilmember
Gayo's comments that I would also love to have this sort of in-depth
of thought around the graffiti issues.
And with that, I'll I'll second the motion.
All right. Thank you. Councilmember Houston.
I just have one more comment.
You know how ridiculous this sounds when we're talking about
Illegal dumping in other cities aren't talking about they're talking about other issues
Why is that?
is because
we're just
cleaning up
cleaning up
instead of deterrence
Why are we spending all this time and resources on what clean up? It's called deterrence
The city of Oakland has the same equipment that waste management has. I don't know other cities that have that. That's ridiculous
sitting on this council
I'm the only council member here that's prosecuted a graffiti vandal and an illegal dumper through Nancy O'Miley with supervisor Nate Miley
And we had stopped and slowed it down
Then after Nancy left
The prosecution stopped
Now that we have another district attorney
She's willing to prosecute she's running for office right now. We have to deter this crime councilmember hunger
It's not called clean up clean up clean up fine fine fine
And that's why I said the information that the EEOs are very very important to this this system
Because they're the ones that are on the ground that need to be protected
They're the ones that are on the ground that will collect and go through the indicia
to find out
the individuals that are committing this crime against our community
So if they have the information and the data
That they can turn over and in the proper way to the district attorney
We can prosecute these individuals that are committing crimes against our community illegal dumpers and graffiti vandals
Which is a visual cue of deterioration that attracts illegal dumping. Let me give you in the story
Ten years ago
There was some huge huge illegal dumping on San Sandra Boulevard. I went out it was like 12 31 o'clock at night
Saw this guy dumping I said hey, you know, I want to yeah, what makes you want feel that you can dump here
You know what? He said to me
He said if they can tag and do graffiti vandalism for 30 minutes. I can dump it in 10
Right. So my message is this clean up is fine
We have to clean up and keep a clean because Noel's been out there all the time cleaning up cleaning up
And spending his time just cleaning up our city
It's unacceptable. He could be doing other things, right?
We need to deter these individuals that are committing crimes against our community and I'm gonna say it one more time in my
Priorities real it was real simple was three public safety homeless and housing. I addressed that with the EAP
beautifying of Oakland and public safety.
We need to address it in a way that we can spend our time
worrying about our seniors,
worrying about our children,
worrying about our homeless individuals that need housing.
Instead of talking about dumping,
which people should know better to do it anyway,
because I'm going to tell you,
much of the dumping in my community is coming from my community,
from down the street with bags and stuff,
I don't know if it's because of the size
of the garbage bag or the garbage containers or not.
We're working on that also.
So my main point right now is to get money,
that money that was promised for the EEOs to be safe,
for themselves to be safe,
and to be able to be trained
to identify hazardous and contaminated materials
so that information can be documented
and turned over to the district attorney
So these individuals that are committing crimes
against our community can be prosecuted,
because it is hurtful that I have to walk through this,
my children, my seniors, it is sad.
I yield the floor.
Okay, we've got a motion and a second.
Do we have some comment from the public?
Wanna call your name and please approach the podium,
state your name for the record.
If you're participating via Zoom,
please raise your hands so you're easily identified
as a practice.
We will take in person before Zoom.
Ms. Asada, Dwayne Nelson, and Blair Beekman.
Kevin Daly, I think I'm on the list too.
I double checked and I see an email unless I misread it.
Kevin Daly, you signed up for item five?
I believe so.
I do have you, thank you.
You may proceed.
Completely dumping expenditure plan.
I think that's the right one, right?
Okay, thanks.
I thank Council Member Wong for asking my questions
about how do we evaluate success.
Of course, we're doing a lot of things at once,
so it might be difficult to pull out what works
and what doesn't.
It'd be good to see maybe a six month,
rather than wait for a full year
before the first evaluation.
With traffic calming, I also like to look at results.
we do some stuff?
Is it really slowing down the streets or not?
If it isn't, what can we do?
How can we get back and change things?
Council Member Gayo mentioned something
that I thought was interesting.
Are there actually businesses that don't pay for pickup?
This morning's finance committee discussed
how the finance department is improving data
on businesses that don't pay business taxes.
Can the same data be used to decide what,
to find out whether those businesses pay
for garbage pickup, waste pickup,
either directly or possibly through the property,
through their landlords or whatever.
I think that's something the finance department
might be able to do if this really is a problem, thanks.
name is dwayne helson district three west oakland residents
and i hear that
you're going to develop kpis and then report on them
specifically you develop them and you agree on them and then you report on
them later
i mean you don't just say oh
we're gonna decide what success is and then deliver it
i mean i i don't understand that
so
outside of that uh...
you know when i came over here this morning i stopped by a west street and
We have a pile of trash growing open up service quest two one six nine four six zero three
It's on West Street West Grand and West Street. It's right under a chain link fence
With a sign that says no dumping. We have a camera right there
I don't understand what's going on with that camera
I emailed Rebecca Kaplan about that to find out if that camera is
Is working or what the purpose is so I don't know why we have dumping there all the time
If we're not using the cameras we have the 36 cameras that we have
I don't know what's gonna happen if we're gonna get additional cameras, how that's gonna
be helpful.
