Rebecca Kaplan

ATF Gun Tip Line

Oakland sends Valentines to LGBTs

Bay Area Reporter

Oakland Mayor Jean Quan used Valentine’s Day Tuesday to host a reception in City Hall to celebrate last week’s federal court ruling declaring Proposition 8 unconstitutional.

Among those who attended were Oakland City Attorney Barbara Parker, left, San Francisco Chief deputy City Attorney Therese Stewart, and out Oakland City Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan.

In her remarks, Stewart thanked Oakland for its participation in fighting Prop 8 (the city was one of nearly two-dozen that filed an amicus brief during the state court hearings) and she acknowledged Oakland resident Helen Zia and her mother, both of whom provided important testimony during the federal Prop 8 case, Perry v. Brown.

About 50 people who attended the reception enjoyed sparkling cider and cake to mark the occasion.

http://ebar.com/news/article.php?sec=news&article=67434

Oakland’s Toxic Deal with Wall Street

The city has already paid $26 million to Goldman Sachs, and local activists say the deal is unfair gift of public funds and should be terminated
By Darwin BondGraham
East Bay Express

Although last week’s $26 billion settlement between the Obama administration, attorneys general from 49 states, and five large banks over unscrupulous lending practices appears to have been deeply flawed, it may provide a modicum of relief for two million homeowners nationwide, including a half-million Californians. The agreement, however, does nothing for cities like Oakland that are trapped in expensive and toxic financial deals with some of Wall Street’s biggest players. Oakland’s bad lending deal is with Goldman Sachs, and it’s already cost the city $26 million. By 2021, the total pricetag for local taxpayers could reach $46 million.

Oakland’s debt to Goldman Sachs has angered progressives in part because the Wall Street giant received multibillion-dollar bailouts from the federal government, and yet refuses to renegotiate expensive financial instruments with cities that are costing local taxpayers millions more. During a meeting last June on Oakland’s budget, Councilwoman Rebecca Kaplan fired off a letter to Goldman Sachs’ CEO: “Many of us stood united as leaders supporting federal action that used taxpayer funds to save your company from economic disaster,” Kaplan wrote to Lloyd Blankfein, whose pay topped $40 million in 2008. “These actions — to use taxpayer dollars in order to salvage private, for-profit corporations — was justified to the public on the grounds that it would enable companies such as yours to then be able to operate in a manner that would be beneficial to the public.

“Unfortunately,” she concluded, “that half of the deal has not taken place.”

Kaplan’s letter followed research by the Service Employees International Union and the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment that exposed the unfairness of so-called rate-swap agreements between cities and investment banks across California. Last June SEIU members picketed the California Street offices of Goldman Sachs in San Francisco, demanding renegotiation of the deal’s terms. “The $26 million the city has already paid is half of Oakland’s deficit this year,” activists said at the time, “but only 1 percent of Goldman Sachs’ profits for the first quarter of 2011.” But this campaign, as well as a resolution for the Oakland City Council to seek termination of the swap deal, later fell by the wayside.

The toxic rate-swap agreement in question dates to 1997 when Goldman Sachs convinced Oakland officials that it would protect taxpayers against the possibility that interest rates would rise on variable rate bonds that the city planned to issue the next year. Rate swaps — essentially contracts between two parties — allow governments to transform variable-rate debt payments into fixed-rate debt. Oakland’s deal with Goldman Sachs converted floating rates on $187 million of bond debt into a fixed 5.6 percent.

The problem for Oakland, however, was that floating interest rates only briefly exceeded 5.6 percent in the past fifteen years; first between 1998 and 2001, and again at the height of the housing bubble between 2006 and 2008. During the economic recession that followed 9/11, interest rates plummeted below 2 percent, forcing Oakland to make much higher payments to Goldman Sachs than it would have had it never signed the deal. Then, with the collapse of the economy in 2008, the US Federal Reserve reduced its lending rates to virtually zero, with variable rates in markets trailing close behind. Yet Oakland was still stuck paying more than 5 percent.

