Donate to the Blogoaksphere Virtual Food Drive

For this holiday season, V Smoothe at A Better Oakland has created a way for Oakland bloggers and the blogoaksphere community to join together to help the Alameda County Community Foodbank provide meals to those who need them. She’s set up a virtual food drive, that as of this posting has raised nearly $500 for the foodbank!

Her goal is to raise $1000 by December 20th, and I’m confident that we as a community can meet that and surpass that goal. It’s very easy – just click the button below and donate what you can. As V explains, “With the food bank’s bulk buying power, they can get a lot more food for whatever you can afford to spend than you could at the grocery store, so remember, giving money helps more than giving food.”

The blogoaksphere has joined together many times before, but usually for policy or political campaigns. Through this virtual food drive, we can join together again and make a huge difference. So please donate today and encourage others to join you in donating.

Temescal Produce Market fills neighborhood grocery store gap

Recently, I’ve been thinking pretty seriously about moving closer to the middle of Temescal. Right now, I’m technically in Temescal (at least, according to some), but I’m many blocks and a freeway overpass away from 51st and Telegraph and all the great stuff in that area. But there was one reason that had been holding me back – no grocery store! Where I currently live, I can walk to four grocery stores – Whole Foods in Berkeley, Market Hall, Trader Joe’s, and Safeway on College. From 51st, I could still walk to the Safeway on Pleasant Valley, but there’s no way I could do the majority of my shopping there.

But just under a month ago, the Temescal Produce Market opened on Telegraph between 51st and 52nd, and I got a chance to stop in yesterday. It’s certainly not a full-scale grocery store, but they do have nearly all the staples (well, if you’re a vegetarian, and I am). There’s tons of produce, which would be great to augment anything not available at the farmer’s market, but I’m even more excited about their grocery selection, which is mostly organic. The store has a decent bulk foods section, dairy, baking goods (including a huge selection of spices), snacks, frozen food, and plenty more.

I just picked up some half and half because I had done my shopping the day before (but, oddly, Whole Foods was entirely out of organic half and half), but I plan to be back in the future, especially if I move further down Telegraph. For pedestrians, bicyclists, and transit riders, this is the perfect store to run to if you realize you’re missing an ingredient (or a few) or just don’t have time to trek down to one of the bigger stores.

If you’re in the neighborhood, stop by. Here’s some of what you’ll find:

November 30-December 6 Oakland Political & Community Events

Note: Due to the holidays, there are dozens of events happening in the next couple of weeks so I’m picking and choosing a bit. For a more complete list of Oakland holiday events, check out City Homestead’s comprehensive listing.

Tuesday, December 1st– AC Transit Community Open House for Revised Service Adjustment Proposal

Via Ride ACT: “On November 18, a Revised Service Adjustments Plan proposal was presented to the AC Transit Board of Directors. The modified plan restores nearly half of the service hours originally proposed to be cut. Many of the restored hours are in the form of increased frequency and operating hours. In some cases, significant routing revisions are proposed… The public is invited to a community open house to learn more about the revised plan and talk with AC Transit planners.” The open house will be held from 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. at AC Transit General Offices, 1600 Franklin Street, 2nd Floor Board Room. For background on AC Transit’s service adjustment planning process, read V Smoothe’s excellent post on the topic.

Tuesday, December 1st– Trivia Night at the Den

This Tuesday, Trivia Night returns to the Den, the Fox Theater’s bar. Compete each week in teams of 4 to win free drinks and free concert tickets.  Categories include Current Events, Sports/Entertainment, Science/Geography, Music, Photo ID, and the Miscellaneous Round. Throughout December, winning teams will win tickets to Bay Area concerts. Trivia starts at 8pm and ends before BART or regular AC Transit lines stop running, at the Den, 1912 Telegraph. Find out more details at the Den’s website.

Wednesday, December 2nd – Peralta Chicano Latino Association Scholarship Reception

The Peralta Chicano Latino Association and the Host Committee requests your presence to assist them in raising funds to benefit deserving students at the four Peralta Colleges in need of financial support. This event will be held from 5:30-8:00pm at Cocina Poblana, 499 Embarcadero West. All Donations Welcome! No one will be turned away for lack of funds. Find more information and RSVP on Facebook.

