CITY HALL §1 FRANK H. OGAWA PLAZA, 2nd Floor § OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA 94612 Honorable Treva Reid Councilmember, District 7 Date: June 24, 2024 To: Mayor Thao, City Administrator Johnson, and City Councilmembers Re: FY 2024-2025 Midcycle Budget Priorities Memorandum 510-238-7007 [email protected]
Mayor Thao, City Administrator Johnson, and City Councilmembers: I have enclosed my budget priorities and policy directives for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2024-2025 Midcycle Budget for your consideration. The public and City Councilmembers lacked sufficient time with several report delays reviewing amendments in a highly compressed process this year as we work to balance and adopt a $2.2 billion Midcycle Budget before or on June 30, 2024. As we confront a significant $177 million deficit in our General Purpose Fund for the Midcycle Budget, it is crucial that we sustain our critical city services and workforce, prioritize community vitality and safety, and ensure equitable service delivery. We all play a part in regaining our financial footing with prudent budgetary decisions informed by the City Council’s approved Consolidated Fiscal Policy in the face of growing structural short and long-term financial challenges. City leaders must not propose and adopt budgets that further exacerbate the structural deficit by relying on one-time funding, complex real estate transactions, or budget actions that question the use of voter-approved ballot measures, as I’ve stated publicly in our meetings. Adopting a fiscally sound budget requires balancing fiscal responsibility, integrity and strategic prioritization to ensure the continued delivery of our most critical services with limited available resources. Our foremost priorities should remain on sustaining public safety and fire services, restoring cleanliness in Oakland, and providing transitional and permanent housing solutions in partnership with Alameda County. These services are the backbone of our city’s well-being and quality of life, and their preservation is vital for our recovery, sustained growth, and prosperity. In the FY 2023-2025 Biennial Budget, I proposed and secured Oakland’s first-ever Policy Directive for the City Administrator to develop a written policy framework for equitable service delivery in each city department, beginning with the Oakland Police Department (OPD) foot patrol teams, Public Works Department illegal dumping crews, and “clean and clear” homeless encampment teams, that state how services are deployed citywide. We must ensure that we build on that directive, along with a Department of Race and Equity analysis provided to address the systemic inequities and disparities that have long plagued our vulnerable and underserved communities, which will be the most impacted by further reductions and impacts in service delivery.
FISCAL YEAR 2024-2025 MIDCYCLE BUDGET PRIORITIES Keep Oakland Safe and Protected Sustain Funding for East Oakland Community Safety Ambassadors: • The mayor’s proposed budget cut $1 million in funding for Community Safety Ambassadors in FY 24-25. I advocated and secured $2 Million for Community Safety Ambassadors in the FY 23-25 Biennial Budget to have those resources dedicated to supporting East Oakland Districts 4, 5, 6, and 7 for two years. The adopted Biennial Budget supported business corridors citywide, not including District 4 as I proposed. o Councilmembers representing Districts 4, 5, and 7 submitted a joint budget memo and budget worksheet on June 6, 2024, for the City Council to support this budget request. • Deep East Oakland was provided $500,000 of the $2 Million to deploy ambassadors in the two-year budget cycle. Yet face challenges to sustain our program in partnership with the Black Cultural Zone as areas receive ongoing support from the mayor’s office. Chinatown, Downtown, and the Lake districts were identified to leverage their ambassador funding allocations to apply for and receive $3.5 million from the California Department of Social Services (CDSS) as part of the Community Response Initiative to Strengthen Emergency Systems Act (CRISES Act) Grant Pilot Program to expand this program in those areas. Business Corridors with the highest rates of crime and the highest sale tax revenue generating areas were not all included. Additionally, while the Reimagining Public Safety Taskforce in 2021 recommended citywide Safety Ambassadors, the most impacted crime areas were not prioritized until my advocacy for dedicated funds and equitable investment was supported in FY 23-25 for East Oakland. • Decades of disinvestment in East Oakland must be disrupted by intentional budgetary action. Sustaining and expanding allocation is critical to the monumental strides that city, county and state partners have made in Oakland to prevent and deter rampant crime and violence with increasing measures to protect our community, businesses, and visitors. Sustain Business Corridor Public Safety Security Camera Funding - Districts 6 and 7: • In the FY 21-23 budget, I secured $150,000, in collaboration with former Councilmember Loren Taylor, for public safety security cameras in East Oakland Districts 6 and 7 business corridors in the FY 23-25 Biennial Budget. I am requesting the $150,000 approved at that time be adopted to carry forward in this Midcycle Budget. o Refer to my FY 21-23 Reid, Taylor, Thao budget amendments and FY 23-25 budget amendments • On September 19, 2023, the Council passed Resolution 89906 CMS, which, among other things, made several public safety-related directives to the city administrator to take specified actions to improve the City of Oakland's response to crime, including the creation of a grant program for the city to fund the purchase of security cameras for local businesses. • The continuation of these funds aligns with Resolution 89906 CMS. My office is working with the Economic and Workforce Development Department to have the Council approve a vendor at the June 26th meeting to administer the program and deploy the cameras.
