Public Works and Transportation Committee Meeting – June 24, 2025
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Public Works and Transportation Committee Meeting – June 24, 2025
The Public Works and Transportation Committee of the Oakland City Council convened at 11:32 AM on Tuesday, June 24, 2025, in the City Council Chamber, 3rd Floor, Oakland City Hall. Chairperson Zac Unger presided over the meeting, which was adjourned at 12:38 PM. All four committee members (Councilmembers Gallo, Houston, Wang, and Unger) were present. The committee considered six agenda items, including approval of minutes, a pending list, equipment purchases, a bridge contract amendment, infrastructure acceptance at Brooklyn Basin, and a parking fines ordinance. All items were approved unanimously and forwarded to the July 1, 2025 City Council meeting.
Consent Calendar
- Approval of Draft Minutes (June 10, 2025): Unanimously accepted. (4-0)
- Determination of Schedule of Outstanding Committee Items (Pending List): Unanimously accepted as presented. (4-0)
Public Comments & Testimony
- Item 2 (Pending List): One speaker criticized the firing of Latonya Simmons and referenced the 2024-2025 Alameda County Grand Jury report, urging the committee to address issues such as street paving delays, poor stewardship of Measure Q, lack of oversight in the Department of Transportation, ticketing of stolen cars, and wildfire prevention access. The speaker also raised concerns about evacuation routes at Skyline High School.
- Item 3 (Sewer Power Rodder Vehicles): One speaker asked whether the project was fully funded, how it ranked among departmental priorities, whether the new equipment would be identical or improved, and whether the city has sufficient staffing to maintain the vehicles.
- Item 4 (Leimert Bridge Contract Amendment): One speaker questioned whether this was a new contract or a change order, noted the prevalence of change orders in construction, suggested considering progressive design contracts, and criticized the lack of prioritization of Oakland-based businesses.
- Item 5 (Brooklyn Basin Improvements): Two speakers spoke. Kevin Daly (Transport Oakland) cited inadequate public transit and bike lanes in the area, noting that mitigation measures like weekday-only shuttles are insufficient. Another speaker raised concerns about parking, public access to private commercial property for a trail, the developer's loan default and change in ownership, and lack of transparency.
- Item 6 (Parking Fines): Two speakers spoke. Kevin Daly (co-chair of Bicyclist and Pedestrian Advisory Commission) supported the daylighting fine, encouraged painting curbs red to allow higher fines, and proposed progressive parking fines for repeat violators. Another speaker discussed the Alameda County Grand Jury report on ticketing of stolen vehicles, detailing the citation payment process and collection through the DMV.
- Open Forum: Two speakers spoke. Kevin Daly urged the council to appoint members to the Oakland-Alameda AC Transit Interagency Liaison Committee and suggested using AC Transit cameras to enforce bike lane parking. Another speaker highlighted disproportionate protected bike lanes in wealthier neighborhoods, RV parking, sidewalk vendors, pothole repairs (over 53,000 needed), high liability costs, lack of Measure KK and Measure U audits, and hiring delays.
Discussion Items
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Item 3: Critical Sewer Division Power Rodder Vehicle Acquisitions
- Staff (Richard Battersby, Assistant Director, Oakland Public Works) explained that this is a routine replacement of two sewer power rodder vehicles (12 and 13 years old) at a cost of up to $1.5 million. The purchase is funded by the Sewer Enterprise Fund. The existing vehicles are essential for meeting federal consent decree cleaning requirements (94 miles per year). No Oakland-based vendor was available; the contract goes to Owen Equipment Sales, a TSE International authorized dealer.
- Committee members expressed support. Councilmember Wang asked about industry average costs; staff confirmed ~$750,000 each. Councilmember Gallo emphasized the need to address the broader fleet backlog.
- Outcome: Approved unanimously (4-0) and forwarded to the July 1, 2025 City Council consent agenda.
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Item 4: Professional Services Contract Amendment with Biggs Cardosa Associates, Inc. for Leimert Bridge Seismic Retrofit Project
- Staff (Amiss Silvan, Principal Civil Engineer, DOT) requested a $150,000 increase (total not-to-exceed $1,840,279.20) for design support services during construction closeout. Unforeseen conditions (e.g., excessive concrete spalls on the 100-year-old bridge) necessitated additional work. The project is federally funded, and staff expects reimbursement from Caltrans. DBE participation is 30.83%, LBE 69.16%.
- Councilmember Houston questioned the contractor's history (10 years, headquarters in San Jose) and why the $150,000 was not anticipated. Staff explained the contract was awarded in 2015 on a time-and-material basis. Councilmember Houston requested the item go to non-consent to allow fuller council debate and to encourage local business development. Councilmember Gallo advised that concerns should be raised with staff before meetings.
- Outcome: Approved unanimously (4-0) and forwarded to the July 1, 2025 City Council non-consent agenda.
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Item 5: Issuance of Unconditional Certificate of Completion for Brooklyn Basin Phase Two Public Improvements
- Staff (Reginald Bazil, Assistant to the Director, DOT) reported that the developer has met all public infrastructure commitments for Phase Two (roads, sidewalks, sewers, lighting). A maintenance bond of ~$400,000 will replace the improvement bond.