Wednesday, December 2nd – Alameda County Democratic Central Committee Holiday Party

Please join the Alameda County Democratic Central Committee at our annual Holiday Party and Celebration. The Central Committee will be providing food and beverages and we ask you to please bring at least one canned food item to be donated to the Davis Street Community Center. The party takes place from 7-8:30 pm at the San Leandro Public Library 300 Estudillo Ave., San Leandro.

Thursday, December 3rd – Oakland City Holiday Tree Lighting

Join Mayor Dellums at City Square Plaza in the lighting of the city’s official Holiday Tree, visit Santa, listen to youth choirs and enjoy holiday treats. Then shuttle over to the Oakland Ice Center for a special holiday public skate. Bring a new unwrapped toy to contribute to the Mayor’s Toy Drive. The Tree Lighting Ceremony is co-sponsored by the Downtown Oakland and Lake Merritt/Uptown Business Districts, Shorenstein Realty Services and The City of Oakland. This event takes place in City Center, from 5-6:30pm.

Thursday, December 3rd – Montclair Village Holiday Stroll

Village merchants stay open to welcome shoppers and their families for a gala kick-off to the holiday season. The event features entertainment and refresments. Entertainment inclues Montera Middle School Choir, Arrival of Santa, Kids in Motion Face Painting, Piedmont High School Band, and the The Tap Dancing Trees. This event takes place from 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM on the streets of Montclair Village. For more info, visit the Montclair Village Association’s website.

Friday, December 4th – Jack London Square Lights Up for the Holidays

Jack London Square celebrates the holiday season with a very special preview of the Oakland Children’s Holiday Parade floats and costumed characters. At six o’clock watch as City Officials light up the skies with Oakland’s only waterfront holiday light installation and stay to listen to festive holiday music performed by the Oakland Symphony Chorus. Join KBLX with live music for the entire family. And let your kids get creative with Arts & Crafts presented by the Museum of Children’s Art. During this season of giving, don’t forget to bring non-perishable food donations to benefit the Alameda County Food Bank, and toy donations for the Mayor’s Community Toy Drive. This event takes place from 5:30-7:30pm at Jack London Square.

Friday, December 4th – Oakland Under $100

Oakland Under $100 is a show featuring affordable art made by local artists. In addition to art, there will be live music. This event promises to a lot of fun. This event will be held from 7pm -10pm at Temescal Art Center, 511 48th Street @ Telegraph. Please note that Temescal Art Center does not permit alcohol so this will be a dry event. This event is sponsored by Lanesplitter Pizza and Pubs. Fore info on the artists and musicians, visit the Facebook page.

Friday, December 4th – East Bay Bicycle Coalition’s Velo Wonderland Bike & Art Party

East Bay Bicycle Coalition’s holiday event, Velo Wonderland: Bike and Art Party provides an opportunity to celebrate with fellow cyclists. The party takes place the same night as Oakland’s First Fridays art walk, Art Murmur, and they’ll have bicycle-themed and recycled art curated by local artist Margo Rivera-Weiss. Enjoy snacks from Spice Monkey and beer from Linden Street Brewery. DJ Olga T will be spinning music all night long. They’ll have a pedi-cab on hand, so you can take a ride in style to nearby Art Murmur galleries. Admission is free, and everyone is welcome – bring a friend! The party takes place from 6-10pm at Uptown Body & Fender, 401 26th Street. For more info, visit EBBC’s website.

Saturday, December 5th – Oakland Holiday Parade

Every year, V Smoothe raves about the Oakland Holiday Parade, yet somehow I’ve still managed to miss it every year so I’m determined to go this year. The parade will be filled with floats, balloons, marching bands, and performance groups. The parade starts at 2:00 p.m. an runs from Broadway and 11th Street to 20th Street, to Harrison Street. For more info, visit the Oakland Holiday Parade website.