Sustain the Oakland Police Department (OPD) Civilian and Sworn Positions: • The mayor’s proposed budget freezes 38 Civilian staff positions in OPD. The "Service Impacts Report" of the FY 24–25 proposed budget states that "these cuts are expected to decrease efficiency and affect service delivery. There will also be an impact on processing evidence, which could lead to delays in investigations, crime analysis, court cases, impact employee health and wellness, and have a negative effect on morale,...". The Service Impacts are unacceptable amid our public safety crisis and the community’s call for community justice with increased action, accountability, and results. • As noted above, Council passed Resolution 89906 CMS, which, among other things, made several public safety-related directives to the city administrator to take specified actions to improve the City of Oakland’s response to crime. This resolution included a directive, introduced by myself and Councilmember Kevin Jenkins (District 6), directing the "City Administrator, or his designee(s), to work in consultation with the Office of the Inspector General to return to the Council's Public Safety Committee no later than February 2024 with an initial analysis of and possible recommendation for the creation of a real-time crime center (RTCC)." • Civilian roles are an integral part of the operations of our forthcoming RTCC and are vital to addressing criminal investigations and accurate and timely data collection. Eliminating these roles will further stretch our strained officers as they take on additional civilian tasks, limiting their time spent patrolling and responding to emergencies. • The mayor’s proposed budget freezes 18 vacant OPD Sworn officer positions. This will further reduce the departments Sworn authorized staffing from 712 funded positions to 678, with only 3 budgeted police academies. This proposed staff level does not include nearly 80 Sworn officers on family, medical, military, or administrative leave nor does it reflect the possibilities of up to 91 Sworn officers eligible to retire by December 31, based on service time and age requirements met. This putting our public safety priorities, programs and personnel needs at great risk to respond timely to citywide emergencies. • The importance of the Civilian and Sworn roles in supporting an RTCC was further highlighted during the May 2024 Regional Public Safety Convening, a group of elected officials and agency partners I co-chair with Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin. I have long called for an interagency public safety task force to leverage multi-jurisdictional and multi-disciplinary resources to lead an effective, comprehensive strategy for short and long-term solutions. This work began in 2023 with Alameda County Supervisor Nate Miley, Councilmembers Kevin Jenkins, and Janani Ramachandran and has grown into a more significant convening, including representation from law enforcement partners from cities throughout Alameda County, OPD, Alameda County Sherriff, Alameda County Probation, California Highway Patrol, local and state elected and government agency representatives, BART Police Department, Oakland Housing Authority, the Bay Area Council and more, coming together every quarter to strategize and streamline policies and shared resources to restore a safe, livable, and thriving region. Sustain Oakland Police Department (OPD) Business Corridor Foot Patrol: • Sustain dedicated OPD foot patrol teams in citywide business corridors, including the Hegenberger / Airport Corridor I secured in my FY 23-25 budget amendments.
Sustain City Staff for the OK Program and Oakland Police Athletic League (PAL): • The mayor’s budget freezes 18.0 FTE Vacant Sworn positions in the Oakland Police Department, reducing the department’s Sworn authorized staffing from the Biennial Adopted FY24-25 budgeted 696.0 FTE to 678.0 FTE positions. The Department will see reductions or eliminations in the number of sworn personnel assigned to the Youth and School Section, plus additional reductions through attrition as employees leave or retire. Programs designed to support youth would be eliminated in the current budget proposal. • The OK Program, which I secured $25k in the FY 23-25 budget through the Council’s Community Grant allocation, and the Oakland PAL program are crucial initiatives designed to provide mentors, internships, educational programs, and violence prevention services to combat the high rates of homicide and incarceration and disrupt the educational gap among Oakland’s Black youth. Divesting from these programs in the upcoming budget cycle would be detrimental, particularly to the Black community and underserved communities of color who benefit the most from these essential programs. Restore Oakland Fire Department (OFD) Captain: • The mayor’s proposed budget freezes one vacant OFD Captain. OFD will not be able to absorb this work led by a dedicated staff Captain for public outreach, fleet management, administrative tasks and timely response to apply for and implement grants that support OFD’s safety priorities, training, compliance and other critical responsibilities. It is essential to restore this significant role to maintain efficient and effective operations. Keep Oakland Clean and Beautiful Unfreeze the Vacant Environmental Enforcement Officer (EEO): • The mayor’s FY 24-25 budget proposes freezing one Environmental Enforcement Officer (EEO). EEO’s patrol Oakland’s streets to issue citations for illegal dumping, blight, and nuisance crimes and educate residents and businesses on environmental regulations. • The budget’s equity consideration for the proposed reduction states that “communities of Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) are disproportionately affected by blight conditions.” I represent a District of 63,000 neighbors, of which 85%+ are Black and Brown. A district with the reported highest combined rate of illegal dumping & blight, abandoned automobiles, and homeless encampments. Too many areas in our city have been impacted by the public health crisis of these conditions, requiring more, not less, dedicated staff and proactive crew deployment to keep Oakland clean and beautiful. • A March 2024 report, entitled “Informational Report On Equitable Illegal Dumping Efforts” stated that the Department of Public Work’s Keeping Oakland Clean Beautiful (KOCB) team services are most frequently deployed in Council Districts 3, 6, and 7 because those are the locations where most of the debris is dumped. The report also noted that in 2023, District 7 had the third-highest reports for service requests and work orders for illegal dumping. Please refer to the 3/26/24 Illegal Dumping report for more details.