If rates stay artificially depressed due to the Federal Reserve’s decisions, Oakland will owe Goldman Sachs another $20 million between now and 2021. That’s on top of the $26 million the city has already paid.

Beyond labor and community groups, mainstream business publications also have pointed out how unfair these swap deals have become for cities since the crash in 2008. The Wall Street Journal reported on the subject two years ago, while reporters for Bloomberg News noted last month that US municipalities have paid more than $20 billion on rate swaps during the past five years.

Locally, pressure is now building again to do something about the Goldman Sachs deal. Leaders of some of Oakland’s largest churches are uniting with community organizers, Decolonize Oakland, and Occupy Oakland activists to focus on how “predatory” banks are draining Oakland’s budget and causing cuts to vital city services. They plan to bring the issue up with the city council on February 21, and say that many future actions are in the works.

Reverend Daniel Buford, head of the Prophetic Justice Ministry at Allen Temple Baptist Church in East Oakland, said the rate-swap deal with Goldman Sachs is an injustice. “Oakland should end its relationship with Goldman Sachs,” said Buford, “and Goldman Sachs should give back the money that’s been paid to them by our city.”

One challenge this coalition faces, however, is that the legal terms of the agreement will require Oakland to pay a hefty penalty — the “fair market value” of the swap — if the city unilaterally terminates the agreement before its expiration date in 2021. That penalty is around $16 million, according to Oakland’s most recent comprehensive annual financial report. “Goldman Sachs has gotten millions from Oakland each year from this swap. They’ve also gotten bailed out by taxpayers under the TARP program,” Buford said. “The swap should be terminated without penalty to the city.”

Members of Occupy the Hood and Decolonize Oakland, groups created to bring greater focus to racial justice issues within the larger Occupy movement, have researched Oakland’s swap agreement with Goldman Sachs. They say the city has strong moral and political justifications to demand cancellation without penalty. “It’s a second bailout for the big banks,” Yvonne Michelle of Decolonize Oakland said of the millions that investment banks are making off cities in the toxic rate-swap deals. “They were first bailed out by the administration when the market crashed. Now we’re in limbo with one foot in recovery and one foot in recession mode, and Goldman Sachs continues to prosper from our monies a second time over.”

Luz Calvo, a faculty member at Cal State University East Bay and a member of Decolonize Oakland, noted that policies by the Federal Reserve that keep interest rates low also allow Goldman Sachs to reap big profits from rate-swap deals made before interest rates collapsed. “Federal policy keeping interest rates at historically low levels is helping to transfer wealth out of municipalities to Wall Street,” Calvo explained. “The interest swap was set up so that if interest rates drop below a certain level, the city pays Goldman Sachs. If it goes above a certain level, Goldman Sachs pays the city.” The problem, concluded Calvo, is that “in normal times, the interest rate would fluctuate so that both sides would have good years and bad years. The Fed’s policy to hold interest rates at extremely low levels since 2008 is helping the financial sector extract more wealth out of municipalities that are involved in these swaps.”

Political leaders in Washington are forcing cities and taxpayers to suffer financially, Buford and other organizers also argued. Meanwhile the federal government is keeping rules in place that benefit corporations. It’s an onerous double standard that penalizes cities.

Under the Troubled Asset Relief Program of 2008, Goldman Sachs and other major financial corporations had their “troubled” derivatives (the class of financial products including rate swaps) relieved from them with billions in taxpayer dollars. Goldman Sachs alone got $10 billion under TARP, plus another $30 billion in interest-free money from the Federal Reserve under a secretive program called the Single Tranche Open Market Operation.

Able to unload many of its toxic derivatives with this public assistance, the bank reaped large profits during the financial crisis. In 2010, Goldman Sachs paid its top five executives approximately $70 million in salaries and stock awards, according to the firm’s most recent filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Compensation is expected to have risen last year. In the same timeframe Oakland paid $5 million to Goldman Sachs because of the swap.

Goldman Sachs’ deal with Oakland is by no means the only toxic swap that’s bleeding Bay Area cities to the benefit of big banks. According to an SEIU study from February 2010, San Francisco must pay $19 million on swap deals with JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, and Bank of America, and the City of Richmond must hand over $6 million to the Royal Bank of Canada.