So, I don't know what's going on with that.
And then I think with 311, you know, I have a, there's so many issues with 311, I mean,
just putting aside the poor user experience you have when you fill out that, when you
fill those out, I have requests, you know, from June 3rd, 2025, still open, still showing
as acknowledged.
I have other ones, you know, the three weeks open.
I don't know, like, if I submit a service request today,
but then 50 people in the hills fill one out,
does theirs get closed first before mine?
I mean, you know, I think in West Oakland,
you certainly feel like we're the caboose end of this train.
I'm glad nobody's mentioned equity today,
because I think we're not getting any equity.
I think inequities will be getting in West Oakland.
So definitely say that.
And I think lastly, I would just close by saying,
everyone agrees that the multifamily residential units
are not using bulky pickup,
And I think education is an issue there, but I think all the members of the council, you
all have to consider joint services, you can be involved in the education of that as well.
Thank you.
One of the reasons why you have been in the NSA for close to 23 years is because you can't
get your police department to have culture change.
This issue is going to continually be an issue where you think of ways, how you can pick
up trash, how you can educate people, but not completely eliminating the problem, because
you have a culture who embraces this behavior. And there exist cultures that don't display
this kind of behavior. Japan is the best example. My sons are going to Japan. One is, this is
his third trip. The other one and the two boys are going there to observe the culture
of Japan and the most outstanding thing my child told me about Japan is there is no trash
on the streets, no trash cans on the streets. You don't eat in public. You eat in the restaurant.
It's all kind of cultural behaviors where the communities are clean. People are respectful
and they believe in respecting their community and keeping it clean. It's not just a force
to do it. You embrace it. That's culture. You can go in any store, go in Ross, target
and look on the floor and see how people just throw clothing, items all in disarray. It's
a culture of we don't respect each other's communities, private commercial property,
or our own homes. You have people with trash out in front of their house and they don't
even go pick it up it's a culture change that we cannot create is not gonna
happen so all we're going to do is keep up coming up with ways of picking up you
can say find them culture is not going to change thank you for your comment
missus out of movement to our zoom speaker Blair Beekman please unmute
yourself and being in your one two-minute comment hi where big man
Thanks for this item.
I didn't sign up for the next item
that can be related to this.
So to offer a few words on that other item,
how can we relate to this one?
If it's Caltrans funding for litter issues,
if I'm understanding something of that nature
and council person Gallo really nicely described
back in January, how we can be working a system
of getting Caltrans funding and that they can do
a lot of litter cleanup themselves.
That money in January became allocated
to the city of Oakland so they could have more freedom
and choices of how to pick up litter.
It was a good plan, but its funding is gonna be running out
around May, around this time actually.
And so, you know, at that time you guys were talking
about how to work with a community effort
and what that could mean, and I hope that's going well.
Because I'm really hopeful what you guys can be doing well.
I'm not so much into the punitive side of things, but how like in San Jose, you know,
where I was living the past 10 years before moving down to San Diego, you know,
they'd have dumpster days on Saturdays where the whole neighborhood, they'd put a dumpster
in a neighborhood, and just all parts of the community would come out and put their garbage there.
And we could do the same thing in Oakland that I think, I'm sure you guys know the concept.
I think it would be great, and especially bringing it down to, you know,
of the areas where the trash is worse, it could be a good way to bring community
together and government, you know, and you guys can just co-mingle and talk.
And I think good conversations can happen and it's a good comradery.
And that's, that's what we need to be going for.
What's the comradery?
What's the neighborhood feeling that we're trying to build?
It isn't a punitive concept.
As Kevin, well, as Kevin said, it's got a lot of ideas going.
I think you should go for more of a community effort instead of punitive things.
for that good luck with your efforts I will decide thank you for your comment
that concludes your public speakers for item five we do have a motion made by
councilmember Houston seconded by councilmember Wong to approve the
recommendations of staff and afford this item to the May 19th 2026 City
Council agenda on roll councilmember Gallo thank you
councilmember Houston can I want to make a statement it's gonna be on consent
I do not have the money to pay
because I spoke to the president
because I wanted to extend it
and get more money.
Okay, thank you.
Councilmember Houston.
Aye.
Councilmember Wong.
Aye.
And Chair Unger.
Aye.
This motion does pass with four
ayes to approve the recommendation
of the staff and afford this item
to the May 19th City Council
agenda and through the body that
will be on consent or non-consent.
Consent.
