Good morning.

If I can have all the council members return to their seats so we can begin this meeting.

Okay.

Good morning and welcome to the special concurrent meeting of the Oakland Redevelopment Successor Agency and City Council of Monday, September 15, 2025.

Before I begin this meeting, I will go over speaker card instructions for those wishing to participate.

I'm sorry, an hour and thirty minutes from the start of this meeting, making that time ten oh one as this meeting started at nine thirty-one.

You can fill out a speaker's card by filling out a card with the clerk representative at the front, or if you were looking to fill out an online speaker card, that period has closed as cards were due twenty-four hours before the start of this meeting.

As was as is customary with these meetings, we will take people in chambers first and then go to the Zoom speakers.

Renewing and continuing the city council's declaration of a local emergency due to the existence of a critical health public emergency with AIDS.

Item 5.2, a resolution for the declaration of medical cannabis as a health emergency.

Item 5.3, a resolution declaring a local emergency on homelessness.

Item 5.4 in ordinance for revisions to the animal control ordinance.

Noting that this item is up for final passage.

Item 5.5, a resolution honoring the co-founders of the musical.

Item 5.6 is an emergency ordinance regarding the homeless shelter crisis.

Item 5.7 in a resolution for the contract for public system high risk youth team.

Item 5.8, a resolution for apricot amended use policy and annual report.

Item 5.10, a resolution for the exclusive negotiation agreement with the Unity Council.

Item 5.11, a resolution to accept the irrevocable offer of dedication of 499 embarcadero.

Adam 5.12, a resolution honoring the ceremonial anniversary of Tabernacle Church.

Adam 5.13, a resolution for Turner Group commemor commemorative street renaming.

Adam 5.14, a resolution for Michael Morgan commemorative street renaming.

Item 5.15.

A resolution for the appointments of the public safety and planning oversight commission.

A resolution for the settlement of Jack Wolling Velasquez, Carla Mendoza against the City of Oakland.18, a resolution for fiscal year 25 through 26.

OPD Crime Lab Coverdale grant.

Also noting the presence of Council Member Houston.

And you do have speakers on this item.

Any comments from the council?

Seeing none, let's go to the public speakers.

As I call your name, please approach the podium or raise your hand in Zoom so I can easily identify you as I stated before.

Speakers in chambers will be taken first, and then we will move to the Zoom speakers.

Mr.

Hazard, I have you with multiple cards.

Sorry if I said that incorrectly.

Kendrick Armstrong.

If you heard your name, please approach the podium.

Amanda Solazano also have you.

Again, if you heard your name, please approach the podium in any order.

Please sign up so we can get through the speakers expeditiously if you are able.

And again, if you are on Zoom, please raise your hand so I can easily identify you.

I signed up for two items and uh ready.

My name is Armando.

So we need the shelter crisis ordinance so we can give people a place to go.

That was the big theme last week.

And you know, Councilmember Wong, why are you shutting down a medical respite facility in your district?

We've got an unhouse we've got an unhoused mortality crisis, more than 200 people dying on the street each year, disproportionately black.

And uh you should ask yourself how many of those people are gonna die because you denied them medical respite.

Saying that if we bring homeless people into Chinatown, there's gonna be manslaughter in the streets.

That is very charged language.

And I'm really offended by the lies I heard last week, saying, you know, we're gonna arrest people for returning to an encampment site.

Oh, but we're not criminalizing homelessness.

You think we're that stupid that you can just lie with no accountability?

And saying we've got people coming from Canada and Missouri, you know that that's not evidence-based that maybe in a few cases, but the uh the the UCSF statewide study and the point in time count, the vast majority of our unhoused people, like 70, 80 percent, have lived here for decades or generations.

And have you read the home together strategic plan that all the policies need to be grounded in?

You know, stop racialized to displacement.

That is your mandate, and that is what you know your this these policies are attempting.

And why and it's embarrassing that we're debating these Cal ICH guidelines.

This is the bare minimum of constitutional protection just to prevent lawsuits.

We should be not racing to the bottom and struggling to comply with the bare minimum of legal.

We should be raising our standards and adopting best practices.

The best practices guidelines say put the public health officials in charge of encampment planning.

Okay.

We need a public health approach in the midst of this mortality crisis, not punishment and criminalization.

And it's an embarrassment that we're aligning with the Trump Supreme Court and celebrating when they strip constitutional protections.

You're criminalizing the status of homelessness when people have no place to go, and you're punishing them for that.

Hello, my name is Kedrick Armstrong.

I am the current music director for the Oakland Symphony.

Um I'm here to speak on behalf of the Oakland Symphony in uh renaming uh 21st Street next to the Paramount in honor of Michael Morgan.

Uh for those of you who did not know Michael Morgan was the music director of the Oakland Symphony for 30 years and the second black music director of the Oakland Symphony, myself being the third black music director of the Oakland Symphony, and a history point that no other orchestra in this country can say that they've had the legacy of having three black music directors in classical music.

Black musicians only make up 2.1% of musicians in classical music.

And so being able to honor Michael Morgan and being able to honor the musical legacy of Oakland in this way, to have a way that everyone who comes to downtown Oakland to see the amazing legacy of a man who championed diversity, equity, and inclusion in classical music, so that I can now be the third black music director is an incredible honor.

So thank you so much for can you hear me?

My name's Susan Schweig.

Um I'm a former Oakham resident, Berkeley resident now, a retired professor at UC Berkeley.

I was there for almost 40 years, and my research specialty was the history of disability poverty and street clearing.

Um I wrote a book called The Ugly Laws, which is about an ordinance that banned uh unsightly disabled people from exposing themselves to public view.

It was an anti-bagging ordinance, and I also wrote an article in a Harvard law review that was specifically about the use of the Americans with Disabilities Act to justify cynically the clearing, uh the kicking of disabled people to the curb and out of sight uh on the grounds of disability access.

So many of the people we're talking about are disabled, our older people uh deserve that protection.

But I don't want to talk to you about that.

I came here today for another reason.

After I retired, I started working um as a volunteer providing um accompaniment and comfort to dying unhoused people in San Francisco in the tender line.

I'm working with a street medicine team.

I just want to tell you about my first experience on my first day.

I went out for training on it.

Thank you.

Good morning.

My name's Dr.

Miyako Hitano.

I'm the CEO of the Oakland Symphony, speaking on behalf of uh the initiative to rename the space next to or the street next to the Paramount Theater, Michael Morgan Way.

Uh, I got the extreme privilege of working with Michael Morgan for three years before he passed.

Um, I'm also speaking on behalf of the Paramount Theater Leadership, as they are unable to be here this morning on short notice.

Um, but they are extremely in favor of this, their board uh and their their director, Jason Blackwell.

Michael Morgan spent his last 18 years of his life conducting the Oakland Symphony at the Paramount Theater.

He is nationally and internationally recognized as someone who brought diversity into classical music in an intentional way, and he is celebrated across the country.

And as Maestra Armstrong said that people come here knowing who he was, and our community members know who he was because he went to schools and had at least 50 school visits every single year, which is an extra starting with uh 5.3 declaration of local emergency or homelessness.

If you pay attention to the governor's model ordinance addressing encampments with urgency and dignity, it is very similar to what Mr.

Houston is proposing.

Mr.

Houston, your ordinance is similar to the governor's ordinance on homelessness.

It's called the model ordinance addressing encampments with urgency and dignity.

Look at it.

It says that you're gonna have a partnership with the friends of uh Oakland Animals, but it looks like you have not completed that relationship, and you're still working on it.

So I don't know what you're approving when this has not been finalized.

5.6 shelter crisis ordinance.

Uh you have the reasons for obtaining shelters as a result of the threat of health and safety to persons.

That's what Mr.

Ken Houston was proposing.

Ken Houston, 5.6 is what you were dealing with, okay?

Uh statement, significant initiatives are in place uh to deal with homelessness is in this document related to 5.6, and that's not true.

That's not true.

Uh you says you will allow the city to establish minimum minimum health and safety standards.

Now you jump in on Ken Houston for what he's trying to do about his being criminal, it's a criminal thing to arrest people, but you are proving in this uh 5.6 that you allow the city to establish minimum health and safety standards.

Okay, going to the next item, which is 5.7.

You need to define effective and coordinated services for the Department of Violence Prevention related to this issue.

You use a lot of language, but gotta you gotta really say what you mean.

Uh 5.8, you're collecting data that demonstrates what?

5.9 pro housing.

You cannot have pro-housing when you have gentrification in a sanctuary city when you cannot determine how much housing is needed.

That's why we are on the streets, black people, because of jantuary sanctuary uh gentrification and sanctuary city status.

That's why black people are on the street and you will not talk about it.

Okay, unity council.

You cannot legally vote on an item that says Unity Council.

4990 says that there is the Spanish speaking unity council of Alameda County.

There's no such legal organization as the Unity Council.

Why do they do it?

Because they want you to believe that they don't support their own.

Thank you, Ms.

Olavala.

Your time is up.

This meeting is insult.

There's no reason why you, Mr.

President, should have changed this to a special council meeting.

3 30 tomorrow.

What's the reason?

Other than sparse attendance.

That's why you did it.

And you got items on this agenda that you want to try to push through.

You still haven't dealt with Fenton all.

Fit all is a crisis from the federal government to the state government, but not in the city of Oakland.

And you pass it on the agenda.

I gave you this document.

From your own.

And that's what happened with measure eight, the transaction and use tax.

It shall not be adopted.

Turn on the back.

On January 16th, the city attorney filed with the Alameda County Registrar's office, acknowledging he altered the ballot measure.

On page 8 section 10, that the city attorney, in accord with the city attorney's powers and duties, is hereby authorized to insert the final ballot question into this ordinance that's 1383 after the adoption by the council, so that the ballot question constitutes a true and impartial synopsis.

And you went along with it.

How dare you?

Every one of you, and you, Councilmember Wayne, you got that mitigated nerve to talk about racism because black folks could not uh the unsheltered could not go to the courtyard.

How racist is that?

You're the one that's racist, and none of you could support Mr.

Houston's effort to address the uh RVs.

None of you.

He was wrong because he did it by himself.

But all every one of you stayed silent.

Pull item number nine, the general obligation bond.

You all got an envelope here, okay, with my signature on it.

Pull item nine because you can't do a general obligation bond for refinancing.

And I got contact with the city administrator.

Thank you, Mr.

Hazard.

Your time is up.

If your name was called and you wish to speak, please approach the podium or raise your hand in Zoom at this time.

All names have been called.

Moved by Councilmember Ron Chandra and seconded by Council Member Houston.

On roll for the consent calendar moved by Councilmember Ramachandran, seconded by Councilmember Houston, noting that item 6.2 is an emergency ordinance.

I'm sorry.

Item six yes.

One of the items on consent is an emergency ordinance and will be um introduced and finalized on the same day.

Moving through the roll, Councilmember Brown.

Aye.

Councilmember Fife is excused.

Aye.

Oh, all right.

Councilmember Five is now present.

Councilmember Houston.

Hi.

Councilmember Ramachandran.

Councilmember Anger.

Hi.

Councilmember Wong.

And can I uh just make a comment actually?

Um I want to thank uh Councilmember Fife, actually, for the resolution around honoring uh Michael Morgan.

Uh I was actually privileged to be a student in the Oakland Youth Orchestra where Michael Morgan had been a director and was privileged to study directly under him, and he was really a trailblazer in the the music community.

Thank you for the public speakers who came to also speak about it.

And um I just want to say, too, that he was such an innovator.

I remember once that we actually played a piece of music where uh a departure from classical music.

We were actually playing like um a piece that really represented the urban sounds of uh just urban America.

And it was anyways.

I know it's a little out of turn, but I wanted to just uh speak to um his legacy, and I really appreciate that he's being honored.

Um, and he also had an early death, and so we lost him far too early.

Thank you.

Otherwise, I chair Jenkins.

Hi.

Motion passes with a vote of eight eyes.

Moving to your public hearing starting with item 6.1.

