https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gA6287ipJVg ONN – Oakland firefighters battle homeless encampment blaze – video by the YouTube channel in the video’s upper left hand corner. The fully-involved fire at an encampment on the 400 block of Alameda Avenue near the Home Depot was tweeted by the agency at 12:11 p.m. Wednesday. via IFTTT Note from Zennie62Media and OaklandNewsNow.com … Read more
Oakland’s Budget Cuts aren’t an Option by Derrick Soo From YouTube Channel: March 9, 2021 at 04:43PM ONN – Oakland’s Budget Cuts Aren’t An Option – By Derrick Soo With large Homeless Encampment fires happening, cutting Fire Services Budget should NEVER be an Option. City of Oakland to implement new MACRO Service in lieu of … Read more
Oakland Street Trash & Homelessness continue to grow in 2021 From YouTube Channel: February 11, 2021 at 04:47AM ONN – YouTuber: Oakland Street Trash & Homelessness Continue To Grow In 2021 The channel “waajidsvideo” on YouTube posted this series of dashcam videos capturing areas in Oakland where, in the vlogger’s view, the homeless problem was … Read more
OAKLAND HOMELESS ENCAMPMENT: A large homeless encampment in Oakland has returned From YouTube Channel: January 31, 2021 at 09:25AM ONN – Large Homeless Encampment Near East Oakland Home Depot Is Back Says KPIX – So What Says Zennie Abraham? KPIX reports… A large homeless encampment next to the East Oakland Home Depot cleared out last … Read more
Oakland Admin just removed our PortaPotties by Derrick Soo ONN – Oakland Admin just removed our PortaPotties by Derrick Soo – vlog by Zennie62 YouTube City has been “Budget” cutting expenses. I just spoke about Daryel Dunston about DPW no longer picking up Homeless Encampment trash. DPW called this Strike due to “Cuts” to Police … Read more
Oakland Homeless Encampment 2020 From YouTube Channel: November 15, 2020 at 04:49PM ONN – Oakland Homeless Encampment 2020 YouTube Video Note from Zennie62Media and Oakland News Now: this video-blog post demonstrates the full and live operation of the latest updated version of an experimental Zennie62Media , Inc. mobile media video-blogging system network that was launched … Read more
ONN – City of Oakland to enact new EMP Policy by Derrick Soo
City of Oakland City Council APPROVED a new Encampment Management Policy that will change current policy. Oakland Administrators did this before, FORCING people to live in close proximity to dangerous Street Gang Members, Rapist, Criminals and violent people without proper safety at those sites. Currently Administrators are going to COMPRESS 142 Homeless Encampments into a “Proposed” 40 Sanctuary Sites.
Oakland also has placed size Limitations on Shelter “Footprint” of 12’x 12’. Not possible in most instances, too small. City demanding that ALL of ones possessions fit into that shelter.
EMP now BANS, Propane tanks, appliances, grills, heaters, lights from ALL sites at all times. With Winter coming, Administrators tell us to wear extra clothing to keep warm. Very Unreasonable!!! Solar is discouraged and out of most peoples ability to buy. People begin dying on the streets during the winter, this camp has lost 3 to FREEZING to DEATH.
I’ve been working tirelessly to turn this CRISIS around! My PATH Program (Permanent Access To Housing) addresses our CRISIS with proven solutions to the Affordable Housing Crisis everywhere. But, Mayor Schaaf and City Council Members are negligent in at least looking into these viable solutions that are working in other parts of our country. These Programs deal with all issues of Housing Affordability across every income level, including ZERO income.
Note from Zennie62Media and Oakland News Now: this video-blog post demonstrates the full and live operation of the latest updated version of an experimental Zennie62Media , Inc. mobile media video-blogging system network that was launched June 2018. This is a major part of Zennie62Media , Inc.’s new and innovative approach to the production of news media. What we call “The Third Wave of Media”. The uploaded video is from a vlogger with the Zennie62 on YouTube Partner Channel, then uploaded to and formatted automatically at the Oakland News Now site and Zennie62-created and owned social media pages. The overall objective is smartphone-enabled, real-time, on the scene reporting of news, interviews, observations, and happenings anywhere in the World and within seconds and not hours. Now, news is reported with a smartphone: no heavy and expensive cameras or even a laptop are necessary. The secondary objective is faster, and very inexpensive media content news production and distribution. We have found there is a disconnect between post length and time to product and revenue generated. With this, the problem is far less, though by no means solved. Zennie62Media is constantly working to improve the system network coding and seeks interested content and media technology partners.
Oakland – On Tuesday, October 20, 2020, the Oakland City Council unanimously passed its first Encampment Management Policy clarifying how it will ensure health and safety for those living in and around homeless encampments. As Chair of the Council’s Life Enrichment Committee, Councilmember Loren Taylor, guided the 8-month process for developing the policy which included broad engagement of diverse community stakeholders, including housed and unhoused residents, business and nonprofit leaders, public health professionals and city employees who have worked closely with the unhoused community. “I am grateful to the more than 1200 Oakland community members who contributed their ideas and perspectives throughout this process, ensuring that we live up to our values of compassion and equity while ensuring standards of health and safety that protect all Oaklanders,” Councilmember Taylor said.
