To the community and economic development committee meeting of Tuesday, July 14th, 2026.

The time is now one thirty PM, and this meeting may come to order.

Before taking roll, I will provide instructions on how to submit speaker cards for items on this agenda.

If you're here with us in chamber, would like to submit a speaker card, please fill one out and turn one into myself or a clerk representative no later than ten minutes after the start of this meeting or before the item is read into record, whichever occurs first.

Registering to speak via Zoom is now due 24 hours prior to the start of this meeting, and this meeting came to order at one thirty PM, and speaker cards will no longer be accepted ten minutes after, making that time one forty p.m.

We'll now proceed with taking roll.

Oh, this is Ramachandran.

Oh, sorry, Ramachandran.

Excuse.

Ramachandran excused and chair Um.

Thank you.

We have three members present, one excuse Ramachandran.

And Chair, before we begin, do you have any announcements at this time?

Yes, um, so first off, um, just want to make the announcement that this will be uh one of our last uh CED meetings until September of the twenty-first.

I just want to thank all of the departments uh that have presented over the course of the last couple of months, HCD, EWD, planning and building, and thank you all for all of your hard work.

Um, I also did want to take a moment of uh personal um privilege to shout out um two uh interns in my office, um, Sana, as well as Mariana, who also served on this the school board as a school board representative, and it will be heading off to college in the fall.

Um, but we're so proud to have you in the office during the summer.

Um so everyone, uh please um feel free to go introduce yourself and learn all about uh some of the things that they're working on.

Um, and then also um, I would make the announcement uh just to ensure that we are staying on time with the amount of um agenda items that we have.

I will limit public comment to one minute.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Chair.

Noting the presence of Councilmember Ramachandran at 1 32 p.m.

Reading in item one, approval of the draft minutes from the committee meeting of June twenty-third, two thousand twenty-six.

We have no speakers on this item.

Just need a motion.

Excellent.

Thank you so much.

Colleagues.

Councilmember Fife.

So moved.

Okay.

Excellent.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We have a motion made by council member Fife, seconded by Council Member Ramachandran.

To accept the draft minutes from the committee meeting of June 23rd, 2026.

On roll council members Five.

Aye.

Rama Chandran.

I and Chair Brown.

Aye.

Thank you.

Item one passes with four eyes to accept the draft minutes from the committee meeting of June 23rd, 2026.

Item two, determination of schedule of outstanding committee items.

And we do have a number of speakers that signed up to speak on this item.

Okay.

Thank you so much.

So to the administration, any changes?

No changes at this time.

Perfect.

Thank you.

We'll go ahead and entertain a motion prior to hearing the public speakers.

Councilmember Unger.

So moved.

Excellent.

Second.

Perfect.

Thank you so much.

And then we can hear from the public speakers.

Okay, calling in the names that signed up to speak on item number two.

In no particular order, you can come up to the podium, state your name before making your comment, or if you're on Zoom, please raise your hand to be easily identified.

Lawrence Cox, Erin Fenyas, Deshaun Toller.

Sorry, give me one moment.

Shinobi Howard.

Marco Duncan.

Joyus Morale, Margaret Grimillus, Sarah Amir, and Nita B.

Again, in no particular order, you can come up to the podium, state your name for the record, and then noting the adjustment of the time to one minute.

Hi, my name is Margaret Grimsley.

I'm a long-term resident of Oakland, California, over 60 years.

Um I'm here to um suggest that an agenda item be added to the committee meeting to discuss the street vendor um enforcement plan, or rather develop an enforcement plan or a compliance plan with the street vendors, and to ensure that the city is in compliance with state law SB 946 and with the U.S.

constitution, and that they are giving the vendors due process, and most importantly that they engage the vendors in solutioning for whatever the issues are, or that the uh city is determining the issues are with street vending.

Street vending vendors are a vital and important and um uh necessary component of community community and uh Oakland's authenticity and destroying the street vendors and their source of livelihood in a city were so expensive.

My name is Anita B.

And I've been a street vendor in Oakland since I was 19 years old, and I'm 55 years old now.

When I started street vending, there were no laws that existed, so what I was doing was not illegal.

The first set of laws that were implemented that's uh impacted my livelihood was six years ago and claimed that what I was doing was now criminal.

Uh the city should shift from its gatekeeping of uh street vendors into working in partnership with street vendors and include uh longtime informal street vendors, both permitted and unpermitted, not permitted to decision making to help us uh to waive and subsidized participation costs for low-income vendors, design programs rooted in equity and culture around street vending hubs like Lake Merritt, Fruitville, and downtown.

Um, advocate for simpler, clear, streamlined, accessible permit systems.

I know lots of vendors who try to get their permits is a runaround.

They get their permits and they're still getting messed with.

Um, we you start treating vendors at participants and not problems that were leaders and culture keepers, and the city has been destroying property, um both permitted and unpermitted vendors and without warning, without receipts, and with no way to get people's property back, hello, I'm Lisa Zee.

I am a homeowner.

Neighborhood is Cleveland Heights.

I live near the Cascade Steps.

I feel we need to keep these vendors here by educating kids today.

We sorry to the speaker.

Do you have a speaker card filled out for this item?

Yes.

Can you repeat your name?

Lisa Zebrack.

I don't have one for you.

I'm sorry.

The rich and historic street vending culture neighborhood.

Please state your name for the record.

Joyus Morelli.

Thank you.

Economic system within the Oakland community should not be criminalized or erased.

It is part of the Oakland identity and should be protected and supported.

This is a quality of life for working class and black and brown folks now, because all of us have multiple jobs and side hustles to be able to exist in the city we're born and raised in.

Our culture and quality of life keeps getting negatively impacted in by the people who are not from here or can't figure out how to fit in.

There has been talk about the trash and loud noise at the lake, and we vendors all agree.

We ask our city workers to help support us as getting us more trash bags so we can be able to hold each other accountable and our customers.

So the vendors have been organized to clean up the lake every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and making sure our customers pick up trash too.

We encourage each other to turn off our music at the appropriate time in the coordinates, which is at 9 p.m.

When we have the funds, we have been able to put quarter potties for ourselves.

Hello, my name is Shinobi.

I'm also a vendor at um on Lake Shore, Lakeshore Avenue.

So basically, we just ask the city, especially public works, can they help us with larger trash?

We can put more trash away, and we need port-potties.

So if we can get port-potties for the vendors and for also the for our customers, you know, this is a cultural thing.

You know what I'm saying?

We've been we've I've been out there since 20 since 2018.

So I've been up there like about seven years now.

Also, we have um some of this some of the city workers have been given out fake tickets, fake parking tickets, which we took downtown.

They said these ticks aren't even real.

So I think this is something to distract and tell people just don't come to the lake.

Yes, that's what we think.

Oh, my goodness, it is called.

Hello, my name is Sarah Amir.

I am an Oakland resident, long-time Oakland resident, and also a teacher here at OUSD.

Um, and I'm always concerned about how the, you know, the boards and the governments here are actually working in collaboration with the communities here.

So there's this um theory of practice defined by Paulo Ferrari called praxis, which is the continuous and dynamic cycle of reflection and action.

You use theory to guide your action to guide your reflection, and it's continuous.

It's working towards a shared goal in collaboration with community members and the most vulnerable.

Here you have the most vulnerable standing here before you, and nowhere do I see anything showing that you are working with them.

What about the attacks on the vendors is based on theory?

What type of reflection is taking place, and how is this committee actually protecting these community members?

Thank you.

Hi, Aaron Fenias.

I live in the Fruitvale Diamond area, another area with plenty of street vendors.

These are folks who are a crucial part of the area's uh economy and community.

They really want to serve their customers and neighbors safely and in compliance with all of the safety rules that would be needed.

And the county and cities really punitive and possibly illegal code enforcement actions against them are making that impossible.

Like I have talked to folks who are trying to help street vendors in the Fruit Vale area navigate the sort of the code compliance process with the county, and they are folks who have sometimes been trying for years and years and years to get their operations in compliance, and they can't because the city and the county are not supporting them, and the city and county are often setting them back by destroying their property without receipts, without any sort of like, hello, my name is Dayshawn.

Uh once again, I am a street vendor that make clothes and sell clothes for Lake Murray.

Um, I would like the city to not treat us treat us like criminals and treaters and treat us like as a partnership.

I know everybody's having well, the city is having meetings.

We would like to be involved so you can understand where we're coming from and we can meet halfway instead of just going about your way and destroying the culture because as us as a community, that's what we are.

We are a family.

So let's treat it like one instead of just having it be one sided.

So I will like to see that from the city of Oakland.

Thank you.

I see a lack of empathy.

You know, you have people that are trying to do the best they can to make it honestly, and it's a whole bunch of other stuff going on this city.

Trash all over the place and everything else.

And instead of doing the things that people care about the most, they're messing around with the people that are trying to do better.

And that's just not right.

It's not right.

No, give give people an opportunity to to make conditions better for themselves and their families.

And I understand that there's uh, you know, uh laws that that and and and you know, licensing and stuff like that that people must have to sell stuff, but if that's the case, then apply the laws and and policies equally because it's only one group of people getting messed with.

