Oakland, CA – A special Oakland City Council Meeting for Thursday, March 21st beginning at 10:30AM has been called. Council President Kaplan has moved the agenda from the cancelled March 12th Council meeting to Thursday morning. (Link to Agenda) President Kaplan also has five items on the agenda.
Agenda Item 7.8 asks the Council to recognize May 19th as Postpartum Justice Day. The US is the only industrialized country without a national paid maternity leave policy and nearly 1 in 4 new moms in the US return to work within 2 weeks of giving birth. However, in the U.S., there has been an increase in birth related deaths and half of those occurred within the first 42 days after birth. New parents frequently go to their doctors, midwives, and doulas during birth, but the number of visits significantly drops down after birth. This resolution was brought forward to raise awareness of the importance of postpartum care for birthing people. (Link to Agenda Item)
Agenda Item 7.18 calls for the use of a pro-active, block-by-block zone approach to remedying illegal dumping, rather than relying on complaint-based response. This pro-active approach has begun in some areas, and showed improvement in a pilot program, but is needed citywide. If we don’t wait for complaints, blight will be removed faster, and more equitably and reliably, by having zone-based crews do pro-active removal. President Kaplan appreciates the movement made by Oakland Public Works towards a stronger model to combat illegal dumping and is urging that it be adopted with enough crews to use this strategy comprehensively. (Link to Agenda Item)
Agenda Item 7.26 requests the Bureau of Planning Staff to study, and the Planning Commission to consider, incentives to encourage transit-oriented housing – including affordable housing – in the City of Oakland. The lack of adequate affordable housing in Oakland is a crisis, and every day we hear heartbreaking stories about displacement. Increasing the affordable housing supply will help prevent displacement, reduce our carbon footprint, and help remedy Oakland’s homelessness crisis. (Link to Agenda Item)
With Councilmember Thao, Agenda Item 7.28 requested to receive an informational report from the City Administrator on the status of implementation of homelessness solutions approved by the city council encouraging the private development of expanded housing options. Yesterday’s launch of the faith based safe car park was a great first step in dealing with our homeless emergency in Oakland. (Link to Agenda Item)
Also, with Councilmember Thao, President Kaplan introduced Agenda Item 7.32. As Council begins the process of adopting the budget for City of Oakland, they make determinations of how best to use revenue to meet the needs of our residents. In that process, the public expects a comprehensive review. For this reason, President Kaplan and Councilmember Thao are seeking to contract with Harvey M. Rose Associates, LLC to perform a detailed and independent analysis of the City of Oakland’s 2019-2021 Budget. (Link to Agenda Item)
President Kaplan would also like to remind everyone that Council will be on break next week, March 25th through March 29th, and will resume regular meetings the week of April 1st.