The goal of the policy, presented by the City’s Homelessness Administrator Daryel Dunston, is to reduce the negative health and safety impacts associated with homeless encampments – for both unhoused and housed residents. Even though an administrative policy has existed since 2017, it was not formally reviewed nor adopted by the Council, leading many housed and unhoused Oakland residents to complain about the lack of transparency, inconsistent application of the policy, and mixed messages coming from different departments of the City.
As acknowledged by the over 150 public speakers during last night’s council meeting, the status quo has not worked, on the contrary it has allowed an increase in public health and safety issues including excessive fire hazards, confirmed cases of infectious diseases, excessive vermin vector hazards, excessive amounts of waste/garbage/debris, and pervasive criminal activities in and around encampments. “Residents of Oakland have been asking us to lead on this seemingly intractable issue and we finally have. I am grateful to all of my Council colleagues for their contributions to this policy and unanimous support to move forward in response to overwhelming community demand for action,” said Taylor.
Key aspects of the new policy include:
1. Identification of high and low sensitivity areas based on the likelihood of health and safety impacts, and it defines how the City will address unsafe conditions or activities while respecting the rights and needs of our unsheltered neighbors
2. Clarification of public health and safety standards that will be upheld for the well-being of encampment residents and their neighbors alike
3. Clarification of how we will work as hard as we can to provide health and hygiene supports, services, outreach and offers of shelter
The Encampment Management Policy was unanimously passed by the Council and the policy will be reviewed in four months.
Councilmember Loren Taylor represents Oakland Council District 6 and serves as the Chair of the Oakland City Council’s Life Enrichment Committee, as well as a Commissioner on the Youth Ventures Joint Powers Authority and the Oakland Alameda County Coliseum Joint Powers Authority, and the Association of Bay Area Governments Executive Committee.
Oakland District Two Councilmember Nikki Bas’ Digitized Newsletter
Last week, I was so moved to see #MomsHouse on Magnolia Street finally become community-owned as permanently affordable, transitional housing for unsheltered mothers.
Congratulations to Dominique Walker, Tolani King, Misty Cross, Sameerah Karim and Carroll Fife for leading this movement to end corporate speculation and house more Oaklanders. I am proud to have stood with them over the last year to call attention to making housing a human right, together with Council President Rebecca Kaplan, Councilmember Dan Kalb and Assemblymember Rob Bonta.
Moms 4 Housing
Sustainable, Healthy Use of Lake Merritt – Lake Merritt Vending Pilot Program Update
Coming out of the second weekend of our Lake Merritt Vending Pilot Program, we were excited to be joined by Parks and Recreation Advisory Commissioner Dwayne Aikens, Cultural Affairs Commissioner Kev Choice, the Oakland Black Vendors Association and neighbors to:
• Promote health and safety during COVID-19,
• Support struggling small businesses and entrepreneurs in this difficult time, and
• Ensure sustainable, equitable and inclusive long-term use of the Lake.
This pilot program for merchandise vendors will take place through November 22nd on El Embarcadero and along Lakeshore to Beacon from 10am to 6pm on Saturdays and Sundays.
This weekend, Community Ready Corps (CRC) will be joining the pilot to promote public health during COVID. Volunteers will distribute COVID kits that have face masks, hand sanitizer and gloves to help promote compliance with the County Health Order.
My team is grateful for the collaboration of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission (PRAC), the Oakland Black Vendors Association, James “Old School” Copes, city departments, and the community to ensure access, safety and equity at the Lake for everyone in our city.
This is what an Oakland for all of us means to me — working with a coalition of diverse stakeholders to ensure the Lake, as our city’s pride, is an enjoyable public space that each of us can use.
Moms 4 Housing
TUESDAY 10/20: Oakland City Council Meeting Preview Homeless Encampment Management Policy and Community Safety
Tuesday, October 20th’s 1:30pm City Council meeting will include the following important agenda items:
Item 6: COVID-19 Emergency Response And The Creation Of Clean Air Buildings For Use Of The Community During The COVID-19 Shelter In Place Emergency.
Thanks to our awesome District 2 constituent and outgoing Cleveland Heights Neighborhood Council Co-Chair Rachel Broadwin for introducing us to Dr. Rupa Basu, Section Chief for the Air and Climate Epidemiology Section of the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment at CalEPA. At our September Council meeting, I expressed concern that our air quality and temperature triggers were too high to fully protect the health and safety of our most vulnerable residents. At my urging, our Fire Department staff met with Dr. Basu to discuss recommendations for activating extreme weather Emergency Respite Centers (ERC) in Oakland. As an outcome of the conversation and further discussions with internal stakeholders and community feedback, the activation triggers for the City of Oakland have been lowered to an Air Quality Index (AQI) of 200 – Very Unhealthy (versus what was previously 250) and temperatures forecasted to reach/exceed 95 degrees for 2 consecutive days or 100 degrees in one day. We are grateful for Dr. Basu and Rachel’s important expertise as we navigate these challenging times!