Good afternoon.

My name is Lawrence.

I am the regional advocacy and organizing associate for LSBC and all of us are none.

And briefly, what I want to say is if community matters and the power is with the community, then when decisions are being made for the community, I think the community should be involved.

Um, we're looking at public safety, which should be important to everyone up here.

The opportunities that we give those in our lower lower social economic uh demographics is important.

What we do for individuals who are returning home and may find themselves unable to be employed, but find that they have some type of hustle where they can do something legally, should not be discouraged or sent the wrong message as if they're still doing something criminal.

And I think when we when we fail to realize that and create that conduit to where there's a two-way street and there's understanding, we run the risk of jeopardizing our public safety because when you're killing the culture and you're killing economic opportunities for our communities, um, under the guise of trying to make better, it doesn't work and it doesn't, it doesn't make sense.

And I'll I'll stop there.

Thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

Chair, that concludes all speakers on this item.

Excellent.

Thank you so much.

Um, just want to um acknowledge and thank um all of the speakers for coming out.

Um I also saw the the video that you that was posted online um about just some of the activities that have been occurring, and I do think it's very important that our street vendors have a seat um at the table and are included in the conversations that involve them.

And so um I look forward to um need to be and all of us uh leadership at all of us are none.

I believe you all know how to get in contact with me, and so I definitely welcome um having a discussion um and seeing how we can move that forward.

Um, so thank you so much for this the for those comments.

Thank you.

And we have a motion made by Councilmember Unger, seconded by Council Member Ramachandran to accept the determination of scheduled outstanding committee items as is.

On roll council members five.

Aye, Ramachandran, Unger.

And Chair Brown.

I thank you.

Item two passes with four eyes to accept the determination of scheduled bystanding committee items as is reading in.

Oh, sorry, before reading in item S3, this does require an urgency finding vote as this was added at the three-day.

Okay, thank you so much.

Um, I'll move um with the urgency vote.

Just need a second.

Thank you.

We have a motion made by council uh by Chair Brown, second by council member five to accept the urgency finding on item S3 on roll.

Council members five.

Aye.

Ramachandron.

Aye.

Unger.

I and Chair Brown.

Aye.

Thank you.

Urgency finding passes with four eyes.

Sorry, to accept the urgency urgency finding on item S3.

Now reading in item S3.

Adopt the following pieces of legislation.

A resolution authorizing the city administrator to remove delinquent city of Oakland code enforcement liens and unleaned fees, costs assessment and civil penalties on certain tax-defaulted properties for a period of four years to facilitate the development of these properties into affordable housing via Alameda County's Chapter 8 tax sale program and limiting the aggregated amount of liens removed pursuant to the authorization to a nominal value not to exceed 10 million dollars and acknowledging the transmutation transmutation of the of these code enforcement liens at all into prorated chapter eight sales proceeding or sorry proceeds that proceeds that will be paid to the city of Oakland and a resolution authorizing the city administrator to remove delinquent city of Oakland vacant property vacant property tax liens on certain tax defaulted properties for a period of four years to facilitate the development of these properties into affordable housing via Alameda County's chapter eight tax sale program and acknowledging the transmutation of these vacant property tax liens into prerated chapter eight sales proceeds that will be paid into or paid to the city of Oakland and limiting the aggregated amount of liens removed pursuant to this authorization to a nominal to a nominal value not to exceed 10 million dollars and we have one speaker that signed up for this item.

Perfect, thank you so much.

We're we'll hear from staff on this item and we'll do uh eight minutes.

All right.

Good afternoon, Council members.

My name is Caleb Smith.

I'm a senior advisor in the city of Oakland's housing community development department.

Uh we have a brief presentation for this item.

Thank you.

So today's item uh is related to the County of Alameda's uh desire to move forward with chapter eight tax sale process uh for some uh lots here in Oakland.

So as we all know, there are a number of vacant lots in Oakland.

A subset of these lots are effectively abandoned by their current owner and have entered a tax defaulted status.

This means that they have failed to pay their property taxes for over five years.

Normally, when that happens, the county will first try to sell the property at auction to try to repay the local governments as much of those back taxes as possible.

However, what we see are that some of them are unsuccessful in selling at that auction.

Sometimes the properties are undevelopable, they may have no road access.

There may be other site conditions that make them difficult to develop.

In other cases, the value of the back taxes is more than the value of the properties themselves, which deters people from buying the properties because under state law, the minimum auction price is the value of those back taxes and liens.

This puts these properties in limbo.

There's no one to pay these back taxes and liens, so they're effectively uncollectible, but the property remains vacant and without anyone to move it forward.

There is a provision in state law that can help with this situation.

The chapter eight tax sale process allows the county's tax collector to negotiate a lower fair price to sell tax defaulted properties to affordable housing nonprofits or to public agencies or nonprofits for other public purposes.

The chapter eight tax sale process has the potential to help address blight concerns in Oakland, as we know that a number of these vacant lots are significant attractors of blight and nuisance activities.

Many of these activities ultimately have to be abated by the city of Oakland at expense to the city of Oakland with no one to recover those costs from.

Now, in terms of the process here, this is very much led by Alameda County's tax collector's office.

The City of Oakland is in a supporting role.

The Alameda County Tax Collector's Office, because it's their responsibility to collect taxes and dispose of properties where they cannot collect the taxes.

They identify the locations that are suitable for sale under chapter eight tax sales.

They identify which parties to sell those to, they identify the sales price, and they complete the mechanics of the transaction itself.

The city of Oakland's role is primarily later in the process.

After a property's been sold to a potential affordable housing developer, the city of Oakland has land use authority through our zoning code.

And we also are oftentimes a funder of affordable housing.

Now, today's council action is fairly narrow.

We are primarily in the role of removing a constraint on this process.

Most of the time, when there's this tax sale, whether that is an auction or through this chapter eight tax sale process, the outstanding taxes are wiped out via the sale under state law.

Based on guidance from our city attorney's office as well as conversations with the county council in Alameda County, we've identified that there are some specific actions the council would need to take to unblock these kinds of transactions from moving forward.

Primarily removing vacant property tax liens and code enforcement liens to make sure that these historic liabilities do not unduly burden the new owners of the property who we want to take control of these properties and then exercise responsible ownership moving forward and ultimately develop affordable housing on them.

This item has an upper limit of four years or 10 million dollars in liens, though we expect the actual amount of waived taxes and liens to be far lower.

The city will receive a prorated share of whatever the sale price is.

Even if we're not able to collect the full value of those back taxes, if the city had 50% of the outstanding taxes on a property, then whatever the sale price is, the city would expect to receive about 50% of those proceeds.

Now, this is um here is a list of properties that Alameda County has identified as the ones they think are most suitable to development.

I'd like to emphasize that this is just Alameda County's first pass at this.

Whether that is properties that become tax defaulted that are not currently tax defaulted, or whether there are properties that are currently tax defaulted but have barriers to development that in further conversation we can help address.

So, in terms of the next steps here, that we've been coming towards this for a long time.

I know that Councilmember Fife in particular has been seeking to use this as a lever opportunity to address some of the issues with these tax-defaulted lighted lots in Oakland for a number of years, really.

And it's just mechanically relatively complicated process, which has required this sort of coordinated city-county action.

Today, later today, we're expecting the County Board of Supervisors to approve the first Chapter 8 tax sale this decade for 8215 MacArthur Boulevard to the Black Cultural Zone Community Development Corporation.

After this item went to print, we heard that there's actually a second affordable housing developer, which is interested in a different property here in Oakland.

We're still gathering more information about that.

We also are hoping to expand the range of properties available to affordable housing developers in Oakland.

We know that there are a lot of brownfield sites in Oakland with environmental contamination, which can deter developers from wishing to move forward with this process.

Just last month, we got word that the city and county had successfully won 1.5 million dollars from the environmental protection agency for a brownfield assessment grant, which will help us understand which of these properties are relatively clean and are able to move forward into redevelopment into a productive affordable housing use quickly, and which of them need additional funding to address historic pollution issues before they can receive a more permanent use.

So we do expect a majority of that 1.5 million dollar grant to serve these tax defaulted properties in Oakland as well as some other sites that are going to be used for affordable housing.

So that is a brief overview of this item.

We're now pleased to take any questions.

Thank you.

Excellent.

Thank you so much, Heila, for a comprehensive presentation.

I don't have any questions on this item, colleagues, Councilmember Fife.

I can't state enough through the chair how elated I am that there has been some movement on this process.

I've been working on it for almost a decade.

And to see this type of action happen at the hands of HCD, I just my hat's off to you.

This has been a Herculean task for whatever reason to get the county to move forward.

And I know this is on the city side, and we're working in partnership with them, but I I just wanted to thank you publicly for that.

And I wonder I'm looking at page six, and the majority of these sites that are currently listed are in district three.

Um are they all zoned residential?

Through the chair to council member five, for the initial list of sites that the county's identified, they are indeed all zoned residential.

Um there are a number of other tax defaulted lots in Oakland which have non-residential uses.