Construction contract to the Bay Area Lightworks Inc.
for HSIP 9 rectangular rapid flashing beacon project.
Project number 1005461, the lowest responsible
and responsive bidder in accordance to the project plans,
specifications, state requirements,
and the contractor's bid,
and the amount of $304,900.
And you do have three speakers for this item.
Okay, let's hear from staff, please.
Good afternoon, I'm Joe Wang,
Safe Streets Division Manager, Oak Dot.
Before I start, I'd like to request a change
to the title of the resolution for this item.
You all have a copy of it in front of you.
So you'll just go ahead and read it in?
Yeah, sure.
And then after you're done presenting,
one of the council members can make a motion
to accept your changes and then we'll go from there.
We'll do.
Resolution awarding a construction contract
the Bay Area Lightworks, Incorporated for HSIP 9.
Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacon Project, project number 1005461.
The lowest responsible and responsive bidder in accordance with the project plans,
specifications, state requirements, and the contractors bid in the amount of $304,900.
and adopting appropriate California Environmental Quality Act CEQA findings.
Go ahead with your report, sir.
Sure.
I believe Mr. Parks has a copy for you.
Sure.
You want the presentation now?
Yes, please.
The Highway Safety Improvement Program, or HSIP,
is a federal transportation grant administered by Federal Highway Administration through Caltrans.
God applied for it was awarded cycle nine funds in the amount of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars
The funds will be used to construct pedestrian safety improvements
specifically rectangular rapid flashing beacons or rfb's at two Oakland intersections
98th Avenue's C Street and Oakland Avenue and Moss Avenue
The RFBs are yellow flashing beacons that have a proven record of improving pedestrian crossing safety.
Both locations we're looking at have unprotected crosswalks.
Meaning they're crosswalks without any traffic control like stop signs or traffic signals to protect pedestrians.
These are crosswalks across multiple lanes of high-volume traffic.
The Federal Disadvantaged Business Enterprise, or DBE program, was established in 1983 to assist small business formation and growth, and to provide them an advantage to securing federally funded public right-of-way projects.
However, in October of last year, the U.S. Department of Transportation suspended all contract goal-setting under the DBE program.
And as a result of these changes, the DBE participation was reduced to no requirement.
It was not a factor in our determination of the lowest responsive and responsible bidder.
The project received six bids with San Francisco based Bay Area Light Works coming in as the lowest responsive and responsible bidder.
The bid was $3,000, $4,900 which is 26% lower than the engineer's estimate.
The decision today for council is whether or not to adopt a resolution to award the construction contract to
San Francisco Light Works with no DBE participation.
And I should mention that there are additional projects from our department in the pipeline
in the same situation where these projects are funded by federal money and we have to
comply with the new DBE rules.
And that ends my presentation.
Thank you, sir.
Any questions?
Questions from council members.
Council Member Houston, please.
Through the chair, A.C. Lake, when the federal funds are
included, can you answer that question for me?
And we enforce small local business on minority contractors,
what can happen if we say, no, we don't
I want to use this because we want to utilize
small local businesses, what can happen?
I think our choice is either that we accept
the federal money and the terms by which
the federal money must be spent,
or we don't accept the federal money.
And we work closely with the city attorney's office
to make sure that those were our only options.
I'm happy to turn it over to the city attorney
if there's anything additional.
No, I'm here today as parliamentarian
any additional legal questions can follow the ordinary process and so so
through the chair again to AC a leg if we don't if we just if we try to enforce
the small local businesses on that we can lose the money correct is that what
you saying correct okay all right I got my answer councilmember guy you made
reference to 98th Avenue and what streets are we?
I think it was 98th and C and Oakland and Moss.
And Oakland and Moss, correct.
98th and?
C Street.
Okay.
And Oak Street, you said?
No, Oakland Avenue and Moss.
Oakland, Oakland, okay.
Okay, thank you for that information for your work
and I'll make a motion to approve staff's recommendation.
Council Member Wong.
And just to confirm because there is a distinction between the federal government revising the
DBE participation requirement to 0% and saying, we cannot consider DBEs, it is the latter
that the new rules are from the federal government.
I believe so, yes.
Okay.
Okay.
We have a motion.
We have a second.
Moving to our public speakers, Mrs. Sadha and Kevin Dahle.
So Oakland Avenue and Moss is in district two near district one and 98th and C is in
district seven.
So I would assume having this money you had a list of streets and intersections that could
have fallen under the need to address this.
So how did you conclude these two streets?
method of fairness and equity brought you to have these two streets as the ones that
would be targeted because you have to constantly address fairness and equity. You have an abundance
of certain districts whose issues are addressed more than other districts related to streets,
pavement, sidewalks, tree cutting, whatever you want to call it. And that's evident if
If you just go look at the streets and at some point we need to see what's going on
with the payment of streets because where are these people, are they doing undercover
work that we never see them?