Item 7: Gun Violence Top Law Enforcement Priority resolution from President Kaplan to prioritize the decrease in illegal guns and gun violence by increasing gun tracing, improving response time to shooting notifications, and prioritizing response to gun crime.
Item 8: Homeless Encampment Management resolution, which proposes to designate priority areas for encampment management and outlines actions including the criteria for assessing what locations will be prioritized for enforcement or other homelessness interventions from the city.
Item 14: Adopt either the resolution proposed by the Oakland Police Commission or Oakland Police Department banning the carotid restraint and all forms of asphyxia.
Item 16: I’m co-sponsoring with President Kaplan, a resolution Terminating the Oakland Police Department’s Participation In The Joint Terror Task Force to ensure compliance with our local and state laws and focus on threats based on evidence, not bias or racial profiling.
See details to join the meeting and provide public comment. You can also share e-comments here.
TUESDAY 10/27: Community & Economic Development Meeting – Impact Fees, Economic Recovery Recommendations
On Tuesday October 27th at 1:30pm, the Community and Economic Development Committee will discuss two important items:
Item 2: Informational report on Impact Fees for Affordable Housing, Jobs/Housing, and Transportation and Capital Improvements, and
Item 3: Informational report on the Economic Recovery Council’s Draft Recommendations.
Oakland Workers, Know Your Rights! COVID-19 Emergency Paid Sick Leave
Oakland Workers Rights
Thank you to East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy (EBASE) for creating Know Your Rights materials on the emergency protections for Oakland workers passed by Council earlier this summer, which I was proud to co-sponsor.
The City’s Emergency Paid Sick Leave policy requires certain employers to provide leave to workers who test positive for COVID-19, present symptoms, are caring for family members who were exposed or present symptoms, or are at high risk from an infection. Check out and share the flyers in English and Spanish so that Oakland workers are aware of their rights!
City of Oakland; District 2 News and Resources
County Reopening Updates, Small Biz Legal Support, Grants for Home-Based Business
New County Health Orders Allow Additional Business Operations: Effective October 9, Alameda County now allows: hotels & lodging for tourism with their fitness centers and indoor pools restricted; museums, zoos & aquariums indoors at < 25% capacity; personal care services indoors with modification (services requiring removal of face covering still prohibited); gyms and fitness centers indoors at < 10% capacity with restrictions on aerobic exercise and classes. While the update allows partial reopening of libraries, Oakland Public LIbrary will remain closed for indoor services until plans are in place for safely reopening the buildings.
Beginning Friday, October 16, Alameda County will permit additional outdoor activities, including playgrounds, that follow the State’s guidance. Additionally, Alameda County is preparing to update the local Health Officer Orders to permit additional activities during the week of October 26. These activities will include: indoor dining up to 25% capacity or less than 100 people, whichever is less; indoor worship services up to 25% capacity or less than 100 people, whichever is less; indoor theaters up to 25% capacity or less than 100 people, whichever is less; expansion of indoor retail and malls at up to 50% of capacity and permitting limited food courts.
County Guidance on Safe Halloween Practices: Bay Area health officials recently released guidance on how to celebrate Halloween and Dia de los Muertos safely. Gatherings, celebrations, events or parties with non-household members are not permitted unless conducted in compliance with local and state health orders. Please avoid participating in traditional trick-or-treating where treats are handed to children who go door to door and do not have trunk-or-treat where treats are handed from car trunks lined up in large parking lots.
Many traditional Halloween celebrations, such as parties and door-to-door trick-or-treating, pose a high risk of spreading COVID-19 and are strongly discouraged by CDPH
Not only do traditional celebrations pose a spread risk, they would also result in great difficulty in conducting appropriate contact tracing
Local Health Departments may have additional, more stringent restrictions
CDPH recommends that families begin planning for safer alternatives.
Legal Help for Oakland Small Businesses with Lease Negotiations: Oakland has allocated $150,000 of California CARES funding to the nonprofit Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the SF Bay Area to provide legal advice and assistance on lease negotiations to small businesses that have suffered revenue losses due to COVID-19. Business owners can access these free, multilingual legal services here, such as commercial leasing webinars through mid-December, 1:1 one-hour consultations and longer-term assistance which may include lease negotiation, pre-litigation and settlement negotiations or representation in a court proceeding.
$2-4K Grants for Home-Based Businesses: Income from a home-based business is often a big source of household income for our city’s entrepreneurs. The Oakland CARES Act Home-Based Business Grant program will distribute $500,000 to home-based, for-profit businesses. Apply here by 11:59pm on Monday, November 2 in 4 languages. Priority will be given to businesses representing a broad geographic diversity in Oakland, especially those located in low-income areas or otherwise historically vulnerable communities; those who have received $4,000 or less in funding from the Paycheck Protection Program; and those with annual gross business revenue under $150,000.