Other local agencies have been stung by swaps, too. The Peralta Community College District was forced to pay $1.6 million in 2011 on a swap with Morgan Stanley. “We find it unconscionable that while students, teachers, and staff go begging, Morgan Stanley — a recipient of $10 billion in federal bailout money — continues to collect millions from an impoverished community college district,” wrote Peralta Federation of Teachers President Matthew Goldstein in a letter sent to the executive director of Morgan Stanley’s San Francisco office. Goldstein’s faculty union and students took this message to the Peralta’s board of trustees last November. Peralta administrators have reportedly attempted to renegotiate the swap with Morgan Stanley. A spokesperson for Morgan Stanley declined to comment on the status of the swap agreement.

Last month San Francisco leaders successfully brought JP Morgan Chase to the table, convincing the bank to terminate a rate swap agreement that has been draining cash from the foundation that operates the Asian Art Museum. The swap was terminated without penalty.

Examples like this give hope to Oakland’s community organizers who are aiming to terminate the city’s swap with Goldman Sachs. These activists are also keen on pointing out that this is only the first step for them. “These rate swaps are only the tip of a larger iceberg,” said Jack Gerson of the Oakland Education Association. Gerson points to numerous other financial and tax and revenue arrangements that have Oakland paying off ballooning debts to banks and the state government.

Reverend Buford said now is the time for the Occupy movement to gain focus and ally itself with broader community organizations to push for fundamental changes affecting Oakland’s budget problems. “We have an opening, morally, socially, and politically, and we’ve got to seize it. All the banks and corporations are vulnerable now to public pressure.” Of the city council and other government bodies, Buford said, “Some leaders have wanted to do something about these financial injustices for a while now, but they lacked the power. We’re going to give them the strength and backing to do right.”

http://www.eastbayexpress.com/ebx/oaklands-toxic-deal-with-wall-street/Content?oid=3125660

Editorial: The Oakland City Council Was Right to Reject Occupy Crackdown

Even police brass and port officials opposed the idea
By Robert Gammon
East Bay Express

Although support for Occupy Oakland has nosedived recently in the wake of violent protests, the Oakland City Council made a smart decision last week, rejecting a call for more police crackdowns on Occupy demonstrations. The measure likely would have resulted in additional violent confrontations between Oakland police and so-called Black Bloc protesters — which is exactly what the violent fringe of Occupy appears to covet.

It’s become increasingly obvious over the past month that a hard-core group within Occupy Oakland relishes violent confrontations with cops. These masked protesters show up at demonstrations armed for violence, equipped with shields and packs full of objects that they can hurl at police. However, they usually don’t unleash their fury until police act first — either by firing teargas canisters or other less-than-lethal weaponry at demonstrators. It’s almost as if the Black Bloc protesters realize that if they were the first to attack, then they would be viewed within Occupy as the aggressors, a development that might prompt nonviolent demonstrators to finally shun them.

Instead, the Black Bloc protesters appear to prefer to make provocative acts toward police designed to trigger crackdowns, so that they then can claim that police are the true violent ones. But when police hold their fire, remain calm, and allow protesters to march, demonstrations often turn out to be peaceful, like the ones that took place the last two Saturdays. Indeed, during the February 4 Fuck the Police March, Oakland Police Chief Howard Jordan and his new command staff showed indications that they’re beginning to understand this dynamic.

But the crackdown proposal, sponsored by Councilmembers Ignacio De La Fuente and Libby Schaaf, would have forced Jordan’s hand. It would have put significant pressure on police to use force against Occupy, and thus would have played directly into the hands of the Black Bloc. Jordan seemed to understand this, and Council President Larry Reid, the strongest backer of police on the council, did as well when he refused to vote for the crackdown proposal.

Along with De La Fuente and Schaaf, Councilwomen Desley Brooks and Jane Brunner voted in favor of the crackdown measure, while Councilwoman Pat Kernighan, who is generally viewed as being pro-police and is chair of the council’s public safety committee, abstained with Reid. Rebecca Kaplan and Nancy Nadel, the two most progressive council members, voted against the crackdown plan.