Conduct a public hearing and upon conclusion.

Receive the City of Oakland's consolidated annual performance and evaluation report for fiscal year 24 through 25, community development, excuse me, block grant, home investment partnerships, housing opportunities for persons with AIDS, and emergency solutions grants to be submitted to the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.

We do need a motion to open the public hearing, second.

Just the through the chairs of the council members using the new system.

You do have to get in the queue to make the motion.

You can't just yell it out so the public can hear you on the mic.

So you do need to click the request to speak, and the chair will allow you to speak so we can get the motions orderly, and I can uh I do recognize your voices, but I'll be able to actually see and hear who's making the motion.

So we have a motion by Councilmember Guile, second by Councilmember Houston.

So, to open the public hearing.

Councilmember Brown.

Aye.

Councilmember Five.

Council Member Guillo.

Aye.

Councilmember Houston.

Aye.

Councilmember Ramachandran.

Aye.

Councilmember Unger.

Aye.

Councilmember Wong.

Aye.

And Chair Jenkins.

Aye.

Motion passes with a vote of eight.

So I'm pretty sure everybody has read their packets and acts.

Excuse me.

I'm sure everybody has read the.

I'm sure everybody has read their packets and ask questions of the department heads, so I'll put three minutes on the clock.

Parliamentarian.

To the chair, for regularly regularly scheduled council meetings where the notice says that that's that's correct under the council's rules of procedure, but this is a special meeting, and it's not noticed that way.

Thank you.

We must we must proceed.

Mr.

Hazard, we must proceed.

Please continue.

Thank you.

Good morning, Ugo Ramirez, Housing and Community Development Department, Deputy Director.

Every year, presentation, please.

Thank you.

Every year we hold a public hearing as is required by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD for the Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report or CAPER.

Let's see.

Next slide, please.

Thank you.

Again, the CAPER is a HUD compliance document.

Its focus is on the city's use of our four annual formula grants that total about 14 million dollars.

It details our progress toward goals contained in our HUD Annual Action Plan, which is tied to our five-year consolidated plan.

Next slide, please.

These plans reflect our housing strategic priorities of the three Ps, which include production of new deeply affordable housing, preservation of existing naturally occurring affordable housing, and protection of Oaklanders from displacement.

These HUD plans also include homelessness solutions and small business development activities.

Next slide, please.

In fiscal year 2024, the city council accepted and appropriated the following formula grants: approximately 11.5 million dollars in community development block grant or CDBG, including reprogramming prior year funds and reinvestment of loan repayments from our revolving loan fund.

In the following slide, I'll break down our uses by strategic priority.

But the next formula grant is approximately 2.4 million in home investment partnerships or home, which we use exclusively for new affordable housing construction.

Approximately 3.8 million in housing opportunities for persons with AIDS or HAPWA, which is administered by the Human Services Department's community homelessness services division or CHS on behalf of the eligible metropolitan statistical area or EMSA, which includes Alameda and Contra Costa counties.

The split between the two counties is 70% Alameda County and 30% Contra Costa County, based on HIV prevalence.

Hoppa is used for a variety of housing and supportive services for persons with HIV.

And finally, approximately 650,000 in emergency solutions grants, which is also administered by CHS and is used for a variety of homelessness services.

Next slide, please.

CDBG uses are restricted to primarily capital uses, which is why we allocate the lion's share to production and preservation activities, including using it as a source in our new construction NOFA, or notice of funding availability, and our homeowner-occupied rehabilitation loan and grant programs.

Additionally, in 24-25, we allocated approximately $1 million to the improvement of city-owned homelessness facilities.

More than $600,000 were allocated to economic and workforce development activities, and approximately $2 million for anti-displacement, which includes compliance relocation program, fair housing legal services, and keep people housed.

And so I'll just conclude with the following slide, which shows some highlights, including more than 6.3 million allocated to new affordable housing development and preservation.

56 homeowner-occupied homes were rehabilitated by our residential lending services team.

More than 3,300 meals were provided in last year's Thanksgiving meal program.

Our code compliance relocation program facilitated property owner provided relocation payments to 2529 tenant households.

We supported more than 200 small businesses with 15 loans that created or retained 81 jobs for low-income workers.

So that concludes my presentation.

Happy to answer any questions.

Thank you so much.

Any comments from the council members?

Seeing none, we will go to the public speakers.

John Jones III.

We know housing is important.

I want to speak to the first four words mentioned in the recommendation.

Conduct a public hearing.

What does that mean?

My understanding of the word hearman means to listen.

I the increasingly and growing frustration I have with the city of Oakland collectively is the fact that folks don't listen to who I consider to be legacy residents.

I hear folks like Mr.

Hazard and Miss Asada coming here.

There's a wealth of wisdom in our community that for whatever reason gets ignored.

I don't understand why that happens.

I don't understand why there's this continual practice of either granting money to or hiring people that's not from here.

That is super disrespectful.

So those of us who are from here who understand what's happening here, right?

We hear a lot about these hearings.

That's not what we need.

The wealth of wisdom is here.

What I would like the city to do, everyone, every branch within this city and every department, need to focus on hiring people from Oakland, right?

Because I'm tired of people coming in talking about the Black Panthers, but in totally disrespect the whole Tampoint platform.

And if you're confused about what I mean when I say a legacy resident, that don't mean you have to be born in Oakland.

That simply means that you planted your flag here in Oakland.

Right?

Here we P.

Newton wasn't born in Oakland, but he planted his flag here.

You get what I'm saying?

Brother Turha, I don't know where he at is a legacy resident.

He planted his flag.

He gives back.

And I'm saying this for a reason.

That's someone that's raising a kid here.

I'm focused on the future of my kid who is 10 years old.

And the things that we see don't always match the words that I hear because everybody's an expert, but who got skin in the game in this city?

We need to stop that practice of disrespecting the legacy here, because if we keep doing that, it won't be an Oakland.

And it won't be Oakland for you all either.

There are a number of issues in the document that are questionable in terms of was an equitable practice in place.

46 units for new affordable housing out of a hundred and thirty-six for homeless.

Was that equitable?

97 affordable senior housing.

For the Chinatown.

Was that equitable in terms of who else in districts got affordable housing for seniors?

Now when you talk about HUD, HUD is a federal agency.

And the part of their requirement is that you have a citizen's participation plan.

The person in charge of putting the citizens' participation plan in place chose to use a resident plan.

You often take the role of not using citizens to make sure you include your undocumented community.

And you have to ask yourself, is that fair practice?

HUD has eligibility requirements.

Did we follow the requirements?

Income at below Pacific AMI has to be identified.

U.S.

citizenship or eligibility, non-citizen status, no outstanding delinquent federal debt.

Certain crimes may not be appliable with this.

Where is the where is the report that identifies?

And then the last thing is, in order to obtain continuous funding, you must disclose any suspected violations of federal criminal law involving fraud, bribery, or gratitude to HUD.

Where is that in the report?

Derek Barnes, are you in the chamber or on Zoom?

At this time on it, excuse me, at this time all names have been called.

Oh, I'm taking a motion.

So moved.

I'll move.

Oh, well, we need to make a motion to close a public hearing.

And then second understanding that that's what Councilmember Unger was doing.

Yes.

So just for clarity, that motion was to receive the report and close the public hearing with the same motion.

Is that correct?

I'll take that as a yes.

Yes, that's correct.

Councilmember Brown.

Aye.

Councilmember Fife.

Aye.

Councilmember Gayo.

Aye.

Councilmember Houston.

Aye.

Councilmember Ramachandran.

Councilmember Unger.

Aye.

Councilmember Wong.

Chair Jenkins.

Aye.

Motion passes with a vote of eight ayes.

Going to item 6.2.

I would entertain a motion to open the public hearing.

Okay.

So once you guys tap on the mic, I'll hit the button and turn your mic on.

All right.

So moved by uh Councilmember Gaio, seconded by Councilmember Five.

And that motion was to open the public hearing.

I'll go ahead and read the item into record.

I'm sorry.

Taking a motion to the role to open the public hearing.

Councilmember Brown.

Aye.

Councilmember Fife.

Aye.

Council Member Gayo.

Aye.

Councilmember Houston.

Aye.

Councilmember Ramachandran.

Aye.

Council Member Unger.

Aye.

Council Member Wong.

Aye.

And Chair Jenkins.

Aye.

Motion passes with a vote of eight ayes.

I will go ahead and read the item into record.

Just before I read the item into record, when we're doing a roll call, you don't have to get in the queue because I can automatically open you.

So just wait till I unmute you.

Conduct the public hearing upon conclusion, adopts the following pieces of legislation.

An emergency ordinance adding Oakland Municipal Code, Chapter 15.06.

Oakland amendments to the California Energy and Green Building Codes related to building decarbonization, energy efficiency, and public health to meet the city of Oakland's resource resource conservation and climate goals, repealing the city of Oakland's local amendments to the 2022 edition of the California Energy Code and the 2022 California Green Building Code at OMC Chapter 15.04, part six and part 11 administrative and technical amendments and adopting appropriate sequel findings and exemptions and a resolution of findings supporting an emergency ordinance, adding Oakland Municipal Code Chapter 15.06, Oakland amendments to the California Energy and Green Codes related to the decarbonization energy efficiency and public health to meet the city of Oakland's resource conservation and climate goals, repealing the city of Oakland's local amendments to the 2022 edition of the California Energy Code and the 2022 California Green Building Code at OMC Chapter 15.04, Part 6 and Part 11 administrative and technical amendments and adopting appropriate CEQA findings and just noting that item 6.2.1 excuse me part one is an emergency ordinance and if adopted it will be approved, introduced and approved on the same day.

Thank you.

Please place three minutes on the clock.

Jenkins, it may please the council, I'll be very brief and turn over the uh content presentation technically to interim chief building official Cecilia Muela.

But just to set context, for those of you who have served on this council um through our previous cycles of building code amendment, we're now faced with a very different scenario than we've had historically.

We typically have been um had the opportunity until the following January 1st to review codes that were issued in the summer for us to review for amendment, and we have operated off a three-year cycle for those renewals at the end of June.

An amendment was made at in Sacramento that has now placed a six-year window.

So instead of having every three years to examine our codes, that's been extended to six years.

We also have been given a date of September 30th, as opposed to December 31st or January 1st, September 30th, the end of this month, to adopt this code with any local amendments that are specific to Oakland.

And as many of you know, we have some very specific conditions here that we use to amend our code.

I'm gonna turn this over to Cecilia Muela, but I just wanted to make sure that you were aware of the urgency and the situation placed us in because we did not receive copies of the code until the summer, we were not in a position even to bring this before you as recess was in place.

So we, along with other municipalities within the state, are under a very keen sense of urgency that if we want to get our amendments uh submitted to the state by September 30th, we need to take action at this meeting.

So I appreciate you for your consideration, and again, um, no wish we had more time, but this is the situation in which we find ourselves.

Thank you, Cecilia.

Good morning.

Uh honorable council president Jenkins and members of the city council.

As already stated, my name is Cecilia Muela, and I'm currently the NRM building official for the Planning and building Bureau.

I'm here again today to present to you our adoption of the 1506 uh uh energy conservation code and um we're doing this to meet the city's conservation and climate goals as they pertain to the Equitable Climate Action Plan as well as the environmental justice element of the city's general plan, which aims to have all electric by 2040 and improve our air quality for our constituents in our buildings for the city of Oakland.

Presentation, please.

Next page.

California building codes are updated every three years as already mentioned by the state build uh building standards commission.

California building codes are based on the codes that are issued by the International Code Council as they are modeled through the model code adoption with the ICC, the International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials, and the National Fire Prevention Association.

Local jurisdictions can amend codes to be more restrictive due to specific geological, topographical, or climatic conditions.

Next slide.

How many more?

How many more minutes you need?

Um I'll need about maybe two more minutes.

Two more minutes.

Perfect.

Great.

Um through the um adoption of AB 130, our code cycle now has changed, as already mentioned.

We used to have some time before December 31st to adopt our codes.