Several Grants Extended:
The Oakland CARES Act Small Business Grant Program will accept applications until 5 p.m. on Friday, October 23. This program will provide $10,000 grants to qualifying Oakland small businesses that have been negatively impacted by COVID-19 and have gross revenues under $2 million. Online applications and eligibility requirements in four languages are available at: mainstreetlaunch.org/oakland-cares-act-grant/
The application deadline for the Oakland CARES Nonprofit Grant Fund has been extended to 5 p.m. on Wednesday, October 28. This program will award grants of up to $25,000 to qualifying community-serving nonprofits with annual budgets of less than $1 million that address the impact of COVID-19 and the needs of low-income residents and businesses in the following areas: Health & Human Services; Economic & Workforce Development; Legal Support; Food Security; Homeless and Renter Support Services; and Education. Online applications and eligibility requirements are available at: communityvisionca.org/oaklandcares/
The application deadline for the Oakland CARES Fund for Artists and Arts Nonprofits impacted by COVID-19 has been extended to 1pm Friday, October 23. The program will distribute awards of up to $20,000 to arts nonprofits with annual budgets of less than $2.5M, while supporting individual artists with grants of up to $3,000 each. Learn more here.
Oakland Parks & Recreation Foundation’s 1st Citywide Parks Workshop: Whether you’re an experienced community leader or a new volunteer, join this free workshop taking place on Saturday, November 14, from 9:00am to 1:00pm to collaborate and learn about strategies and tools to improve Oakland parks. Learn more and register here.
East Bay Community Energy’s Resilient Home Program: Oakland has partnered with nonprofit public electricity provider East Bay Community Energy to launch a solar + battery backup program for homeowners. EBCE has partnered with Sunrun to provide no-cost / obligation-free consultations and will provide a proposal for your consideration. If you decide to move forward, there is a $1,250 incentive to homeowners that enroll their battery in the program and share power with EBCE during peak times when there isn’t a power outage. Since launch in August, nearly 700 homeowners countywide have registered for consultations. Sign up for your consultation and learn more at upcoming webinars.
Voting Reminders
Vote Early!
Given the pandemic and the threats to our democracy, please vote early. All registered voters will be sent an absentee ballot automatically to limit COVID exposure. You must register to vote to receive an absentee ballot!
You can vote in person or drop off your ballot at the Alameda County Registrar of Voters: 1225 Fallon Street, Room G1, Oakland, or put it into one of the official, free 24-hour drop boxes anytime by November 3rd 8pm. If you use a USPS mailbox, postage is free, and it’s critical to vote early!
You can also sign up to track your ballot.
October 19th is the last day for regular online voter registration.
October 20th – November 3rd, you can do same day voter registration.
On November 3rd, you can vote in person or drop your ballot off at your polling place by 8pm.
With many measures on the ballot, my go-to guides are Oakland Rising’s Voter Guide and the CA AAPI Voting Guide in seven AAPI languages.
With Oakland Love,
Nikki Fortunato Bas
Councilmember, City of Oakland, District 2
Note from Zennie62Media and Oakland News Now: this video-blog post demonstrates the full and live operation of the latest updated version of an experimental Zennie62Media , Inc. mobile media video-blogging system network that was launched June 2018. This is a major part of Zennie62Media , Inc.’s new and innovative approach to the production of news media. What we call “The Third Wave of Media”. The uploaded video is from a vlogger with the Zennie62 on YouTube Partner Channel, then uploaded to and formatted automatically at the Oakland News Now site and Zennie62-created and owned social media pages. The overall objective is smartphone-enabled, real-time, on the scene reporting of news, interviews, observations, and happenings anywhere in the World and within seconds and not hours. Now, news is reported with a smartphone: no heavy and expensive cameras or even a laptop are necessary. The secondary objective is faster, and very inexpensive media content news production and distribution. We have found there is a disconnect between post length and time to product and revenue generated. With this, the problem is far less, though by no means solved. Zennie62Media is constantly working to improve the system network coding and seeks interested content and media technology partners.
The Oakland City Auditor just sent a blazing press release. Here’s what she and her office wrote about the Oakland Fire Department:
Oakland – Today, Oakland City Auditor, Courtney Ruby, released a performance audit of the Fire Prevention Bureau (Bureau), a division of the Oakland Fire Department (OFD). This report examines whether the Bureau implemented the 2017 recommendations from the Mayor’s Task Force established after the tragic Ghost Ship Fire in 2016 and whether the Bureau has established adequate controls to ensure all state mandated inspections are completed and fire safety laws are adequately enforced.