Saturday, December 5th – Lighted Yacht Parade

The Oakland Yacht Club and Encinal Yacht Club have organized a beautiful lighted yacht parade that will sail throughout the Oakland/Alameda estuary. Jack London Square provides excellent viewing areas and restaurants to watch this magnificent holiday attraction. Special performance by the Oakland Symphony Chorus will begin at 5:30PM and the event runs until 9pm.

Saturday & Sunday, December 5th & 6th – Jingletown Holiday Art Walk

This holiday open studios will highlight the work of more than 35 artists who live and/or work in the area known as Jingletown, which is situated between the Park and Fruitvale Street bridges bordered by the estuary separating Oakland from the island of Alameda. Among other notable artistic enterprises, Jingletown is the location of the Institute of Mosaic Art and Float Gallery, as well as studios of many other renowned artists who are living and working in one of the most established artist warehouse districts in Oakland. In a time when our neighborhood is changing dramatically, the goal of the Jingletown Arts and Business Community is to heighten awareness about the rich and diverse population of working and exhibiting artists and the creative opportunities in the Jingletown Arts District. The art walk will take place from 11am-6pm throughout Jingletown. For more info on participating artists and a map of the art walk, visit the Jingletown Arts & Business Community website.

My growing gratitude for Oakland art

There are so many reasons that I’m grateful to live in Oakland that I couldn’t possibly list all of them in a blog post. Luckily, V Smoothe covered many reasons that overlap with mine (especially AC Transit and all the great farmer’s markets). But there’s one thing that I’ve grown an appreciation for over the past couple of years that surprises me a bit – Oakland art.

Growing up, art was never one of my passions. Sure, I liked seeing art and went to plenty of art museums, probably since my parents are nearly obsessed with museums and have been to so many more museums throughout this country than I can even fathom. But art rarely was at the top of my list. Writing, music, hiking, and, later on, politics beat out art any day.

But that’s started to change. Maybe it’s because of all the incredible Oakland art I’ve seen at Burning Man and the Crucible’s Fire Arts Festival, or because of the art I’ve appreciated at the Art Murmur, or because of all the time I’ve spent sipping chai at Awaken looking at the art on the walls, or because of the fight for public art instead of a surface parking lot in Uptown. Whatever it is, I now can’t seem to get enough of art and feel incredibly grateful that Oakland fulfills this need both through public art and excellent art galleries…

And, of course, through the airport. I lamented a couple months back that there was no more art at the Oakland Airport, but at least one new exhibit opened recently and I got a chance to check it out on Monday. Here’s some of what I saw.

(Yes, that is San Francisco made of Jello. Excuse the glare – you’ll have to check it out for yourself.)

Happy Thanksgiving, and if you’re flying back to Oakland after the holiday, remember to check out some of the art at the airport.

http://oaklandliving.wordpress.com/2008/10/06/monday-morning-distractions-burning-man-2008/

Joel Young: The hidden costs of health care

This guest post was written by Joel Young, a lifelong Bay Area resident and a member of the AC Transit Board of Directors.

As the raucous health care debate plays out in Washington DC, I have become increasingly aware of the stakes for the Bay Area. Skyrocketing health care costs touch us all, and in ways you might not expect.

In February of this year, I was appointed to the Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District Board. I knew upon taking up my post that there were many costs associated with running such an expansive transit system. Most of these expenses are obvious, like fuel, maintenance, staff salaries and administration.

Most people wouldn’t peg health care costs as a major portion of our budget. But for fiscal year 2009-2010, AC Transit’s total healthcare costs, which include medical, vision and dental care premiums, are approximately $36.4 million.

The story only gets worse with time. By fiscal year 2017-2018, these costs are expected to reach $55.7 million. That’s a 56 percent cost increase from the FY2009-10 baseline.

Unfortunately, there is little AC Transit can do to prevent the increase. Every year our insurance providers raise our annual premiums by at least six percent. And due to lack of competition in the insurance market, we are unable to look for a cheaper plan.

So, what do these escalating costs mean to the organization and AC Transit riders?

Based on our projections, over an eight year period we will have spent an additional $95.8 million on health care. That translates into 465,106 platform hours of service over that period, which is the equivalent of providing weekday bus service for 83 days, purchasing 180 brand new hybrid buses, doubling the amount of weekend service or providing 4.8 million monthly bus passes to children and the disabled.

