You are on page 1of 4

Downtown Oakland Association/Lake Merritt-Uptown District Association Joint SOBO Committee March 31, 2010 12:00 p.m.

. Cathedral Conference Room Present: Staff: Michelle Lane, Martin Ward, Tanicia Jackson, Laurie Berberich, Mike Brown Marco Li Mandri, Steve Snider, Andrew Jones, Rick Williams, Victoria Decker

Minutes The following items were discussed and recommendations or actions are made to the Board as follows:

Subject
Security in the Districts a. The Regulars b. 5150s from other cities c. Layoffs causing tension d. panhandling

Discussion
a. Andrew stated that they (the ambassadors) are still combating with some of the same people, but that the situation at 13th and Broadway is steadily improving. Private security at BK is working but the expense to property owner John Mascali is prohibitive and he is threatening to move out. The ambassadors are addressing the ongoing issue of panhandling and documenting incidents aggressively to assist OPD and City Attorneys Office. Marco expressed that we are spending an inordinate amount of time at 13th and Broadway and that the CBDs have done more than their share in terms of providing resources to that area. Andrew addressed the cyclical nature of criminal activity within the districts by stating that once you drive a group or individual out of one area, they show up in another. To that end, the ambassadors are constantly playing a game of catch up. Communication with certain OPD officers is improving and we are receiving direct support from Sgt. McNeil. Laurie Berberich described a recent incident that occurred at her building, located at 1000 Broadway, and the lack of OPD response. Marco asked both Laurie and Andrew to provide him with documentation of recent incidents within the district to present to Chief Batts at

Action?

388 19th Street Oakland, California 94612 DOA Phone 510.238.1122 LMUDA Phone 510.452.4529 Fax 510.452.4530 info@downtownoakland.org www.downtownoakland.org info@lakemerritt-uptown.org www.lakemerritt-uptown.org

Homelessness in the Districts and Surrounding Areas a. Meeting with the city and Project Dignity b. PWAs Involvement c. Ambassadors training for outreach

District Maintenance a. Over 10,000 lbs. collected b. Graffiti removal c. Building maintenance requests

an upcoming meeting. b. 5150s from Berkeley and San Leandro are living in Oakland halfway houses that are cofunded by those cities. A lot of the mentally ill coming into town staying at the Fern Hotel and 647 West Grand and during the day these individuals are out on the street; some of whom are problematic. c. Suicide at the Caltrans building may have been attributed to the individuals layoff earlier in the week. Over the last few days a person laid off from an office in the Leamington has been harassing people and threatening tenants. In particular, this individual has been stalking a woman from the office. Our ambassadors, specifically Ambassadors Saechao and Ng, have been assisting this woman. OPD has also responded and is encouraging her to obtain a restraining order. d. Were staying on top of everything-things are moving and there has been some really good traction in some areas. a. Ted, Rick, and Drew met with Tracy Jensen at the Veterans Building. There are consistent encampments on site and because the facility cannot staff security after hours, the issue persists. PWA is responsible for cleaning the facility, but they have no money. No headway made. b. Operation Dignity wrote a grant to clean up homeless encampments, received the grant, but PWA will not allow this team to access the property. c. Mike Church of (Health and Human Services)is saying that if Operation Dignity gets through the negotiations s with the PWA they would be happy to establish a Beta test partnership between their program and the Ambassadors. Andrew expressed that if the ambassadors cannot access the property to maintain it, he will hound those that have access by making regular calls to the PWA call center. a. Rick stated that the addition of the two new hires has increased the collection of garbage by an additional 10 bags per day. The maintenance crews are consistently picking up at least 15-20 bags per day with each bag weighing from 6-15 pounds. That translates into approximately10-18,000 pounds of garbage per month since the beginning of January. b. Rick stated that the maintenance ambassadors are covering 20-30 tags per week, with an average of 225-240 tags abated

Post Event Maintenance Protocol a. There is a need to develop procedures for the city to follow

Annual District Encroachment Permit a. Still trying to get the city to commit to a timeline for this

per month. The successful distribution of the contact cards allowed the ambassadors to respond to a rash of graffiti that took place in the districts last month and get all abated within 48 hours. c. Rick is doing some research into new products to cover urine in problem areas specifically at 1000 Broadway. In further reference to the contact cards, Andrew expressed that the cards have been really effective and calls have increased dramatically from the beginning of the year. About 12,000 cards have been distributed to date. Litter Hawk operations will be three days a week, Monday, Wednesday , And Friday between the hours of 6:30-9:30 a.m. a. Andrew expressed that in the aftermath of the Oakland Running Festival, the maintenance ambassadors had to invest 5 extra hours to clean up of confetti and other trash left by participants. Andrew did not observe any maintenance efforts made on behalf of event organizers or the City. Andrew will discuss this issue with the special events team with the City. In the future, to help establish rapport with the City, Andrew proposed a donation of some maintenance in lieu of a fiscal contribution. Andrew cited County ordinance AB12750 that requires all events with over 2000 participants to have a green waste management plan, but it is rarely enforced. They paid for PWA services, but nobody returned to do the street sweeping and nitty gritty work. Andrew discussed his efforts to obtain an annual encroachment overlay from the City. No progress has been made with the City or Aliza Gallo. At this point nothing has been done in regards to median planting, hanging plants, or removal of news racks.

Trashcan Program PWA and City administrator has stopped this

Andrew explained how David Ferguson with the PWA was prepared to sign an agreement with the CBDs allowing for the installation of branded trash cans throughout the two districts, but backed out at the last second after

program b. Rebecca Kaplan Letter

six months of negotiations. Marco referred to a letter he had written to Rebecca Kaplan, on page 9 of the agenda packet, outlining the CBD initiatives and our desire to move forward. To date there has been no response from Rebecca Kaplan.

News racks and Meter Poles a. No action from the City, zero response from the City

This item pertains to the overlay encroachment permit. No progress will be made regarding the meter poles or news racks until the permit is obtained from the City

Review of budget

Marco referred to the updated DOA and LMUDA budgets on pages 2-7 of the agenda packet. Marco highlighted the prior year balance carryforward for LMUDA of $282,498.00, the anticipated assessments of $1,324,017.00, a contingency of $235,118.54.00, $96,685.00 for DISI, $182,150.00 for organization (inclusive of shuttle), and $810,063.94 for SOBO. The budget figures for DOA include a carry-forward of $190,745.00, anticipated assessments of $1,068,931.00, a contingency of $110,172.00, $110,900.00 for DISI, $183,214.00 for organization, and $661,144.00 for SOBO. Marco gave an update on the tree watering contract with the City and how payment will be made for the services rendered. The $14,900.00 for the tree watering will come in the form of a reimbursement of the 1% fee the City generates for the collection and processing of assessment monies. DOA Board Mtg. April 7th, 2010-1:00 pm LMUDA Board Mtg .April 8th, 2010-8:30 am SOBO April 28th, 2010-12 noon, Cathedral Building Conference Room A Ist Annual Breakfast Meeting May 19th, 2010-8-9:30 am, Kaiser Auditorium Marco emphasized the need to make calls to remind people of meeting dates and times. He also asked that outlook reminders be sent out for future committee meetings.

Other Next Meeting Dates

Next Meeting Minutes taken by Victoria Decker, staff

You might also like