The mission of Oakland’s Fire Prevention Bureau is to reduce the risk of fire throughout the City. The Bureau conducts fire safety inspections of the City’s buildings, structures, and vacant lots and performs “state-mandated inspections,” which include buildings used for public assemblies, educational purposes, institutional facilities, multi-family residential dwellings, and high-rise structures. The Bureau also oversees the City’s commercial inspection program of smaller apartment buildings and retail businesses, inspects cannabis operations, and reviews building and tenant improvement plans to ensure new construction includes all required fire safety components. Furthermore, they are responsible for fire safety in the high danger zone of the Oakland hills.
The audit found that more than three years after the City launched a major reform effort to improve fire and life safety throughout the City of Oakland, the City has made only limited progress in fully implementing the reforms set forth by the Mayor’s Task Force. The Fire Department implemented processes to identify and address high risk properties and improve communication between the Bureau and the engine companies to report potentially unsafe properties for further investigation.
The Fire Department, however, has yet to fully implement critical organizational improvements such as filling staff vacancies, creating permanent supervisor positions, implementing more robust quality control processes, establishing performance measures for inspectors, and developing operating procedures for inspections.
The audit found the Bureau inspected only 26 percent of all state-mandated facilities between September 2018 and September 2019, even though the Bureau’s staffing for fire inspectors has increased significantly. Furthermore, the audit revealed the Bureau had not inspected 51 percent of the state-mandated facilities in the last three years we reviewed. The audit also noted the Bureau lacks sufficient staffing to inspect the growing number of cannabis operations in the City. The nature of cannabis operations poses significant fire risks to the operators, neighboring properties, firefighters, and the community.
Additionally, the Bureau’s enforcement efforts are often ineffective. The Bureau’s practice has been to try and coax property owners to correct fire safety violations by re-inspecting properties. Between September 2018 and September 2019, the Bureau conducted over 800 re-inspections of state-mandated properties to ensure property owners corrected various fire safety violations. Although 236 properties implemented the appropriate corrective action, inspectors re-inspected these properties up to seven times to obtain corrective action. On the other hand, the Bureau was unable to obtain corrective action on another 493 properties, even though inspectors re-inspected these properties up to seven times.
The audit also found the Oakland Unified School District has not been responsive in correcting fire safety violations such as missing fire extinguishers and non-functioning fire alarm systems. Also, the Bureau has not operationalized its appeal process to provide property owners an opportunity to dispute the Bureau’s findings of violations in the City’s wildlife interface areas. Not operationalizing the appeals process delayed the assessment of approximately $300,000 in inspection fees in 2018 and 2019 has yet to be assessed as a result.
In response to the audit results, Auditor Ruby noted, “Two of the deadliest fires in US history have been in Oakland: The 1991 Oakland Hills Fire and the 2016 Ghost Ship Fire. Collectively these fires killed 61 of our residents. Completing this audit has been of the utmost importance to me to ensure the City is doing all it can to protect our residents—unfortunately, the audit found OFD has been slow to learn from the past and critical work remains to be done—a sense of urgency and accountability must be ignited in OFD—there is no excuse for the lack of progress.”
During this time, the Bureau’s personnel have been stretched thin from meeting its annual state- mandated inspections by other work, such as inspections required by the City’s building boom, addressing safety issues at the many homeless encampments throughout the City, and the hiring and training of new inspection staff. Additionally, the Bureau’s practice to repeatedly re-inspect properties to bring them into compliance has also diverted significant time away from conducting mandated inspections.
While the lack of progress can be partly attributed to high turnover in the Fire Department’s leadership (since 2017, the City has had three Fire Chiefs and three Fire Marshals), Auditor Ruby, stated, “In 2013, I released an audit reviewing the Department’s vegetation management inspection practices and some of these very same problems were identified, such as the need for consistent training, stronger supervision, quality control measures and clear policies and procedures to ensure the accuracy and completeness of inspections. Almost 10 years later, the current audit shows these same issues persist with building inspections.”
On a positive note, the Department has agreed to implement 29 of the 30 recommendations in the audit report. Moreover, the Department and the Bureau have begun employing a more strategic focus on implementing management and accountability systems called for by the Mayor’s Task Force and the Bureau is in the process of converting to a more advanced database, which will improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the Bureau’s inspection efforts.
In his newsletter Oakland District 6 Councilmember Loren Taylor shared a series of news updates related to homelessness and tenant and landlord protection. Here they are:
City Of Oakland Homeless Encampment Management Policy
When the pandemic hit the city council moved quickly into shelter in place in March, pausing the sunshine ordinance to allow city business to continue remotely. Now in September, more informed and better prepared, council has reinstated 10-day noticing for all items to be heard at council and regular rules committee hearings for transparent scheduling.
As we kick off our fall legislative session look out for these items to be scheduled soon. The Life Enrichment committee (Chaired by Councilmember Taylor) will be considering changes to the Homeless Encampment Management Policy. The meeting is schedule for Monday, September 21st visit City of Oakland website of meeting information.
State Of California Tenant and Landlord Protection Legislation
September 1st the Assembly and Senate both approved AB 3088, which is designed to protect tenants from eviction, and property owners from foreclosure, due to the economic impacts of COVID-19.
