City Government
Open Letter: Support the Right of African Americans to Work on City-funded Construction Projects
- The City should not sell any more public land before discussion and adoption of a policy.
- The city’s land should not be used for housing affluent non-residents. It should house current residents of Oakland who are mostly low- or middle-income, or it should be used to serve the needs of those communities.
- The City should not adopt a Project Labor Agreement (PLA) in a resolution on Public Lands Policy.
Many Oakland residents have never heard of a PLA. Even the title of the item on the City Council committee agenda which proposes a PLA does not mention that it is being discussed “Subject: Receive A Report on the Public Lands Policy Process and Analysis from Councilmembers Guillén And Kaplan”
Residents of the city have a right to a detailed, open, well-publicized discussion of proposals about how the expanding amounts of work that their taxes are paying for are being awarded.
African-Americans obtain only nine percent of the work on city-funded construction projects (City of Oakland statistics). African-Americans are 25 percent of the city’s population and the largest percentage of the unemployed and unhoused both nationally and locally. A project labor agreement could contribute to maintaining that status quo.
What the City Council Should do Instead:
- Immediately enact the ordinance establishing a 180-day moratorium on the sale of public land or until the Council adopts a comprehensive “Public Lands” Policy. A properly vetted public lands policy will take time. Harmful sales of public land cannot be allowed in the meantime.
- Separate the discussion of jobs policies and lands policy and organize a transparent, understandable, democratic discussion of each. The Department of Race and Equity should be asked for an equity assessment of proposals
Among items that could be part of a thorough jobs policy discussion:
- Discuss the differences between a PLA and a public city-adopted jobs policy;
- Remove discriminatory barriers that result in only 9 percent African-American employment in construction;
- Prioritize employment of disadvantaged workers;
- Protect the union rights of employees;
- Fund job-training and apprenticeship programs that are geographically accessible to Oakland residents;
- Living wage requirements;
- Employ at least 50 percent local Oakland residents;
- Ban the box to assist the employment of formerly incarcerated;
- Require a twice-yearly report to Council including trade-by-trade demographic statistics;
- Increase funding for contract compliance to reflect the expanded work being required by new construction;
- Incentivize contracting with women and “minority” owned business and other provisions.
Respectfully submitted,
- OaklandWORKS Alliance (Founding organizations include the West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project (WOEIP), Black Women Organized for Political Action (BWOPA); Oakland Parents Together (OPT); John George Democratic Club; Oakland Branch NAACP; Oakland Native Give Back).
- Brian Beveridge, Co-Director, West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project
- Gay Plair Cobb, Member, BWOPA State Board; Executive Board member, NAACP
Henry Hitz, Oakland Parents Together - Robyn Hodges, OaklandWORKS
- Pastor Anthony Jenkins, Taylor Memorial United Methodist Church
- Kimberly Mayfield Lynch, Dean of the School of Education, Holy Names University
- Kitty Kelly Epstein, Professor; Community Assembly of the Post Salon, Host of Education Today on KPFA
- James Vann, Co-Founder, Oakland Tenants Union and member of the Community Assembly of the Post Salon
(Partial list. Titles for identification only)
Activism
Oakland Post: Week of April 24 – 30, 2024
The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of April 24 – 30, 2024
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Alameda County
DA Pamela Price Stands by Mom Who Lost Son to Gun Violence in Oakland
Last week, The Post published a photo showing Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price with Carol Jones, whose son, Patrick DeMarco Scott, was gunned down by an unknown assailant in 2018.
Publisher’s note: Last week, The Post published a photo showing Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price with Carol Jones, whose son, Patrick DeMarco Scott, was gunned down by an unknown assailant in 2018. The photo was too small for readers to see where the women were and what they were doing. Here we show Price and Jones as they complete a walk in memory of Scott. For more information and to contribute, please contact Carol Jones at 510-978-5517 at morefoundation.help@gmail.com. Courtesy photo.
City Government
Vallejo Welcomes Interim City Manager Beverli Marshall
At Tuesday night’s Council meeting, the Vallejo City Council appointed Beverli Marshall as the interim city manager. Her tenure in the City Manager’s Office began today, Wednesday, April 10. Mayor Robert McConnell praised Marshall’s extensive background, noting her “wide breadth of experience in many areas that will assist the City and its citizens in understanding the complexity of the many issues that must be solved” in Vallejo.
Special to The Post
At Tuesday night’s Council meeting, the Vallejo City Council appointed Beverli Marshall as the interim city manager. Her tenure in the City Manager’s Office began today, Wednesday, April 10.
Mayor Robert McConnell praised Marshall’s extensive background, noting her “wide breadth of experience in many areas that will assist the City and its citizens in understanding the complexity of the many issues that must be solved” in Vallejo.
Current City Manager Michael Malone, whose official departure is slated for April 18, expressed his well wishes. “I wish the City of Vallejo and Interim City Manager Marshall all the best in moving forward on the progress we’ve made to improve service to residents.” Malone expressed his hope that the staff and Council will work closely with ICM Marshall to “ensure success and prosperity for the City.”
According to the Vallejo Sun, Malone stepped into the role of interim city manager in 2021 and became permanent in 2022. Previously, Malone served as the city’s water director and decided to retire from city service e at the end of his contract which is April 18.
“I hope the excellent work of City staff will continue for years to come in Vallejo,” he said. “However, recent developments have led me to this decision to announce my retirement.”
When Malone was appointed, Vallejo was awash in scandals involving the housing division and the police department. A third of the city’s jobs went unfilled during most of his tenure, making for a rocky road for getting things done, the Vallejo Sun reported.
At last night’s council meeting, McConnell explained the selection process, highlighting the council’s confidence in achieving positive outcomes through a collaborative effort, and said this afternoon, “The Council is confident that by working closely together, positive results will be obtained.”
While the search for a permanent city manager is ongoing, an announcement is expected in the coming months.
On behalf of the City Council, Mayor McConnell extended gratitude to the staff, citizen groups, and recruitment firm.
“The Council wishes to thank the staff, the citizens’ group, and the recruitment firm for their diligent work and careful consideration for the selection of what is possibly the most important decision a Council can make on behalf of the betterment of our City,” McConnell said.
The Vallejo Sun contributed to this report.
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