That time has since been expedited to meet a cutoff of September 30th.

So we are here today um to present to you some of these changes.

If I can have uh next slide, please.

This shows the adoption timeline through the 2024 triangle code adoption cycle.

Next slide.

We are looking to adopt a new chapter to title to Title 15 under the buildings and constructions um OMC.

This includes amendments to California Energy and Green Codes with a goal to establish pathway to meet the city of Oakland's uh equitable climate action plan as already mentioned, and the environmental justice element of the general plan for new construction to introduce new measures to existing residential buildings and ongoing alterations.

Next slide.

Some of the highlights of the California Energy Code include establishing high performance standards for new construction using energy modeling metrics, EDR and source energy to strongly incentivize all electric designs in a lawful durable manner.

It also includes residential building alterations with a permit valuation of over 25,000 that would require the implementation of practical cost-effective electrification and efficiency measures from a flexible menu of options.

Next slide.

And it would require new constructions, new construction to utilize concrete mixes that do not exceed a specified maximum global warming potential or GWP limit.

Next slide.

Any questions?

Thank you so much.

So this is separate from the fire code, right?

When is the fire code adopted?

Are they connected at all?

They are connected through our uh 1504 code adoption process.

So when will the fire code be up for?

That should be a part of um let me let me defer to redults.

Okay, fire.

We will be bringing that forward for adoption for their code.

Okay, thank you.

Of course.

Thanks, Council President.

Um, so just two quick questions.

Um, I noted the importance in the report on natural gas and and the way that natural gas can uh create fire risks.

Um can you speak a little bit more just about how we're approaching, you know, what facilities have natural gas or using them and how are we going to be approaching just, you know, removing those and and conversion to electric uh facilities.

Absolutely.

I'm gonna actually bring up Shana that will assist us in answering some of the sustainability questions.

Shana.

Thank you, Council President.

Um my name is Shayna Hirschfield Gold, Acting Sustainability Director.

Oh, sorry.

Can you hear me now?

Good morning, acting sustainability director in the city administrator's office, Shayna Herschfield Gold.

Um the question was in regards to how we are helping Oaklanders shift away from natural gas.

Yeah, is that correct?

Um so, of course, the city itself does not produce our own uh incentives and rebate programs.

We partner very closely with PGE, the Bay Area Regional Energy Network, the statewide tech program, which is funded through the CEC, and many others, in addition to working closely with uh local nonprofits and workforce development providers like Rising Sun uh Center for Opportunity, Laney College, and others to make sure that we do have uh robust energy efficiency first and foremost and electrification programs available to Oakland residents, landlords and tenants, very importantly, um, as well as uh small businesses and others to make sure that the education, the awareness are out there, that incentives are getting first and foremost to those who need them most and who would benefit from the most.

Uh the city's Equitable Climate Action Plan, which council adopted in 2020 starts with the word equitable because we do recognize that avoiding displacement of residents and businesses has to be first and foremost, alongside the fact that the continued use of natural gas exacerbates the climate crisis and worsens um health outcomes, particularly among those who can you know afford to have uh, you know, poor health the least, right?

So um so we kind of bring all of this together.

The sustainability and resilience division in the CAO does coordinate across departments, um, as well as with outside agencies like PGE to make sure that we are bringing all of these incentives and resources, capacity building to all of our departments.

So a couple of examples, we worked very closely with our housing and community development department a couple years ago to do staff training and to bring additional funds into our residential lending program to better uh incorporate electrification measures into our access and safety program for low-income homeowners.

My our our group worked very closely with uh Cecilia Muelas and her team in you know putting together these code amendments to make sure again that there is maximum flexibility while we're enabling residents and um and businesses and property owners to prepare for regional requirements that are coming soon.

So in 2027, per the Bayer Air Quality Management District, um any uh gas-powered water heater that breaks down will have to be replaced with a heat pump or similar.

You will not be able to replace a failed gas water heater with uh a gas appliance in 2029.

Same thing for HVAC, so gas furnace fails, you're gonna have to replace it with a heat pump.

Um and the requirements go on in time.

And the last thing that Oaklanders can afford is to be ill-prepared for those requirements.

And so these code amendments were very much constructed with um with that that flexibility and that preparation, that awareness in mind.

Does that answer?

Yeah, it does.

And I I my next thing is just really more of a comment, but it says under fiscal impact that you all have the performance standards actually ensure that the all electric construction is gonna be the most economically advantageous uh pathway, and so I think that's great because we don't want to inadvertently drive up the cost of housing with this.

So thank you for the work.

Yes, thank you.

Um excellent.

Um, well, I just wanted to first um express um just gratitude for um for the planning and building department for moving so quickly um with the really short turnaround time.

So just wanted to thank you for that.

I have two questions.

Um the first one has to do with page five um of the report.

Um can you all provide some examples of what you think would be the immediate cost impacts of some of the um alterations in to um the requirements around um different types of property uh renovations um just so that we can get an understanding of what property owners can expect?

That's a great question.

Um so when when we were looking through the different pathways by which somebody would be compliant, we took that into consideration.

So one of those things would be, you know, what would be the most uh large expenditure for a property owner, specifically one that is a homeowner that doesn't necessarily have the means to be able to um become compliant.

So we added the three different paths where they could choose a way of compliance through um this new ordinance.

Some of those things to consider would be exactly what Shana said, you know, the um change out of water heaters and furnaces, the cost effect uh that those may have and being able to really gauge what that impact would be.

And we found it just across the board through our research with other municipalities that that would be the most minor change for those specific change outs.

Okay.

Um and then how did staff decide on the energy efficiency standard for new residential buildings?

And then that's on page 22.

Yes, so um we've looked through our our partner um municipalities that have been going through the same process to again find a pathway by which we could um then come in and tailor that to Oakland.

Um, obviously looking at what they may have seen already as an impact, we were able to guide ourselves by what was most cost-effective, being the first and foremost, and what could be reasonably implemented with less impact to the property owner.

I see.

And so with the changes that you all are making, um, it sounds like what I'm hearing is is that there's just a lot of comparison to what other kind of local jurisdictions are doing?

That's correct.

Okay, all right, thank you.

Of course.

I just want to state for the record I hate this new system of microphones.

Um second, uh, I I uh one of the questions was answered by Councilmember Wong's question about the f uh financial impacts on affordable housing.

So I appreciate that information, but I wanna know do you have any idea why the state changed their policies that are rushing us to get through our amendments faster than they they've been done in the past, like what's the rationale behind that, and then what's the consequence for the city of Oakland if we don't actually meet that timeline.

Uh through the president, um council member Pfeiff, yes.

The state wanted to provide a um more robust, quicker way of going through the development process.

So, in their mindset, being able to go through the codes, really look at them, get our changes in before September 30th to see what was working in 22 code cycle, what would work in the 2025 code cycle that would give us an opportunity to bring forth those changes or amendments so that we can get them in for the next six years.

So the whole idea was trying to streamline our development process, make it easier.

Right, may also and and again uh to the chair if it uh president who pleases the council.

We can also have Brian Mowley from the City Attorney's Office may be able to speak to some of that as well.

A lot of us had to do with the timing where it typically just cycled through later it was put with this with the change with this June adoption, so that also squeezed things in terms of the the reasons behind them the full range of motivation.

Again, we would have to you know confer with the legislators on that, but I'll turn this over to attorney Murray.

Good morning, Brian Molly from the city attorney's office.

Looking at the uh legislation, um, it is pretty clear it's only applying to residential buildings, and what they're trying to do is create uh the state legislature is trying to create certainty for residential home builders because there's I think been some complaints among the residential home builders that each locality has different requirements and that's making it much more difficult to build residential you know to build housing so what the state has done is said we're gonna just freeze the building code as a residential buildings for six years.

But they've given local jurisdictions until September 30th to bring any local amendments they want to bring.

Yes and and again to the council um to the council president to the council de facto what that would do is tend to normalize the code the building code across jurisdictions so again there's a little bit more predictability from one jurisdiction to the other given this very tight time frame in which we all have to adopt our amendments so that's also an outcome.

And if I may also add going through this process also allows the ability to um implement reach codes that allow us to meet our our climate goals for the city.

Wonderful my la the last piece of my question was what's the consequence if we wouldn't meet if we didn't meet the timeline.

If we didn't meet the timeline then we wouldn't be able to look at the new model code um cycle the 2025 codes to implement those for over the next six years.

You're welcome.

Councilmember McGill thank you can you hear me okay okay I want to thank uh Director Gilchrist first of all for the information and certainly uh from the federal to the state to the county and city level we're seeing many changes when it comes to what we do at home energy wise and just as an example I had a couple people come knock on my door saying that I'm eligible and qualify for the solar panels on my roof right and I know years ago we established certain areas zones in certain locations to do the solar energy and um so for the I guess what I'm asking my question is do are we providing this information to the public and are there certain areas within each district that qualify for the funding for the implementation of these people knocking on our doors saying that we're this company and I'm eligible XYZ and I didn't even I wasn't even aware of it.

And so are we providing that information directly to our communities and secondly Director Gilchrist do we have the staffing available so when we do send developers and business people downtown there's someone there to respond and answer their questions and and provide this information.

Those are my questions to you well I'll go first and take them a little out of order.

In terms of the staffing council member you know that's always a challenge that we're working to recruit and get more people we will be looking at the task level what it is going to take for us to meet this goal.

Staff will know it's their responsibility to provide information and specific to the energy code information I'm gonna also defer to Shana who can speak more directly about that.

But we will definitely have that as part of the assignment and on our regular updates around budget submittals staff needs etc we will certainly make you aware of any gap or any capacity assistance that we need to make sure we're hitting our performance mark.

Okay so the council will clearly know within their district what areas what locations or what type of housing is eligible to receive the energy and I will defer to my colleague to respond to that okay thank you that's extremely important because like understood two different companies knocked on my door so I'm eligible and I wasn't even aware because none no one in the neighborhood had been part of this whole process.

Thank you.

Uh through the chair uh there as I said before there are a lot of incentive programs out there I understand that there's also a lot of confusion and um particularly for older folks you get somebody and which is not you of course but for example my mother um who I live with has answered the door many times and there's somebody there saying, hey, I have a free product for you, and she's texting me while I'm at work saying, is this legit um so very much understand uh the concern of needing to make sure that you know folks in your in your district are aware of what's available.

Um with current staffing constraints, um, we have had to make some tough decisions about allocating um allocating our staff time uh you know to for example policy versus planning versus public outreach and engagement.

Our team does, however, work very closely with the citywide communications team through the um citywide uh engagement working group and um through our own direct communications, we have a monthly newsletter where we're trying to get the word out.

We're also connecting um local organizations, for example, organizations like rising sun, center for opportunity, which I mentioned, grid alternatives, which may have been somebody reaching out to you, as well as implementers of PGE's um Empower My Home, which is an incredible program.

Um we are working to connect those with local nonprofits.

Um they the some of the implementers of of those PGE funded programs have been showing up at the town nights programs over the summer, making sure that um Oakland or is that families in eligible neighborhoods are aware of those programs.

We could definitely do a better job, and um our our team has been working on um a better schedule and better format to kind of allocate our scarce time um for the communication channels that make the most sense.

And one of the things we're trying to do a better job uh with is sending monthly announcements to your offices so that you can in turn pass those along.

I will say that um powerful neighborhoods and empower my home are two really important programs happening right now.

Those are um utility rate payer funded and they are specifically focused on energy efficiency and electrification in lower income neighborhoods.

Thank you.

I'll make a motion to approve the item.

Thank you.

We have a motion, but we need to hear from the public speakers, so we'll hear your motion.

Council council member Houston.

Yeah, I just wanted just a little bit of clarity in this piggy back in on Council Member Gaios about set that threshold at 25k.

I wanted to find out is it a grace period um after that code amendment and uh and our um our seniors.

That's that's you know, I'll get the calls from the seniors about this.

Can you give some just a little bit more clarity?

And then on the um, is there a grace period on that on code amendment debt?