The measure was signed into law by Governor Newsom and the details are as follows:
The protections in AB 3088 apply to tenants who declare an inability to pay all or part of their rent due to a COVID-19-related reason.
Under the legislation, no tenant can be evicted before February 1, 2021 as a result of rent owed due to a COVID-19-related hardship accrued between March 4th and August 31st, if the tenant provides a declaration of hardship.
For COVID-19 related hardships that accrue between September 1, 2020 and January 31, 2021, tenants must also pay at least 25% of the rent due to avoid eviction.
Tenants are still responsible for paying unpaid amounts to landlords, but those unpaid amounts cannot be the basis for an eviction.
Landlords may begin to recover this debt on March 1, 2021, and small claims court jurisdiction is temporarily expanded to allow landlords to recover these amounts.
AB 3088 extends anti-foreclosure protections in the Homeowner Bill of Rights to small landlords, provides new accountability and transparency provisions to protect small landlord borrowers who request CARES Act-compliant forbearance, and provides the borrower who is harmed by a material violation with a cause of action.
Existing local ordinances can generally remain in place until they expire and future local action cannot undermine the framework of AB 3088.
Several members of the Legislature, including the author, noted that AB 3088 should be viewed as a short-term solution and that additional legislation would be necessary to further address this issue when the Legislature returns to session in January 2021.
ONN – Oakland Heat Related DEATH At Operation HomeBase Homeless Trailer Park by Derrick Soo
Oakland Heat Related DEATH At Operation HomeBase Homeless Trailer Park by Derrick Soo
When Operation HomeBase opened, City was made aware that the Electrical grid to power the trailers was insufficient. This past May, my Medical Client nearly died from this issue. Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf vowed to correct this problem. The solution has yet to be implemented, and now has KILLED a resident at The City of Oakland’s Safe Trailer Park at 633 Hegenberger Road (trailer number withheld).
HCEB or Housing Consortium Of The East Bay (which was hired by City of Oakland to do oversight of the park) refuses to allow residents to use outside Shade to sit outside their Trailer. Thus FORCING seniors with severe Medical issues to sit in direct sunlight without relief!
Housing Consortium Of The East Bay had been WARNED about Cal-OSHA Health & Safety Violations everywhere.
Zennie Abraham follow-up to Derrick Soo’s vlog: I called Derrick to get more information on this horrible matter. Soo, himself living in a homeless encampment, told me that the person who died is, as I am writing this, still sitting in a chair in the middle of the Safe Trailer Park! Derrick told me that residents were complaining about it to anyone who would listen.
Stay tuned.
Note from Zennie62Media and Oakland News Now: this video-blog post demonstrates the full and live operation of the latest updated version of an experimental Zennie62Media , Inc. mobile media video-blogging system network that was launched June 2018. This is a major part of Zennie62Media , Inc.’s new and innovative approach to the production of news media. What we call “The Third Wave of Media”. The uploaded video is from a vlogger with the Zennie62 on YouTube Partner Channel, then uploaded to and formatted automatically at the Oakland News Now site and Zennie62-created and owned social media pages. The overall objective is smartphone-enabled, real-time, on the scene reporting of news, interviews, observations, and happenings anywhere in the World and within seconds and not hours. Now, news is reported with a smartphone: no heavy and expensive cameras or even a laptop are necessary. The secondary objective is faster, and very inexpensive media content news production and distribution. We have found there is a disconnect between post length and time to product and revenue generated. With this, the problem is far less, though by no means solved. Zennie62Media is constantly working to improve the system network coding and seeks interested content and media technology partners.
Oakland – On Monday September 21st, the Oakland City Council will move one step closer to clarifying to how Oakland will manage and support homeless encampments throughout the city. Led by Councilmember Loren Taylor, the Council’s Life Enrichment Committee hopes to finalize a new Encampment Management Policy.
Councilmember Taylor emphasized that, “When there is a unified chorus from across Oakland including both housed and unhoused residents calling on the Council to provide necessary leadership on this difficult and complicated issue, we must respond to their demand for action. The time is now.”
This new policy explains how the City will reduce the negative health and safety impacts associated with homeless encampments – for both unhoused and housed residents. Although an administrative policy guiding the operational efforts of City departments in addressing encampments has existed since 2017, it was not formally reviewed and adopted by the City Council. As a result, it lacked the benefit of public comment from both housed and unhoused Oakland residents, and it did not reflect consistent policy direction from the Oakland City Council to City departments that this new policy will.
In February, Councilmember Taylor secured a unanimous vote by his City Council colleagues to initiate a robust stakeholder engagement process that would inform the development of a more comprehensive policy that the entire city could align around, ensuring that the City’s activities align with the needs and values of the City and all residents. Since then more than 1,200 residents have participated through the online survey and numerous Council meetings, town halls, and neighborhood meetings to weigh in on open questions including:
1. Should there be areas of the city that are off limits to encampments? If so, where?
2. What rules should be in place for those encampments that do exist to ensure health and safety for all Oaklanders?
3. In what manner should noncompliance with the policy be enforced?
4. For those residents living in encampments, what services and resources should the City provide? Under what circumstances?
