Join BBBON at the City Council Budget Hearing Thursday The BBBON Steering Committee and other interested members met to consider the Mayor's budget p

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Join BBBON at the City Council Budget Hearing Thursday

The BBBON Steering Committee and other interested members met to consider the Mayor's budget proposal and alternatives put forward by Council President Kernighan and Council members Brooks, Gallo and Reid. We developed these suggested talking points. We urge everyone to come to the meeting on Thursday, June 13. You can sign up here to speak during the meeting: Speaker sign-up for item #5
When filling out the form, be sure to indicate that it is item 5 and the date is 6/13/2013. Print out the confirmation notice and bring it with you.

Suggested Budget Hearing Talking Points

1. Oakland is rising. We want a fair budget that emphasizes economic development without pitting public safety needs against supporting the whole city staff.
2. To meet the target of 700 police officers, we need a minimum of 2 academies per year. There is attrition from the academies themselves as well as normal attrition from the ranks due to retirements, etc.
3. We support full restoration of Head Start positions. This means spending more than in previous years on staff positions that were lost due to the federal government sequester.
4. The Mayor is supporting the employees, but the budgeting process cannot be substituted for the necessary collective bargaining that is going on now. As Mayor Quan wrote in her June 6 Open Letter to Fellow Oaklanders, [the council should] “build in some budget flexibility, to allow the City to seriously consider employee compensation issues at the bargaining table.” By restoring the furlough days, an employee making the average salary would see an automatic increase of $4,770 per year. But new requirements from PERS mean that everyone must give a little more to pension costs (the city’s share is also increasing). The average amount is $2,550 per year. That would still leave an increase of $2,270 per year, on average.
5. Clean Oakland: We need increased funding for graffiti abatement and to fight against illegal dumping that is a major cause of blight in our neighborhoods. Illegal dumping and graffiti are out of control in Oakland. In addition to the two positions to begin implementation of the Council-approved Graffiti Abatement Program, consider adding two positions to handle Illegal dumping pickups, camera installation, and implementation of a illegal dumping reduction campaign/program. As Frank Rose would say "Grime increased Crime".
6. All staff must be accountable. (Measure Y/ NSCs) The effective parts of these programs should be preserved and we should not put more resources into continuing ineffective efforts.
7. According to the City Administrator, the proposal from Council members Brooks, Reid and Gallo would leave the city with a $9 million deficit over two years.
8. Economic Development: The City is poised to move ahead with two major development projects (Old Army Base Redevelopment and Brooklyn Basin (a.k.a Oak to Ninth). These and possible other projects require significant oversight work. Simply put: adding a couple of new staff is completely justified. Therefore, we support adding one staff position to support the Economic Development Dept. (Fred Blackwell Army Base, Coliseum City, Brooklyn Basin, etc.) For the same reason, we support adding one staff position to the Mayor’s office to work specifically on economic development.

The Mayor’s letter and the Administrator’s analysis (along with all the budget proposals) can be found at: link

If you sign up as a speaker online, be sure to print out your confirmation. Wear sensible shoes and be prepared for a long night.

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