C I T Y H A L L | 1 F R A N K H. O G A W A P L A Z A | O A K L A N D, C A L I F O R N I A 9 4 6 1 2 Noel Gallo [email protected] Councilmember - District 5 510.238.7005
City of Oakland Councilmember Noel Gallo, District 5
March 15,2023
Budget Priorities for Fiscal Year 2023-2025
During the 2023-2025 fiscal budgetary process, The City of Oakland must prioritize investment in key areas, ensure basic services are maintained, strategically leverage revenue increases, and plan for projected plateaus in the city revenue growth.
Our district 5 budget priorities for the upcoming fiscal year which prioritize investments in creating safe, livable neighborhoods while sustaining a resilient and economically prosperous city. These priorities fall into the following overarching category: Housing and homelessness, public safety, infrastructure neighborhood services, and environmental protection.
Homeless and Housing
1. Make full use of housing
• Homeless shelter, affordable housing, senior housing
• Homelessness outreach
• Rental assistance
• Affordable housing
• Eviction prevention services
2. Housing Development
- To development of new housing units is essential in meeting the demand of our population.
Funding should be included in the budget to encourage the development of affordable housing specifically geared to people experiencing homelessness, seniors and low to moderate income individuals
C I T Y H A L L | 1 F R A N K H. O G A W A P L A Z A | O A K L A N D, C A L I F O R N I A 9 4 6 1 2 Noel Gallo [email protected] Councilmember - District 5 510.238.7005
• Explore using surplus land
• Complete the process of adjusting in lieu fee’s
• Accelerate efforts to develop a range of housing types throughout the City of Oakland • Expedited permit processing, especially for housing development in east Oakland neighborhoods
• Increase funding to the preservation affordability fund and fund “transitional aged” youth housing
• Increase funding for eviction defense and legal protections for renters
3. Expand funding for coordinated street outreach teams - Continued and increased funding in needed for this program. Holistic, street based, and continued engagement from service workers is vital.
4. Safe Villages Pilot Program
- We must work collaboratively with the County of Alameda health and human services department to identify appropriately sized, available county land for this purpose; to provide a safe camping location for unsheltered individuals living in tents. This is an immediate tool to allow people who are experiencing homelessness and who are hesitant to engage with traditional services/ outreach a safe place. This place can act as a short term, low barrier, and non-congregated alternative to the existing array of shelters. A safe village should provide living accommodations, access to sanitation resources, meals, and connection to supportive services in an environment that is safer than street homelessness, (including spaces such as sidewalks and unsanctioned encampments). Insite health services would foster connections to or placements into, the broader community system of care, such as community resources, shelters, behavioral health, and primary care resources, and when available permanent, or long-term housing. Its focus should consider an appropriate level of behavioral health and substance use disorder resources.
5. Safe Parking Program
- The safe parking program is an essential component to addressing homelessness with a proven, successful track record. These sites will serve people who dwell in their vehicles and are hesitant to enter congregated shelter. I request ongoing funding for the programs continued operations and expansion.
6. Maintain Oaklands youth shelters
- Minors with a focused on increasing capacity and quality services
7. Homeless outreach Team
- Ongoing and increased funding to support homeless outreach team
C I T Y H A L L | 1 F R A N K H. O G A W A P L A Z A | O A K L A N D, C A L I F O R N I A 9 4 6 1 2 Noel Gallo [email protected] Councilmember - District 5 510.238.7005
Access to Housing-
Housing is increasingly difficult to find in Oakland. Below are items that will protect access to housing, increase affordability, and avoid unnecessary evictions
1. Transition of properties from commercial use
- Conduct a study on incentivizing and removing barriers from transitioning commercial use to residential units at the city level to comply with AB 2011
2. Housing Commission
- The housing commission led programs have helped residents throughout the pandemic to avoid evictions and ensure rental and utility relief. The budget should continue to support the housing commissions program like housing first, the housing stability fund, the housing instability prevention program, etc.