Um, however, rezoning is a uh complicated process at time.

So at the moment, the county has been focusing on sites which do under current zoning allow for residential use.

Outstanding.

Um I know some several of the lots I've I've investigated have uh a need for potential rezoning, and that adds to the complication.

So I'm I'm happy that these are all residential, and then what role would planning and building play and potentially um working with HCD to see if like tiny homes could be put on these lots.

Do you know if uh there would need to be a zoning change for for tiny homes or if there would need to be an existing dwelling on the parcel in order to have additional uh dwelling units?

Uh through the chair to council.

I'm sorry, accessory.

Yeah, through the chair to council member five.

Um I might defer to some of my colleagues here from the planning and building department on that.

I think it probably the developable capacity of the lots probably depends on a case-by-case basis based on the current zoning as well as the specific use intended.

Um I know that our uh colleagues of the planning and building department are always happy to talk with potential developers about different uh potential development approaches and get a better sense of which might be suitable for current zoning or what the options might be if uh additional zoning action is required.

Okay, oh sorry, and I have a colleague here from planning and building to add further to that.

Good afternoon, committee chair.

Um, and through the chair, council member five to answer your question.

Yes, I would um my bureau as well as the planning bureau would have to meet and discuss how that would look for tiny homes on a parcel and what approaches we might take that would basically straddle both our permitting process as well as the planning review process.

And I I'm just asking for the public because through the chair, I've asked Director Gilchrist this question many times.

Um, and there are a couple I see them back there.

Um I know Roots Clinic wants to put some tiny homes on parcels in district three.

They primarily operate in East Oakland, and so we've been in conversation about utilizing some lots.

They're privately owned, but it's it's similar in nature.

So I just wanted to state that for the record.

This is exciting, and I'm happy to make the motion.

I know we have a public speaker, but happy.

Um I cannot again express how happy I am for this particular moment.

Thank you both.

Thank you.

Yep, thank you.

Council member.

Council Member Ramoshan.

Thank you.

Uh thank you for the report.

This is um this is great.

I wanted to know per the chapter eight sale laws from the county side.

Could it be used for not only affordable housing but like safe RV parking and other and transitional housing as well, or is it limited to a housing developer and a building going up?

Sure.

Uh through the chair to council member Ram Chandra, I think that that's a question that may require some further analysis um with the county's attorneys.

Um, the chapter eight tax sale law does allow for uses beyond structurally affordable housing.

Uh public agencies are allowed to purchase properties, and there may be other kinds of public use, which is allowed.

Um I think that the county tax collector's office has given some early thought to what additional categories of public use would be eligible here.

Um, but I'm sure they would be happy to participate in the conversation about additional opportunities because some of these sites, like the ones here, may be highly suitable for permanent affordable housing development, but there may be other sites that would be a better fit for other uses.

Okay, thank you.

Perfect.

We can hear from the public speaker.

Calling in the name that signed up to speak on item number S3, Miss Asada Olabala.

So no more tiny home projects until we can stop the destruction that takes place when we put tiny homes at Lake Merritt in West Oakland.

We had to destroy them after the use of them were uh were finished.

This item says that the Island County Board of Supervisors expected to approve the chapter eight tax sales at their July 14 meeting.

So they're meeting today to approve the use of chapter eight, expected to.

The timeline is is that you would wait until Alameda County Board of Supervisors approves this.

Just to say they expect to do it, you need to have them officially do it.

And why is this?

Is that the reason why this is Rule 28?

And you have to do this by the end of July, and that vacancy tax, another absurd tax, where you have people paying up to six thousand dollars annually.

Thank you for your comments.

Chair that concludes all speakers that signed up to speak.

Perfect, thank you.

I'll second uh council member five's uh motion.

Thank you.

We have a motion made by council member five, seconded by chair brown to approve the recommendations of staff and to forward this item to the July 21st City Council agenda on roll council members five.

Aye, Ramachandran, Unger.

Aye, and Chair Brown.

Aye.

Thank you.

Motion passes with four ayes support this item to the July 24th City Council agenda and to the maker of the motion or on consent.

Thank you on consent.

Uh, before reading in item three, this does require an urgency finding vote as this was added at the three-day.

Perfect.

Thank you so much.

Um, so moved on the urgency finding.

I'll second that.

Thank you.

On the urgency finding motion, we have a motion made by Chair Brown, seconded by Council Member Unger to accept the urgency finding on item S4.

On roll council members, sorry, council members five, aye.

Ramachandron.

Aye.

Unger aye.

And Chair Brown.

Aye.

Thank you.

Motion to uh passes with four ayes to accept the urgency finding.

Um, one moment.

Once he sits down.

Motion to adjourn into a special meeting.

So moved.

Thank you.

Due to uh we have a motion made by Councilmember Ramachandran, seconded by Chair Brown.

Due to the presence of council member uh council president Jenkins uh to adjourn the CED meeting and to reconvene as a city council on roll.

Council members five aye Rama Chandron and Chair Brown.

Aye.

Thank you.

Motion passes with four ayes to adjourn the community and economic development committee meeting and to reconvene as a special city council.

Reading in item S4.

Adopt the following pieces of legislation.

A resolution authorizing the forgiveness of a city loan to Athena MTLLC of up to two million dollars in outstanding principal plus all accrued and unpaid interest and fees, and B a sorry, a city revolving line of credit to Sabash Abshar with a final outstanding balance of one million five hundred thousand dollars plus accrued and unpaid interest and fees for the foothill seminary point retail project, each contingent upon sale of the transfer the sale or transfer of the project to a qualified purchaser and making appropriate SQL findings and two an ordinance authorizing the forgiveness of outstanding and future rent balances in an amount up to 40,000 dollars for seminary point LLC pursuant to the ground lease with the city contingent on the sale or transfer of the leasehold interest in the property at a um sorry property to a qualified purchaser and making sequel findings, and we have two speakers that signed up to speak.

Perfect, thank you so much.

Um so for this item, we'll hear from the our director of EWD as well as someone from the team as well.

Good afternoon, Chair Brown, Council President, CED committee members.

My name is Ashley Cannett, Director of Economic and Workforce Development.

Seminary Point was developed on city owned land to address a long-standing need for neighborhood serving retail in the Foothill Seminary area.

And like many commercial centers, it was hit hard by the pandemic, and the departure of its anchor tenant created additional challenges and has contributed to decreased activity.

Today the project is at risk of foreclosure.

The recommendation before you is a practical, forward-looking solution.

Staff is recommending the forgiveness of the city's existing loan and line of credit, but only if a qualified buyer acquires the leasehold and takes over stewardship of the center.

This action removes a significant barrier to a sale, improves the project's marketability, and gives us the best opportunity to attract an experienced owner who can stabilize the property and preserve this important community asset.

Without this action, foreclosure becomes much more likely, and the city would likely lose its investment regardless because our debt is subordinate to the senior lender.

This recommendation offers the strongest path towards protecting neighborhood retail, supporting existing businesses, and positioning seminary point for long-term success.

With that framing, I'm going to turn it over to Teresa Lopez, manager of the public private development division within EWD to move through some of the details.

Thank you.

We have a PowerPoint presentation.

And good afternoon, as is mentioned.

My name is Teresa Lopez.

I'm the development manager in the public private development division.

And I'm going to give you provide an overview of the Foothill Seminary Retail Center and the history and to date what has occurred.

So Seminary Point is located on Foothill and Seminary.

It is made up of 1.69 acres, with 29,950 square feet of commercial space with parking.

The city developed the site in partnership with Sunfield Development via a land, a lease disposition development agreement and a 66-year ground lease.

As you can see here from the aerial, an example of the tenants on the in the property, it has provided services to the community.

There is a Bank of America ATM, a grocery that provides women and infant and children's grocery services.

A more recent tenant is the Flower Veminis restaurant that will be opening soon.

There we do have a vacancy where the old walgreens was located and was left in January 2025 as a part of a larger walk walk greens closing in the Bay Area.

So the history of this site is that the former Oakland Redevelopment Agency acquired 11 parcels at the corner of Foothill Seminary.

From 2007 to 2012, the city worked on demolition of the buildings, cleaning up the property, the soil, and when that was completed, we released in 2012 a request for proposal to develop on the site.

The specific goal was to create a retail center for the community to provide goods and services.

So we were able to complete that process.

And in 2013, after release of the RFP, some field development was selected to construct and manage the property.

In 2015, as part of the closing for construction, we provided a $2 million city loan and a 1.5 million dollar line of credit to the developer to support the project.

After signing the LDDA and the ground lease, completion of construction was in 2017, and the property, the center has been was doing well until the pandemic.

Since the pandemic, the property has struggled to retain tenants and to pay um the debt on the senior loan, which was used for construction, which is now at 6.2 million, and to pay the city's loan, the two million dollar loan, and the 1.5 million line of credit.

Sunfield has um we have been working with Sunfield for during this time to see if he could refinance the loan or sell the leasehold interest because we're we are um the owners of the property.

Um with our loan and the line of credit and the senior loan, it's over 8.5 million.

Um so it's it's the value of the property is less than the debt on the property.