Last weekend the San Francisco Chronicle reported that the De La Fuente-Schaaf measure failed to garner the five votes needed, in part because Oakland police brass had quietly opposed it. Police officials were reportedly worried that more Occupy crackdowns could push the department into federal receivership. Port officials also reportedly opposed the crackdown plan because they were concerned it would prompt more violent protests at the port.

In short, it seems increasingly clear that police are starting to realize that if they maintain their poise during Occupy protests, hold their ground, and refrain from striking first against demonstrators, then the Black Bloc might lose steam. Even the anarchist group Anonymous posted a video last week strongly criticizing the Black Bloc in Oakland. Indeed, the Black Bloc acts at times as if its whole reason for being is to battle police and turn downtown Oakland into a war zone. But if police — and the city — refuse to play this ugly game, both Oakland and Occupy may emerge from this struggle peacefully.

Another Tax on the 99 Percent

Last week, we told you about Governor Jerry Brown’s semi-regressive tax plan, and how aspects of it will hurt low- and middle-income earners through a sales tax hike, but there’s another proposal vying for the November ballot that may be almost as bad. This measure is being pushed and financed by Los Angeles lawyer Molly Munger, and it would raise income taxes across the board, including for Californians who make as little as $14,642 a year.

Munger, like Brown, appears to be hoping that voters will approve her plan because the $10 billion in annual revenues it will produce will go directly to public education. Brown has said that if voters don’t approve his plan, he’ll have to cut education funding dramatically.

But it remains to be seen whether voters will endorse Munger’s proposal once they learn that it will raise their taxes, and is not just a tax on the rich. According to Munger’s website, her proposal would progressively raise taxes on incomes above $14,262 a year with tax hikes rising from .4 percent on low-income earners to 2.2 percent on incomes above $3.4 million.

Although Munger’s proposal, like Brown’s, taxes wealthier Californians at higher rates than it does low- and middle-income earners, both proposals fail to adequately address California’s unfair tax policies. As the Express reported last week, a 2009 analysis by the nonpartisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy showed that the effective tax rate for the lowest 20 percent of wage earners in California, when counting all taxes, including sales taxes, is higher — 10.2 percent — than it is for middle-income residents (8.1 to 8.7 percent) and the One Percent (7.4 percent). While Munger and Brown’s proposals would help close that gap, both plans would still leave low-income workers paying a higher effective tax rate in California than the rich.

There’s only one tax proposal vying for the November ballot that targets the One Percent and leaves the 99 Percent alone: It’s known as the Millionaire’s Tax, and it’s being sponsored by the California Federation of Teachers and the California Nurses’ Association. It’s the only true tax-the-rich plan out there right now; it would raise taxes on incomes above $1 million, but would leave everyone else’s tax rates intact. As a result, the Millionaire’s Tax would do far more than Munger and Brown’s proposals to address California’s rob-the-poor-and-give-to-the-rich tax policies.

The Millionaire’s Tax appears to be gaining momentum statewide. Last Friday, progressive activist and former Obama administration official Van Jones told the state Democratic Party convention that he believes that the Millionaire’s Tax will excite younger voters and get them to the polls, the Sacramento Bee reported. “The idea that the people who have already climbed that ladder have to give back to them, that’s the pathway forward I think to electrify that generation,” Jones said.

Three-Dot Roundup

Richmond’s Chris Magnus, who is perhaps the most progressive police chief in the Bay Area, took the stand in a civil trial last week and denied that he was a racist who discriminated against black police officers. … Kathy Neal, a former Oakland port commissioner, pulled out the 18th Assembly District contest in a surprise move. Neal was one of four major candidates in the race, along with Alameda Vice Mayor Rob Bonta, Peralta Community Colleges Trustee Abel Guillen, and AC Transit board member Joel Young. … And Tim Rood, a critic of the large sports field planned for Blair Park in Piedmont, lost his bid for the Piedmont City Council by just 26 votes. Rood’s defeat may be an indication that the sports park controversy has died down.

http://www.eastbayexpress.com/ebx/council-was-right-to-reject-occupy-crackdown/Content?oid=3125650

Help Me Keep a Strong Voice

Friends -

As we approach the New Year, I wanted to thank you for all you have done and to ask for your continued support.

