Re: 10/20 City Council Meeting: response to housing crisis & MTC-ABAG resolution
Sonja Trauss
Oakland has been a leader in zoning for growth. I am proud of Oakland for taking its RHNA allocation seriously. I testified in support of the upzoning contained in the West Oakland specific plan. Not all Bay Area governments are as cooperative as Oakland however. Many are actively obstructionist. ABAG is their organ and lobbying arm. ABAG successfully negotiates down HCDs growth estimates, and allocates artificially low Regional Housing Needs Allocations to suburbs that are opposed to adding their fair share of housing. ABAG helps these localities keep mulitfamily housing out, thereby promoting economic segregation and preserving the housing shortage.
On page 5 of this report, written by ABAG:
During the early stages of the RHND process, ABAG and HCD worked collaboratively to determine the Bay Area's share of the statewide housing needs goals. HCD's initial determination was 310,761 housing units for the 1999-2006 RHND time frame. ABAG compared this initial figure with its bi-annual forecasts for growth in the region, and determined that the goal figure was significantly larger than the expected growth in households for the region. ABAG provided HCD with its estimates of population and households, which ultimately resulted in a reduction of the initial determination to 230,743 units.
1618 12th Street
Dear Sonja,
The Oakland City Council meeting this Tuesday, October 20th includes some interesting and important issues -- in Oakland City Hall (map of City Hall location) - Council Chambers, 3rd floor beginning at 5:30pm.
Including:
- Our proposal to fund community education and enforcement of Oakland's tenant's rights and wage laws; and
- Our Resolution in opposition to the MTC proposal to harm regional planning (Click here for great overview of this issue).
Every day we hear about someone who has lived in Oakland for years, being displaced -- in some cases illegally. I believe that we must take immediate action to address this housing displacement crisis, including through tenants' rights education and enforcement, and wage law enforcement to ensure low-wage workers aren't being shortchanged. That is why, together with community groups and Councilmember Brooks, we fought to have this issue scheduled for a vote by the Council, where it is now on the agenda Tuesday under item #11 (Click here for Tuesday’s City Council agenda). I urge you to please support these efforts.
To sign-up to speak on an agenda item, please click here OR turn in your speaker card at the meeting before the item is called.
Also, at the October 20th City Council meeting is a Resolution from myself, together with Councilmembers Kalb and Brooks, urging the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) to immediately release land-use planning funds to the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) and directing Oakland's representative on MTC to vote accordingly. (Item #S13)
ABAG (with a much smaller budget), currently handles primarily land-use issues and housing allocations, while MTC controls billions of dollars for Bay Area transportation, and is responsible for overseeing and funding our transportation systems and Plan. While it could make sense to merge them, partially or fully, this should not be done by destroying one of them, not through threats of taking away funding, and not by harming workers and undermining regional collaboration.
The funding should be released immediately, and a thoughtful discussion of a potential merger should be conducted separately from the budget issue, and include the needs of all stakeholders, and no bullying.
Any discussion of MTC taking on new responsibilities must also deal with the question of how the current transportation responsibilities are being handled, to make sure vital work is not abandoned. We are still in urgent need of clarity and a plan and budget to fix the leaks and other identified problems on the Bay Bridge. Our region still lacks a freight plan as truck traffic congestion worsens, our transit systems need to be improved and better connected, and the universal transit pass (Clipper) needs to be improved and expanded. Furthermore, we need to deal with "at capacity" conditions on many of our region's core connections, including the problem of BART's core being full and struggling while traffic congestion worsens. There is important work that our well-funded transportation commission leadership needs to do, much of which is far behind where it should be, and any consideration of taking on other duties, or a merger, must include a strategy to make sure the Bay Area's transportation is taken care of.
For extreme changes, such as a possible merger (or the prior decision by MTC to use bridge repair money to relocate the headquarters to an expensive old building that needed much repair and was not on BART), it is important to do it right. I served on a Special Committee which successfully merged two government agencies in Alameda County, and the new agency is saving money and effectively improving transportation for the public. This was accomplished through thoughtful planning, not by one agency bullying another by threatening its funding. Without transparency and inclusion, there is a high possibility for costly consequences -- such as the MTC purchase in 2011 of a building which has cost our region hundreds of millions of toll-payer dollars. At that time, I expressed concerns about likely cost overruns and other problems -- Click here to find my questions for MTC with their answers.
Let's support a future for our region of strengthened regional collaboration, so we can improve both our transportation and our housing for all.
I ask support for our Resolution, which includes:D. MTC should restore funding to ABAG for FY 2015-16 in the full amount set forth in the Revised Funding Agreement Framework as approved by MTC at its June 25, 2014 meeting, but without qualifications;
E. So long as ABAG is functionally able and willing to carry out its responsibilities under SB 375, MTC should continue funding ABAG for such work provided there are available State and Federal pass-through funds, and by providing ABAG with sufficient assurances that funding will not be unilaterally terminated in the future;
F. ABAG and MTC should begin an open and transparent discussion including the 101 cities and nine counties and stakeholders on restructuring the relationship, including the possibility of merger.Oakland's City Council will hear this item tomorrow, October 20 - City Council starts at 5:30pm in Oakland City Hall, (map of City Hall location) Council Chambers - 3rd floor. To sign-up to speak on an agenda item, please click here OR turn in your speaker card at the meeting before the item is called.
Sincerely,
Rebecca Kaplan
Vice Mayor of Oakland
P.S.
This item is also on MTC's October 28th agenda, commencing at 9:45am in the MetroCenter Auditorium at 101 Eighth Street, Oakland 94607.
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Paid for by Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan Officeholder Committee, FPPC ID #1374343.
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