So again, since 2023, we've been working with Sunfield real estate agents and its lenders to stabilize the project and sell or refinance the leasehold interest, and our efforts have not been successful because of this debt.

Um so the problem that we have now is that if we do not take any action, we have a very high risk of foreclosure.

We're gonna lose the city loan and line of credit because it will not be recoverable through foreclosure.

Um it may create threats, threaten the stability of the retail center and um the services there, and it may create negative impact for the neighborhood.

Um when you don't have a property that's being managed, they cannot pay debt.

There's issues that come up if it's in foreclosure, the lender um will wait to get a buyer or it may stay um unmanaged for some time.

So that's our concern as well.

So the action we're requesting again is to forgive the two million dollar city loan, forgive the 1.5 million dollar line of credit, and forgive the um the rent to a 40,000 dollars, all contingent on finding a qualified buyer.

Um, and the benefits of doing this is it would avoid foreclosure, it would place the project in the hands of a qualified buyer, it avoids retail vacancy and blight, and it maintains sales tax and local economic activity for the community.

It preserves our relationship with the ground lease um and the um purchaser and ensures that the center can continue to serve East Oakland residents.

So in conclusion, we um would request your approval of the resolution that's being recommended to forgive the two million dollars and the 1.5 million line of credit and the ordinance to forgive the 40,000 in grant rent that is due.

Thank you.

If you have any questions, I'm here.

Perfect.

Thank you so much, Teresa.

Um let's go ahead and uh turn it over to our council president um for his question since this is in district six.

Oh, thank you so much, Chair Brown, and thank you, committee for allowing me to join.

Uh, this is truly a crown jewel in the neighborhood that absolutely needs some work.

Uh I know uh many residents use this place to get coffee, pay their cell phone bills in the past, go to Sweet Fingers, uh, number of things, and we're really happy that we have a new restaurant, uh, you need restaurant in the facility, and um, happy that district three got sweet fingers, and I know they will definitely be successful.

Uh but truly needs some help.

And I've talked with CJ from the Black Cultural Zone, and I'm really interested in the Black Cultural Zone running this facility, but a barrier to that is the city loan and the city line of credit, and so we um as a city uh need to ensure that we are uplifting East Oakland and doing everything we can to make sure that the residents have the amenities that they need, and I am in full support of staff and I know staff has been working diligently.

I've been working with staff to ensure that this parcel doesn't go to waste this uh and the community has uh access to coffee access which might not mean much, but in East Oakland it does access to coffee, access to restaurants, access to a police substation.

And so I ask that you guys approve this.

Thank you.

Thank you so much, Council President.

Um, I also um agree and you know I hope that you know whoever takes over the property.

I know that there was um a lot of feedback about the current um owner and um just really making sure that we're able to attract um uh an owner that can really pour into this space and attract um you know actual um businesses that the community needs right whether it is um no matter what that may be um and then they can it could also be sustained right um and avoid some of the things that you mentioned in the PowerPoint around blight and different things um and maybe you know welcome Walgreens back or or something right I know I know um so many community members had re reached out about um the Walgreens when it closed so um I am in support um thank you so much council president for your presence um as well as supporting moving this item forward forward as well um council member Unger.

Yeah thank you so you know I I support moving this item forward but you know sort of pulling back and looking at it from a larger perspective this is the third loan forgiveness we've voted on this year over 16 million dollars with the a vault C item and one in district three and it just feels like we're always in a subordinate loan position with no real ability to drive these projects forward even in this case when we own the land and I'm all for the city taking risk and helping make important projects like this happen.

This is a a key space that would that we need to uh help but I just think we need to have a a larger serious conversation about how we participate financially in real estate development um and I also would love to have more of um an analysis in general from finance and maybe the auditor I I don't think we've budgeted for receiving this money so it's not gonna hit hit our hit our general fund or anything but I just wonder um you know where we are are we going to be forgiving a lot more loans in the future are we at sort of uh are there other properties or investments that we have that are likely to go bust is this the end of the wave or just the beginning you know and obviously I'm not asking that directly to you but I just think that you know we're in this space where we're forgiving a lot of loans and and what that means for us and how we start getting ourselves out of the subordinate position and and make ourselves more of the driver when when these things go belly up.

Yeah I think you raise a really good question and I'm like I'm almost curious exactly what you said like and I imagine that our EWD team um potentially has a a list of of uh some of these properties and what may or may not be coming and so that may be something we want may want to request like as an informational item just so that we can get the lay of the land.

So thank you for flagging that Councilmember Unger.

Um do we have public speakers yes we can hear from the public speakers.

Calling the names I signed up to speak on item number s for Mrs.

Olabala and Blair Beakman.

I want to respond to Mr Unger's comments you've done a lot of things related to forgiving loans and helping uh certain parts of the city remain viable but we haven't done a lot for council member Jenkins district where we look at the economic struggles of district six and district seven and we come up with a way to deal with those struggles and so the balance here is not so much we gotta look at we got to put this as a priority because this district has many economic needs and this is one opportunity for for the community to have access to services and uh so that's why I'm supporting it.

And we we got to give more economic opportunities for African Americans to have opportunities to be sustainable and to be.

Thank you for your comments.

Switching to Zoom user Blair.

You can unmute yourself and begin your comments all right thank you.

Uh thank you for the words of the previous uh public comment.

Uh this is uh item is to be helping um the future uh communities of Oakland, communities of color.

Uh real congratulations.

Um, I wanted to quickly comment that uh thank you for the previous item that you were able to um work out uh a nice effort with uh Alameda County.

Um the kind of things that that previous item can be working towards and addressing uh is in the good spirit of what uh working on the Oakland Coliseum things are about, and good luck bringing those sort of items up.

Uh but the previous item up, uh your Oakland Coliseum things is way to develop dialogue and uh good discussion.

Thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

Chair, that concludes all speakers on this item.

Excellent, thank you so much.

Councilmember Fife.

Yes, I just wanted to ask through the chair if um there is not another entity that takes over the space by April of 2027.

Then what are the next steps?

Um if there isn't the um lender will foreclose and then we would have to go through that process.

Um we may be able to negotiate with the lender and see if we can extend it, so that is an option.

Um, but we're gonna work diligently with them and with um the developer to find another um purchaser to take over the leasehold interest.

So that is something actively that EWD is doing, working to find another use of thank you, perfect.

Thank you so much.

And I think maybe my last comment would be um just um as we are looking at a potential buyer, just really ensuring that they have the track record um in order to um really like liven up these um retail spaces and attract um you know key businesses and to also be a very good, I guess, landlord because I'm sure you all maybe heard some of the feedback that came from some of the the business owners that were renting the spaces as well.

So those were some of the areas of opportunity with the existing owner.

Yes, we we um we have the ground lease, so we will have the um the say in the person or purchaser who's taking over, and we have our criteria as the financial capacity, history, and working in a similar um area and um addressing issues of tenants.

Yeah, and then really having the ability to take the pulse of what the what the community needs in that space.

Awesome.

Thank you so much.

Um was there a motion on this item?

I'll make the motion.

Excellent.

And perfect.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

We have a motion made by Council Member Fife, seconded by Council Member Ramachandran to approve the recommendations of staff and support this item to the July 21st city council agenda on roll council members by Ramachandran.

Aye, Unger and Chair Brown.

I thank you.

Item S4 passes with four ayes to forward this item to the July 21st city council agenda and to the makers of the motion.

Is that on consent?

On consent, thank you.

Reading in item five, receive an informational report regarding the fiscal year 2025 to 26, quarter one and quarter two update on the planning and building department's code enforcement activities, and we have one speaker on this item.

Perfect.

Um thank you.

And so we can hear from staff on this item.

Good afternoon, uh committee chair Brown and members of the committee.

My name is CC Muela, Chief Building Official with Planning and Building this afternoon, principal supervisor for code enforcement, Mariana Rojo will be providing the biannual report.

Mariano, thank you, building official Moila.

Good afternoon, committee chair Brown and members of the committee.

Today we are pleased to provide an update on the planning and building department code enforcement activities for the first two quarters of the fiscal year of 2025 and 2026.

Code enforcement plays an important role protecting public health, safety, and neighborhood quality by ensuring compliance with Oakland's building, housing, property maintenance, and zoning regulations.

While today's report contains a significant amount of data, I'd like to point out three key takeaways.

We are improving operational efficiencies.

We are reducing our backlog by closing more cases than we open, investments in staffing, technology, partnerships, and producing measurable improvements in civil and service delivery.

Next slide.

Oh.

Some of the things we're going to talk about today is going to be quarterly complaint volume by category, enforcement actions issued, and cases abated and closed.

Next slide.

This slide shows some of our top complaints by category.

It's important to note that some of these complaints can be climatic in relation to summer or winter months, where we experience unpermitted work taking place or heating and mold issues due to cold and rainy weather and or blight resulting from overgrown vegetation by grasses, trees, fruit trees, avocado trees, trimmings, etc.

Next slide.

As shown here, we continue to receive high volume of complaints each quarter.

However, a key takeaway is not the number of complaints received, but how effectively we're responding to them as shown in the reduction of cases from previous quarters.