Yeah, so as we move forward or through the through the press uh council president, um council member Houston, what we will be doing is uh shooting out information uh to the mass to the community members so that we make everybody aware that these changes are up and coming.

Um that way there is enough time to prepare um equally, you know, as we move forward, we're gonna do our best to equally provide that information.

We'll be uh tapping into resources with Shana as well to see if there's anything out there that we can assist our community with as well, keeping that in mind.

Thank you.

If we may again do the present very quickly to Councilmember Houston and Council Member Guillo, um excellent points on communication and getting word out there.

What I will say also, and I think particularly the last several months, we've been working much more closely with the public information office, also out of the CAO's office, their group has really been focusing us on ways to get our message out better to the community.

So we may, in addition to having the kind of direct outreach through organizations in the community as you are guiding, that we also use our web pages and that we also use public information through you know sponsored uh announcements through the media to make sure that people are aware.

But we do know I think one of the big challenges and focuses we have, just you know, as a culture among ourselves, is to get word out because of course we know something does not mean everybody does, and to really look at all the ways and venues that people can be made aware of this.

So even if you're coming in for permit or for an appointment, and this may not be your thing, we can have information up there so you can learn about it anyway.

Um very quick question.

When approximately will you have information for the public, either on the website or as a one-pager about the changes people start to have made to make?

Um, through the council president, council member Ramashondran, immediately after this is approved, that's typically the way that we try to get the information out soon as possible.

We'll start meeting together and getting a plan in place to get that information out.

Thank you.

If you can just inform council by email when it's up on the website so we can send the word to our constituents.

Yes, absolutely.

And just um for awareness, this would go into effect January first.

And um I'll second uh council member.

Okay.

Yeah, I'll second Council Member Guiles' motion.

Let's go to the public speakers.

Moving to the public speakers as I call your name, please approach the podium in any order.

Please state your name for the record before beginning.

If you're on Zoom, raise your hand so I can easily identify you.

Miss Asada Olabala and Sam Fishman.

If I get an all-electric home, there's a probability I still have to deal with lead in the water, lead in the paint, asbestos, PCB, hazardous soil contamination, and has uh air pollution.

So we fix this, but look at the magnitude of what we have to deal with in terms of some health issues.

Uh what confused me is that the state uh uh says that there's a statement that there's adverse impacts associated with the high standards.

I don't know if you all addressed what those are.

You dealt with the cost the uh cost impact.

It also says that you're not proposing all electric requirements for new or existing buildings within the city.

You are preparing amendments for buildings for in the future for electrification changes.

So you're not really doing anything right now, so when is the future identified?

You also have 40% of Oakland buildings uh were start uh built before 1940.

40 percent.

So depending on the age of the building, will the costs change related to what is required for this to have buildings to be uh electrified in the race and equity statement.

What is a frontline community?

Because you're saying you address it from you're almost like you had war or something, the front line.

What does it mean at you on the front?

I mean, y'all, y'all some creative writers.

You don't want to say certain things like this is for black people or this is for Asian people.

You do it's the frontline community.

And anybody wants to give me a clue as to what that means, I'd be happy to listen.

Morning, council members.

Uh thank you for the opportunity to speak.

My name is Sam Fishman.

Uh I'm a sustainability and resilience policy manager with the organization Spur.

Uh we have a focus on decarbonizing the Bay Area's buildings, and I've been working with cities throughout the region as well as the air district on policies to help the region decarbonize equitably and affordably.

Um I think that this is a really important step towards that goal in Oakland.

Um, as Shana mentioned, um, the Bay Area Air District will be implementing rules that will begin phasing out gas equipment in the Bay Area.

And what these amendments do is really make sure that that happens in a planned and cost-effective way.

Um what we've seen is that the um uh electrification or uh building retrofits for efficiency and electrification uh are more expensive and more difficult when they happen at the time of a burnout of equipment and when the home is not already taken some measures, putting in wiring, uh making sure their ducks are more efficient.

If those measures have been taken, customers end up with um uh more complicated issues.

This is exactly the kind of amendment that makes sure that when work is happening on buildings, when new buildings are going up, they're ready to be electrified.

They're ready to um to ensure that their uh energy is being captured and kept efficient within the building.

So this is uh I think a common sense proposal.

It provides a lot of flexibility too, so that you know different housing types with different problems can pick from this menu of option, which I think the um the city really uh put together in a careful and considered way, and it that can ensure that um that that's specific buildings needs can be met and that uh homeowners aren't forced to do something that's more expensive or that maybe doesn't make sense for their home.

So I thank you for your time and for considering this very important and impactful set of amendments.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Does that conclude our public speakers?

What is frontline community?

Uh through the council president.

Um we use this terminology as an all-encompassing community, so we're taking into consideration everybody in the city.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

We have a motion and a second.

It was a motion by councilmember guile, second by council member Brown.

Was that to close the public hearing and adopt the emergency ordinance and the resolution by that same motion?

Thank you for that.

Going into the roll, Councilmember Brown.

Aye.

Councilmember Fife.

Aye.

Council Member Guillo.

Aye.

Councilmember Houston.

Aye.

Councilmember Rama Chandron.

Aye.

Councilmember Unger.

Aye.

Councilmember Wong.

Aye.

And Chair Jenkins.

Aye.

Motion pass.

Motion passes with a vote of eight ayes.

Going to item 6.3.

I need a motion to open the public hearing.

Okay.

Good morning.

Uh one moment.

One second.

I'm sorry.

Go ahead and jump in the queue, guys.

So we're done.

I'll make a motion to enter the public hearing.

Second.

On the motion to open the public hearing move by Councilmember Unger.

Second by Council Member Ramachandron.

Councilmember Brown.

Aye.

Council Member Fife.

Aye.

Councilmember Gayo.

Councilmember Houston.

Councilmember Ramachandran.

Aye.

Councilmember Anger.

Aye.

Councilmember Wong.

Okay.

Before we go into the vote, I'm sorry.

Do not get in the queue when I'm calling the role because I could unmute you myself.

Otherwise, I can't unmute you.

So just let me call the roll.

You don't have to press any buttons.

Council Member Wong.

Aye.

Councilmember.

Council President Jenkins.

Aye.

Motion passes with vote of eight eyes.

The public hearing is now open.

I will read the item into record.

Conduct a public hearing and upon conclusion adopt the following pieces of legislation.

An emergency ordinance repealing the Oakland amendments to the 2022 edition of the California model building construction codes, adopting local amendments to the 2025 edition of the California model building construction codes.

Amending Oakland Municipal Code Chapter 15.04 to comply with the changes to state law and adopting appropriate CEQA findings and a resolution of findings supporting an emergency ordinance, repealing the Oakland amendments of the 2022 edition of the California model building building construction codes, adopting local amendments to the 2025 edition of the California model building construction codes, amending Oakland Municipal Code Chapter 15.04 to comply with changes to state law adopting appropriate SEQA findings, and you have one speaker on this item.

Place three minutes on the clock.

And to the president, President Jenkins, may please the council.

Very briefly.

We are in a similar situation here as we were at the previous item in terms of the state mandated deadlines.

And again, given the same sense of urgency, I will turn this over to interim chief building official Cecilia Muela.

Thank you, and good morning, honorable council president Jenkins and members of the city council.

Can I cue up the presentation, please?

Um we are here again once more to be able to present to you Oakland amendments to the California building and construction codes as required by the Building Standards Commission upon the triannual state building code adoption.

These code amendments are uh said to be in line with the California Building Code through um take in account topographical, geological and climatic um changes.

Next slide, please.

The California Building Codes are updated every three years by the state of uh state building standards commission.

California building codes are based on the codes issued by the International Code Council as they are modeled through their model codes, the International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials, and National Fire Prevention Association.

Local jurisdictions can amend these codes to be more restrictive due to specific geological, topographical, and climatic conditions.

Next slide.

Through the adoption of AB 130, our 2025 codes became published on July 1st, 2025, with an effective date of January 1st, 2026.

Because of this change, jurisdictions now have a more expedited time frame for adoption, where it used to be six months to be able to adopt these amendments.

AB 130 promotes better collaboration between state agencies and local jurisdictions to facilitate development process, as well as it provide streamlined and improved permitting process for affordable housing projects, which then allowed for this urgency and being here before you today to be able to present these to you.

Next slide.

Once again, this here is a timeline that the California Building Standards Commission puts together for cities under the state of California so that they can guide themselves through code adoption.

Keeping in mind that this year was special in the sense that we had an urgency based on AB 130 and its adoption.

Next slide, please.

The OMC of Chapter 1504 represents the following Oakland amendments.

We are looking to establish fees and electronic document submittals through our administrative amendment process and simplify permit application procedures and processes.

On the technical side, we are looking to establish grading and very high uh high fire severity zone provisions.

We're looking to adopt the California Residential Code Sound Separation Criteria, as well as adopt the California Residential Code tiny homes provisions, establish higher standards seismic design provisions, and adopt an emergency housing provisions for our development here in Oakland.

Next slide, please.

Thank you for your time.

All right, I like that one.

Thank you.

The slides mentions something about making the permit process simpler.

Could you explain what of these code amendments code amendments would make the permit application simple?

Thank you.

Well, looking at the new code adoption, every triannual cycle, when the codes are being developed, we look at um efficiency of procedures for code adoption buildings, code amendments, and such.

Being able to look at the 2025 codes, we often find pathways for uh approval and uh ways that one could then bring forth their development project that would be much easier, in turn, making it easier for the development committee to submit those through the permitting process.

Um, given these provisions uh in the amendments, it allows us to look at what a um property owner or developer is proposing, work with them to find a better pathway for approval of a project.

Thank you, all right.

Seeing no more comments from the council.

Councilmember McGuy?

Okay.

Do we have to be able to implement the new construction costs?

Do we have the staffing available that the business developers and so forth?

And that's the request that I get.

I have to come to your office for the developer to make sure that we get their prop their uh papers processed in terms of development.

Do we have the staffing available?

Are they here Monday through Friday and sitting at city hall where they can come and get their permits?

Yes, through the president of the council, Councilmember Gaio.

Yes, we have uh in recent months made changes to our staffing and availability at our front counters.

So we do have staffing available five days a week that could assess our development community and our property owners when they come into submit for their projects.

Good.

And for the public information, that information is also available online.

You can go online, do the paperwork, or come to City Hall.

That's correct.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you through the chair.

Um your slide said something about tiny homes.

Is that basically building standards especially with measure w money uh coming out and everything for community cabin sites, or is that like, you know, those TV shows that I that you see on HTTP on like tiny homes.

Just want clarification on what that is exactly.

Thank you.

Uh through the president, uh, the council.

Yes, so it would it would take into account anything that would fall under the provisions of what is considered a tiny home.

So we'd have to look at we'd have to look at exactly what that means.

Now the state has recently adopted it into their appendix, so we're adopting it as well, so that we're able to use that should we have a situation or an instance where somebody is proposing that.

Um, as far as it being a cabin or a temporary cabin, I don't know.

I don't think that that is the intent of the code.

It's more to provide provisions by which it would be sustainable housing that is built adequately.

Okay, all right.

Well, that's um that that sounds great.

Thank you.

Okay, seeing no more comments from the council members.

Let's go to the public speaker, Miss Asada Olabala.

The document states that you're establishing permitting requirements to ensure public safety and accessibility.

So I just want to speak on a level of where public safety and accessibility is being challenged when we are doing remodeling in the community.

So when people are working on these buildings, when they tear down the structures, what they're doing is taking the remnants of what they have taken down, putting it into our community right now.

On Keller, there are about 25 bags of materials from a torn-down construction site that's been sitting there for three weeks.

What's in those elements?

It could be asbestos, it could be lead, PCBS, it could be mercury, it could be mold, and so we're talking about safety.

You have to have a permitting process that requires the contractor once he has taken down materials to produce evidence of where those materials have been brought.

He's supposed to bring it where he pays a fee or somebody pays the fee, and you get a receipt.