Oakland residents are encouraged to share their thoughts and opinions on whether the Council should proceed with this formal policy and what, if any, modifications should be made before final adoption.
To join Monday’s virtual meeting at 1:30pm, login into Zoom (https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84617479852) or dial +1 669 900 6833 (Webinar ID: 846 1747 9852). For those unable to attend, you are encouraged to send an email message with your comments to the Oakland City Council at [email protected].
Councilmember Loren Taylor represents Oakland Council District 6 and serves as the Chair of the Oakland City Council’s Life Enrichment Committee, as well as a Commissioner on the Youth Ventures Joint Powers Authority and the Oakland Alameda County Coliseum Joint Powers Authority, and the Association of Bay Area Governments Executive Committee.
City of Oakland Seeks Applicants for New Homeless Advisory Commission. 9-member board recommends strategies to remedy homelessness and advises on priorities for Vacant Parcel Tax funds for homeless services
Oakland, CA – The City of Oakland is establishing its first-ever Homeless Advisory Commission and is seeking nine qualified Oakland residents to sit on the inaugural board. City Councilmembers make recommendations on Commissioners to the Mayor, who appoints them for the Council’s confirmation.
The Homeless Advisory Commission was created by Measure W, the Vacant Parcel Tax ballot measure, a special parcel tax on vacant properties to support homeless services and address illegal dumping, passed by Oakland voters in November 2018. The Homeless Advisory Commission is charged with making recommendations to the City Council about strategies to remedy homelessness and providing oversight of the Vacant Property Tax, which is anticipated to generate about $7 million per year for homeless and illegal dumping services.
“The impacts of COVID-19 on our economy in general, and on housing insecurity and homelessness in particular, make this Commission more important than ever,” said Mayor Schaaf. “I look forward to collaborating with the Council in seating and launching Oakland’s first-ever Homeless Advisory Commission in November 2020.”
The Homeless Advisory Commission will:
Review financial and operational reports related to the expenditure of the Vacant Parcel Tax homeless services fund.
Publish recommendations on how to prioritize the allocation of funds for services and programs for homeless people and the impacts of programs funded by the Vacant Property Tax.
Make recommendations to the Mayor and the City Council regarding homelessness priorities and present budget recommendations for the prioritization of Vacant Parcel Tax funds for each two-year budget.
Review and respond to the City’s Homeless Encampment Policy and the Permanent Access to Housing (PATH) plan.
Hear reports on the housing, programs, and services for people experiencing homelessness in Oakland, including street outreach, homeless shelters, transitional housing, housing exits, and permanent supportive housing.
The Homeless Advisory Commission is comprised as follows:
Consists of nine (9) members who are all residents of the City.
No less than half of the members must be residents of heavily impacted neighborhoods.
No fewer than two (2) members must be currently homeless, formerly homeless or low- income, as the term “low income” is defined by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.
No fewer than three (3) members must have professional expertise in, or be providers of, homeless services or housing, with priority given to individuals with a background in affordable housing, shelter management, or public health.
No fewer than one (1) representative must have financial expertise.
Members may fulfill more than one (1) of these criteria for the purposes of meeting these requirements.
Applications are new being accepted. Oaklanders interested in being considered for nomination should submit their application online at https://oakland.granicus.com/boards/w/8552f8c4c0e15460/boards/36365
The application period closes on Friday, October 16. The goal is to present a list of Commissioners for City Council’s confirmation in November 2020.
Oakland is suffering a serious housing crisis, making housing at all levels of affordability, and particularly affordable housing, scarce and unavailable for many Oakland residents. The 2019 point-in-time count estimated that there are 4,071 homeless people in Oakland, up 47% from two years ago. This represents about half of the total number of unsheltered residents in Alameda County.
Post based on press release from City of Oakland to Zennie62Media, Inc.
After every fire, Health hazards abound from the burning processes of destruction. Those TOXINS must be removed before “Repopulation” can begin. In the case of the Homeless, cities RARELY address the surface toxins. I always demand a Power-washing of the affected areas to address out gassing VOC odors, and chemicals broken down and are now Health hazards.
These are some of the Life-Shortening issues faced daily by living Unhoused. Average life is shortened by 15-25%!!!
Note from Zennie62Media and Oakland News Now: this video-blog post demonstrates the full and live operation of the latest updated version of an experimental Zennie62Media , Inc. mobile media video-blogging system network that was launched June 2018. This is a major part of Zennie62Media , Inc.’s new and innovative approach to the production of news media. What we call “The Third Wave of Media”. The uploaded video is from a vlogger with the Zennie62 on YouTube Partner Channel, then uploaded to and formatted automatically at the Oakland News Now site and Zennie62-created and owned social media pages. The overall objective is smartphone-enabled, real-time, on the scene reporting of news, interviews, observations, and happenings anywhere in the World and within seconds and not hours. Now, news is reported with a smartphone: no heavy and expensive cameras or even a laptop are necessary. The secondary objective is faster, and very inexpensive media content news production and distribution. We have found there is a disconnect between post length and time to product and revenue generated. With this, the problem is far less, though by no means solved. Zennie62Media is constantly working to improve the system network coding and seeks interested content and media technology partners.