Next slide.

As shown in slides five and six, increased staffing and technology have allowed inspectors to spend more time in the field, resulting nearly 11,000 inspections during the reporting period.

Next slide, please.

These are enforcement tools.

We use only voluntary when we when we don't or to gain voluntary compliance efforts have been exhausted.

And these are stop work orders, compliance plans, and cleanup contracts.

Next slide.

These before and after photographs demonstrate the tangible improvements occurring in neighborhoods throughout Oakland.

Perhaps one of the most encouraging trends is the improvement in case resolution times.

Blight response improved approximately 35%.

If there's one slide, I encourage the committee to remember it's this one.

We opened 3,905 cases and closed 4,709 cases, meaning we closed more cases than we opened.

Open cases decreased.

That shows the source of code enforcement's team's great work.

The slide summaries, the slide summarizes the enforcement fees assessed during the reporting period.

I'd like to emphasize that the fees are not intended to generate revenue.

Their primary purpose is to recover the city's costs associated with investigating violations, conducting inspections, performing administrative work, and pursuing compliance when property owners fail to voluntary correct violations.

Property owners are first provided an opportunity to voluntarily comply through courtesy notices, notices of violation, and the appeal process.

Fees are only assessed when those compliance efforts are unsuccessful, and additional enforcement actions become necessary.

One encouraging trend we've seen is an improvement in fee collections.

It's important to note that collections in any given quarter are not necessarily tied to fees assessed during the same quarter.

Many enforcement cases have take months to resolve, and payments often occur after liens have been recorded or when property taxes are paid through the county.

During the reporting period, we saw an increased collection because staff, I mean, I'm sorry, increased collections because staff continue to improve follow-up on delinquent accounts and transferred priority liens to the county for collection.

As those liens are paid through the property tax process, the city recovers costs that were previously outstanding.

This is why you'll notice collections in quarter two exceed the amount assessed during the same quarter.

Those revenues reflect payments on enforcement actions from prior reporting periods, not just new cases.

That being said, one of our goals is to maximize voluntary compliance whenever possible.

When that does not occur, we have responsibility to recover the public resources expended on prolonged enforcement efforts.

Improved collections reflect better fiscal stewardship.

As I conclude today's presentation, I'd like to highlight some initiatives that are strengthening our code enforcement program and positioning us for continued success.

First, we're continuing to leverage technology through our code enforcement inspector app, which allows inspectors to document violations, generate notices of violations directly from the field, and spend more time serving the public rather than completing administrative tasks.

The investment has contributed to improved inspection capacity and faster case processing.

Second, we made significant progress in building our workforce by bringing on code enforcement staff and support personnel.

As reflected throughout today's presentation, those staffing investments are producing measurable results through the reduced spot or response times, increased inspections, and reduction in overall black log.

Finally, none of this work happens in isolation.

Our success depends on strong collaboration with our partners across the city, including the fire department, housing and community development, economic and workforce development, public works, the encampment management team, the city attorney's office, and many others.

These partnerships allow us to address complex cases more efficiently and provide coordinated solutions to our community.

In closing, this report demonstrates that the planning and building department code enforcement division continues to make measurable progress in improving service delivery, reducing our backlog, increasing inspection capacity, and strengthening compliance throughout Oakland.

While there is still important work ahead, the results presented today reflect the positive impact of our investments in staffing, technology, operational improvements, and strategic partnerships.

Thank you.

Thank you so much for the report, and you know, thank you to you and staff for bringing such a comprehensive report.

Um, I wanna say this is maybe the second time that we've at least for myself, um, I've heard this item.

I am curious as I'm looking at the slides.

I think it's slide 26 and 27.

I would be curious if when we get this item again, um, I guess in the next six months or before we, yeah, maybe in the next six months, I would be interested in seeing the data presented, um, I guess as a I know this is a quarterly report, uh, but I would be interested in seeing it reflected like year over year, so that we could actually get a true understanding of like okay, these are you know, these are all of the cases, these are the categories, and so in 2025 we were able to close X amount, and now in 2026, we have this many cases, and this is how many we were able to close, just so that because as I'm looking at the numbers, there's this on page 28, it says, you know, open cases at the end of Q4, and then it immediately jumps to Q2.

And you know, even like I think I want a better perspective of how well we're doing, but when you're looking at these columns from left to right as is presented, it's it's uh and I'm looking at blight to be specific on the slide.

Um, I'm not really it, it just seems kind of stagnant if I had to be honest.

Um, but I would love to the opportunity to be able to see: hey, this is the work that we've been doing in this year, and then this is what's happening in the next year as well.

Just a true like compare and contrast.

Um, but all in all, thank you so much for.

I think one of the key highlights that I was really delighted to see was um it just showcase the cross-departmental collaboration in order to get all of this accomplished, and and that is something that um, you know, myself and my colleagues we're all on finance, and we just had a report um about the city's strategic plans plan and one of the key components there is around cross departmental collaboration and so I think that this is a clear example of how that's happening so thank you so much um and so I'll go to my colleagues uh council member unger so this is great you guys are crushing it I love that you're closing more cases than are getting opened um how's your staffing uh through the chair um honorable council member unger uh we're not currently fully staffed but we have an ongoing uh recruitment and in fact we just have a first round of recruitments that we're going to um start the interview process process shortly they've gone through the initial application process and then the betting and the testing and we're just waiting for uh a list to be given to us so we can start just uh conducting the the uh interviews but we're looking to get fully staffed as quickly as possible but that may take a while to get yeah I guess that's my question how's the HR process working for you is it are there hiccups that we can help resolve or that need to be resolved through the chair council member unger yes we have been working actually closer with HR to ensure that not only our job descriptions but um the the type of work that we're looking for and experience is clearly depicted so that we can allow for more applicants I'm happy to report that this last go around we did have about 65 applicants for our principal supervisor passage that's great and that was just in a two-week time frame so we were very ecstatic to hear that so we are working closely with our HR team.

Very cool keep your foot on the gas appreciate it thank you perfect thank you we could hear from the public speakers calling in the name that signed up to speak on item number five Missisada Olabala the departments that collaborate to work on blight housing uh building code maintenance noise complaints and zoning but in order for you to deal with uh environmental health code enforcement which is air water and food quality or safety that is the Alameda County department of environmental health and you haven't specified related to code enforcement around those areas of water air and food safety how you collaborate with the county and this is very important.

So right now we got this explosive diarrhea thing going on and they're saying it is very serious and it has to deal with raw vegetables raw fruit meat not being cooked correctly this is a serious issue and so how do we have the enforcement with our vendors or with any food vendor thank you for your comments Ms.

Olavala Chair that concludes all speakers on this item thank you thank you so much uh council member five um on that note I just wanted to say to the public cyclospories cook your cook your vegetables and I will make a motion to it if wash them and cook them yeah wash them really well I'll make a second.

Thank you we have a motion made by council member five seconded by chair brown to receive this receive and file this informational report on roll council members five aye Ramachandran aye Unger aye and Chair Brown aye thank you item five passes with four eyes to receive and file this informational report um two staff is this to receive and file in committee or forward does staff have a preference on this item file and committee or forward to the full body.

Through the chair, city administrator's office um receiving file.

Okay.

Thank you.

That's the receive and file through the filing through the committee.

Okay, perfect.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Now reading in item six.

Adopt a resolution authorizing the city administrator to enter into a professional services agreement with Barreto Co.

LLC and Oakland certified small local business enterprise for signage and wayfinding graphic design services at 25 or sorry, 250 Franco-Gawa Plaza for a one-year term with an option to extend for an additional one year for a contract amount not to exceed 300,000 and waiving the competitive request for proposal/slash qualification requirements.

And we have one speaker on this item.

Okay, thank you.

Oh, hey, good to see you again.

Please go ahead.

Good afternoon, Chair Brown and members of the CED committee.

My name is Rose Ruppel.

I'm an assistant to the city administrator with the city administrator's office.

The proposed resolution before you would authorize the city administrator to enter into a professional services agreement with Barreto Co.

LLP, an Oakland certified small local business enterprise for signage and wayfinding graphic design services at the single storefront permit center in 250 Franco-Gawa Plaza for a one-year term with the option to extend for an additional one year for a total contract amount not to exceed $300,000 and waive the competitive request for proposals, qualifications, requirements.

The proposed professional services agreement was initiated under the ongoing Oak Permits Citywide Permitting Program led by the Office of the City Administrator to develop and scale efficiency solutions across various customer journeys from digital platforms available through the city's website to in-person services offered at the permit center at 250 Franco-Gawa Plaza.

Under the proposed project, the city is seeking design services for an updated wayfinding signage deployment at the permit center, commensurate with other physical and operational upgrades.

The public service areas of the permit center occupy the first and second levels of 250 Franco-Gawa Plaza, where in-person permitting and related services are provided by city agencies, including planning and building, transportation, public works, fire prevention, housing and community development, and business tax.

On March 17th of this year, city staff issued an informal request for proposals to nine firms in total.