I fear that these health care cost increases, along with the normal inflationary cost pressure associated with other operational expenses will outpace our revenue growth. Since we still have to balance the books, the increasing costs would likely force the board to reduce service or increase fares.

I dealt with that experience this year, and I can’t begin to tell you what a bitter, emotionally draining experience it is.

I heard from people like Michelle Lynne, a disabled resident who relies on various bus lines to conduct the everyday activities of her life. If those bus lines are eliminated she will not be able to leave her home.

I have had to tell people like Mark Williams, who can barely afford the current fares, that they are going to have pay more to ride the bus. Oh and by the way, you’re gong to have to wait an additional 30 minutes for that bus after walking an additional half-mile to the nearest stop.

And I have seen our dedicated employees join the ranks of the unemployed as we’ve cut personnel to reduce costs.

For these reasons, I hope that our elected leaders in Washington will have the determination to solve this issue for us.

As an organization we have tried to reduce costs as much as possible while struggling to maintain a basic level of service. But there is not much more “fat” to trim and AC Transit will face ever-growing financial turmoil if our health care expenses continue to rise faster than our revenues.

I am excited that Congress has passed a bill. Now it is time for the Senate to act.

November 23-29 Oakland Political & Community Events

Monday, November 23rd – Meet Oakland’s New Police Chief

All community stakeholders are invited to come to this introductory gathering with Oakland’s new Police Chief, Anthony W. Batts, to hear how he plans to approach the complex issues in Oakland.  Former Berkeley Police Chief Douglas Hambleton and Oakland’s former Acting Police Chief Howard Jordan will also be recognized for their distinguished community service. The event is sponsored by Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson, District Attorney Nancy O’Malley, Public Defender Diane Bellas, The Black Elected Officials and Faith Based Leaders of the East Bay, BWOPA (Black Women Organized for Political Action, Oakland/Berkeley Chapter), The Ella Baker Center, Leadership Excellence, The Mentoring Center, Oakland Rising, PUEBLO (People United for a Better Life in Oakland), Youth Alive and Youth Uprising. This event will be held from 6-8pm at Maxwell’s, 341 14th Street. Find more info and RSVP on Facebook.

Friday, November 27th – Plaid Friday

Envisioned to be the independent business alternative to the big box store “Black Friday”, Plaid Friday is designed to help raise awareness about shopping local and supporting the local economy. Plaid Friday was created by two local independent businesses, Blankspace Gallery and the Compound Gallery, as a way to tie into the movement to support independent businesses and elevate the awareness of the abundant and thriving independent businesses located in neighborhoods throughout the East Bay. Celebrate by supporting participating shops on Friday, November 27th and throughout this Holiday season. Wear plaid on November 27th to show your support while shopping at participating businesses. Look for the special plaid placards at your local shops. Businesses throughout Oakland will be participating and some will be offering specials. Visit the Plaid Friday website to find out which businesses in your neighborhood are participating.

Friday, November 27th – Tipple n’ Tamales at Penelope

It’s the day after Thanksgiving and what will you do? Shop Indie then come by Penelope and throw back a few. Penelope Bar and Tina Tamale of La Borinqueña are joining forces for a Plaid Friday afterparty. Once everyone is worn out from shopping at fine indie businesses, we are inviting everyone to quench their thirst and fill their bellies with us.  Specials include $3 Plaid Friday Shots, $6 Select Signature Drinks, 1 cent Indie Special shot if you wear plaid , and $6 Tamale Plate with tortilla chips & salsa. This event will take place from 6-11pm at Penelope, at the corner of 11th and Clay in Old Oakland. For more info and to RSVP, visit the Facebook page.

Saturday, November 28th – Rockridge in the Snow

The Rockridge District Association will be hosting its annual holiday event this Saturday. There will be live entertainment, a children’s play area with snow, and they’ll be accepting donations of coats and toys. The event will take place from 3-6pm on College Avenue near the BART station.

