ALAMEDA COUNTY — Special board meeting, Monday, Oct. 1, 1:00 p.m.
ENTIRE AGENDA HERE
–TRUTH ACT HEARING– Assemblymember Rob Bonta’s TRUTH Act bill, signed into law two years ago, is the subject of a special meeting held by Alameda County Supervisor Wilma Chan. The law requires law enforcement advise undocumented immigrants of their rights before speaking with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Alameda County Sheriff Greg Ahern and Alameda County Probation Chief Wendy Still, along with a representative from the immigrant legal resources, will offer reports on each jurisdictions implementation of the TRUTH Act.

Regular board meeting, Tuesday, Oct. 2, 10:30 a.m.
ENTIRE AGENDA HERE | Next board meeting: Oct. 9.

OAKLAND – Regular city council meeting, Tuesday, Oct. 2, 5:30 p.m.
ENTIRE AGENDA HERE | Next meeting: Oct. 9.
–PUBLIC BANK FEASIBILITY STUDY– An Oakland public bank, whether regional or specific to the city, has been touted as a solution to cut out lending institution, which either have shown discriminatory lending practices in the past. A public bank would also allow provide the city’s cannabis dispensaries a solution for the cash-based business it currently faces since most banks are deterred from opening business accounts because cannabis is still illegal at the federal level.

–But a feasibility study isn’t apparently helping the cause either way. “Although the study concludes that a public bank could provide solutions to unmet financial needs for communities. It does not provide the key answers proposed by the Request for Proposal (RFP) and does not address the requirements of the Statement of Work (SOW) or provide a roadmap detailing the steps and timeline of setting up a public bank. Additionally, the
study leaves the City with more questions than answers as it relates to the establishment of a public bank.”

ALAMEDA — Regular city council meeting, Tuesday, Oct. 2, 7 p.m.
ENTIRE AGENDA HERE | Next council meeting: Oct. 16.
–MORE ‘SITE A’ PROBLEMS– Alameda Point Partners, the developers behind the city’s roughly 800-unit, retail and park development, is again finding difficulties for moving the project along. Last year, the developer nearly defaulted on the project. Now, they are telling the city that they will need to trigger a one-year land conveyance extension, which includes a fee calculated to be $1.1 million. But Alameda Point Partners (APP) say the additional expenditure doesn’t pencil out without additional housing, according to the staff report.

–“If APP does not pay to extend its option on the Phase 2 land conveyance, it will be in default under the DDA. APP has also indicated that it may be unable to move forward with Phase 2 without additional housing units,” according to the report. “Taken together, the unforeseen conditions have resulted in slower progress and have required APP to spend more construction contingency than initially anticipated… APP has indicated that if the City requires APP to pay the Extension Fee required if less than 50% of the infrastructure is completed, it will create an additional financial burden that the Project cannot support… APP will not recover all of its initial equity ($15 million) in Phase 1 and, as a result, the Project cannot support a $1.1 million extension fee which does not get re-invested in the project.”

–MINIMUM WAGE INCREASE, PART II– Two weeks ago, Alameda councilmembers continued a discussion on increasing the city’s minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2020–18 months before the state mandate. The proposal recommended by city staff gradually increases the minimum wage from its current $11 an hour to $13.50 by July 2019 and $15 an hour by July 2020. Public comments on Sept. 18 detailed an unsurprising split between wage earners who support the wage bump, although admitting it’s still not enough to live in the Bay Area, and business owners who warned of hiring fewer workers and even going out of business because of the higher wage schedule.

SAN LEANDRO — Regular council meeting, Monday, Oct. 1, 7 p.m.
ENTIRE AGENDA HERE | Next meeting: Oct. 15.
–HELP FOR TRAILER HAVEN RENTERS– When out-of-town investors purchased the Trailer Haven mobile home park in San Leandro in 2016 they immediately spiked the rent for each space and tacked on a utility fee. San Leandro is also facing pressure to alleviate displacement for another trailer park, the renamed Bayshore Commons. Meanwhile, the council will approve a resolution Monday to help some Trailer Haven residents with repairs to their homes through a consulting contract with Rebuilding Oakland/East Bay. So far, 11 renters have been identified as meeting the low-income threshold for the grants.

CANDIDATE FORUMS

UNION CITY– League of Women Voters Union City Council candidate forum. Monday, Oct. 1, 7 p.m., Union City Hall, 34009 Alvarado Niles Road.

ALAMEDA– Mayoral candidates meet for a forum centered on housing and transportation, Wednesday, Oct. 3, 6:30 p.m., Elks Lodge, Santa Clara Avenue, Alameda.

15TH ASSEMBLY DISTRICT– Democrats Buffy Wicks and Jovanka Beckles meet for a candidate forum hosted by the League of Women Voters, Tuesday, Oct. 2, 7 p.m., Berkeley Community Theatre, 1930 Allston Way, Berkeley.

HAYWARD– Mayoral and City Council candidates at a candidate forum hosted by the League of Women Voters, Thursday, Oct. 4, 5:30 p.m., Hayward City Hall, 777 B Street.

FREMONT– City Council candidates from three races meet at a candidate forum, Thursday, Oct. 4, Fremont council chambers, 3300 Capitol Avenue, Fremont.

HAYWARD — Regular city council meeting, Tuesday, Oct. 2, 7 p.m.
ENTIRE AGENDA HERE | Next council meeting: Oct. 16.
–SHELTER CRISIS DECLARATION– The city will look to declare a shelter crisis emergency, a first step in applying for a portion of the $16 million in state block grant funding for homeless allocated to Alameda County. According to it last count in January 2017, 397 individuals were unsheltered in Hayward. The city, meanwhile, only has 63 shelter beds on a given night.

–MEASURE A1 BASE ALLOCATION– After voters overwhelmingly supported the Measure A1 $580 million housing bond in 2016, Hayward voters will get to see what they will receive for their support. Hayward’s $28.6 million allocation, including 259 units of housing for extremely low-income, seniors, vets, disabled. “This staff report recommends the appropriation and allocation of $28.6 million of the City of Hayward’s affordable housing funds, including $10.3 million of City housing funds and authorization of the use of $18.3 million of the City’s Measure A1 base allocation to support the development of 259 units of affordable housing that will provide housing for extremely low- to low-income households including seniors, veterans, homeless, and people with mental health disabilities. The appropriation of the $10.3 million of local housing funds will be used to leverage $18.3 million in the City’s base allocation of Measure A1 County bond funds and potentially up to an additional $10 million in Measure A1 Funds from the County’s discretionary pool of funds.”

FREMONT — Regular city council meeting, Tuesday, Oct. 2, 7 p.m.
ENTIRE AGENDA HERE | Next council meeting: Oct. 9.
–COMMUNITY SURVEY RESULTS– Fremonters still love Fremont, according to survey costing taxpayers $48,000. The survey was conducted for two weeks in late June and early July. “Overall key findings from the 2018 Community Survey show that a majority of Fremont residents still believe the City is a good place to live, is a great place to raise a family, and that diversity is an asset.

–“Like many Bay Area and West Coast communities, Fremont residents expressed concern about the cost of housing and the rate of growth and development. The survey also revealed that many Fremont residents are uniformed about the change to district elections.” The actual survey results, however, are not included in the council agenda packet posted online.

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