3. Increase funding for the housing stability fund
- Proactively address housing insecurity and prevent homelessness for families
4. Increase funding for the housing instability prevention program - Proactively address housing insecurity and prevent homelessness for seniors
5. Create a rapid re-housing project
- Directly serve young people with rental assistance and other specialized services
Public Safety
The city is responsible for sustaining safe and livable neighborhoods which comes with many logistics and financial challenges, below are budget recommendations that support city efforts to keep our community safe
1. Public Safety and changing nature of policing
• Establish police unit for sideshows
• Implement MACRO system, and Oakland police department 911 dispatchers • Motorcycle police unit for traffic enforcement
• Recruitment and retention of police officers and fire fighters
C I T Y H A L L | 1 F R A N K H. O G A W A P L A Z A | O A K L A N D, C A L I F O R N I A 9 4 6 1 2 Noel Gallo [email protected] Councilmember - District 5 510.238.7005
2. Community Oriented Policing
• Restore neighborhood walking officers
• Business district walking officers
• Security cameras (business districts and illegal dumping sites) • Stronger commercial and residential code enforcement program, including prioritized hiring of building and fire code enforcement inspectors
3. Cooperation/ coordination with other law enforcement agencies • Alameda county sheriffs
• California highway patrol
• Violence prevention
• Street ambassadors
4. Increase Public Safety Employee Salaries
- We must be competitive with compensation to address our retention and acquisition issues
5. Oakland Police Department/ Oakland Fire Department Recruitment - Establish a local college/ university recruitment strategy, with the goal of hiring graduates with associates and/or bachelor’s degrees by the end of FY26, who represent the diverse communities of Oakland
Clean/ safe/ healthy/ livable neighborhoods
1. Safe/ clean streets
• Litter and Illegal dumping removal
• Waste management services
• Code enforcement
• Youth services – training and education
• Schools
• Graffiti abatement
• Beautification of neighborhoods and commercial streets • Tree and plant care
• Façade improvements
• Sidewalk and lighting
• Head start program
C I T Y H A L L | 1 F R A N K H. O G A W A P L A Z A | O A K L A N D, C A L I F O R N I A 9 4 6 1 2 Noel Gallo [email protected] Councilmember - District 5 510.238.7005
- Sustain funding for city run head start programs, including staff recruitment and hiring for vacant positions, professional development support for all childcare workers and maintaining the number of available programs slots
• Programing for Youth
- Invest in the city-wide community-based youth enrichment programming - Restore the summer jobs for youth program
Transportation and Mobility Safety
1. Pedestrian and bicycle safety
• Traffic calming
• Traffic signals
• Street signs
2. Streets
3. Sidewalks
4. Facilities
• Public Works
• Parks and recreation
The city of Oakland parks system provides healthy, sustainable, and enriching environments for all residents and tourist. Neighborhood parks, and recreation centers are critical to improving the quality of life for our communities.
- Upgrades, restoration and improvements to city parks and infrastructures - Curt Flood Field
- Cesar Chavez Park
- Josie De La Cruz Park
- Brookdale Park
- Union Point Park
• Stormwater
• Security – related infrastructure
5. Crossing Guards/ School Safety
C I T Y H A L L | 1 F R A N K H. O G A W A P L A Z A | O A K L A N D, C A L I F O R N I A 9 4 6 1 2 Noel Gallo [email protected] Councilmember - District 5 510.238.7005
Economic development
• Bring more businesses into Oakland
• Improve planning and building permits and inspections • Evaluate city retail environment and policies to address market changes in retail space demand • Employment and training
- Continuation and expansion of the strong workforce project to provide workforce development program targeted individuals with an array of workforce development related services aimed at improving the economic wellbeing. Services will include direct job placement assistance, information and referral coordination with existing employment training services, employment and education related workshops, and referral to community
- social services partners for health care, cultural services, or educational counseling. The strong workforce program will be expanded to include services to support youth, consistent wit the city of Oakland programs, for ages 16-21 years as well as adults, ages 21+ years old
• Attracting and retaining a competitive workforce
- Most city positions have salaries that are not competitive with similar positions in other municipal jurisdictions. To attract and retain the best and the brightest workforce, the budget must include funding to make needed salary increase to ensure Oakland is the most competitive. In addition, funding should be geared towards expediting and improving the city’s hiring process for new staff positions.
City Council Budget resource and mitigation priorities
1. Review 5-year financial outlook 2023-2025
2. Federal infrastructure investment act
3. California childcare and development infrastructure grant program
4. Federal inflation reduction acts (IRA) 2022
5. Federal American revenue plan
6. Use of excess equity of general fund revenue