Ofrendas Para los Muertos – from Oakland, with love

Last night, before heading to the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee meeting and then the Walk Oakland Bike Oakland meeting, I stopped by the opening night of Ofrendas Para Los Muertos, an exhibit in the atrium of the State Building. I only had 10 minutes to enjoy, since my bus was extremely late, but it was incredible and I intend to return soon to take it all in.

Here’s a taste of what the exhibit has to offer:

If you’re downtown any weekday in the next month in a half, I highly recommend checking it out. Here are the details:

 

Ofrendas Para Los Muertos – from Oakland, with love

November 16-December 31

Gallery Hours: Monday-Friday, 10am-5pm

State of California Office Building Atrium

1515 Clay Street

 

Safeway on College – The cost of doing nothing is not nothing

Last night’s Planning Commission hearing on the College Avenue Safeway went well overall. Sure, the neighbors showed up in force to try to stop the project or at least to greatly reduce the scale of the project. But it was just a scoping session so staff and commissioners repeatedly reminded them to stick to scoping issues and that the merits of the project would be discussed later.

As I listened to speaker after speaker talk about their grave concerns about an expanded Safeway, I realized that they seemed to believe that the cost of doing nothing is nothing – that if we leave Safeway the way it is, there would be no cost to the neighborhood, environment, or the economy. I’d like to borrow a concept that Robert at the California High Speed Rail blog came up with about HSR – the cost of doing nothing is not nothing. Robert argued that not building HSR would end up costing the state much more in the long run, with increased air and car traffic, needs to upgrade airports and highways, pollution, etc.

In the same vein, we need to ask the question: what is the cost of leaving the Safeway as it is now? John Gatewood from ULTRA came up with these questions, about the environmental impacts of leaving the store as is:

• How efficient are the existing HVAC systems in the present store?
• How efficient are the existing refrigeration and freezer units?
• How efficient is the energy usage?
• How efficient is the existing loading dock? Do trucks need to idle longer because of lack of space, etc?
• How efficient is the existing parking lot configuration? Do drivers spend too much time looking for a space?
• What is the “embodied energy” of the existing structure, the energy that went into producing the materials used in the existing structures?
• What are the energy and carbon footprint coasts of demo’ing the existing structures and can these be recouped in the energy efficiencies and more environmentally sound new construction?

Beyond environmental impacts, the current store has real negative impacts on the neighborhood that effect quality of life and local business. In my comments to the Planning Commission last night, I told my story of being a pedestrian that frequently goes to that Safeway, as it’s a short walk from my home. Getting to the Safeway on foot is a nightmare – there are multiple opportunities to get hit by cars, and there are multiple times when both car driver’s and pedestrian’s views are obstructed. Part of the reason for this is that there are so many driveways – 9 in total on College and Claremont. Just the fact that the new Safeway will reduce the curb cuts from 9 to 4 will be a huge benefit to pedestrians, bicyclists, and to safety.

I’ve mentioned this before, but the current Safeway and its huge surface parking lot is a blight on the neighborhood that’s quite creepy at night. It is also entirely uninviting – unless I’m going to Safeway I avoid that side of the street entirely and often just go to a different part of Rockridge that’s more inviting to do my shopping.

The cost of doing nothing looks like this:

While doing something looks like this:

To me, the decision is obvious. I’m tired of this dangerous, ugly, and uninviting store being the center of the Alcatraz/College/Claremont shopping district. The cost of doing nothing is high, especially when we have the potential for a beautiful designed Safeway with hidden parking and more small, street level stories to keep the neighborhood dynamic.

If you’re interested in the details of the last night’s meeting, you can see coverage on Twitter #oakmtg. I just joined Twitter this week and will be using it primarily to cover Oakland meetings. You can find me @oaklandbecks.

Previous posts on College & Claremont Safeway:

• 11/12/09: John Gatewood: Safeway at College @ Claremont – Opportunity to Enhance an Urban Village
• 5/7/09: Safeway submits application, but “concerned neighbors” are not so happy about it
• 4/30/09: Safeway unveils new design plans for College Avenue store
• 2/15/09: College Safeway Update
• 12/8/08: Safeway stakeholders meeting canceled (or postponed?)
• 11/12/08: Safeway on College might be stuck with a “patch and paint” job
• 6/22/08: Safeway Community Meeting Turns into Public Venting Session

Fight against Oakland Airport Connector leads to FTA civil rights investigation of BART

I didn’t expect to be writing about the Oakland Airport Connector (OAC) anytime soon, and I certainly didn’t expect to be sharing good news about it. Well, ok, maybe it’s not good news about the OAC, but I do have some incredible news to share about the outcome of our efforts to stop the OAC.