That's not happening, but all over the city, we have a lot of blight based on construction work being dumped in Oakland, and at and this is somewhat related to, but not exactly, public safety and accessibility.

And this is in front of schools, it's in front of uh homes, it's on private property.

That's that's happening.

So, do what you gotta do, but at some point this has to be addressed.

People don't have respect, and contractors don't want to pay for eliminating that debris, and we have to make somebody responsible for them doing it the right way.

I just had a comment, and I know I'm not supposed to speak to the public, so I'm speaking to you, President.

Um, that's a wrap.

People just dumping that trash that abest is that has those materials.

I'm gonna make sure they prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

Because it's a crime against our community, and that's what I stood on to be elected for, and I'm gonna make sure that happens, and that's a fact.

And is that a motion to close the public hearing?

This is second.

And through the chair by that same motion, are we um adopting the item and closing the public hearing?

Yep, that's what I heard.

Thank you for that clarification.

Councilmember Brown.

Aye, Councilmember Fife, aye.

I just told you guys not to get in the queue to let me run through it because I can't unmute you.

I'm not talking to you.

Councilmember Gaio.

Aye, Councilmember Houston.

Aye, Councilmember Ramachandran.

Aye.

Councilmember Unger.

Councilmember Unger.

Council Member Wong.

Aye.

Aye.

Motion passes with a vote of eight ayes, noting that item 6.3.1 is an emergency ordinance and will be introduced and adopted on the same day.

We're now ready for prime time.

And that does conclude your public hearings.

Moving on to the non-consent portion of the agenda.

Signing with item eight.

Adopt a resolution accepting and appropriating grant funds and the amount of four hundred and seventy thousand dollars from the state of California office of traffic safety for the fiscal year 25 through 26 selective grant enforcement program to be administered by the Oakland Police Department and authorizing the use of general purpose services fund to contribute up to $76,308.

I'm sorry, $328 to cover the related central services overhead costs.

You have one speaker on this item.

So we need to get you back on the street, so we're gonna give you two minutes.

I appreciate it, sir.

That's all I need.

Uh, this is the same grant that we've accepted from Office of Traffic Safety for the last 20 years from the city of Oakland.

It's uh designed for traffic safety, traffic awareness, and um education as well.

So we participate in the every 15 minutes program here in the city of Oakland.

We educate the youth about drunk driving.

Um, it's also DUI checkpoints, which is focal point of awareness as well, and also traffic safety, uh different operations around the city of Oakland.

Uh, we base all of our locations where we do the operations on the high injury network, so we look at collision data and we focus our attentions there, so it's spread out citywide here in the city of Oakland.

Thank you to the Parliament's hearing.

Um, through the chair to the body and to staff.

Um, the first resolve clause in this resolution indicates um, I think there's a typo that indicates 500,000 and also 470,000 dollars.

So if you can just confirm I think the correct amount is 470,000, and in that case, yes, and in that case, um, when the body makes a motion to adopt if that's the will of the body.

If you can we can just correct that amount to 470, all right.

Seeing no comments from uh thank you.

Uh through the chair.

Um, thank you so much for the report.

There was also included um around the collisions, injuries, and fatalities.

I um, you know, I think we all recognize that traffic safety uh is a real issue here in Oakland.

Um it's definitely something that I think we need to work on.

I'm trying to understand looking at this report.

It's alarming to me that looking at the 2022 to 2023 year to 2023 to 2025.

That if I'm reading this right, we went from a hundred and eighty-four victims in nighttime collisions to 478, which is a drastic increase, and I'd love to understand what happened there and um what can we as a council do to support tackling this issue because that's that is an unacceptable rise.

I agree, ma'am.

Yeah.

Well, as you know, the police department's going through some issues now with staffing.

Uh I'm here to say bad news as well that the traffic enforcement unit is being disbanded here at the end of the week.

So I I don't know what the future looks like.

I can only predict that maybe collisions will go up with losing this enforcement unit.

Uh, we're on a trend right now for traffic fatalities to probably be around 40 for the end of this year.

Usually we average between 30 and 32.

So we're we're up on that as well.

Um so anything, any help we can get.

CHP's been very helpful too with patrolling our cities at night, um, and I hope that continues on for a while as well.

Yes, uh, through the chair, I'm just curious if there's any flexibility on how these funds are are utilized.

I know part of it is for education, but can it can any of it be used to address some of the serious issues that the city is experiencing around um RVs and off-road vehicles on the streets of Oakland by any chance?

Part of the grant does allow for an operation for reckless driving.

So we do focus on that as well, too.

What does that look like?

Uh it's uh I can't remember the exact dollar amount that's allocated for reckless driving, but uh we focus on an area of like the like so the ATVs are on the lake is probably what you're talking about, ma'am.

So we can put out a squad out there to deal with that for enforcement paid for by this grant.

So it won't even cost Oakland any money, it's all paid for out of the grant.

Understood, thank you.

Moving to the public speakers, Ms.

Asada Olabala.

So according to the documentation, this amount of four hundred and fifty thousand dollars will cover 15 different areas of focus.

It would have helped to see for each area the amount of money dedicated to that area.

The area that I wanted to probably see more emphasis on spending, it says two specific two special operations, specifically on street racing and side shows, two operations.

That this is a very serious area, and I don't know if we could have moved some spending around to have more concentrating on this area.

So that's why I thought that was important.

Uh then you you're dealing with uh D uh DUIs, uh you're dealing with traffic safety, drugs, uh nighttime, you have all different areas.

Uh the one thing that I was concerned about is who is available for enforcement because of our shortage of staff, specifically who is going to be we don't have, I don't think we even have any traffic officers anymore.

So, how will we manipulate this to work based on our shortage of staff would be one of the questions that we concern to as well?

Thank you, Miss Olabala.

That was all of the speakers.

Uh yes, um, that's an excellent question.

Uh I'm a big uh was a big support over your motorcycle squadrons years ago, and uh what is our enforcement when it comes to traffic?

Sure.

Uh right now the whole department is on mandatory overtime for side show enforcement on the weekends.

So we have to do a rotation of Saturday and Sundays.

So we already have dedicated on the average about 30 cops on a Saturday, 30 cops on a Sunday, specifically for sideshow enforcement.

We meet every Wednesday, 2 p.m.

We look at what the intel report looks like for the weekend.

We adjust the start times for that to deal with it over the weekends.

Um also there's talk of a club detail downtown after what's happened last uh two Fridays ago in the morning.

Um so I think they're gonna start doing extra enforcement on that end too.

Um but that's separate than what this grant entails.

We did write in uh when we wrote this grant, we didn't have all of the the mandatory overtime for side show like we do currently.

So we did write in sideshow operations for reckless driving operations to cover them.

Yeah, and it staffing is an issue.

Um I wish you could say it wasn't uh when I first started.

I think we had 800 cops and we're pushing around 650-ish right now.

Uh I would like to see a larger traffic enforcement unit in the years to come.

Um, but right now a lot of this operations that's listed in here are all funded by overtime, which is third party overtime.

It doesn't cost the city any money, and uh we we have regular officers work these events too.

Make a motion to approve the item.

Second.

On the motion moved by council member guy, second by council member Wong, and Madam Clerk.

Sorry to interrupt.

Does that include the amendment, which would be to strike the words $500,000 and add the words 470,000?

Just confirming that the mover in the secondary affirmed that the $500,000 will be um removed, and then it will be $470,000.

Councilmember Brown, aye.

Councilmember Five.

Aye.

Council Member Guile.

Councilmember Houston, excuse.

Councilmember Ramachandran.

Aye.

Councilmember Unger.

Aye.

Council Member Wong.

Aye.

And Chair Jenkins.

Aye.

Motion passes with a vote of seven ayes when excuse Houston.

Going to item nine.

Adopt an ordinance providing the borrowing of funds and the issuance and sale of general obligation bonds and an amount not to exceed $300 million authorizing the issuance and sale not to exceed $55 million aggregate principal amount, a city of Oakland general obligation refunding bonds and approving certain related matters.

Good morning, President Jenkins and Council members.

David Jones of the Treasury Bureau.

Before you this morning is the second reading of the ordinance that staff recommends the council adopt for the borrowing of funds and issuance of general obligation of bonds and an amount not to exceed $300 million.

And also $55 million in refunding bonds.

We came before you in July with the first reading of this particular ordinance, and this is basically uh just a formality to um to approve this ordinance for the borrowing of funds.

Um we are anticipating approximately 78 million dollars for streets and sidewalks, 15 million for city facilities, and another hundred and eighty million or so for affordable housing.

Um we are anticipated to price this particular transaction on Tuesday, October 21st, with uh expected close of um November 4th.

And I'm available for answer any questions.

I have one.

Uh yes, uh, for the record um borrowing money from a bond to for other activities.

I mean, we have legal support to be able to do that.

Yes, this particular trans transaction has been vetted through outside council.

So legal experts have already weighed in on the legality of the borrowing of the funds as well as the refunding of the uh 2015 bonds that uh were issued, and we have some savings that we can capture.

But all the legal um framework for this particular transaction is all is all um is all good to go, if you will.

So outside legal council gave us approval.

Absolutely, absolutely.

So if I borrow the money, that means I'm gonna replace it eventually.

Yes, you will be paying the debt service for the next 30 years, and these are general obligation bonds.

So they're paid for by advertum taxes.

Is there a timeline for me to replace that?

We're structuring this for a 30-year period.

No, you know, the reason I ask you is we're going through some serious budget issues.

You want to come back and be no, this will not, in fact, this is this is all voter approved money that will be paid outside the general fund.

So no.

All right, thank you.

Thank you.

I understand, thank you, thank you, uh Chair Jenkins, uh, through the chair um that the funds for paving typically go through the um the paving process.

They have a list of of streets that they prioritize that's already been been agreed upon.

But for the other projects, do we have a CIP list that is available to the council and available publicly where we can see it's it's in your packet for for the projects in order of priority?

It's in your packet.

Item 10, which is the next item.

The second resolution has exhibit A with all of the projects.

Thank you, Mr.

Jones.

We'll go to the public speakers.

As I carry name, please approach the podium in any order.

Please state a name for the record before beginning.

If you're on Zoom, please raise your hand so I can easily identify you.

We will take the speakers in chambers first, and then immediately go to the Zoom speakers.

Mr.

Sada Olabala, Mr.

Hazard, Chris Shy or Shaw, Miriam Lim, Glenn Martin, Tori Hoff, Nicole Guzman, Andrew Wagner, Vivian Haroth, Arthur Liu, Kieran Kiki Flaherty, Jennifer Ree, Nithya Verimidi, Vermiretti, Tanyo.

I'm sorry, I can't read your last name, but any order, please.

This whole meeting is void.

Twenty-four hours.

Let me give you what your failure, a failure to comply with the Brown Act rules for special meeting can lead to severe consequences for the Oakland City Council, including criminal charges for individual members and civil action that can overturn uh council's decision.

Enforcement is typically handled through civil lawsuit with the initial opportunity for a city to cure and correct.

Action is void and voidable.

Any actions such as ordinance or contracts that is approved during the special meeting that violates a brown end is at risk of being nullified by a court.

Legal action and injunction.

A member of the public, like myself, or the district attorney can't bring a lawsuit seeking to stop current prevent future violation.

If the uh suit is successful, misdemeanor charges.

Any council member who participated in the meeting and votes on an action in violation of the Brown Act with the intent of depriving the public's information is guilty of misdemeanor.

The most common path for addressing a violation starts with a civil complaint and gives city chances to rectify its mistake.

On and on, 24 hours.

You didn't have to go to a special meeting.

Ask the city attorney if I'm not correct.

Ask him.

But you refuse to ask the question.

Because you're afraid of what the answer is going to be.

I've given you the rules.

I've given you your own charter.

I've given you the Sunshine Act.

I've given you the Brown Act.

And you sit there on your power's rehaged.

Good morning.

My name is Blood Martin.

I am the general manager of the Oakland Ice Center.

Councilman Beife.