We just need to see that.
The other thing I'm concerned about is this area of what that money could be used for,
weakens permanent markings drain pipes curve ramps is a list of a large list of
how that money could be spent how did you come to use the money for this
particular area the needs of where we have storm drain pipes for instance to
me that's a very high priority so I don't know how you decided on the areas
because I don't know how you decided on what Pacific places of where we could spend the
money how we made those decisions but you have the responsibility of creating the highest
priority being addressed so if they're gonna just paint the streets thank you for your
comment thank you madam clerk that concludes your public speakers for item three we do
you have them?
Excuse me, Council Member Houston like to speak.
Yeah, just through the charges like to share,
I'm so happy that they did choose 98th and C Street.
There were multiple accidents there.
A young lady got ran over.
She got killed further down, left behind four kids.
Another young lady, little girl was ran over.
And this is real critical location
because this is an underserved location
that's been underserved for years.
I mean Elmhurst Park is right there to tennis court
through the city administrator's office.
We just did a soft closure on that park
where they had individuals living in there burning fires,
burning trees for the last seven years.
We just cleaned it up.
We did a soft closure on it.
We're gonna reopen it.
We're gonna get an arborist out there
to actually cut the tree or repair the tree
if it can be repaired.
And that park is gonna start bringing a lot,
community. And we have many.
Councilmember Wong aye and Chair Onger aye.
This motion does pass with four ayes to approve
the recommendations of staff and afford this item
to the May 19th, 2026 City Council agenda
through the body with that beyond consent.
Yes, and I'd like to make clear that it is approved
as amended.
As amended, thank you.
I'll restate your motion.
We have a motion made by Councilmember Gallo,
seconded by Councilmember Houston,
to approve as amended the recommendations of staff
the four decided to the bay nineteen twenty twenty six city council agenda on
roll comes from our bio councilmember Houston I councilmember Wong I and Chair
Unger I emotion does pass with four eyes to approve as amended the
recommendations of staff and the four decide them to the May 19th 2026 city
council agenda and do the body that was on consent moving to item for adopt the
resolution authorizing the city administrator to enter into a
cooperative purchase agreement with Cray Gray Bar Electric Company for the
acquisition of electric lighting, data communications, security productions, and
related supplies an amount not to exceed $1,500,000 for up to
five-year period expiring no later than June 30th, 2031 pursuant to the Oakland
Municipal Code 204080 and you do have four speakers for this item.
looked just like the guy who spoke on the last topic. Good afternoon again Joe
Wang of the proposed resolution would allow the city administrator to enter
into a co-op agreement with Graybar Electric Company through the city of
Kansas City, Missouri to acquire electrical communications and data
management hardware equipment. This contract would be used by departments of
of transportation, public works, and information technology.
As the city continues to prioritize doing business
with Oakland-based vendors, we're establishing contracts
with other vendors, including those that are not based
in Oakland, to keep the operation going.
So this is a contract that is a bridge,
or a necessary bridge, to get us to the point
where we have a purchase contract with an Oakland vendor.
Graybar is a vendor that we've used before
who has met our purchasing needs
and offered competitive pricing.
Establishing a new contract with them
through a co-op agreement is the most efficient way
to bring back a vendor with a proven track record.
And this contract does not lock up funds
or hinder our ability to establish contracts
with Oakland vendors as they become available.
Adoption of this resolution is not a commitment
to spend $1.5 million with Graybar,
but an approval to spend up to $1.5 million
in purchasing capacity
that concludes my
presentation
thank you questions colleagues
councilmember guy
first of all let me thank you joe
mister wang for being with us uh... you certainly know the history of oakland
and appreciate
you stand with the city of oakland
uh... secondly
this funding amount is coming from what funding source
So we've identified funding,
but we're not dedicating funding to the contract,
which is seeking approval for purchasing capacity.
So we have to prove that the money is there,
but we're not necessarily locking up the funds.
It's not until we make actual purchases
that we have to encumber funds to pay for the goods.
So at this point, we don't know what level,
where the funding center be coming from,
whether it's state, federal, or?
No, it's state and local.
I always have a hard time remembering 22, 18, and 19,
which is...
State funding, federal funding?
Yeah, yeah, it's a gas tax and sales tax.
All right, thank you.
I'll make a motion to approve the item, thank you.
Councilmember Houston.
Through the chair.
St. Louis, that's where they're from?
The firm is based in Missouri,
but the co-op agreement is through Kansas City.