• The reduction in EEO staff will result in fewer citations being issued, decreased educational outreach efforts, and a strained ability to enforce environmental laws. This will lead to a persistently higher level of pollution and blight conditions in neighborhoods already impacted by public and environmental safety concerns. Sustain Funding for Bulky Block Parties: • Sustain Bulky Waste Programs with a budget allocation of $360,000, coupled with a targeted education approach in the most impacted Council Districts, could improve the use of the bulky item program and result in cleaner streets within those Districts. o Previously supported in my 2023-2025 budget priorities • A March 2024 report, “Informational Report On Equitable Illegal Dumping Efforts,” stated that the Department of Public Work’s Keeping Oakland Clean and Beautiful. While Council Districts 3, 6, and 7 are the areas most impacted by illegal dumping, a review of the following data indicates that these Districts are not the highest users of the bulky item collection program. • Keep Oakland Clean and Beautiful (KOCB) hosts ten (10) “Bulky Block Party” events annually at the city’s municipal corporation yard on Edgewater Drive, where Oakland residents can bring large items of debris for free disposal. In addition to the monthly service, KOCB offers this free service. Keep East Oakland Served, Connected, and Prioritized Sustain Funding to Service Opportunity for Seniors (SOS) Meals on Wheels: • Sustain all funding to the Service Opportunity for Seniors (SOS) Meals on Wheels to support healthy and nutritious food delivery to Oakland’s senior residents o $300k (from Measure BB) o $150k Council Community Grant allocation; contract has not been executed yet o $125K Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Tax Grant extension o Previously supported in my 2021-2023 and 2023-2025 budget priorities Sustain Funding to Oakland’s Feather River Camp: • Sustain the Community Grant award of $40,000 allocated in the FY 23-25 Biennial Budget to support Oakland’s Feather River Camp with vegetation management, platform tent repair & replacement, and strategic capacity-building efforts.
FISCAL YEAR 2024-2025 PROPOSED POLICY DIRECTIVES These additional policy directives aim to build on the momentum of past investments that I have fought and advocated for and further embed these city priorities of Community Safety, Prevention & Healing, Housing Security and Homelessness Solutions, Good Jobs & Vibrant Economy, Clean, Healthy, Sustainable Neighborhoods, and Effective Government. By integrating these directives into our fiscal planning, we address immediate needs and foster long-term stability and prosperity for all Oakland residents. These directives double down on our commitment to ensuring that our government operates effectively and equitably, providing the necessary services and opportunities for every resident. This integrated approach ensures that our budget reflects our values and vision for a thriving, inclusive Oakland. Keep Oakland Safe and Protected Support Forthcoming Amendments to the Oakland’s Recreational Vehicle (RV) and Oversize Vehicle Legislation - From Councilmembers Jenkins and Reid: • District 7 is impacted by traffic safety concerns with 80%+ medium to high-injury network streets identified by the Department of Transportation and congested parking conditions in residential and commercial areas. District 7 also has 225 encampments. The vehicle encampments can be incredibly hazardous to our unhoused, housed, and businesses in impacted areas and/or impede egress and ingress routes, preventing drivers, businesses and emergency response vehicles from accessing streets and sidewalks. • In 2020, there were approximately 150 estimated encampments city-wide; by 2023, that number grew tenfold to 1,486. District 7 has the third highest number of encampments (225), following Districts 3 and 5 (428 and 229, respectively). • The city’s encampment management policy, adopted in October 2020 and modified in October 2022 in compliance with the terms of the Miralle settlement agreement, establishes methods for addressing homeless encampments located in the city’s public right-of-way. Per the policy, all encampments and high-sensitivity areas are subject to closure, and low-sensitivity areas are designated as lower priority. District 7 has nine encampments in low-sensitivity zones and 216 in high-sensitivity zones. • Amendments are needed to prioritize housing and safe parking for unhoused neighbors and prohibit the parking of RV’s from areas such as schools, recreational areas, and protected waterways from parking on narrow streets and in some geographic regions. Support Forthcoming Amendments to Oakland’s Sideshow Policy - From Councilmembers Jenkins and Reid: • Oakland has long been a hotspot for dangerous sideshow activity. From Jan. 1, 2019, through November 2022 there were 2,297 sideshows were reported. Additional amendments are needed to strengthen the 2023 sideshow ordinance, which imposes fines and penalties against organizers and facilitators of sideshows. • In addition to investments in violence prevention traffic safety measures to deter sideshow activity, additional amendments to our current policy should include but are not limited to
