From:
To: City_Clerk
Subject: PUBLIC COMMENT AGENDA ITEM 10 – Use of Parks Reserve Funds for Cop Campus Generator Date: Monday, July 7, 2025 4:53:17 PM
Dear Mayor Cruz and Councilmembers,
My name is dr. elita layà, a long-time San Pablo resident and university professor. I am submitting public comment on Agenda Item 10, which proposes allocating $728,632 from the Parks & Facilities Maintenance Reserve Fund to install an emergency generator for the San Pablo Regional Training Facility.
This is a significant allocation—one that redirects public funds originally meant to maintain and enhance community-serving infrastructure, including our parks, youth facilities, and senior centers.
Together, this signals an ongoing financial commitment to a capital project that already carries a 30-year
$32M
bond repayment obligation, totaling $1.7 million annually—$1.1 million of which is interest alone.
This annual debt is currently being repaid using lease revenue from our existing Police Department, City Hall, Helms Community Center, WIC Office, Church Lane Senior Center, and John Herbert Davis Park.
In other words, the facility is already diverting funds from underfunded public services— and is now doing so in an entirely new and unanticipated way.
Last year's community-prepared feasibility analysis titled “The Math Isn’t Mathing” (viewable on
https://tinyurl.com/CopCampusInFeasibilityStudy) examined the long-term fiscal trajectory of the facility, using publicly available data and modeling multiple revenue scenarios based on known contract rates and comparable regional training centers.
Key findings include:
The facility does not currently generate enough revenue to offset its debt obligations.
In all but the most optimistic scenarios, the facility produces multi-million-dollar shortfalls over its lifetime.
The City of Richmond’s contract amounts to $5,000 over three years. No additional long-term agency commitments have been made public to date.
These findings make today’s decision to expand infrastructure funding— outside the original bond scope—especially important to evaluate carefully.
Respectfully, I ask the Council:
Why was this generator not included in the original facility scope or bond-financed budget?
What criteria were used to prioritize this generator over other urgent community
facility needs?
How will this Parks and Facilities Reserve Fund be replenished after such a significant transfer?
And how are residents being invited to weigh in on trade-offs between expanding police infrastructure and sustaining public recreational access? Given the scale of the investment and its 30-year repayment horizon, long-term planning and fiscal transparency are not optional—they’re essential.
This is a call for balance, and a request for the City to work with residents toward a shared understanding of responsible investment and sustainable use of public funds.
As you know, residents, community members, and regional allies have consistently called for this facility to be repurposed into a public community center—one that could offer a more diversified and community-driven revenue stream while directly addressing local needs. And yet, rather than seriously exploring those possibilities, the City continues to channel additional funds into a project that has already exceeded its original cost projections and lacks a transparent, sustainable financial model.
As such, I strongly urge the Council to:
1. Release a comprehensive public accounting of all Cop Campus expenditures to date, including general fund and reserve transfers;
2. Table this allocation until a public-facing breakdown of all future Cop Campus expenditures and maintenance needs is released;
3. Create a comprehensive financial projection for the facility—including future costs for staffing, upgrades, and operations;
4. Develop a realistic 5–10 year revenue projection, based on known contracts and usage assumptions;
5. And establish a community-led Ad Hoc Task Force to evaluate the project’s impact, assess pathways for alternative uses, and ensure ongoing alignment with community priorities.
As residents, we value safety. But we also value transparency, parks, youth spaces, and fiscal balance. It is not unreasonable to expect that a facility of this scale—funded without voter approval—be governed with ongoing community input, financial accountability, and public transparency.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
dr. elita layà
San Pablo Resident
References:
The Math Isn’t Mathing: A Community-Based Feasibility
Report: https://tinyurl.com/CopCampusInFeasibilityStudy Petition (266+ Signatures): https://www.change.org/p/stop-cop-city-bay-area-repurpose- san-pablo-s-47m-police-complex-into-a-community-hub
Data, Reports, Records, and FAQ info from: StopCopCityBayArea.com