>BART eyes data collection for marketing and planning

BART — Regular board meeting, Thursday, Feb. 28, 9 a.m.
ENTIRE AGENDA HERE | Next meeting: Mar. 14.
-MOBILE DATA RESEARCH- BART is interested in “collecting electronic and mobile data collection methodologies for research purposes.” BART wants the ability to use market information in order to help inform the BART District in planning and budget priorities, said a staff report. BART riders would be able to opt-out.

-The use of such technologies comes under its Surveillance Technology policy. That’s because some of treasure trove of data points, according to BART’s impact report, includes, names addresses, emails, phone numbers, location points, images, audio recordings or videos, payment data.

-NOTES- BART’s Fiscal Year 2020 budget assumes a 2.1 percent decline in ridership, but bolstered by moderate sales and property tax growth. Read the entire budget presentation HERE.

>Alameda County supes receive Urban Shield report

ALAMEDA COUNTY — Regular board meeting, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 9:30 a.m.
ENTIRE AGENDA HERE | Next meeting: Mar. 12.
-URBAN SHIELD- Last year, the Board of Supervisor said they would pull the plug on funding for Urban Shield. The ad hoc Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) committee offers a report featuring 68 recommendations for the program that also includes Urban Shield. Read the report HERE. Few specific are detailed, but the five-person committee with appointees from each county supervisor sure did agree on many issues.

-PAYBACK- East Bay Community Energy, created two years ago to provide almost every Alameda County jurisdiction with an alternative to PG&E and with cleaner energy, was given a $5.5 million loan from the county for start-up costs. EBCE is now fully functional and serving a half-million Alameda County residents and is prepared to pay taxpayers back $4.7 million of the total. EBCE says they have already saved customers $3 million in energy costs.

>Oakland’s public safety overtime problem

OAKLAND — Regular council meeting, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 5:30 p.m.
ENTIRE AGENDA HERE | Next meeting: Mar. 5 (committee mtgs).
-POLICE OVERTIME- Halfway through the current fiscal year, which began July 1, 2018, the Oakland Police Department spent $18,714,791 on overtime. The extensive use of overtime by the city’s public safety units has been a growing concern for councilmembers. According to a staff report, new rules for OPD’s overtime are set to be enacted next month.

-BUDGET SHORTFALL- Oakland has roughly three months to figure out how to balance a $42 million two-year budget funding gap. Among the list of council budget priorities: Housing and homelessness, funding for firefighters, West Oakland economic development, increased services for youth, illegal dumping, blight and graffiti. Kaplan wants to hire homelessness, possibly use dorms, and set aside land for tents, she said during a special budget meeting on Monday.

>Hayward city budget receives a windfall of revenues

HAYWARD — Special council meeting, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 7 p.m.
ENTIRE AGENDA HERE | Next meeting: Mar. 5.
-MID-YEAR BUDGET UPDATE- Hayward starting the 2019 fiscal year with its budget in the red by $3 million. But new taxes recently approved by voters is picking up the city’s typically moribund financial outlook. Hayward’s Finance Department is reporting a mid-year budget adjustment that adds $16.1 million in estimated new revenues this fiscal year. The significant bump includes $5.6 million from Measure T, the Real Property Transfer Tax, approved last November and $10.1 million from the Utility Users Tax. The other side of the ledger is also going up. The mid-year adjustment includes $5.3 million in new expenditures. In total, Hayward’s reserve fund will balloon $7.8 million, putting it at nearly 24 percent of general fund reserves. The council’s policy is 20 percent.

>>Planning Commission meeting, Thursday, Feb. 28, 7 p.m.
ENTIRE AGENDA HERE | Next planning meeting: Mar. 14.
-SHRINKING CANNABIS ZONING RULES- “The City requires a 1,000-foot separation between commercial cannabis retail dispensaries and a 600-foot separation between all commercial cannabis businesses and sensitive land uses that include schools, day care centers and youth centers. The proposed text amendments would reduce the over-concentration buffer between retail dispensaries from 1,000 feet to 500 feet and additionally provide the Planning Commission the ability to reduce the 600-foot buffer for commercial cannabis uses from sensitive land uses, if two additional findings are made,” according to a staff report. If approved the matter will comes to the Hayward City Council on Mar. 19.

ALAMEDA — Planning board meeting, Monday, Feb. 25, 7 p.m.
ENTIRE AGENDA HERE | General Plan and Housing Element Annual Report | Next meeting: Mar. 11 |

AC TRANSIT — Regular board meeting, Wednesday, Feb. 27, 5 p.m.
ENTIRE AGENDA HERE | Budget goals and priorities | Next meeting: Mar. 13.

EAST BAY MUD — Regular board meeting, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 1:15 p.m.
ENTIRE AGENDA HERE | Next meeting: Feb. | Water supply update.

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