So the city of Kansas City has an agreement currently with gray bar, which is also based in Missouri
So through the chair, we don't have any electrical contractors that can do this out here
I mean we have many electrical contract. I can understand if it was a specialty
through the chair
So this is not a contract. It's a purchasing contract
Yeah, so about a year ago
We solicited bids for a very similar contract for electrical supplies and we received no bids from Oakland vendors
So, you know, it's disappointing but it's an ongoing effort
But I think you know back to the point that this is we got it we have to maintain operation in the meantime
We literally keep the lights on because we repair street lights and traffic signals and we have to buy parts to do the work
So again, this is a bridge to that point in time when we will be able to establish contracts with local vendors
through the chair, I mean
Oakland Bay Area
California but then outside of the state I just can't grab it. I mean
Understand it we should have some vendors that can supply this in the Bay Area at least. I mean
We do I think there are vendors in the Bay Area but our focus was on Oakland vendors. Yes. Yes
That's never wrong
Thanks through the chair
So I've been railing on the the status of our streetlights for a while it just
It's been really bad. The repair time has been outrageous. So this is a new cooperative agreement
So you anticipate that this should bring down the time that it takes because I flagged things
myself to like 311 and it's like six months to repair these things.
So can you just confirm that?
Yes, this is only a small part of the overall improvement or just securing a vendor
so that we can purchase the parts that we need to make repairs.
Okay. Are there commitments in this contract in terms of, you know,
Volume of work and I have directed this question to a number of departments when we pursue the cooperative agreement model because
Every report I get on cooperative agreements. It's very like we're just gonna get some work. It doesn't specify a
level of service that we're expecting
It's a purchasing contract for for product and goods
So they're not doing any providing any service for us just selling us parts that we need to make repairs within the house
Oh, I see. Okay
well then even with the equipment it's I
Guess what are we expecting to purchase with with this cooperative agreement? So the
Good question. It'll be shared by three different departments. Okay, we'll be purchasing
electrical communications and data management hardware equipment for a Department of Transportation Public Works and
Department of Information Technology
Okay, I I just want to
Go on a soap bucket a little bit because I have like street lights in my district that are not functional. It's like
creating
like
The potential for a traffic accident. I'm surprised it hasn't happened yet and then even around Lake Merritt
Finally the lights turned on after I don't know how many months we've been flagging this for
But I gotta say even now that they're on it's a little wonky
It's like now the lights are on during the daytime, which I don't think was like that before. So I
Will make an emotion to adopt this because I think anything to improve
the lighting the street lights the
You know the traffic signals is all incredibly important because I have noticed a deterioration over the last year
Okay, any more comments from my colleagues? Do we have a second?
We need a second still councilmember Houston's got the second. Thank you calling in our public speakers, mrs. Sada
Blair Beekman
Kevin Dali
I need to bring up something I brought up in finance.
I'm seeing projects that are being taken on
by the city, but they're not complete.
So this project of streetlights,
I know there are streetlights that in the last couple
of months have been placed at Keller and Mountain,
but they're not on.
When are you gonna turn them on?
For years street lights have been at Keller and Canyon Oaks Drive, not on.
So why do we have projects that are not totally bought to completion?
Everything that was a part of the project is done.
And as I request, what projects do we have in this city that have started and
not been completed related to public works?
everybody on the dias should understand
a cooperative purchase agreement you just recently agreed that you're going
to participate in that process
this one is from kansas city missouri
and the company they're using we're going to use
based on the similar terms of the contract
what i don't understand and then and the report is
electrical equipment that we're going to and accessories
will be used for public streets, private streets, and highways.
Could somebody would want to know what are we talking about with private streets?
Do we participate in providing public work services to private streets related to this
or anything?
And what highways are we talking about that this item would be inclusive of?
Thank you. Moving to our zoom speaker, Blair Beekman, you may unmute yourself and begin your two minute comment.
Hi, Blair Beekman. Thanks a lot for this item is kind of related to items you had at the.
1st meeting today that were important on lighting issues and that was mentioned by community working on better.
Uh, civilian ideas of policing that included, you know, our, our street light repairs.
And that, that could be a more reliable, uh, source, uh, for our public safety efforts.
Um, I, I offered on that item that I was, have a bit of concern that I, as I work with
tech accountability, that, you know, there has to be good civil rights practices and review.
And I think that is possibly what gets in the way of it and slows things up
with smart streetlight issues and streetlight issues overall.
And being from San Diego these days, it's a big concern,
and they're really trying to develop a more efficient system to do all of that.
So good luck what you can be working on and figuring out
in the process of both, you know, working on fix-it
priorities, public safety, and civil rights and civil protections with
around responsible tech practices. It's a combination and we have to have that conversation
openly. I'm a bit fearful we don't have that conversation openly enough. I think those are
the pieces of the puzzle. We just have to be more clear in the open public space that those are the
pieces. And so good luck how you can do that. I think that's the order of things, the formula
of things. And it's just important we talk about all of them. They're all important and how we
we develop a better community feature.
Thank you.
That concludes your public speakers.