- Councilmember Gallo noted the project includes over 3,000 residential units (including ~400 affordable) on 64 acres. Councilmember Wang asked about implications for Estuary Park; staff clarified this item is separate from the park. Concerns about transit access were raised by speakers and Councilmember Wang; staff noted transit commitments were made in earlier phases and that future opportunities exist for Estuary Park.
- Outcome: Approved unanimously (4-0) and forwarded to the July 1, 2025 City Council consent agenda.
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Item 6: Parking Fines Ordinance
- Staff (Kirby Olson, DOT Parking and Mobility Division, and Michael Ford) presented an ordinance to: (1) increase all parking fines by 5% per year for two years (revenue already budgeted); (2) establish a $40 fine for parking within 20 feet of an intersection or crosswalk (daylighting) under California Vehicle Code 22500(N), as required by state law; (3) clean up inconsistencies with Oakland’s municipal code and the California Vehicle Code.
- Questions from committee: Councilmember Unger asked about public education; staff noted a website, social media, and warnings before citations. Councilmember Gallo asked who enforces sidewalk parking; staff explained OPD handles driveway blocking, DOT handles other parking violations. Councilmember Houston raised concerns about the encampment management plan hindering enforcement; staff confirmed the plan is being revised. Councilmember Wang asked about enforcement of fraudulent disabled placards; staff said a dedicated detail will return after staffing improvements. Councilmember Wang also asked about painting curbs red to increase the fine from $40 to the higher red-zone amount; staff confirmed that is the current practice on new projects.
- Councilmember Houston requested the item go to non-consent for transparency and broader council input.
- Outcome: Approved unanimously (4-0) and forwarded to the July 1, 2025 City Council non-consent agenda.
Key Outcomes
- All six agenda items were approved unanimously (4-0) and forwarded to the July 1, 2025 concurrent meeting of the City Council and Oakland Redevelopment Successor Agency.
- Two items (Professional Services Contract Amendment for Leimert Bridge and Parking Fines Ordinance) were directed to the City Council’s non-consent calendar; the other four items were directed to the consent calendar.
- Staff committed to providing informational reports on fire department fleet replacement and on mandatory garbage service contract compliance.
- The meeting concluded with no further business at 12:38 PM.
Meeting Transcript
Good morning, and welcome to the public works and transportation committee meeting of Tuesday, June twenty-fourth, two thousand twenty-five. The time is now eleven thirty-two AM, and this meeting may come to order. Before taking role, I will provide instructions on how to submit speaker cards for items on this agenda. If you're here with us in chamber and would like to submit a speaker card, please fill one out and turn one into myself or a clerk representative no later than ten minutes after the start of this meeting or before the item is read into record. Registering to speak is now due. Registering to speak via Zoom is now due twenty-four hours prior to the start of this meeting time. And this meeting came sorry, this meeting came to order at eleven thirty-two AM, and speaker cards will no longer be accepted ten minutes after this meeting has begun, making that time eleven forty-two AM. We'll now proceed with taking roll. Council Member Gu. Councilmember Houston. Council Member Wong. And before we begin, Chair, do you have any announcements? Reading in item number one, approval of the draft minutes from the committee meeting of June tenth, two thousand twenty-five. Approve approval. Second. Thank you. We have a motion made by Councilmember Guile, seconded by Councilmember Houston to approve the draft minutes from the committee meeting of June 10, 2025 on roll. Councilmember Gaio. Aye. Councilmember Houston. Yes. Councilmember Wong. Yes. And Chair Ungar. Thank you. Item number one passes with four I say accept the draft minutes of June 10th, 2025. Moving on to item number two, determination of schedule of outstanding committee items, also known as your pending list. And we do have one public speaker on this item. All right, let's hear the public speaker, please. So uh let me start off by saying uh it's a disgrace with the firing of Latonya Simmons, and I'll continue to deal with that. If you still hear she should still be here. So the grand jury 2024-2025 Alabama County report has come out, and quite a bit of what is being dealt with in that report should be brought to this committee. So number one in the report is the issue of Oakland paving and street pair delays. Also in the report, poor stewardship of measure Q. Third, in the report is lack of adequate oversight in the Department of Transportation. Fourth, in the report, issuing of parking tickets on stolen cars. And fifth, in the report, is wildfire prevention emergency access needs improvement. And I know with the need of improvement of access, because you continue to ignore the fact firefighter that we can't evacuate those children at skyline high school. 1,400 kids that have been instructed by the fire department to shelter in place. That's serious. And you continue to ignore that. Sit silently and say nothing about we cannot evacuate those children. We have I live in the hills. Over the past couple of months, we've had four fires up in the hills that can potentially have spread. One of them was one block away from Skyline High School and the 12,000 block. Skyline is in the 13,000 block. Do something, firefighter. Thank you for your comments, and Chair, that concludes our speakers on this item. We have no changes to the schedule. I think we're gonna have a bunch of changes at rules, but for now we're gonna keep it how it is.
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