We’ve accomplished a great deal this year – but there’s much more to do.

That’s why I’m asking for your support through a small gift to continue the energy and momentum behind our work.

Together, we’ve made major progress to create jobs & revitalize our local economy, to make our streets safer and to make Oakland an increasingly vibrant place – including working for:

Expanding Economic Opportunity

• Continued work to negotiate a countywide $7.7 billion transportation plan to fix potholes, support bicycle, pedestrian and transit programs, build transit-oriented development & more

• Passed legislation to levy fines against banks for blighted foreclosures

• Successfully enhanced Oakland’s “local hire” and local contracting policy

• Helped facilitate creation of a state-of-the-art recycling facility

• Expanded Free Broadway Shuttle
  

Towards a Safer Oakland

• Successfully advocated for rehiring laid off cops

• Initiated legislation to stop dealers of illegal guns

• Secured millions of dollars in grant funding for violence prevention street outreach workers

• Helped bring back ShotSpotter technology to help solve gun crimes

• Approved plan for enhanced street lighting in high-crime hotspots

Towards a Vibrant Oakland

• Unveiled plan for exciting revitalization of Oakland Coliseum area – “Coliseum City” – with sports arenas, restaurants, bars and retail

• Won a $500,000 grant to create a bike station downtown on Broadway near the BART entrance

• Passed legislation allowing food trucks to get permits to operate legally in designated parts of Oakland

• Supported 2nd annual Oakland PRIDE festival, attracting 50,000 people

• Updated zoning law to allow Oakland residents to grow and sell fruits & vegetables

As a city, we have unlimited potential.  We believe in justice, in progress and in growth – and, more importantly, we demonstrate these values every day with persistence and dedication.  Oakland is on the rise.

But we do face struggles.  We’ve made great strides towards revitalization, but there’s much still to do.

And I’m committed to continuing our work to make our city the pride of the region. With your support, I’ll be able to continue working to create more jobs, to enact strongpolicies to go after illegal guns on our streets, to ensure that Oakland has a vote and avoice in important regional planning and funding, and to continue spreading the word about the positive and uplifting things happening every day.

Can I count on your support this holiday season to ensure that we remain on the leading edge?  Your gift of $25, 50 or $100 towards our work will help immensely to keep our voice strong.

I appreciate everything that you’ve done – not just to support me, but to support our community – and I thank you for your continued support.

With warm holiday wishes,

Rebecca Kaplan
Councilmember At-Large

New bike lanes installed in downtown area

Bikers try out the new bike lane on Webster Street on Friday morning
By Ryan Phillips
Oakland North

Wearing a bright green hat and sunglasses, on Friday morning Rachel Davidman hopped on her mountain bike and took a short lap on the newest bike lane in Oakland, on Webster Street right off of Broadway Auto Row.

And what did she think?

“I’m excited with the progress,” said Davidman, an Oakland resident and the education coordinator of the Safe Routes to Schools program for TransForm, which advocates for public transportation and bicycle safety. “There are some obstacles to deal with, the cars are kind of wondering what’s going on. But fresh paint on the street is a great thing.”

Oakland Mayor Jean Quan, public works director Vitaly Troyan (second from left) and Councilmember Libby Schaaf of District 4 (second from right) cut a ribbon to open the new bike lane on Webster Street in downtown Oakland on Friday morning.

As Davidman spoke, contractors hired by the City of Oakland’s public works department were painting new bike lanes on the side of Webster Street that goes toward downtown, and sharrows [a shared-lane marking for cars and bikes] on the other side of the street. New bike lanes were also installed on Franklin Street on Friday, connecting a northern route into downtown.

The new bike lanes are part of 18 miles of bikeways installed in the city this year, giving Oakland a total of 115.8 miles of bike lanes. Their installation is a part of an effort by the city to have more bike-friendly streets, as part of the city’s Bicycle Master Plan.