Council Member Wong.
I'm reminded that we also have this plague of copper wire
out of our streetlights being stolen.
I would just urge if this particular vendor has,
it looks like there are like types of wire
that are designed to deter theft.
And if we can purchase that through these folks,
I would very much like to see that
since I think it'll help prevent some of the outages
that we're seeing across the city.
Thanks.
Thank you.
We do have a motion made by Councilmember Wong,
seconded by Councilmember Houston
to approve the recommendations of staff
and afford this item to the May 19th city council agenda.
On roll, Councilmember Raguio.
Aye.
Councilmember Houston.
Aye.
Thank you.
Councilmember Wong.
Aye.
And Chair Unger.
Aye.
This motion does pass with four ayes
to approve the recommendations of staff
and afford this item to the May 19th,
2026 City Council Agenda
and through the body would that be on consent?
Yes, please.
Thank you.
Moving to item six.
This item needs an urgency motion as it was added
at the agenda on a three-day posting
from the Rules and Legislation Committee.
I just need a motion.
So moved.
Thank you, we have a motion made by Chair Unger,
seconded by Council Member Houston to receive the urgency of this item on roll
Council Member Gallo aye Council Member Houston aye Council Member Wong aye and
Chair Onger aye this motion does pass with four ayes I will now read the item
into record adopt the resolution authorize in the city administrator to
accept and appropriate grant funds in an amount not to exceed $300,000 from the
California Department of Transportation community cleanup and employment pathway
a grant program and to execute related grant agreements.
Two, waiving the City of Oakland's advertising
a competitive request for proposals requirements for the CCEP funded services.
Three, amending City Council resolution number 89762 to
increase the agreement with the Youth Employment Partnership by $250,000
for a total contractor amount not to exceed $2,125,000.
and for amending City Council Resolution Number 89761 to increase the agreement with the Lake
Mary Institute of $50,000 for a total contract amount not to exceed $1,212,500
and five adopted appropriate CEQA findings and you do have two speakers.
Do we have a staff report?
Good morning again chair and members of the committee. I'm Kristen Hathaway,
assistant director with Oakland Public Works.
I have a very short PowerPoint presentation.
Okay, next slide.
So we're requesting council to adopt a resolution
accepting and appropriating $300,000 in grant funds
from the Caltrans Community Cleanup
and Employment Pathways Program.
This would allow us to increase the contract
with the Youth Employment Partnership nonprofit
that runs Team Oakland by $250,000
for total contract value of 1.12 million.
And then the Lake Mary Institute
were requesting to add $50,000 to their contract
and adopt CEQA findings.
Next slide.
So thank you for agreeing to the urgency finding.
We are anxious to get started on this grant implementation
that started on April 15th.
It supports community cleanup work
and youth workforce development.
The Youth Employment Partnership runs Team Oakland
that employs youth and young adults aged 18 to 25
in doing beautification activities and job training
and largely focuses on youth that are at risk
and have been otherwise shut out of job opportunities.
The Lake Merit Institute focuses on cleaning and education
efforts around Lake Merit, and the Team Oakland youth
working through this program would
be doing work at Lake Merit and in other identified high
priority neighborhoods.
This expands Team Oakland from just a summer job program
to year round, which would increase the length of job
opportunities for the young people.
So we'll be doing additional litter and graffiti removal,
working in public spaces, like I said,
job training for youth and at-risk individuals,
and building skills for those youth
in environmental stewardship, safety, teamwork,
and leadership, and leverages state funding.
Next slide.
Like I said, we were notified in February
of receipt of the grant, and we need
to begin program implementation as soon as possible.
And so we would like to confirm the partner roles,
begin recruiting and training of the youth participants
and the grant fully expires in November, 2027.
Last slide.
So that's all I have.
I'm available for questions.
Thank you.
That's great, thank you.
Councilmember Houston.
Through the chair, I really like this.
On the Caltrans money of the $300,000,
their scope of work, and I think page two,
paragraph two, last bullet point,
was this moneys was for individuals
who are justice impacted and unhoused,
experiencing homelessness or children at risk.
So does that mean that moneys that they appropriated
for this are the childrens at risk
for being justice impacted and unhoused?
Because that was what that $300,000 is for,
that's coming from Caltrans.
right. This money is coming from Caltrans and it will fund Team Oakland and Team Oakland
does specifically recruit youth in those categories for participating in the Team Oakland program.
Okay. And since it was waived by the city of Oakland advertising, I wanted to get some
information back quarterly. Let me look at this real quick and see what it said. I wanted
and some data back on that,
on who did they actually reach out to.
And you don't have to say names,
but who did they, and what did they train,
what skill sets did they train
so they can have these skill sets,
these wraparound skill sets.
Can I get a report back for that?