I would like to thank you for the opportunity to speak about the Oakland Ice Center and its future.

Probably known better as the OIC.

It's not just an Ice Rank.

It's a community hub.

It's where kids and adults alike learn discipline and teamwork.

Um where families gather for competition and recreation, where future champions lace up their skates.

Now I know some of you might think ice in Oakland.

Heck, I don't even have to use a refrigerator for my lunch during July.

But the truth is the facility has a cool part of the city's culture for decades.

We've seen world-class athletes like Christy Yamaguchi, Lysolou, come through these doors, inspiring the next generation of skaters right here in Oakland.

And with the right investment and vision, the Ice Center can continue to place where dreams are built, blades meet the ice, and the community comes together.

Looking forward, our goal is to continue strengthening our partnership, modernizing the facility, and ensure the remains accessible to all.

So Oakland kids and adults alike can keep chasing their dreams, whether skating in the Olympics or just learning to stand up without holding the dashboards.

In short, the Oakland Lake Center has been a cornerstone for the city.

And with your support, it can continue to shine, not just as an ice ring, but as a gathering place for our entire community.

I'd like to thank you for your time and letting me bring a little chill to the meeting today.

Good morning, Council members.

My name is Evien Horbath and I'm a business development manager at the Unity Council.

We would like to thank council for moving to release Trans 2 funding.

We have a project with an existing Trans 2 commitment that is on track to close financing and begin construction early next year.

It is critical that council release these funds so that city can make good on its commitments.

These funds will support desperately needed new affordable housing units, including many permanent supportive housing units, as well as conversion of existing housing to affordable affordable units.

We urgently support this measure.

Thank you.

Good morning, Council.

I'm a vice president of Portfolio Finance and Policy at EAH Housing.

I'd like to thank the council for moving to release Tranch2 funding.

These funds will support new construction affordable housing units and homeless exits into permanent housing, as well as supporting rehab of existing affordable housing and preservation of conversion of affordable housing.

There are some projects in the Oakland Affordable Housing Pipeline that have been awarded funding from the state of California Housing and Community Development Department, but those funds are at risk of being lost due to delays in construction start.

Many of these projects are in need of local funds for feasibility, and the funds would also make projects more competitive to leverage additional federal funding through the low-income housing tax credit.

Timing is timing of issuing the bonds is critical for Oakland.

Thank you.

Good morning, Council members.

My name is Tono Trackenberg.

I'm a senior policy manager at the Nonprofit Housing Association of Northern California, or MPH.

I know this is more of a formality, so we're here to just say thank you to the council for your leadership and being responsive to the urgency and understanding the timeliness of issuing these bonds and to staff and finance department and the housing department and public works for collaborating to make this happen.

And I'll say again, it's a great opportunity as other local sources have been drying up.

Oakland is really well positioned to continue to compete for competitive state funding with these bonds.

So thank you again for your leadership.

We appreciate you.

Hello.

I'm Nithia Bemaretti, a project manager at the East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation or EBALC.

I would like to thank the council for moving to release tranche two of Measure U funding.

Our project 34th in San Pablo has all the funding commitment in place to start construction by the first quarter of 2026.

The $7 million commitment from the city of Oakland includes a portion of the Measure U funds.

With these funds, 34th of San Pablo will provide 60 new affordable homes in West Oakland, 30 of which are dedicated to whole households at risk of homelessness.

Thank you.

Good morning, Council members.

My name is Arthur Liu.

I'm an attorney and small business owner in downtown Oakland.

I'm also the proud father of Arisa Liu, like I mentioned.

Exactly 15 years ago in September, in this exact month, uh I took Alisa and her siblings to the Oakland Ice Center.

And then she started skating there and filling up with this sport.

And the rest is history.

He became the youngest U.S.

women's national champion at age 13.

She's the first uh theme of skater in history in world history to have landed or triple accessor in international competitions.

She's the first ladies' uh figure skater to have landed a quad super jump and a cheaper accessor in the same program in international competitions.

If you don't know figure skating, a cheaper accessor is you have to jump off the ice and rotate three and a half turns in the air and land on the ice.

And the quad jump is you have to rotate four times before you land.

So she's the first female skater in world history to have done that.

I'm not in recent most most recently in March uh 2025 in Boston.

She became the first US ladies world champion in 19 years.

I'm not here to brag about my daughter.

I'm here to tell you that without Oakland Ice Center, there would have been no Alyssa Leo accomplishing all she has accomplished in her life at age 20.

So I'm here to seek support to uh to ask you to continue to invest in the Oakland Ice Center.

Thank you so much.

Good morning, honorable president, honorable council members.

I'd like to acknowledge it's a very tough act to follow.

Thank you.

Thank you, Arthur, for coming out today.

My name is Chris Shea.

I'm senior vice president of government affairs on behalf of Shark Sports and Entertainment in support of the proposed general obligation funds passage today.

The Oakland Ice Center is a truly a community treasure.

Each each year it welcomes an average of 400,000 visitors into our downtown.

Built by the redevelopment agency in 1995, it remains a city-owned facility, one that continues to bring people together nearly 30 years later.

But as you know, equipment ages.

Much of what's inside the center today is original from 1995.

That means it's now more than double the expected useful life.

Shark Sports and Entertainment has worked very hard to stretch the life as far as possible, far beyond what anyone could have anticipated.

We take great pride in managing this facility and opening the doors to families, neighbors, and kids who come here to skate, learn and connect.

In fact, the Oakland Ice Center provides more than 5,000 free skate.

It's great experiences every year for Oakland Unified School Districts.

With your help, we'd like to double that to 10,000 free skates every year.

That's thousands of young people each year who get to try something new, build confidence, and feel part of their great city.

This bond measure is about more than replacing old equipment.

It's about investing in a facility that has been serving Oakland for decades and will continue to do so for generations to come.

On behalf of Shark Sports Entertainment, we strongly urge your support so the Ice Center can remain a vibrant, welcoming place for the entire community.

Thank you.

Hi, good morning, uh President Jenkins and Council members.

My name is Nicole Guzman.

I'm currently a senior project manager working at Satellite Affordable Housing Associates, and I just wanted to thank you all for considering to release Tranch 2 funding.

This would help one of my current projects that has a partial award.

It's a partnership project with St.

Mary's Center, located at 3135 San Pablo in West Oakland, and it would be 73 units of senior housing.

And I would definitely appreciate that you all consider releasing the funds because it would really help our project start construction in early 2026.

So thank you so much for your consideration.

My name is Andrew Wagner.

My daughter is a member of the 12U Oakland Bears hockey team.

She plays here just a couple blocks away.

And she allowed me to wear her jersey this morning that she wears with pride as she represents Oakland across California.

As you know, the ICE facility is reliant on city funding through Measure D to continue functioning.

It's badly in need of repair.

The facility isn't, if the facility isn't repaired, we'll lose not just a sports facility, but one that represents the diversity and values of Oakland.

As we travel to other cities in California to play our games, and sometimes beyond, we see how it's all too unique that we play on teams that lift up youth regardless of gender, race, and color, culture.

Sorry.

I acknowledge you have a number of difficult funding decisions here this morning.

Please do not let this Oakland gem fall into darkness without the rink.

Oakland hockey does not exist.

Thank you.

There.

Hi, I'm Jen Reeve.

I'm a uh resident of Oakland for the last 27 years.

Um, the Oakland Ice Center, I'm also here to speak for, is a safe place for youth and for adults to explore a completely new physical experience, social experience, and opportunity for exercise, belonging, learning, joy, and leadership.

Um I'm a resident of Oakland for the past 26 years and an active user of the OIC for all 26 of those years.

Minus two breaks for pregnancy, but I was back on the ice.

It's six weeks postpartum for both times.

Thank you very much.

Um I am not a good hockey player, I but I'm a passionate player, and I'm passionate about playing.

About uh I'm passionate about playing and grateful for the community.

So much so that I've been a volunteer coach for the Oakland Tech High School ice hockey program for five years, and it has further deepened my appreciation of the incredible resource at the OIC.

Each year we introduce 15 to 20 new teens from Oakland Tech to a sport at no cost to them.

And let me note that at least one third of those kids each year identify as queer.

It is the only safe sport that trans athletes can play in right now.

Now I learned how to skate in 1997 and started captaining my first team at Oakland Ice in 1998.

A few decades later, I'm still captaining an all-gender, all everything team that has a range of players from 18 to 67 years old.

Um my youngest child was bored with physical challenges and required occupational therapy and physical therapy as a toddler, and we dressed him in hockey clothes and got him on the ice, and he was able to use the ice as his physical therapy in a normalized way with his peers.

He is now 18 and an assistant in helping us coach the Oakland Tech program, a recent graduate of Oakland School for the Arts, where he played in the ice rink every day.

Good morning, council members.

My name is uh Kieran Kiki Flaherty.

I'm a weekly hockey player at Oakland Ice.

I'm a resident of Oakland for decades in the Golden Gate neighborhood.

It's an honor to speak before you in support of the measure.

I'm also the president of a California nonprofit corporation, the SF Earthquakes LGBTQ Ice Hockey Club.

We provide a safe, healthy, non-discriminatory forum for LGBTQ and also other hockey players.

As youth, many of us chose to leave or never start playing hockey because we encountered an unwelcoming or even hostile environment.

But we found a partner here in Oakland Ice Center.

They have enthusiastically hosted our hockey with pride event where my club welcomed 40 queer identified players from Oakland and beyond as we seek to grow interest in starting a second team.

Additionally, when my team hosted our California Pride Invitational 2025 with the support of the Sharks Foundation, LGBTQ players from Oakland, as well as teams from Los Angeles and Coachella chose downtown Oakland and the uptown neighborhoods for our host hotels for our pre and post-tournament parties at locally owned independent restaurants, right here on Telegraph, and also uh caterer for our Pride Hockey Banquet that's right here on San Pablo.

This is all because Oakland Ice Center and its diverse staff of workers from the local community.

They welcomed us.

They accommodated all our needs and they helped us to promote the tournament.

In fact, several parents of children who identify as LGBTQ asked if their teenagers could join the team.

That's not possible because we are an adult league.

I'm old enough to be their grandfather.

But we could say with complete confidence that the lessons and the youth league at Oakland Ice provide a welcoming, safe space for LGBTQ and people.

At its best in Oakland.

There's no doubt that we want to support more housing.

But you have a responsibility not to compromise the fiscal stability of this city.

And you are currently in a situation where you are a negative rating, and when you proceed to do this, two things are going to be happening.

It's a risk component.

You're putting the city at risk for going more deeply into debt, and you're going to have to deal with the possibility of higher interest rates because of your negative status rating status.

So you've been told by the I remember hearing this, wait until December when we could possibly have our rating to change, and then we could move more safely into doing this.

Mr.

Gallo, thank you for bringing up some points of concern because these are the concerns.

What are we going to have to pay?

How much we're going to have to pay?

Are we at risk?

So you insist on doing this.

And I insist that you become more fiscally responsible and making decisions.

And this is not a fiscal responsible decision.

And people who are advocating for their needs, they continue to advocate.

For the whole picture of what can happen to everybody if this becomes a more in-depth problem.

And I don't know why finance is recommending this.

They have a responsibility to make you aware of the risk, make you aware of high interest rates.

Mr.

Gallo.

Thank you, Ms.

Olavala.

Moving to the Zoom speaker, Tori Hoff.

You can begin your comments.

You have two minutes to address the council.

Good morning, City Council.

My name is Troy Hoff, and I work for Eden Housing, a nonprofit affordable housing developer that works here in Oakland.

Eden Housing currently has one existing property in the city of Oakland, the Altenheim, with 174 units.

The Altenheim, originally built over 100 years ago, is in need of substantial rehabilitation.

We also have three projects in our pipeline: Liberation Park, Dr.

Kenneth Anderson Senior Housing, and 77th and Bancroft, representing a total of 276 additional units.

Thank you to the council for moving to release trans 2 funding of measure U funds.