Right before Davidman took her test lap on Friday morning, a group of about 60 people gathered in front of the bar and restaurant MUA to celebrate the new lanes. Many were dressed in bike gear, including bright green jackets and hats, or spandex racing gear. About a dozen brought their bikes to try out the new lane, and Bicycle Coffee had set up a stand on the corner.

Mayor Jean Quan and Councilmember Libby Schaaf (District 4) were among the speakers at the event, which was hosted by Renee Rivera, the East Bay Bicycle Coalition’s executive director. Quan said the new bike lanes will be important for helping people get to work in a safer way, but will also aid the city in reducing greenhouse emissions. “To get to those goals, every one of us has to eliminate at least one of our car trips a week,” she said, to applause from the crowd. “And the easiest and best way to do that is by riding your bike, right?”

Schaaf said the city has also added 92 bike parking spaces this year, and a bike station, where there will be valet bike parking and bike repairs, is scheduled to be built at the 19th Street BART station next year. Jason Overman, the spokesperson for councilmember Rebecca Kaplan (At-large), said a $500,000 grant from the Safe Routes to Transit program was secured for the project. The new bike station “will encourage visitors and commuters alike to travel to Oakland on a bicycle,” Overman said.

But there is still a lot of work to be done to improve bicycle safety on the streets of Oakland. City public works director Vitaly Troyan mentioned there are 800 miles of roads in Oakland, so that means “700 miles to go” for bike lanes that need to be installed.

Contractors working with the city’s public works department paint a new bike lane on Webster Street.

City staffers also handed out copies of a map of the Oakland Bikeway Network which featured miles of proposed bikeway improvements, including many proposed lanes in North Oakland, including lanes down Telegraph Avenue, Shattuck Avenue, Alcatraz Avenue and 51st Street. Some bikeways scheduled for construction in 2012 include extending the path on Webster further north to connect to a lane on Shafter Avenue that was installed this year, connecting the route from North Oakland to downtown.

Davidman said she’s waiting for a bike lane to be installed on her route to work, which starts on 14th Street on the east side of Lake Merritt. She said there are some challenges, like narrow streets, but adding it is important because, “that’s the main artery for people commuting east of the lake downtown,” she said.

Still, she said she’s happy with the city’s progress in installing the new lanes. “I live and bike to work in Oakland,” she said, “so I’m very grateful for the ones that exist.”

http://oaklandnorth.net/2011/12/16/new-bike-lanes-installed-in-downtown-area/

Coliseum City Unveiled

By Robert Gammon and Nate Seltenrich
East Bay Express

Jean Quan has taken a political beating this fall, particularly from Occupy Oakland and the insurgent recall campaign. But on Friday, the mayor came out swinging with a new proposal to build a massive sports village at the Oakland Coliseum. Dubbed “Coliseum City,” the project is designed to be privately funded and would include a new ballpark for the A’s, a new stadium for the Raiders, and a new arena for the Warriors, along with a convention center, hotel, and retail strip.

Although some of the mayor’s critics scoffed at the sweeping plan, city officials said they’ve already received interest from six private development teams in response to a request for bids. Coliseum City also appears to have strong support on the city council. “It could really be a transformative project,” Councilwoman Rebecca Kaplan told the Express. “I’m really excited.” Kaplan has been working on the plan with council President Larry Reid, who said he’s also jazzed about it. “It would just be incredible if we were able to do something bigger and better than AT&T Park or LA Live” in Los Angeles, he said in a phone interview.

The mayor’s announcement followed news last week that the Warriors’ owners had talked with San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee about a possible new basketball arena near AT&T Park. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that the Warriors also talked to Quan about a new arena in Oakland — apparently it was about Coliseum City. In addition, the San Francisco 49ers have been trying to convince the Raiders to move to the South Bay and share their planned new stadium in Santa Clara.