issuing administrative citations to those who violate Oakland’s sideshow ordinance, which could consist of fines, penalties, and towing/ impounding vehicles. Keep Oakland Clean and Beautiful Present Substantive Amendments to the Encampment Management Policy: • In 2020, there were approximately 150 estimated encampments city-wide; by 2023, that number grew tenfold to 1,486. District 7 has the third highest number of encampments (225), following District 3 (428) and District 5 (229). • The 2024 Point in Time count reported that 9450 people are experiencing homelessness in Alameda County. Oakland reported 5493 unhoused residents, an 8% increase from 2022. • The activity in these encampments has also become increasingly criminal. A May 2024, entitled “Encampment Management Policy Update,” stated that resident service request data for 2022 and 2023 showed an alarming increase in reports of misdemeanor and felony criminal activity in homeless encampments. A breakout of reported crimes identified nine categories: chop shop (8%), drug distribution (23%), human trafficking (1%), sex work (8%), shootings (7%), stealing/theft (13%), substance abuse/drug use (30%), vandalism (5%), and violence (5.00%). • With the increasing cost of living, scarce housing supply and the fact that Oakland is home to 58% of all residents in Alameda County, substantive, data-driven, and equitable amendments to the encampment management policy are needed. This is included but is not limited to increased staff, an evaluation of the parameters to designate high and low sensitivities zones, protocols, and procedures regarding providing garbage service and wash stations at city-sanctioned encampments and how we are meeting our 2019 Permanent Access to Housing (PATH) Framework and five-year strategy to address homelessness, which calls for putting a greater demand on the county to provide the city with more robust encampment support. Keep Oakland Served, Connected and Prioritized • Direct the City Administrator to investigate how City staff meet and execute our prompt payment ordinance requirements. • Direct the City Administrator to fill the citywide Grant writer position within the Oakland Police Department. This position would coordinate applying for public safety grants, focusing on raising revenue, seeking state and federal grants to support citywide public safety initiatives. • Direct the City Administrator to fully implement the Oakland Measure QQ (Youth Voting) ordinance to allow 16- and 17-year-olds to participate in the November 2024 Oakland Unified School District School Board elections. • Direct the City Administrator to implement the Oakland Measure S (Non-citizen Voting) ordinance, which allows non-citizen parents and guardians to participate in Oakland Unified School District School Board elections.
Keep Oakland Housed • Allocate funding from the $5.3 million in council contingency for affordable and transitional housing to a transitional housing project in District 7 • My office has already begun working with the Housing and Community Development Department to develop transitional housing in partnership with affordable housing providers and working with the City Administrator to explore options for temporary housing through hotel properties on MacArthur Blvd and the Hegenberger/Airport area. The aforementioned budget priorities and policy directives highlight my commitment to ensuring the city exercises fiscal discipline, transparency, and accountability with tax-payer investments to deliver critical services with proactive, equitable resource allocation and efficient service response. Through the budget process, we have an opportunity to rebuild trust and credibility with the public and their hard-earned tax dollars. History has shown that it is fiscally irresponsible to budget unrealized funds without a financial or purchase agreement, stated project milestones, or a contingency plan if the projected funds are not secured on a complex real estate transaction for public land. Managing our expenses, compensation plans, and unfunded liabilities while working to increase revenue streams, reduce liabilities, restrict the use of voter-approved bonds, maintain high bond ratings and long-term financial solvency must remain our priorities. As we look to the future and a projected $175 Million deficit for the upcoming fiscal year, balancing the current budget deficit with budgetary discipline is essential. We will continue to seek to protect our assets and improve our crucial revenue streams with ongoing funding to help sustain our city during the economic challenges before us. The safety and well-being of all Oaklanders remain a priority. Our collective responsibility is to ensure that every resident, business, and visitor is safe and supported to thrive in Oakland through our steadfast work, serving them with the leadership stability they demand and deserve. Sincerely, Treva Reid Councilmember, District 7 #OAKLANDLOVELIFE