Yeah, I mean I'm sure we can provide
a report on Team Oakland in general.
This is Team Oakland, we have an existing contract
with Youth Employment Partnership for this program
that we have been running for a couple decades.
And we can provide you information on Team Oakland
as a program, and yeah.
No, for this, I wanted an action item
just for this specific money.
I'll make sure that money is going to,
with Caltrans, I wanted it for,
that $300,000, because it's gonna be $250,000
to one program, and then $50,000 for Lake Merritt.
For the Lake Merritt Institute, yes, yes.
Through the Chair, yeah, go ahead.
Through the Chair, if I may.
Does the grant already have reporting out requirements and if so, let's include that the council members in that report it does
Yes, so we will do that. Absolutely
And include the information requested by councilmember Houston. Yes
Councilmember Wong
Thank you for hopping on this quickly by the way, and you know Lake Merritt is in
District two. It's really important that we
Treat the jewel of Oakland like like it is. So thank you and also
YEP as well as like their Institute. I think it's that's on the board of district to yps in district too. So
Yeah, and I know that they do fantastic work one thing I would just urge
I understand that it's not just like merit. It's also going to be the EJ neighborhoods that
get
these services that I really
With Chinatown, I've been working with the economic workforce development department and it is shocking
especially given the language barriers where you are
311 app is not available in other languages and yet somehow trying to have Chinatown is more
reports on graffiti than like
the entire city combined and so if the for Chinatown
I've really the graffiti removal piece is really important to me
And with that I do make a motion to accept staff recommendation. Thank you
councilmember Gaia
Thank you for the information and certainly I know both organizations extremely well
With the youth employment program. I've known them known them from the beginning. They're out there helping me weekly clean the neighborhood and
Then the youngsters that are in the program our neighborhood youngsters
and not only learning work skills,
but also receiving their high school education.
And so I really want to thank Youth Employment Partnership,
but at the same time, beyond the cleanup,
they are also building tough sheds, little sheds
for homeless people and created a housing opportunity
for those that are homeless,
that are in college right across the street.
So I'm extremely grateful to the Youth Employment Partnership
Program, and also with the Lake Merit Group.
I started, they've been calling me to show up on weekends,
Saturday or Sunday, to help beautify Lake Merit,
and certainly we're doing that.
And look forward to working with them directly,
and thank you for the recommendation
to these two organizations, thank you.
I'll second the motion.
Right all right thank you.
Moving to our public speakers Kevin Dolly and the society.
Lake Merritt is.
Proud part of Oakland.
But at some point we got to look at the amount of money we spend on Lake Merritt.
It is exceptionally a large amount.
And whether or not we are not adequately equitably and fairly distributing the needs that make merit gets to other parts of the city.
I'm concerned about the nonprofit Lake Merit Institute, a total of $1.2 million to help
clean Lake Merit.
You guys freely give money to nonprofits with no accountability about work done if it's
done right.
and I can speak to the Housing Consortium of the East Bay,
I think that's the name of that group,
that was over the Lake Merritt Lodge
and over the tiny homes by Lake Merritt
and completely allowed for the destruction of that property.
And the Spanish-speaking unity council
with that money that they owed in 2016.
And I don't know how y'all decided to pay back the money
that they owe to Neighbors Works America.
You do things with these non-profits
that are very unappropriate.
Lastly, the youth employment, job readiness.
Now it's okay to have children out here picking up litter
and doing litter abatement and graffiti abatement,
but when are we gonna move on to find opportunities
for jobs that are really gonna have some purpose
for them moving in their careers?
And right now, carpentry, electricians and plumbers,
they are the ones, when you're talking
about non-professional jobs.
We can get some work done with these young people,
but we gotta move beyond picking up trash,
as far as I'm concerned.
Thank you for your comments, Asana.
No problem, thank you.
Kevin Dalley.
That concludes your public speakers for item.
Chairperson, just for the public's questions,
youth employment and training they do provide
You know development in terms of construction work the electrical work. They have a
supercomputer
program and they also
Preparing meals and all that they do cooking and all that so it's a multitude of services. They provide the young people in the neighborhood
Yeah
Okay. Thank you
We do have a motion made by councilmember Wong seconded by councilmember Gallo to approve the recommendations of staff and before this item to
The May 19th City Council agenda on roll councilmember Gallo
councilmember Houston
Hi, thank you councilmember Wong. I and chair under I
This motion does pass with four eyes to approve the recommendations of staff and afford this item to the May 19th City Council agenda
through the body with that beyond consent.
Yes, please.
Thank you.
Moving to open forum.
We do have four speakers.
Kevin Dali, Blair Beekman, Mrs. Sada, and Mike Patouf.
If you're in chambers, please approach the podium.
If you're participating via Zoom,
raise your hands here, easily identified.
We will take in person before Zoom.