Four of the vendors were identified from the city's business directory, and the other five were identified from the City of Oakland local small local business enterprise certified directory, each with North American industry classification system codes related to graphic design services, sign manufacturing, and/or interior design services, and with experience performing similar relevant work as depicted on their business websites.

Responses were due to the city by April 10th, and staff received one proposal from Bareto Co.

LLC.

A cross-departmental team of staff from the city administrators' office, planning and building department, and Oakland Public Works Facility Services Division evaluated the proposal from Barreto Co.

LLC and engaged the firm in a in a QA session and presentation of the proposed scope of work and other contract terms.

The review team found the proposal to be extremely thorough and well structured, and the firm's portfolio of past work to be aligned with the proposed outcomes of the project.

The proposed agreement with Bareto Co.

LLC will deliver a comprehensive catalog of signage typologies and associated specifications, as well as a style guide with colorways, typeface hierarchy, and other details.

A resource the city does not currently possess for its existing signage and wayfinding assets.

In 2023, the original design documentation for the facility, including signage design specifications, were lost in the ransomware attack.

Staff had intended to provide these original specifications to the selected vendor to update and revise for the new signage program, but after learning uh from facility services division staff that the files have been lost, staff determined the scope would need to be expanded and the dollar amount increased to allow the vendor to develop specifications for existing assets at the permit center.

Additionally, increasing the proposed contract amount will also enable staff to include an optional fabrication planning and management component, allowing the vendor to deliver the newly designed assets to the city for installation at 250 Franco-Gawa Plaza rather than separately contracting out this portion of work.

The expanded currently proposed professional services agreement includes the reconstruction of lost design assets and consistent deployment of customer wayfinding in a key public facility.

Staff expect this project will have citywide benefits as we anticipate the deliverables to be applicable at many, if not all city facilities in addition to the permit center at 250 Franco Gawa Plaza.

Additionally, all design layouts and location specifications produced through this project shall comply with current Americans with Disabilities act requirements under federal ADA accessibility standards, Title 3, Chapter 7.

Some of the existing assets in the permit center do not meet current standards, and this project will prioritize replacing these fixtures.

As mentioned earlier, the proposed vendor Boreto Co.

LLC is a small minority owned creative agency that is certified by the City of Oakland as a small local business enterprise for graphic design services.

The firm has completed similar projects for the University of California at Santa Cruz and the Jack London Business Improvement District, among others.

Oakland Municipal Code, Chapter 2.04.040 stipulates that contracts procured through an informal advertising and bidding process cannot exceed $50,000.

While staff initially believed that the scope of work or staff initially believed that the scope of work could feasibly be performed for this amount, and again, this was through by not including a fabrication component in the scope and also by providing the original design specifications for the building, which we've since learned we're not able to provide.

For the sake of time, I won't go into it now, but I'm happy to provide more of a breakdown of the cost for each phase of the proposed extended expanded contract if there are questions about this.

So in conclusion, staff are recommending that the city council waive the competitive request for proposals, qualifications, requirements, and authorize the city administrator to enter into professional services agreement with Barreto Co.

LLC, an Oakland certified small local business enterprise for signage and wayfinding graphic design services, a 250 Franco Gawa Plaza for a one-year term with the option to extend for an additional one year for a total contract amount not to exceed $300,000.

Thank you, and staff are available to answer questions.

Perfect.

And while while we have you there, Rose, can you actually highlight the cost breakdown?

Sure.

Sure.

So just noting that we are still kind of finalizing the contract details and um uh negotiating this with the vendor.

Um we have currently laid out five phases of this of this project.

Um, so phase one would be uh approximately 50,000.

Uh, this would include at least one site visit by the vendor and allow for the creation, as I mentioned, of the design specifications for existing assets at the permit center, which were lost previously in the ransomware attack.

Phase two uh is uh at uh about $50,000.

This includes graphic design styling and refinements.

Phase three is $75,000.

This includes creation and delivery of a comprehensive system style guide and layout production recommendations for all signage types.

Phase four is uh 23,000 and includes the delivery of templates for signage typologies and production of digital files for all digital assets, and then phase five is the optional uh 100,000 component, which would include the fabrication of the site, so construction of the actual signs and associate material materials, which would then be delivered to the city for installation.

And so in that break in that breakdown, would the vendor also be actually doing the install?

We would, I think that's still being somewhat determined, but I the idea would to have as much of that done in-house by facilities services staff as possible.

I see.

And this is this is my first time seeing um a contract of this um amount for signage.

Um, and so do we have um some historical context around like how much we've spent in the past?

I think so.

I can start by saying that to our knowledge, a project of this type has not been undertaken by the city in quite a number of years.

And so through this process through discussions with the vendor and internally, there was uh we we really gained a stronger understanding of of the the tasks um that would be required um to to meaningfully achieve this.

Um I'm gonna um I don't know if Robin, do you have anything to add there?

I'm gonna ask that my colleague uh Robin Abbad uh add to that as well.

Good afternoon, Chair Brown, Council members, Robin Abad with the city administrators office working with Rose on this project.

Um, you know, we basically lost all of our design documentation um for the signage program at 250.

Um, that's the entire facility.

The permit center is a key facility for um conducting business and providing service to our constituents.

Currently, we have a very inconsistent strategy for ensuring that folks can navigate the facility with clarity, you know, with consistency in language and with uh graphics that are ADA compliant.

We've we've basically just been making uh new stuff ad hoc as we've we've gone along.

So one thing we'd like to emphasize is that by creating recreating an asset that we lost, which is basically design guidelines for 250.

This project is actually an investment in the building that will pay forward for another decade.

Um, facility staff will be able to use this to update signage not only in the public portions of the building but throughout the entire facility.

Uh so we're really having to reinvest uh in something that was lost in the ransomware attack.

I see.

And then in the selection of the said vendor, would you happen to know offhand um what other local projects they they were able to complete?

I can uh share that um they have done um as I mentioned, uh, a similar project for the Jack London Business Improvement District.

Um and I believe there are some other local examples that I'd be happy to share with you uh directly and follow-up.

Interesting.

And do you know specifically what was it at Jack London Square?

I believe it was a similar sort of um signage type of uh development, um, uh a creation of a comprehensive signage plan um for for that entity.

Okay, excellent.

Thank you so much, Rose and um Robin.

Uh council member umger.

Yeah, I mean, I I can't help but think that this seems like an enormous amount of money for signage, and maybe I'm thinking about this wrong.

I mean, in my mind, this is like permit counter to the left, pay your parking tickets to the right, and that's 300,000.

I mean, is there not a way to do this more cheaply that would also help people just find their way around the building?

Thank you, Councilmember Unger.

Um, it is a not to exceed, so these are, you know, the budget is built around a conservative element.

Um, important to note too that fabrication is part of this.

So materials actually, you know, printing things, fabricating things, that is a huge part of the um sort of uh projected cost of the project.

As Rose mentioned, we are wanting to rely on our internal facilities, public works to actually do install.

Um so my assumption is that if we were to go through, for example, through a city contracting process or event, it's we're gonna get really high numbers when it comes to uh actually procuring materials, fabrication, the production piece is really um the largest share of this not to exceed budget amount.

And and is this are we actually in a situation where people are giving up on applying for permits because they can't find the right office?

Like, I mean, is this a genuine problem that will that needs to be solved, or is it just like it would is it just a nice to have?

Um I think that since we've uh consolidated more and more public services into building 250, um, this really the us wanting to create a dignified and clear environment for our public to navigate as part of a general uh program we have at 250 to provide better service, more efficiency, clarity, and continued consolidation.

So part of the investment we're making here is developing a scalable system and a standard that will evolve with the building and the facility as we consolidate more you know public facing services into that facility as we're upstaffing uh the departments that provide counter staff and creating more positions, physically reconfiguring the uh permit center over time.

Right now we just don't have adequate guidelines to be able to provide the um the the wayfinding and the navigation that um really our public deserves when they come to visit 250.

And do you see this as a first step as something you're gonna come back to us for more signage later?

Um this is a big first investment for sure to create the system, um, and so what we anticipate being able to accomplish with this is a uh a comprehensive um implementation in the public portions of the first and second floors of building 250.

Um so we do anticipate that this will cover that.

It's also important to note that this is funding that is not coming out of the general fund.

These are um this is fee revenue that's specifically collected for fee-related services and facilities for uh the city.

Um so it is it's it's money that it's funding that we have that's actually dedicated for us improving this the experience of our customers.

And my understanding is that those funds are more in better shape than the general fund.

I would say for the moment, thankfully they are.

Um I'm a little bit um uh relieved to hear that it's not coming from the general fund.

That that does help a little bit.

Thank you.

And I um just to piggyback off of what council member Unger was bringing up, you know, I I really want to say out loud that um I think it's not only 250 um that needs some support in, you know, ensuring that our community members know where to come when they just come to the plaza, right?

And so um I would be interested in the future, given the success of this very robust uh you know, wayfinding plan that you all have established, um, what it would look like to expand that right to other coming into City Hall, how to get up to the chambers, second floor, etc.

Um, I think that that could be of great great value to the community as well.

Um and so council member Fife, did you have your um hand raised?