Today, Public Advocates Inc. and TransForm announced that their Title VI civil rights complaint against BART over the OAC has led to a full Title VI investigation of BART by the FTA! From the press release:

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Office of Civil Rights will conduct an on-site compliance review of BART’s entire Title VI program “within the next several months,” based in part on a complaint filed by transit policy experts and community advocacy groups. That complaint charged that in the rush to build the controversial Oakland Airport Connector (OAC), BART officials were evading well-established civil rights obligations…

A letter from FTA to Public Advocates Inc. staff attorney Guillermo Mayer informing him of the action reads in part:

“The specific issues in your complaint are being addressed from a broader perspective by this compliance review, with the intent of resolving any issues of non-compliance identified. If we make findings of deficiencies, FTA will monitor activities until we determine that the deficiencies noted are corrected.”

“We’ll have to wait and see what FTA finds, but the fact they find this case worthy of comprehensive federal review is a giant step forward,” said Mayer. “It also sends a strong message to agencies like BART and MTC that they’re going to have to start taking their civil rights obligations more seriously.”

I’m not sure what will come of this, but one thing I do know is that this never would have happened if we hadn’t worked so hard to stop the OAC. And even though the OAC seems to be moving forward, we could have accomplished something much bigger. Again, from the press release:

“We are fighting for a strong, sustainable BART, one that meets the needs of all Bay Area residents,” said John Knox White, Program Manager for TransForm. “This move by the FTA validates our concerns that the OAC planning process has not openly presented key information about a project that we feel will lead to future fare increases and service cuts on the BART system.”

Thanks to everyone who helped make this happen! I’ll be watching this process closely and will report back when I have more information.

Previous posts on the Oakland Airport Connector:

• 10/6/09: Breaking down the Chamber’s misinformation on the OAC
• 9/28/09: Stop the OAC: Urge the Oakland City Council to pass a resolution opposing this boondoggle
• 9/16/09: Oakland Public Works to BART: Oakland does have a stake in the OAC
• 8/11/09: Sign the Petition: Stop the Oakland Airport Connector – Demand a Better Connector!
• 7/21/09: Transportation Day of Action in Oakland Tomorrow!
• 7/17/09: Oakland Public Works Committee strongly questions Oakland Airport Connector
• 6/29/09: It’s time for the City Council to weigh in on the Oakland Airport Connector
• 6/16/09: Don Perata on Oakland Airport Connector: “Too much money for too little transit”
• 5/29/09: Oakland Airport Connector now in the hands of the Port Commission
• 5/13/09: BART staff coordinate Oakland Airport Connector astroturf campaign
• 5/8/09: Take Action: Turn Oakland Airport Connector into RapidBART
• 4/27/09: Advocates secure temporary win on the Oakland Airport Connector
• 4/22/09: BART’s brilliant plant for financing the Oakland Airport Connector
• 2/23/09: Protect Bay Area Transit: Stop MTC from Wasting Stimulus Funds

Tonight’s Council Meetings: Budget, billboards, and OFCY

UPDATE: The budget workshop just ended, but you can follow the City Council meeting on Twitter #oakmtg. I finally gave in and joined Twitter, after months of being harassed, just so I could get in on the discussion there. You can find me @oaklandbecks

Tonight there will be not one but two Council meetings, and plenty will be covered. From 4-6pm, the Council will hold a special budget workshop, and from 7pm until late in the night, they’ll have a regular Council meeting. Here’s an explanation of some of the items that will be discussed.