There also has been widespread speculation recently that Major League Baseball will soon green-light the A’s planned move to San Jose. The team has been assembling land there, and A’s co-owner Lew Wolff is good buddies with baseball commissioner Bud Selig. However, it remains unclear how the A’s can overcome the San Francisco Giants’ territorial rights to the South Bay, which prohibit any other major league club from moving there — unless three-fourths of the league’s owners agree to it.

Still, if Oakland were to lose three professional sports franchises to nearby cities on Quan’s watch, it might be a death blow to her political career. And keeping the teams will be no easy task. It remains to be seen, for example, whether the city’s efforts to keep the A’s will be successful, because the team’s ownership desperately wants to leave. Moreover, questions abound as to how Oakland would be able pull off a major new development like Coliseum City, especially if the state Supreme Court sides with Governor Jerry Brown’s plan to kill redevelopment in California.

Kaplan, however, said Coliseum City could potentially be built without redevelopment funds because the city and county already own the land. Kaplan noted that the city has been buying up property around the Coliseum so there is plenty of space for the large development. Kaplan also is working on scoring $40 million in funds from the Alameda County transportation plan. Because of its proximity to BART, rail, and I-880, the project may be eligible for transit-oriented-development funding.

As for Quan, Coliseum City represents a chance to shift the conversation in Oakland away from Occupy and the recall. She said that her administration has been talking to Major League Baseball about Coliseum City and she feels upbeat about its prospects. That’s not to say, however, that she has completely given up on the possibility of a waterfront ballpark at Victory Court in the city’s Jack London District not far from downtown. “That’s still my favorite site,” she said.

http://www.eastbayexpress.com/ebx/coliseum-city-unveiled/Content?oid=3068937

RELEASE: Quan, Kaplan, Reid Push for Oakland’s Right to Vote on Metropolitan Transportation Commission

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 13, 2011

Quan, Kaplan, Reid Push for Oakland’s Right to Vote on Metropolitan Transportation Commission

Oakland, CA – Mayor Jean Quan and Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan testified on Tuesday in favor of Assembly Bill 57, which would allow the mayors of Oakland and San Jose to appoint a voting member to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), reflecting the growing population shift and need for regional planning to solve the Bay Area traffic problems.

MTC is the sponsor of AB 57, introduced last year by Assemblymember Jim Beall (D-San Jose), and would add two seats to the MTC in order to provide for representation of both Oakland and San Jose.

Quan and Kaplan expressed their support for the legislation to ensure that transportation funding can be distributed in a more equitable manner; they spoke at a hearing of the Senate Committee on Transportation and Housing.  State Senator Mark DeSaulnier (D-Concord) chaired the hearing, which was held in Oakland City Hall.

City Council President Larry Reid, who has testified in support of the legislation at previous hearings, said he was appreciative of the Legislature’s effort to move the bill forward.

The commission, which is a designated “metropolitan planning organization” for the nine-county Bay Area, is made up of 19 members – neither Oakland nor San Jose are currently represented.

Advocates of the bill said that Oakland is at the center of the region’s transportation network, and that AB 57 is needed to work towards achieving equity in transportation funding.

“The majority of trips begin and end Alameda or Santa Clara Counties.  And much of the total transportation impact goes unmeasured because of Oakland’s central location.  Oakland deserves a seat on the MTC,” Quan said.

She cited population projections, auto registration data and major transit hubs like the Oakland International Airport and Port of Oakland as reasons why the city should be represented – and added that the majority of trips begin and end in Alameda or Santa Clara counties.

“Oakland deserves the right to vote,” Kaplan said.  “This is basic democracy – Oakland is a transit center, and coherent regional planning requires that this crucial, central city be at the table.”

Union City Mayor Mark Green, who chairs the Association of Bay Area Governments and also sits on the MTC, also spoke in support of the bill.

“Oakland is the fourth most sustainable city in the country and is prepared to play a leading role in the Bay Area’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” Quan said. “But we need adequate representation so that Oakland has equitable and balanced access to transportation funding.”

The hearing was the third of three special committee meetings on the bill, which awaits action in the Senate Committee on Transportation and Housing.  Hearings were also held in San Jose and San Francisco.

