Abandoned Cars
Enforce moving vehicle laws
Contract Tow Truck Companies to pick up some 4000 abandoned cars. Crack down on these illegal car dealers that take advantage of the poor with their auction vehicles.
Utah and Ohio found the Housing First models to be successful with case management to help people navigate addiction, health, employment, etc.
More taxes is not a solution, vote for creative out of the box solutions. Reallocate funds to be used to get people immediately housed. It’s a win-win.
Community Cabins and Shelters are bandages, but it doesn’t get people directly into housing. We can’t keep throwing money at bandages and the problem is still there and growing!
At this point even subsidizing market rate rental places is an option, make a deal with the developers that have empty units and/or empty buildings! Doesn’t benefit the developer or the city to have empty units sitting around.
For every 1 unit available you can house 2-4 people at a cost of 30-60M a year if it’s fully subsidized. If a person has some income or is employed the cost can quickly go down.
MONEY can be spent talking about how to get people housed or MONEY can be spent getting them directly housed!
Add blinking lights that turn on when pedestrians push the crosswalk button to all crosswalks across the City (like the ones in Berkeley) to increase pedestrian safety.
Require monthly report to the committee on abatement and enforcement (fines, citations) for abandoned vehicles, graffiti, littering, dumping. Grime removal and prevention requires more attention.
Clean up the garbage and debris. Address blight allowing people to work off parking tickets etc by doing organized city led clean up projects.
The Broken window theory of Policing says, fix the little things, the bigger things follow. OPD currently writes a total of 3 speeding tix a day (OPD internal data). By comparison, Fresno (similar population) writes 600. No tickets = speeders = feeling of unsafe streets = more crime. Lets Start with a warning period (3-6 months) with the message that Oakland won't tolerate lawlessness (aka speeding) any more. It'll allow Police officers to learn how to talk to citizens and warn them (everyone loves NOT getting a ticket) and lets change the culture and our streets. We did it in Fresno (increased tickets led to statistically significant reductions in serious trauma, Journal of Trauma, Davis, et al). Don't like citations = DONT Speed. Thanks! (David Pepper MD)
CA VC 27150, 27151, and 27200-02 explicitly define permissible exhaust certification, modifications and noise levels. Sadly, these laws are not enforced; at all. Illegally loud vehicles, mostly motorcycles, destroy our quality of life day and night, all over the city. Living in this city would be a lot more pleasant if these laws were enforced.
Fees for trash collection have gone up yet again. We're paying for more and getting less. One way to cut costs might be to collect every other week instead of every week. Many of us struggle to fill our 20 gallon trash bins every month let alone every week. In general, very few things we purchase are not recyclable or compostable.
The amount of litter and junk on the side of the roads (especially areas like 880 and Emeryville underpasses) is shocking and disturbing. When people visit Oakland by plane this is the first impression they get of our city. Oakland needs a strong beautification program in which non-violent criminals (ie. marijuana offenses, repeat traffic citations, etc) can reduce their jail sentences by picking up trash, pulling weeds, and repainting walls covered in ugly graffiti. Wouldn't it restore these down-and-out people with a sense of purpose ? Wouldn't it instill a feeling of pride in one's neighborhood? Would it not build stronger communities? For the amount of criminals in this city and crowded jail cells we could have the cleanest city in the country!
There are many neighborhood groups that have started sponsoring trash can mosaics. But there are many many many more ugly trash cans to cover. Everyone loves them, so we need a simple way to match sponsors (businesses, neighbors, etc) with trash cans and mosaic artists. Old Oakland Neighbors has created a simple video and sponsorship page which has worked well to cover over a dozen trash cans in Old Oakland: https://www.gofundme.com/oldoaklandmosaics . But we need a way to scale this idea city wide!
https://www.facebook.com/OldOakDistrict/posts/10153941642742174
We're trying to figure out how many 2 and 3 bedrooms are planned for downtown. Simple question, but it is cumbersome and manual and incomplete. Here is our attempt at tracking units in the pipeline downtown: https://infogr.am/unit_mix_of_projects_in_oakland_pipeline
Everyone is very concerned about all the new development "popping up" but the reality is that this information is known well in advance of the final City Hall meeting when it is approved. The information is online, but it's not very accessible and most residents aren't actively monitoring it to see if a new development is going up on a vacant parking lot near by. I've been told by city staff that the only way to tell if there is a property of interest is to scan the planning commission agendas every week to see if there is a new address being discussed. What we really need is a simple map residents can monitor. A lot of neighborhood tension could be relieved by simply having more accessible information at the right time.
We need a simple data set attached to a map that shows: project name, developer, city staff, status, proposed total units, current unit mix, impt milestone dates, link to staff reports, etc...
The City has been using the same pdf template for the last 15+ years: http://www2.oaklandnet.com/oakca1/groups/ceda/documents/agenda/oak049918.pdf It is not sortable and does not include proposed unit mixes (# studios, one bedrooms, 2 bedrooms and 3 bedrooms). It is also not clear when public feedback would be useful, and what the best way is to give that feedback. It is also only a list of Major Projects, not every project.
There is a little more info on Major Projects at http://www2.oaklandnet.com/Government/o/PBN/OurOrganization/PlanningZoning/index.htm but the reality is that even a small project next door to you might seem like a major deal.
It would be awesome if the public could see the pipeline data and filter it in a way that would be useful for them. For example, we created this manually: https://infogr.am/downtown_oakland_condo_development and it was not easy!! Furthermore, it is not complete as the multi-family data is virtually inaccessible.
As it stands now, most Oaklanders wait till the media puts out a list on residential and commercial construction: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/feature/oakland-structures/2015/ But even then it's outdated the minute it's published.
I hope the City will invest in this proposal as it is a critical need during this time of rapid change, development and displacement.
To the absolute maximum levy fines for all the illegal dumping in Oakland. It is heartbreaking to see piles and piles of garbage dumped on our streets. Can we increase surveillance on our hotspots by using one of the many wireless cameras now on the market?
Dear Oakland City officials, you'd like your citizens to deposit litter into receptacles, yet you fail in the worst way to pick up that garbage. Case in point at the corner of Vernon and Lee Street overflowing with poop bags. Disgusting, please do your part!