These funds are critical source of support for due construction of affordable housing units and homeless exits into permanent housing as well as the rehabilitation of existing affordable housing and preservation and conjugate conservation of affordable housing.

The timing of distribution of these funds is critical.

Oakland needs to make awards and times for the next round of state funds at Sidlack, or we risk leaving millions of dollars on the table.

For projects that have already received awards, availability of these funds would be critical to help bridge any remaining gaps as they begin the construction closing financing process.

Um affordable housing is fundamental for building strong equitable communities.

Thank you for moving to release the Tranch2 funds of Measure U funding that will make a meaningful impact for our communities today and tomorrow.

Thank you for your comments, Mr.

President.

That was the last speaker.

Um there are a couple things.

Uh, first of all, I want to thank all the folks who came from the Oakland Ice Center.

You heard some of the stories that uh have benefited Oakland residents and um Glenn, you still haven't given me my daughter's tooth that she lost at the Oakland Ice Center.

But I I think it's important to state that they provide so many free resources to Oakland public school kids that most people don't know about.

So I encourage people listening to go and find out what what they offer.

It's it's an amazing resource, and the fact that we have an Olympian that was trained right here in Oakland says a lot for what we are able to do in the city.

I did a tour and found that there's so many things that need to be done regarding the infrastructure at that space that I'm excited to move this item forward.

And I would like for the public to be clear about um our credit rating and what it means in terms of having expensive debt versus less expensive debt, and so through the chair to Mr.

Jones, if you could speak a little bit to why um our our our credit rating was downgraded, but it's still significantly um reasonable to go out for for bonds at this time.

If you could just clarify that a little bit, I'd appreciate it.

Through the chair, yes, absolutely.

Um, the city's credit is is strong.

Okay, we were downgraded, okay.

Uh Moody's took us from a A1 to AA2.

But I just want to make it very clear that prior to the downgrades and even right now, the city's credit rating is is is is good.

We have access to the markets.

Okay.

We have vetted this, you know, through the financing team.

Um obviously there's volatility in the markets.

Uh we're not market timers here or anything along those lines.

But I just want to make it very clear that you know, we've spoken to the experts.

Um, been doing this a long time, and there is an appetite out there uh for the city's credit.

So, you know, I'm very optimistic on October 21st is the day that we're slated to price that uh we'll be able to enter the market and um achieve some very attractive rates.

And I just want to say this is so critical for us being able to deliver the infrastructure needs and affordable housing needs, the exits to homelessness for all of the back to basics needs that Oaklanders expect, the bond market and going to the bond market is critical to making those things happen.

So thank you for your diligence on this, and thank you for pointing out that the legislation is in uh the attachment Age 10.

Appreciate that.

Thank you.

Council Magaio.

Yes, uh, thank you, and thank you for that information.

And certainly I think I recognize and I value the services that we're uh trying to address immediately today.

Uh, but to the administrator, uh, since it is your responsibility and your role to maintain a balanced budget for the city of Oakland.

And so I I just need to hear from you.

I've been through this practice before, where we do XYC to balance XYC, and three months later, guess what?

You're in your bankrupt.

And this is what Oakland Unified went through.

That I wind up having to borrow a hundred million dollars from the state of California, but they took over the school district, and we're just 20 years later, finally making the payment.

So I'm asking you directly so that is your role because I've heard not only the budget deficit for this year, but for the coming year is gonna be worse.

That's the numbers that I kept seeing and seeing.

That's why the police department is way under staff.

That's why other departments are way under service, because we don't have the money, and that's when we deal with our contract negotiations.

Well, we couldn't meet their needs because we don't have money, and and I just want to be very clear for the record from you to be able to state that borrowing the money to provide a service that we will be able to replace the money back when.

Since I don't have, you know, I have to go borrow from one bond to the you know to deliver a service when all I heard for the last six eight months that we're broke.

So um, so anyway, so I just need to hear from the city administrator directly.

This action that we're putting in place, it's a legal action and one that you recommend.

So, um city administrator, in addition to that, can you have a staff member come up and explain general obligation bonds as well?

Uh, to the chair to councilman Gallo, thank you for the question.

I appreciate the historical context of what you experienced uh during your time at the school board.

Um, so yes, so through this process, we have vetted um this decision by both inside and outside council.

We have bond counsel that has been with us from the very beginning, and so I'm confident that this decision is uh certainly a prudent one, and we have the ability to pay down the uh debt service payments at the appropriate schedule.

Thank you.

And I I would through the chair, I would just like to add that you know, general obligation bonds are paid by the property taxpayers.

Okay, so this is insulated from your general fund.

This is money that is paid by voter approved debt.

The city of Oakland voters, you know, I think it was like almost 80 percent approved, measure you.

Okay, so this is the strong one of the strongest credits out there, and is not reliant upon your general fund or anything like that.

It is paid by the advan property tax of the city of Oakland.

Order in the chambers.

Just want to uh I just want to reaffirm what you just said.

These are property taxes that have already been approved by the voters.

We're just moving to do what the voters told us to do to sell them.

Yeah, they're not secured by the general fund, they're secured by the property values of our voters.

That is absolutely correct.

And is that a motion?

Is that a second?

So we have a motion and a second.

On the motion and second, moved by council member five, second by council member unger for item nine.

Councilmember Brown, aye.

Councilmember five, aye.

Councilmember Gaio, aye, councilmember Houston is excused, council member Ramachandran is also excused.

I thank you, Councilmember Ramachandran.

Council Member Unger, aye.

Councilmember Wong for the mic?

Aye.

And Chair Jenkins.

Motion passes with a vote of seven ayes, one excuse Houston.

Going to item 10.

Adopt the following pieces of legislation.

Adopt the resolution of approving the issuance and sale of one or more series of city of Oakland General obligation bonds, measure U, and an aggregate principal amount not to exceed $300 million dollars, and City of Oakland general obligation refunding bonds, and the aggregate principal amount not to exceed 55 million dollars.

Approving the terms of sale of said bonds, approving the form of and authorizing the execution and delivery of a fiscal agent agreement, continuing disclosure disclosure certificate and bond purchase agreement, approving the form of and authorizing the distribution of a preliminary official statement and authorizing the execution and delivery of an official statement and authorizing the necessary actions related there too, and a resolution identifying projects authorized for funding with proceeds of City of Oakland General Obligation Bonds, Series 2025 B-1, Series 2525 2025 B-2, taxable social bonds in Series 2025 B-3, taxable issued pursuant to the 2022 Affordable Housing and Infrastructure Bond Ordinance Measure U and allocating bond proceeds to the identified projects and a resolution declaring the city council's official intent to reimburse certain expenditures from proceeds of indebtness.

Sure, everybody read their packet.

Can you just explain the difference between this and the last item?

Excuse me.

Can you explain the difference between this and the last one?

Sure, sure.

The previous item, item number nine, is just an ordinance, okay.

So through the city's charter, we are uh obligated to uh approve an ordinance for the borrowing of the funds.

Okay, so now what you have before you and item number 10 are three different resolutions.

The first resolution is basically authorizing the issuance as well as approving the documents.

So the preliminary official statement, the continuing disclosure certificate, fiscal agent agreement, all of these documents are in resolution number one.

Okay.

Resolution number two is identifying the projects authorized for funding with proceeds of the general obligation bonds, measure you, tax exempt and taxable, and then the third resolution is approving for the reimbursement of certain expenditures.

So there's certain expenditures that are allowed to be reimbursed before we actually close uh the bonds projected at this time on November 4th and receive those funds.

Okay.

Um the uh proposed financing will advance city priorities such as housing as we've discussed, vibrant infrastructure uh with rehabilitation of city streets and sidewalks.

Um, as I mentioned earlier, approximately 78 million will go to streets, uh, 15 million dollars for facilities, 10 million dollars for the ice center, and approximately 180 million dollars for affordable housing, and then given the complexity of this particular uh transaction and the refunding bonds associated with this, this um issuance is gonna be sold through a uh negotiated basis with Siebert Williams Shank, seed manager, senior manager, excuse me, Luke Capital as a co-manager, and Bank of America as the other co-manager.

Um, and as I mentioned before, you know, we're looking at getting into the market uh around October 21st, and I'm able to answer any questions that you may have, and also have um representatives from the departments here as well.

Beautiful.

Let's go to the public commenters.

As I carry name, please approach the podium in any order, Miss Asada Olabala, Mary and Limb, and Tori Hoff.

Here's the problem related to measure you.

You have been using measure you in an unequitable, unfair way, the money that has been allocated for measure you for the Lincoln Park Rec Center, over 32 million dollars.

That project was submitted a new recenter by the community of Chinatown, and they initially said they would fund it.

They started a funding process.

Then through BASC, she got you to approve that you, the city would fund the process the project with $32 million.

Now the project itself is gonna cost over $70 million.

So you gave $32 million to people who can't identify where the rest of the money is going to come from.

And this is not a high priority.

They said they would do it.

But we got things like the Hoover Durant Library that's been sitting on the table for years in West Oakland and has got no Pacific funding.

We're still waiting for the report to come back on how we can be done.

But we do things like this.

Certain projects get priority.

We got a police administration building that should be demolished according to the recommendation and rebuilt.

You say you don't have the money, but you give 32 million dollars to the Lincoln Park Rec Center.

It's not that you do what you do, but it's what you do when you get the money.

It's unfair.

In many cases, it's unfair.

So when are we going to have the use of funds from this city done well in terms of fairness, equity, and racial group?

Thank you, Ms.

Olabala.

If your name was called and you wish to speak, if you're in the room or on Zoom, please step to the podium or raise your hand at this time.

All names have been called.

See no more speakers.

I want to turn a motion.

Brown and five.

On the motion for item 10 to adopt all pieces moved by Councilmember Brown, second by Councilmember Fife.

Moving through the role, Councilmember Brown.

Aye.

Councilmember Fife.

Aye.

Councilmember Gayo.

Councilmember Houston is excused.

Councilmember Ramachandran.

Aye.

Councilmember Unger.

Aye.

Councilmember Wong.

Aye.

And Chair Jenkins.

Motion passes with a vote of seven ayes, one excuse Houston.

Going to item 11.

Adopt the following pieces of legislation.

A resolution approving the memorial memorial of understanding between the City of Oakland and confidential management employees association representing employees and representation unit U31 covering the period of July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026.

And a resolution approving the MOU between the City of Oakland and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 1245 representing employees and representation units, IE1 and TB1 covering the period of July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026, and a resolution approving the MOU between the City of Oakland and the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, Local 21, representing employees and represent representation units TA1, TF1, TM1, TM2, TW1, U41, UH1, UM1, and UM2 covering the periods of July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026, and a resolution approving the MOU between the City of Oakland and the Service Employees International Union, SCIU Local 1021 representing employees and representation units SB1, SC1, SD1, and SL1 covering the period of July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026.

And you have one speaker on this item.

Good morning, President Jenkins and members of the council.

My name is Crystal Raimi Adams.

I'm a principal employee relations analyst in the human resources management department.

I am here today to present on the four labor agreements that the city recently negotiated with our miscellaneous employee unions.

I'd like to start off by thanking the council for your direction and support throughout the bargaining process.

Councilmember Ramashadran, I'd like to thank you for allowing us to bypass Finance and Management Committee.

I'd also like to thank Mayor Lee and City Administrator Johnson and their staff and budget administrator Bradley Johnson for their invaluable guidance throughout this process.

We'd also like to thank our labor partners, Peter Maziac, Antoinette Blue, Raphael Batello, and Ryan Fettis from SCIU Local 1021, Deborah Grabel, Jess Cadio, and Julian Ware from IFPTE Local 21.

And Sheila Lawton, Michael Patterson from IBEW Local 1245, and Jamie Smith and Jamie Pritchett from CMEA for their hard work in reaching these agreements.

These MOUs that are before you are for the confidential management employees association, CMEA, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 1245, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, Local 21, and the Service Employees International Union, Local 1021.

And they all have one-year terms from July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026.

On economics, the city and each of these unions reached agreement on two terms.

