Ed Roberts Campus funding at City Council, Tuesday 11/27

[Robert Lauriston]

The ERC is on the City Council's agenda for Tuesday, 11/27, action
item 29. The council will be discussing some creative financing
apparently organized by Mayor Bates that would come up with $9 million
to help close a $10 million shortfall in the $45 million construction
budget.

Per the staff report, the city has asked the Metropolitan
Transportation Commission (MTC) for $4.5 million in federal Congestion
Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) Improvement Act funds. CMAQ funds
are intended for programs that help attain or maintain national
ambient air quality standards for ozone, carbon monoxide, and
particulate matter.

$3.5 million of the required $4.5 million in matching funds would come
from California Prop. 111 funds administered by the Alameda County
Congestion Management Agency (ACCMA). Prop. 111 funds are intended to
reduce traffic congestion by building state highways, local streets
and roads, and public mass transit facilities. $2 million of this
would come from reallocating funds previously committed for building a
second elevator at Ashby BART; BART and ACCMA have reportedly
committed to finding another source of funding for that. The other
$1.5 million would come from reallocating funds earmarked for building
a sound wall along I-80 at Aquatic Park (this project has been on hold
for years since the city wants a "living wall" while CalTrans wants
the usual concrete eyesore).

The remaining $1 million in matching funds would come from the city.
Half would come from MTC Housing Incentive Program funds the council
voted to ask the MTC for on October 23. (Can funds from one MTC
program be used to match funds from another MTC program?) The other
half would come from "general fund capital projects." The agenda item
would have the council vote to have the city manager prepare a report
on the impact of the latter.

11/27 agenda (see item 29):
http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil/2007citycouncil/packet/112707/11-27a.htm

CMAQ purposes etc.:
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/cmaqpgs/06guide.htm#progpurp

ACCMA:
http://www.accma.ca.gov/pages/AboutIntro.aspx

Daily Cal news articles on Aquatic Park sound wall:
http://www.dailycal.org/sharticle.php?id=2222
http://www.dailycal.org/sharticle.php?id=2401
http://www.dailycal.org/sharticle.php?id=2344
http://www.dailycal.org/sharticle.php?id=2446
http://www.dailycal.org/sharticle.php?id=3694

MTC's Housing Incentive Program page:
http://www.mtc.ca.gov/planning/smart_growth/hip.htm

10/23 agenda (see item 20):
http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil/2007citycouncil/packet/102307/10-23s.htm

[Robert Lauriston]

There's a story about this in today's Daily Planet:

http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/article.cfm?issue=11-20-07&storyID=28511

[Robert Lauriston]

Question from a member: "Isn't there a conflict of interest in Bates
being a Commissioner on MTC and the Mayor?"

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission is an umbrella organization
created by the state to coordinate planning and funding for Bay Area
transportation. Most of the 19 members of its policy board are
appointed by Bay Area elected officials (mayors, city council members,
and county supervisors), who select mostly candidates from their own
ranks. Tom Bates was appointed last year by the Alameda County
Conference of Mayors to represent their cities.

http://www.mtc.ca.gov/about_mtc/about.htm
http://www.mtc.ca.gov/about_mtc/commphot.htm

There is arguably a conflict of interest between his being mayor of
one of the county's cities and his responsibility to represent them
all, but if the other mayors feel he's favoring Berkeley too much,
they can replace him.

[Robert Lauriston]

The City Council approved the funding, so theoretically construction
should start this spring. News stories:

http://www.dailycal.org/sharticle.php?id=27024

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/11/29/BADATKMG2.DTL

http://www.insidebayarea.com/timesstar/localnews/ci_7588760

http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/article.cfm?issue=11-30-07&storyID=28583

One error, the Alameda Star story says that only a handful of parking
spaces will be lost. The east parking lot currently has 250 spaces.
The last number I heard was that after construction the new lot would
have 187 spaces, but that's out of date, since at the suggestion of
the Design Review Committee an as-yet unpublished number of those
spaces were eliminated to save trees. Also, some street spaces will be
lost on the north side of Woolsey and the east side of Adeline.