Oakland City Council President Rebecca Kaplan Calls for Action to Stop Spread of COVID-19, Including through vulnerable and homeless communities, at March 27th Special Council Meeting
Oakland, CA – To help provide emergency relief to our Oakland community, Council President Rebecca Kaplan has called a Special Council Meeting this Friday, March 27th at 11am via Teleconference as allowed and prescribed by our Governor in his Executive Order during this Shelter-in-Place. For the full Agenda, Click Here, which also describes how to hear the meeting, which will also be Broadcast on Oakland’s KTOP TV.
On this Agenda, Council President Kaplan has introduced a Resolution to follow the Center for Disease Control’s (CDC) Interim Guidelines on Homelessness and COVID-19 to only clear homeless encampments if housing or other safe shelter is provided. The CDC has specifically said that clearing encampments “increases the potential for infectious disease spread.” The Council President has also introduced a Resolution to acquire facilities, buildings, and supplies to aid homeless residents to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and a Resolution to award a contract for regular trash pickup service from homeless encampments to reduce risks.
Also on the Agenda for the Special Council Meeting, Council members Nikki Bas and Dan Kalb have introduced an emergency eviction moratorium Ordinance to protect renters, small businesses and nonprofits unable to pay rent due to loss of income and/or increased expenses because of COVID-19.
Said Council President Kaplan, “I am thankful to all the staff, including our City Clerk, who worked hard to set up mechanisms to allow us to provide for vital public needs by holding Council Meeting by teleconference, during this time when it is so important to shelter in place and provide for social distancing. We must take action to address the COVID-19 pandemic, and ensure our most vulnerable populations in Oakland, including our renters and unhoused community, have needed protections. In this difficult time, we must look out for each other, and understand that displacement can worsen human suffering and public health. To prevent the worsening of the spread of disease, we must take action to protect everyone in our community, including the most vulnerable.”
The public and press may observe this meeting several ways:
• Televised video by viewing KTOP channel 10 on Xfinity (Comcast) or ATT Channel 99
• Online at https://oakland.legistar.com/calendar.aspx and click on the “In Progress” link under “Video” for the corresponding meeting. In this case 3/27/2020 meeting.
• To observe the meeting by video conference, please click on this link:
https://zoom.us/j/420129689 at the noticed meeting time.
For more details for the Council Meeting, visit:
https://oakland.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=772750&GUID=960CE31F-D9DE-4A86-8270-A5070FCDEE04&Options=info&Search=-