# # #

Oakland Council Approves New Food Truck Regulations

CBS San Francisco

 
The Oakland City Council on Tuesday night approved a pilot program that will allow clusters of mobile food vendors to do business in parts of the city.

The legislation, authored by council members Rebecca Kaplan and Jane Brunner, passed unanimously.

Earlier Tuesday, Brunner spoke at a news conference at Frank Ogawa Plaza in front of City Hall next to three mobile food trucks that were set up for the occasion.

Brunner said the proposal would allow “food pods” in four of the city’s eight council districts—districts 1,2,3 and 4.

The ordinance defines a food pod event as the clustering of two or more mobile food vendors on a temporary basis in a commercial, industrial or open-space zoning district.

“Some council members would be delighted to have the food pods in their districts but some don’t want them,” Brunner said.

She said she wants the food trucks because “Oakland is in a food renaissance and our night scene is one of the best in the country.”

“We are celebrating the growth of home-grown food and local entrepreneurs who are contributing health foods to neighborhoods that need it,” she said.

Kaplan said she and Brunner tried to address the concerns of the owners of traditional brick-and-mortar restaurants by including them in the process of drafting the ordinance.

She said the food pods normally won’t be placed in areas where there are existing restaurants, and business owners will get advance notice and an opportunity to comment before the food pods are allowed to set up shop A food pod event organizer would be able to apply for a special food pod event business permit for no more than one date per week and up to 40 dates in a year.

If the pilot program is approved, it would stay in effect until a permanent policy is drafted, which Kaplan and Brunner hope will happen sometime next year.

Mayor Jean Quan said she supports having mobile food vendors in parts of Oakland, saying the vendors “are part of the whole urban scene these days.”

Quan said she thinks the food pods will be good additions in parts of the city that she said are “food deserts with not as many restaurants” or choices of places to eat.

The mayor said she also wants to ensure that the food pods don’t hurt the business of more traditional restaurants.

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2011/12/07/oakland-council-approves-new-food-truck-regulations/

Oakland considers plan to light high crime areas

By Nick Smith
ABC 7



Crooks are like cockroaches — they don’t like the sunlight. And in Oakland city leaders are considering a plan to light up high crime areas. Tuesday, the Oakland City Council is scheduled to discuss an amendment to “dark skies.” It’s a proposal that would add street lamps to neighborhoods and crime hot spots.

According to the Oakland Public Safety Committee, between June 2010 and Oct. 6, 2011, there were 176 violent crimes.

“Around our neighborhood right here, there’s really not a lot of street lights,” said West Oakland resident and mother Margarette Randel.

Randel is happy to learn that the City Council is pushing to add more street lights to certain areas. She says that rising crime in her neighborhood can make her walk home at night a tricky one.
“I feel like I have to avoid certain areas just because there aren’t any street lights,” said Randel.

L. Norwood has lived in her home since 1972. She says that she’s seen things change, but that her block is relatively quiet. Her street lights work and she wonders if the city should spend the money elsewhere.

“They say they don’t have money. Look at my streets right there, it needs fixing,” said Norwood.

Sandra Johnson has added security lights to the outside of her home because of the broken city street lamps and the slow response to fix them.

“I sit in that window every night, to watch for my son to come home,” said Johnson.

Vice Mayor Desley Brooks has a proposal before the City Council to increase lighting in high crime areas. She knows that the issue of cost in this cash-strapped city is a concern. That’s why she is investigating low-cost lighting options and ways to subsidize the installation of new lamps in crime hot spots. She is also quick to point out that whatever the cost it shouldn’t outweigh safety.

“Even if we don’t have the money, these neighborhoods deserve a quality of life,” said Brooks.

Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan, supports the move for increased lighting in problem areas and says that in a city known for voicing their opposition to things they don’t like, on the topic of adding street lamps to troubled neighborhoods, she hasn’t heard a peep.

“We’re talking about specific hotspots, we’re not talking about every lamp in the city. We’re talking about improving the lighting in key areas, where the people in those areas are asking for it,” said Kaplan.

If the city approves the proposal, they’ll begin the long process of how a city — already millions of dollars in debt — will pay for it.

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/east_bay&id=8433288