And then Councilmember Ramashandran.

Yes, I wanted to just say through the chair that I was actually happy to see 2415 listed in the actual um packet to show where the funds were coming from.

It seemed a little high to me as well, so I I definitely want to echo what my colleagues have stated here, but I also wanted to know I know you you stated that you reached out to nine different vendors.

Is that the widest net that could be cast for this type of quote?

Or is that just what we had on hand through our existing uh partners through the city's system?

Uh in this case, um, and and being that you know initially this was an in and through the chair, this wasn't it um initially an informal process and not subject to the same sort of advertising, you know, noticing requirements that a that a formal RFP would be.

Um we followed sort of the standard process um for informal RFPs, whereby we we went um we went into those different resources and tried to identify as many applicable firms as possible to to cast that that wide net um to the extent that we could.

Um I uh personally heard back from a number of firms, um, you know, responding that they weren't able or don't typically do this sort of work and declining to provide a proposal.

Um so uh we did ultimately have have the one from Barreto, but um, but yes, that that's sort of the background and and process um that led us to those nine firms.

So to be clear, did you reach out to nine for firms and heard back from who you heard from, or did you reach out to more than nine?

We we reached out to nine, and that was based on the specific um classification codes that I mentioned to be able to do this sort of work and wanting to ensure um uh primarily um a large you know a significant number of of firms that we knew to be certified as local small local business enterprises.

Okay, I'll talk more to DWES.

It just seems like um with signage there would be more firms that could be responsive, but maybe they're not in the system, and if they're not in the system, then we need to figure out how to get more people, more small businesses to be aware when these contracts come up because for a small business a $300,000 contract could be significant.

Absolutely, right?

So we want to make sure that I would like to see double digits and up when we're reaching out to small businesses for these types of contracts.

This is almost a half million dollars.

Um, so that you know that's important.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you so much for your work on the oh, Councilmember Ramachandra.

Thank you.

Um how many signs are gonna be constructed total?

But this I don't through the chair, I don't know that we have a specific number yet.

I will note that it the scope sort of um includes not just development of signs specifically, but also other fixtures.

Uh, there, for example, is a large uh directory um on the first floor of the building that has um at this point rather dated um and inaccurate information.

So this would include um like those types of assets as well, beyond just sort of directional signage or or that kind of thing, and um see if Robin has anything to add, or if there's a range of the number of physical products, yeah.

Um we we don't know for certain at this point.

I think uh that's part of the scope is for this contractor to come in, assess the building, the various different ad hoc signs that we have.

Are they in the right place?

Are they duplicative?

Can we streamline and reduce the number of assets that are currently deployed?

Right now we have things made out of acrylic, out of aluminum, things that are printed on a photocopy or that are stuck up on the wall.

And so part of this is really to sort of clean up and establish a um a more streamlined number of fixtures.

Um we also have new digital wayfinding.

So um Rose has led a huge project at the building 250 facility for folks to be able to sign up for appointments or walk in for appointments and um you know get get a ticket.

We have digital monitors and displays that have um since the pandemic been installed throughout 250 that aren't graphically um aligned nor potentially sort of fully ADA accessible that we need to assess as well.

So part of the reason it was so difficult to council member five's question to get the right mix of skills is because this is a highly specialized design project and um uh you know sort of spatial space organizing project.

So we really need to we needed to find a firm that had the right profile that could do the design work that could do the the spatial planning work and then also you know deliver on different kinds of access assets, whether they were digital or um physical.

Okay, thank you.

All right, well, thank you so much.

We can hear from the public speakers.

Calling in the name that's signed up to speak on item six, Ms.

Sado Olawala.

So I was in the um I was in the office of the uh citation parking citation office, and they had a sign and a sign reference uh this office serves citizens, and it also said if you act in a disrespectful way, you'll be asked to leave.

So you're telling people you only uh uh dealing with citizens, so y'all need to check that no signs will have citizens on it, and then you say you asked to leave, but you gotta pay the tickets, so you don't give no other instructions on how they pay the tickets on the sign.

So the sign has to be complete.

If you're asked to leave, you will be asked to pay the ticket through email or whatever.

Okay, so that's just one example.

Then I heard somebody say uh we use the informal process.

How do you use an informal process in any way having to deal with spending of public money?

Thank you for your comments.

Chair that concludes all speakers.

All right, thank you so much.

Um I'll entertain a motion on this item.

I'll make the motion to move this item to the full city council on consent.

I was going to make a motion with the definition of what's the informal versus formal bid process.

Sure.

If that if that could be answered by staff, okay.

These processes are outlined in the Oakland Municipal Code.

They have different requirements and procedures, and also are associated with different um not to exceed dollar amount thresholds.

And I can so with the informal process that is a not to exceed of $50,000, as I mentioned, in order to execute um contracts uh above, and I apologize, I'm remembering this off the top of my head.

Um, but the uh contracts exceeding two hundred and fifty thousand dollars are outside of the city administrators' authority and therefore require council approval in order to proceed.

Yep, thank you.

Second, thank you.

Thank you.

We have a motion made by Chair Brown, second by council member Fife to approve the recommendations of staff and to forward this item to the July 21st City Council agenda on consent on roll council members by Ramachandran, Unger.

No.

And Chair Brown.

Aye.

Thank you.

Motion passes with three ayes, one no.

Uh due uh due to the no vote, this will have to go on non-consent.

Okay, thank you.

Okay, sorry, reading in item number seven.

Adopt a resolution authorizing the following actions in fiscal year 2026 to 2027.

One, accept an appropriate workforce innovation and opportunity title one formula funds for adult dislocated worker and youth, and rapid response services in an amount up to four million eight hundred twenty-seven thousand five hundred eighty-seven dollars, two accept and appropriate California Volunteers Youth Service Corp funding in an amount not to exceed one million nine hundred ninety-three thousand nine hundred fourteen dollars from California Volunteers Youth Service Service Corps program for the Oakland Forward Initiative through December 31st, 2027, and three authorizing the city administrator to execute grant agreement amendments and related documents necessary to implement the programs and four authorizing sorry, authorize the city administrator to apply for accept and appropriate grant funds and contributions for workforce development service services beyond the Wyowa Title I form formula funding and other budgeted funding sources up to $250,000 per instance with the approval of the Oakland Workforce Development Board, and we do have two speakers on this item.

Okay, thank you.

We can hear from staff from on this item.

Hello, good afternoon.

Speaking to the mic, uh Honorado Lindsay, economic and workforce development.

So staff is requesting an approval of a resolution that will authorize the city to accept and appropriate.

It's approximately six point eight million in federal and state workforce funding, and this is for fiscal year 26-27th of the current fiscal year that we're in.

I also want to just start out by noting that this particular item, it's not going to um approve any new service providers uh or create any new programming at this time.

The council already approved our uh workforce innovation and opportunity act, or what I'll refer to it now as WIOA service provider contracts on June 2nd.

So that action already happened, and so today what we're um requesting is that this body just authorize the city to receive the funding that's necessary to implement these services that have already been approved.

So this funding package includes two allocations, 4.8 million in WIOA funding, and then nearly 2 million, so it's 1.9 million from the California volunteers program, and that is to continue our Oakland Forward East Service Public Services Career Pathways program.

For this program year, these investments for WIOA are expected to serve approximately 900 residents, Oakland residents.

Residents, not citizens, Oakland residents.

And the California Volunteers funding will support approximately 45 youth and young adults in paid public service positions through the Oakland Public Works Program.

And lastly, this item has included a request to authorize the city administrator to accept and appropriate future workforce grant funding up to 250,000 per award with approval of the Oakland Workforce Development Board.

And by doing so, this will allow the city to respond quickly to smaller grant opportunities where we're able to remain competitive for workforce funding without having to come back to council for a separate action for each individual award.

These funds are critical to maintaining Oakland's workforce development system and provide residents with access to training, career pathways, and employment opportunities while also supporting employers meet their workforce needs and also supporting the city's economic development goals.

Staff is respectfully requesting approval of this resolution, and I'm happy to answer questions.

Thank you.

Thank you so much for the report.

And I guess just for clarity, is it routine that the item comes two times?

This is not this is again if this is a separate.

Oh, let me add some clarity.

So in the first item that we had earlier this year, we were you know approving the recipients of the WIOA dollars.

And so can you explain what is what is the so that was for the recipients, and so in this moment we are simply allocating the funds that we are going to receive?

Is that correct?

That's correct.

Okay.

And then so my question has to do with the table on page four when you were looking at um the last component.

So can you um refresh my memory?

Who who receives the funds that are slated for program rapid response?

Who is the awarding?

The program rapid response dollars go directly to the city who has um oversight of the services directly to the businesses.

There's some funding that's utilized there that goes out to service providers through the supports that are provided around the rapid response activities, the largest buckets that go out to the service providers through the Rioa funding, are going to be the adults, the dislocated worker, and the youth dollars.

I see.

The dollar amounts that are listed in the table.

Are they also representative of the prior um kind of funding that's going out of the that is going out for those grantees that we awarded earlier?

It is inclusive of those dollars.