Are we on two minute timer?
Yes, begin.
Mike Betahoff, District 4.
Following up on a recommendation
from the Oakland Budget Advisory Commission about paving and trenching and also speaking
as a citizen of District 4 and a registered professional civil engineer. I'm happy to
see that Oakland is moving forward with paving. Congratulations on the council for your fiscal
discipline to get our credit rating and bond moving. Congratulations to this committee
and Josh Rowan and his team for getting paving moving. We have an adjacent action item that
I think we're going to be
talking about I think needs to
be agendized for future.
Meetings which is trenching.
So we're paving our roads but at
the same time we're tearing them
up.
With trenching.
And many cities.
That I've experienced personally
have standards before you can
trench in the public right away
you must place a financial
deposit with the city.
It does it a lot of things it
makes it easier for Josh and his
team to fix if it doesn't go
And they can't just do a quick and dirty job.
What happens is the trenches get made for legitimate reasons.
But if they subside, it creates a gap in the pavement that creates water and
it undermines the whole pavement.
I have a whole report, I could show many, many examples citywide.
So there's two things we need to do.
One is a measure to support Josh and his team that would allow,
would a permit is granted that someone provides financial surety to make sure
So that that gets cleaned, and then it gets fixed.
And separately, that we coordinate our paving schedule and our utility undergrounding schedule to make this work.
I can say from my own experience, having done development earlier in my career, I remember the City Public Works Manager of City of Fremont saying,
Mike, since Prop 13, we don't have extra money in our public works budget to fix contractors' messes.
We need you to put a deposit.
This is one of the issues.
The city of Denverville tells
me you can't drill a hole in the
sidewalk to support this
historic building while you're
building it unless you put down
a deposit and show us you're
going to fix the sidewalks you
drill the hole in.
Cities around the area respect
the public right away, put
requirements in.
Thank you for your comment.
Thankful that people are
organizing against measure E.
So this group calls Citizens
Oakland, has six findings about
I don't know if you can do that
or your all your partial taxes.
Voter approved part of special
tax revenue has grown six times
faster than inflation.
The city has failed to meet
voter mandated minimums and
three of the last four partial
tax measures.
It's stream fiscal necessity has
been used continuously to evade
those minimums city spending has
And what you see is flat rate
partial taxes hit deep east
Oakland homes 48% harder than
Rock Ridge.
You heard that, Mr. Houston?
Partial taxes are substantially
passed through two renters under
certain circumstances.
So let me go back now with the
last of my time about the trees.
When you guys dealt with those,
that tree and that $900,000
responsibility to hold your staff for taking three years
To act on that violation. I was totally insulted by mr.
Houston asking the man to apologize when the property is owned by two people a
Black man and a white woman and nowhere during the discussion. Did you hold her accountable?
The whole while you had the discussion. It was all about the black man and there was two people on the property and they were both fine
So that looks that looks pretty bad
Then the people were paying the vagrancy tax
The property has eroded
Because you took so long to act on it
But don't come here and ask a black man apologize and his white wife is just as responsible and you don't ask her to apologize
Thank you for your comment, Mr. Sato
One more reminder Thursday is a bike to where everyday I'm hoping that I make it to 81st Avenue
library at 715 in the morning to ride in with council member Houston but
everyone can ride with an elected or be an elected riding with everyone else
and then the happy hour this evening sorry Thursday evening in old town
should be more relaxing and you're not required to have a bike for the happy
hour thank you. Moving to our zoom speaker Blair Beekman you may unmute
yourself and begin your two minute comment. Hi, Beekman. Thanks for the meeting. I'm 57 years old
now and in the mid 80s there was a law under the Reagan administration technically in the state of
California but it just seemed so much part of the Reagan administration philosophy that English only
was passed and we had to only speak English in California in our legal system. And it was really,
really annoying. And it's been on the books like for that long. And it's like a regular part of
our lives. And I think it has something much to do with why 311 is currently only in English in
Oakland, which thank you for that information from Councilperson Wang. It's kind of shocking
to consider that, that how many people are excluded from, you know, good social services
and community services. It's excluding a major portion of the community,
and good luck in addressing our fears. And we have to acknowledge Oakland has a problem
with English-only laws. They don't know how to offer multi-language ideas without feeling
it's upsetting something, and I hope we learn to get past that. San Jose can give you really good
examples. They've done a lot of good work on that, so check them out and how to do that well.
Good luck with San Jose ideas with the garbage issues also. It was all parts of income levels
gathering together on Saturdays for trash collection. That's an awesome idea, you know,
in local neighborhoods and thank you for the cell bright issues. Coming back in a year's time
for a review of the process is important. I hope we can come back in six months with
with different choices and just have that conversation ready to go and good luck.
That concludes your public speakers for open forum. All right, meeting adjourned. Thank you all.