Special Meeting: Budget Workshop

You probably know by now that Oakland is again facing a huge deficit – this time we’re $19 million in the hole. And for the past few weeks I’ve been extremely concerned about what would be cut, considering we’ve already cut services to below reasonable levels and I’m not sure how the city could function after further serious cuts. Well, somehow staff has come up with one-time gimmicks to avoid major cuts:

The City can come up with $6.62 million in one-time money by pillaging some funds that happen to have available balances, including money from an insurance settlement after the earthquake ($3.2 million), the telecommunications land use fund ($0.5 million) that can be used for park maintenance, the Parks and Recreation self-sustaining fund ($0.5 million), and Measure Q ($1.5 million), which can be used to maintain library services while reducing the Library’s General Fund appropriation to $9.06 million, the minimum permitted by Measure Q.

So that still leaves us with what, $12.5 million to come up with? Staff proposes raising another $11.6 million by selling off City property, like the Kaiser Convention Center and the Scotlan Convention Center. If, of course, they can find anyone to buy them.

The remaining deficit would be closed by forcing towing companies to start collecting our existing 18.5% parking tax on towed cars and leasing as yet unspecified City property to cell phone companies for them to put cell phone towers on.

Read the rest of V Smoothe’s post for further details on the proposal. It’s clear that this kind of budgeting isn’t sustainable and the Council does not have easy decisions to make tomorrow night. I don’t think they’ll love the staff proposal, but I’m not sure they’ll have any better ideas for budgeting.

Item 15: Clear Channel Outdoor – Billboard Agreement

This item was supposed to come to Council two weeks ago, but it was delayed, and I wrote about it then:

[The proposed billboard at the Bay Bridge entrance] doesn’t bring the City of Oakland any revenue. But it does bring revenue to the East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD), and it doesn’t hurt Oakland financially. In exchange for approving this agreement, Clear Channel will remove 16 billboards throughout the city (the full list can be found in the staff report). Apparently, it is fairly common for Clear Channel to get new billboard space in exchange for getting rid of other billboards, as this was done in 2003 and 2007, though the City did receive revenue out of both of those agreements.

UPDATE: The new proposal includes a one-time $400,00 payment from Clear Channel to the City and an ongoing annual payment of a yet to be determined percentage of revenue from the lease, which is probably why Kaplan held this over until this week’s meeting. Otherwise, the proposal appears to be the same as the one that was initially headed for Council two weeks ago.

Item 22: Oakland Fund For Children And Youth 2010-2013 Strategic Plan

The Oakland Fund for Children and Youth Planning and Oversight Committee is responsible for distributing funds to various youth programs, based on the funding from Kids First! (Measure K, Measure OO, and Measure D). Tonight, OFCY will be presenting its strategic plan for 2010-2013.

This item came before the Life Enrichment Committee last week and the most contentious part of the plan was the restriction on which school-based programs OFCY funds could be directed to. The request for proposals states, “High percentage of students (and/or # of students) on Free and Reduced lunch- students with a FRL at 49% or below are not eligible to apply.” This means that schools where less than 50% of students receive free or reduced lunches will be ineligible for OFCY funds for after-school programs.

Jean Quan really didn’t like this because she quickly realized that several schools in her district just barely missed the mark, and she argued that the difference between a school with 48% FRL and 50% FRL is not so great. She argued, quite reasonably, that this threshold was arbitrary and didn’t take into account the many children, especially from immigrant families, that could qualify for free lunches but didn’t apply. Staff responded that they needed to create some threshold because otherwise the money would be spread too thin. So Quan recommended changing the cut-off to 45%, and staff said they could do that.

But then Jane Brunner looked more closely at her chart and realized that a few schools in her district would still be left out (it seemed that she had little understanding of the situation going into the meeting). So she argued for the cut-off to be 40%. Staff again explained that this would stretch resources more and impact all of the programs, but the committee voted unanimously to move the item to Council with the change. Of course, that’s not reflected in the OFCY packet for tonight, but I’m sure it will come up.

The Rest of the Agenda…

I had hoped to have some time to write about the obesity and tobacco preventions program grant because this item was discussed in length at the Life Enrichment Committee and I’m guessing there will be lengthy discussions tonight. Unfortunately, I’m having some serious mouse issues and am unable to copy and paste and do lots of other things so it’s not going to be possible. Watch the Council meeting tonight to see what happens.