Okay, perfect.

Thank you for clarifying.

Um, any questions on this item, colleagues?

Okay, we can go to the public speaker.

Calling in the names of signed up to speak on item number seven, Mississippi Olawala and Blair Beekman.

So the race equity statement says that you're gonna provide for the populations that experience the highest degree of disproportionality of barriers to employment.

So that's gonna be African Americans because we 10% of the unemployment that uh in the city.

The next group is Latinos, which is 4.7 unemployment.

Now, you all, this is a department that has applied for a grant from the state for non-citizen uh support for small businesses, so you serve non-citizens of the 900 residents served.

How many of citizens are gonna get that?

How many non-citizens?

Is that going to be equally done?

Halfway uh citizens, halfway non-citizens, how do you do it?

How do you verify that a person is a non-citizen or a citizen?

You know, y'all just don't have these discussions at all, but it's important that that's why South Africa is being torn up because the South African people, black people in this city not addressing this issue, you're not getting no jobs.

Would you uh be calling all the time?

Thank you for your comments.

If your name was called and you still wish to speak on this item, you can come up to the podium or raise your hand.

At this time, all names have been called.

Perfect, thank you.

Um, colleagues, is there a motion to move this item?

Councilmember Unger.

So moved.

Second, thank you.

We have a motion made by Councilmember Unger, seconded by Council Member Ramachandran to approve the recommendations of staff and support this item to the July 21st City Council agenda on roll.

Council members five.

Aye.

Ramachandran.

Aye.

Unger.

Aye.

And Chair Brown.

Aye.

Thank you.

Motion passes with four I support this item to the July 21st City Council agenda on consent.

Moving on to open forum, calling in the names that signed up to speak in no particular order.

You can come up to the podium.

State your name before making your comment.

If you're on Zoom, please raise your hand to be easily identified.

Shinobi Howard, Asado Olabala, Blair Beekman, Margaret Margaret Grimsley, Sarah Amir, Joyus Moral, Deshaun Toller, Nita B.

Marco Duncan, Lisa Zebrak, and Aaron Fenius.

Hi, I'm Margaret Grimsley.

I spoke earlier on behalf of the street vendors who are here to talk about the problematic enforcement of supposed laws and regulations around street vending.

Um I mentioned that I've lived in Oakland for over six years.

Street vendors have been a major part of the community here for me.

And I also want to speak uh to uh the fact that I walk like merit every day and have never seen the vendors bring anything but like joy and community and love and delicious food.

Um I don't see any of the problems that are being cited.

I also want to re-talk from talking points provided by Nita.

The city should shift from gatekeeping to partnership, include long-term informal vendors and decision making, waiver subsidized participation costs for low-income vendors, design programs rooted in equity and culture, advocate for simpler, simpler, clearer, streamlined, accessible permitting systems and treatment.

Joyus Morale.

Instead of going out to the lake and talking to us about these issues, the city had meetings and text messages and emails that didn't include us and decided to smash instead of communicate.

So we are taking it upon ourselves to handle it ourselves and let you know we read up on the concerns and don't agree with your approach, and we'll handle it ourselves since you don't want to work with us.

Protect our culture and support real grassroots community economic development.

And for the neighbors who can't stand us, have you ever had a conversation with us?

Have you tried our food or our suites?

Have you sat in the sun and listened to the lives music that Oakland natives make and share out there?

Have you supported your local clothes and jewelry marketers that work and make everything from hand?

Or do you sit on your balcony and see a sea of black folks in our own hometown and don't like what you see because it's not your people?

From what we have seen over the past two and a half months, the city needs to stop all raids.

My name's Nita B.

I'm a local street vendor.

I want to just make sure folks understand that street vending isn't just commerce, it's survival, it's mutual aid, it's ingenuity, it's how working class black, Latino, and Asian and immigrant families have made ends meet, but formal economies have shut us out.

What the city is currently doing is street vendors is not meaningful legislation, it's violent gatekeeping.

The shift transforms vending from community survival economy into a managed experience that squeezes every dime it can get out of street vendors through permits, fees, and licenses.

One vending becomes overly curated, someone decides get who gets to vent, who doesn't get to vend, what they can vend and how they can show up, and whether they even belong in street vending at all.

This kind of thinking and behavior can't be separated from the broader forces of gentrification.

The issue is how street vending is allowed, who benefits and who's being excluded.

The same $4 tacos and overpriced street food celebrated in upscale foo holes.

Food halls become e become the become legal vending, and then it's while the illegal vending are the two dollar tacos where the street.

Oh she's giving me her time.

My name is De Sean.

I'm giving you the Matai.

The issue is how street vending is allowed.

The same entrepreneurial hustle praised by the middle class startup culture becomes non-compliance when practiced by the flatland families curbside.

This is nothing short of cultural displacement.

Our culture gets stigmatized, is regulated out of existence, and then repackaged and sold back to us sanitized and expensive.

From what we've seen over the past two and a half months, the city needs to stop all raids on the vendors and do a serious legal review of Oakland's enforcement policies and practices.

The vendors and their advocates have collected enough factual support for investigating whether Oakland exceeds as legal authority and whether or not his deprived vendors of property without due process.

And this destruction of property uh has happened without warning, without receipt, without any appeal process or any opportunity to get property back.

Our legal representative has requested documents twice already around citations, around enforcement documents, about any kind of writing, around any kind of implementation.

He's been ignored, and Friday filed a lawsuit against the city of Oakland uh in violation of the California Public Um Act.

Hello, I'm Lisa Zebrak.

I am a homeowner in the neighborhood of Cleveland Heights.

By educating kids today, we will all have a better tomorrow.

Um, it's important that we keep the vendors.

Uh one of my wellness tools is going to the lake and dancing and talking to all the vendors.

I feel it's really important to keep especially the local Oakland women vendors like the ones that help educate kids and cook ethnic foods that help full for the community, the art therapist, the local artists and educators that are now dear friends of mine and are teaching me how to educate.

I was born in Berkeley, I was raised in Oakland, California, and we need the vendors here to educate the kids.

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

My name is Regina Davis.

I'm here representing the Black Cultural Zone.

I wanted to speak uh just very briefly on the seminary.

Okay, thank you.

Wanted to participate, and we congratulate you on being able to move forward past some of the uh financial obstacles in this project.

So thank you very much.

During this meeting, we saw the city council show tremendous amount of supportiveness and leniency toward the developers of a multi-million dollar uh commercial real estate project because the council recognized that that project is important to the economic fabric of the city and to the community around us.

We just want to see the city and the county show that same kind of consideration to street vendors who are smaller interests but are also just as crucial to the fabric of the community, giving the rest of my time to Sarah.

To the member of the public, once you start your time, you cannot cede the rest of your time.

So, Sarah, you'll have one minute.

That's okay.

All right.

Hi again, it's Sarah again.

Um just coming back to just end it off, close it off with some uh thoughts on praxis again, uh, making sure that this committee is um dedicated to you know, finding the theory, why exactly is all of this happening, um, and making sure that the actions you take um are in line with what the community is saying.

Uh, how again answering the questions of what exactly about the attacks on the vendors and is based on theory?

What type of reflection is taking place and how this community is actually protecting the community.

Um, want to just close it off by saying the city should shift from gatekeeping to partnership, including longtime informal vendors and decision making, waiving or subsidizing participation costs for local income vendors, designing programs rooted in equity and culture, advocating for simple, simpler, clear, streamlined, accessible permitting systems, and treating vendors not as participants in problems, but as actual leaders and culture keepers.

Thank you.

Marco Duncan, um, policy fellow at legal services for principal children, all of us are none.

Um, at first glance, sometimes things can appear one way and be another way.

And I think I said some of you guys, I said all of you guys had no empathy.

And I don't think that anymore.

I think a few of you guys understand what's going on, and I think you mean well.

And I also think that, you know, Oakland don't look like it used to look 40, 50 years when I was growing up.

It's different now.

But people that are coming into this space, they still need to understand the history behind it.

You know, people we have a right to be here just like they do.

You know, and they may not like a lot of things, but everything ain't for everybody to like, you know, and and and just I would just ask that they be mindful of that.

You know what I mean?

When they want people to turn music down and don't drive this way and don't you get all upset when you talk about privacy.

These people are talking about their private property is being confiscated by the Oakland Police Department, public works, and code enforcement.

That is a violation of their human right.

You have no right to take their property, they can be cited.

You can confiscate illegal alcohol and drugs, but you cannot do this, and somebody needs to investigate what's going on, and somebody needs to file a lawsuit.

Because you cannot you cannot take it up on yourself to want to have that space at Lake Merit, appropriate for them white folks at the expense of violating the rights of these black people and other people that decide they want to be on that lake.

That is public property.

It is not private property.

Thank you for your comments.

If your name was called and you still wish to speak for open forum, you can come up to the podium or raise your hand to be easily identified on Zoom.

At this time, all names have been called.

Excellent.

All right.

Well, thank you everyone for coming to CED and to all the public commenters.

Um, I'll have some additional conversations and get more information on the street vending issue.

Um, but until then, this meeting is adjourned.