First, there is a one-time signing bonus of $3,000 for permanent full-time employees, $2,500 for permanent part-time employees, and between $750 and $1,500 for temporary part-time employees based on the number of hours paid in the previous year.

The second economic item is a triggered wage increase of up to 3%, conditioned on the city's fiscal year 2526 general purpose funds unrestricted revenue exceeding the fiscal year 2526 general purpose funds unrestricted revenue in the adopted fiscal year 2526 adopted policy budget as reported in the city's fiscal year 2526 quarter three.

Revenue and expenditures report and audited financial report.

The city and each of these unions also agree to other working conditions terms that are uh to their respective represented employees, and those terms are detailed in the agenda packet.

We do want to point out that there's a typographical error in an item listed in one of the tentative agreements for local 21 regarding the family bonding leave.

The number of weeks for partial wage continuation under section 9.8 paid family leave for baby bonding should be eight weeks and was listed as six weeks.

We apologize for the error and thank local 21 for bringing this to our attention.

We recommend that you adopt the resolutions that approve the memorandum of understanding between the city and the confidential management employees association, CMEA, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 1245, the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, Local 21, and the Service Employees International Union, Local 1021.

I'm happy to take any questions and thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Move approval.

Yes, to the city administrator.

And again, considering the action that we're taking.

Considering the previous months and months debate about Oakland having financial challenges with the action we're taking today.

Through this year to Councilman Garde, yes.

We'll continue to have a balanced budget.

The main responsibility I have is make sure to maintain that we do have a balanced budget.

And I too want to publicly thank our labor partners.

Well, and those that are not here.

So to answer your question, yes.

Thank you.

No, I just want to be clear that you know I don't want to come back like I said a month or two, three months later and have us be in a position where we're completely in the whole.

Anyways, thank you for that information.

Thank you.

I just wanted to make sure that the motion included the amendment that was stated on the record by our staff.

Yes.

And we will go to the public speaker after that and take a vote.

Ms.

Asada Olabala.

So the current uh MOU expired June 30th of 2025.

Is there any reason why this was not done in a timely manner?

This should this should have been done before the expiration date of June 30th, 2025.

It says that the bonus is contingent.

It's not guaranteed.

It's contingent on the 25, 26, uh general purpose fund third quarter if it exceeds the general purpose funds, unrestricted revenue available.

So you're not really giving them something until you actually have the money in place to do it.

So that needs to be made clear.

And each category or type identified.

So all of y'all are saying if you're not a member of the union, you're gonna get your if you might not get your money, but if you are a member, you're gonna guarantee you're gonna get your money.

Okay, so uh this is a one-time bonus, subject to required tax deductions, and may be paid in off-cycle payments.

What that mean, when you're gonna get the money, and what is the total cost that you are obligating the city of Oakland to be responsible for based on you broke it down to three thousand two thousand five hundred, fifteen hundred and seventeen, seven hundred and fifty dollar categories, but you never identified a total amount that you possibly will be.

Is this fiscally responsible behavior?

That the city administrators should say, Oh, I can guarantee.

Thank you.

There's a motion and a second.

Councilmember, do you have something to say?

Yeah, I just want to clarify um what I understand about the contract.

I understand that there are two portions.

There is a bonus, which happens now, which is guaranteed, and then a raise, which happens at the end only if revenues exceed our our current projection.

So these are these are these are two separate things.

So one one there's a bonus now, and later, there there won't be a raise if the money is not there to fund it.

That is correct, Councilmember Ungar.

And then on the piece about the unrepresented employees.

Um my understanding is that this is not um referring to members who have exempted themselves through Janice, but members who are in a job classification that is never represented.

That is also correct, Councilmember Unka.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We have a motion and a second, Madam Clerk.

Moving through the role, Councilmember Brown.

Aye.

Council Member Fife.

Aye.

Councilmember Gaio.

Councilmember Ramachandran.

Aye.

Councilmember Unger.

Aye.

Councilmember Wong.

Aye.

Chair Jenkins.

Yes, as amended.

Motion is approved.

Motion is approved as amended with a vote of seven ayes.

One excuse, Houston.

Moving to item 12.

Adopt a resolution amending two contracts to towns and public affairs to serve as a city of Oakland state lobbyists and provide grant support by extending the term through October 1, 2025 to September 30th, 2027.

And adding funds for a total amount not to exceed 420,000.

And to serve as a city of Oakland federal lobbyists and provide grant support by extending the term through October 1, 2025 to September 30th, 2027, and adding funds for an amount not to exceed 252,000 dollars and authorizing the city administrator without further counsel action to exercise an option to renew each contract for a third year under the same terms and conditions for an amount not to exceed 210,000 for the third year of state, lobbyist contract and uh and 126,000 for the third year of the federal lobbyist contract and authorizing the city administrator to waive the city's local business, small local business program participation requirements.

You have one speaker on this item, move approval.

We have a motion, a second.

Let's go to the public speaker.

Miss Asada Olabala.

You make some powerful statements about your lobbyists.

You say that they've achieved high levels of success over the years.

And how many years we're talking about since 2006?

That's how long we've had these lobbyists in place.

So over the years, what have we, what have they accomplished?

Specifically, what have they accomplished?

Okay, they have you say that they uh in Sacramento and Washington, they have been have deep knowledge of Oakland issues, and they uh they are working on things that are gonna help us.

That's great.

I don't see the evidence of it.

So uh did they support the homeless services uh items SB 1361 and SB 2835, which is homeless service 1361, is homeless service contracts, exemptions from CIPRA, SB 2835 eases the placement of homelessness individuals into hotels and motels for longer stages.

I'm just talking about two things having to do with homelessness.

Where did how did they work on that?

What was your position on that?

I never hear anything where you say uh we take in a position every now and then, okay.

So I just like to know it's a long time to have somebody in place since 2006.

I didn't get here until 2007, so I've been here a long time, and I can't say anything about what I've been able to accomplish, very little.

How do you guarantee you how much we're paying them?

Okay, but this is how y'all do business.

You rubber stamp everything mostly.

So these lobbyists are doing they're doing the work for us.

We're paying them a lot of money.

That's what you say.

And Nicolo, I will invite you back for a presentation on your word.

You usually come for a presentation, is that correct?

Absolutely.

Um uh honorable council president, council members, super grateful for this great partnership we've had.

Very grateful for support of the mayor, city administrator.

Uh I know we're not supposed to respond to the public, proud of helping you all secure over 880 million between state and federal efforts.

Uh 38 Oakland specific sponsored bills signed into law as it relates to homelessness.

And I'm sorry, I'm a little exhausted because we've been running all week.

In the session, we were able to get a trailer bill to fast-track your hop around seven funds.

Really grateful the mayor's help on that because she was personally making phone calls too.

So uh very grateful for all the work, looking forward to additional partnerships.

So thank you all.

Uh, let's keep this going.

I don't know through the chair to our lobbyists.

I don't know other firms that actually go into neighborhoods and communities with uh elected officials to talk to neighbors, but I am deeply grateful that you went into West Oakland with me to address homelessness and to listen to my neighbors and to see what people living on the streets were experiencing and were able to take that experience and bring that back in in ERF funds that are helping us to address the situation that we're experiencing that went directly to the extended stay hotel.

So I've personally benefited from being in relationship with this firm and my community has benefited, and that's what makes the difference to me.

So I'm happy to second this this legislation and look forward to more opportunities to bring more resources to the city of Oakland.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

I'm not happy.

Madam Clerk, let's go to a roll call.

Moving through the role on the item 12 moved by Council President Jenkins, seconded by council member Fife.

Starting with Council Member Brown.

Aye.

Councilmember Fife.

Aye, Councilmember Gayo.

Councilmember Houston is excused, Councilmember Ramachandran.

Is also excused, Councilmember Unger.

Aye.

Councilmember Wong.

Aye.

And Chair Jenkins.

Aye.

Motion passes with a vote of six ayes.

Aye.

Six, seven eyes, two excuse.

I'm sorry, one excuse Houston.

Councilmember Brown, do you have an immemorial?

And then I should.

Councilmember Fife, after that.

Because that's more serious.

I don't have an in memorium, but I wasn't able to read a statement that I was asked by the chair of the Paramount Theaters, and I wanted to speak before Councilmember Brown because hers is more serious.

So I wanted to just state on the record because I told Ray Leon that I would, that the Paramount Theater completely supports the naming of 21st Street in honor of Michael Morgan, the Maestro.

The Paramount was Mr.

Morgan's canvas for his masterful performances, and we are proud to support Councilmember Fife's proposal so that his memory and legacy will live forever.

Rayleon Chair, Board of Directors, Paramount Theater.

Thank you.

Okay.

I believe 12 30 in front of City Hall, we will be having a rally celebrating the playoff, making it to the playoffs for the Golden State Valkyries.

And then in addition, on behalf of Councilmember Ramachandran, I did want to offer an adjourn in memory for Dr.

Shirley Block, a former youth counselor at Youth Uprising, a beloved community leader, mentor, and activist whose life work uh left an incredible mark on Oakland and beyond.

Um she lost her battle uh with cancer on August the 24th.

And for decades, Dr.

Block poured love, guidance, and hope into the lives of youth at risk youth and justice involved young people.

She dedicated herself to walking alongside those impacted by trauma, offering not only support but also the belief that every young person deserves a chance to heal to grow and to thrive.

Her commitment went far beyond individual mentorship.

Dr.

Block was a tireless community activist who made it her mission to change the trajectory for countless young people and young adults while through direct outreach, advocacy, and building of programs and support.

She stood as a powerful voice for justice, compassion, and opportunity.

Thank you.

All right, we'll go to open forum.

Thank you.

Calling the names of those who signed up for open forum, Asada Olabala, Jean Hazard, and Kevin Choice.

Don't forget about Art Shanks.

It's a disgrace how you haven't given him the honor that he deserves.

Submitted to every city a document that was called the model ordinance addressing encampments with urgency and dignity.

The purpose of it was to do some changing in your cities related to the challenges of encampments.

Publicly, what you have created now, because you took no action.

Other cities have taken action.

This San Jose and San Francisco have taken action on encampment changes.

Those changes have resulted in their homeless communities leaving those cities.

And guess where they have come?

To Oakland.

We have now had an increased amount of homeless individuals.

Thank you for your comments, Mr.

Sodder.

I'm gonna finish this by a second.

Good afternoon, uh, Council uh President Jenkins.

Uh, Steam members, uh, good to see you all back to work.

Uh, just wanted to first to say thank you for passing the the resolution to make Michael Morgan Way a reality.

I'm a board member with Oakland Symphony.

Um, like when Michael Morgan came into Oakland in 1990, I was a sophomore at Skyline High School, and he spoke to me and kind of inspired me to continue on my path as a musician.

Um, so just thank you for that and look forward to celebrating that when it happens.

Secondly, just to raise a couple of quick things.

I know I only have a little bit of time, permitting around events in Oakland.

Um, I was supporting a high road day that we know moved to San Francisco this year.

I want to have continued conversations around how we can support events around permitting and also just the uh the amount of staffing that was unavailable from um OPD that kind of had prevented them from having that festival here in Oakland.

Lastly, um Oakland Love Life.

That is our motto.

Uh while while I was cultural strategist, we had Oakland Love Life Day, Oakland Love Life Week.

We had events, we had city departments go out, feed the homeless.

Make sure you issue regarding refinancing the general obligation bond is an increase in debt service.

Why don't you ask the finance department there?

Let me tell you, the Oakland City Council may call a special meeting to address pressing issues that require action before the next regular scheduled meeting.

That would be tomorrow.

You didn't need a special meeting today.

Time sensitive issues.

Matters, I cannot wait until the next regular meeting, such as budgetary shortfalls.

And you had this today to prevent public comments from being here.

Don't look at me the way you look at me.

I'm reading your rules in the charter, the Brown Act, and the sunshine.

Stop shaking your head, guys.

This meeting's adjourned.

Oh, right.

We adjourn in honor of Dr.

Shirley Block.