ONN – Smoke Filled Air From California Fires Hitting Oakland’s Homeless Encampments – by Derrick Soo
Smoke Filled Air From California Fires Hitting Oakland’s Homeless Encampments – by Derrick Soo
This morning I woke up late thinking it’s still dark out! Looked at my phone to discover its 8 AM. Winds have shifted and blowing Fire smoke and ash into a Bay Area “Mars” like look.
Note from Zennie62Media and Oakland News Now: this video-blog post demonstrates the full and live operation of the latest updated version of an experimental Zennie62Media , Inc. mobile media video-blogging system network that was launched June 2018. This is a major part of Zennie62Media , Inc.’s new and innovative approach to the production of news media. What we call “The Third Wave of Media”. The uploaded video is from a vlogger with the Zennie62 on YouTube Partner Channel, then uploaded to and formatted automatically at the Oakland News Now site and Zennie62-created and owned social media pages. The overall objective is smartphone-enabled, real-time, on the scene reporting of news, interviews, observations, and happenings anywhere in the World and within seconds and not hours. Now, news is reported with a smartphone: no heavy and expensive cameras or even a laptop are necessary. The secondary objective is faster, and very inexpensive media content news production and distribution. We have found there is a disconnect between post length and time to product and revenue generated. With this, the problem is far less, though by no means solved. Zennie62Media is constantly working to improve the system network coding and seeks interested content and media technology partners.
Massive Homeless Encampment at MLK & West Grand Oakland From YouTube Channel: August 6, 2020 at 12:29AM ONN – Multi-block long encampment near Downtown Oakland on Martin Luther King Jr. Way between 25th and West Grand. “Loot Only Large Corporations” graffiti at 0:01 Note from Zennie62Media and Oakland News Now: this video-blog post demonstrates the … Read more
Town Hall Discussion on Homeless Encampment Management From YouTube Channel: June 23, 2020 at 11:13AM ONN – Oakland Councilmember Loren Taylor Town Hall Discussion on Homeless Encampment Management From Oakland Councilmember Loren Taylor on YouTube, who represents District Six in Oakland, California. Note from Zennie62Media and Oakland News Now: this video-blog post demonstrates the full … Read more
Oakland’s Mid-cycle Budget Cuts $14.3 Million from Police Budget, Invests Additional $50 million to Address Racial Disparities Community investments include violence prevention, housing and homelessness, COVID economic relief, arts and culture, and bridging the digital divide Oakland, CA – Amidst a national conversation about racism and calls to defund the police in favor of repairing … Read more
Oakland, CA – Tuesday, June 23rd, starting at noon, my colleagues and I will continue our discussion of the Oakland Mid Cycle FY 20-21 Budget Amendments. We are working, in partnership with community, to provide a budget that responds to vital current needs, helping our community, including our local small businesses and non-profits deal with … Read more
East Oakland Homeless Encampment “Burnout” Vlog By Derrick Soo ONN – East Oakland Homeless Encampment “Burnout” Vlog By Derrick Soo Criminal activity is usual cause for a Fire. Fed up neighborhood victims, housed & Unhoused, will retaliate. This is the aftermath. Note from Zennie62Media and Oakland News Now: this video-blog post demonstrates the full and … Read more
Zennie62Media note: that a budget can be structured during a Worldwide Pandemic and not include a calculation for a request for a Federal Government Bailout is totally wild. The Mayor of Oakland needs to think and do out of the box, because we’re not in a situation that allows the same-old, same-old. A dollar figure … Read more
First Oakland Homeless COVID-19 Cases Reported By Derrick Soo, Today April 27 2020 ONN – First Oakland Homeless COVID-19 Cases Reported By Derrick Soo, Today April 27 2020 Soo: “First Confirmed COVID-19 Outbreak in Oakland Homeless encampment. 7 people moved by ROOTS Community Healthcare into Quarantine at Comfort Inn. Friday. New Safe RV Park at … Read more
Oakland, CA- This past Friday, March 27th, for the first time, the Oakland City Council held a special city council meeting by teleconference. An estimated 1,000 participants joined the meeting via zoom or phone. At this meeting, the Council unanimously supported Council President Kaplan’s Resolution to more closely follow the Center for Disease Control’s (CDC) … Read more
Moratorium On Oakland COVID-19 Related Evictions Called For By Councilmember Nikki Fortunato Bas ONN – Moratorium On Oakland COVID-19 Related Evictions Called For By Councilmember Nikki Fortunato Bas The Oakland District Two Councilmember sent this email: Oaklanders are strong, resilient, and community-minded. We are focused on a major piece in stopping the spread of infection: … Read more
