April 9th, 2025 Board Meeting:
Board Attendees: Terry Cullinane, Eddie Tejeda, Sujata Srivastava, Rajen Shah, Garrett Gallagher, Francesca “Chacha” Longtin-Cabraser, Benjamin Scott, Lauren Wilson
Outgoing Board Meeting Attendees: Katy Morsony
Other attendees: Josh Rowan (DOT), Rebecca Dean (Ramachandran rep.)
Agenda & Notes:
1. Welcome/Introductions ALL
2. Josh Rowan (Director of DOT) meet and greet, follow up on Park Blvd
There has been a downgrade of Oakland’s credit. DOT (JR) pushing for selling Bonds. Sparked an internal debate about selling bonds. 25% of what DOT does comes out of the general purpose fund. If bonds are not sold, DOT has a 1 year budget for paving→ City goes from 10 miles of paving per month to 1.
Measure U-Bond sale. This year a paving year will be lost unless we can get a bond sale in the fall. Does not have answers for when paving and safety projects will start back up- those are all bond funded.
4/14 DOT will report to city council about the bond sale.
Blending of DOT and Public Works: Originally DOT was established to pave and set up bike lanes. Formerly did not oversee construction management, etc. JR now oversees both departments. Transportation, utilities, facilities, buildings, parks. Moving forward, DOT and Public Works will work under one leadership team.
There is “tons of cash” in the sewer department fund, but money is not being spent.
DOT is up 30% in parking enforcement.
How much is DOT looking to raise? - Roughly $5m minimum
Not confirmed but there are a lot for District 4 paving plans for 2025-2026. Terry will connect with Sarah who can give a list of the paving plans.
Process for speed bumps and street measures: The current process is to get 70% of neighbors to sign a petition. Then a study is done to see if it meets the warrants. Then it goes on a list of potential projects. Last year, a list of 700 potentials resulted in 50 installations. JR does not recommend going through the official process, as it is rarely fruitful. Katy has seen in the past that Glenview does not do well in the studies to approve traffic safety installations.
Changing the culture: DOT is looking at adding in more safety features when DOT paves. JR looking to implement a culture/standard of safety installations. JR has been lobbying for the authority to approve projects. Changing the conversation from paving to safety.
Anything bike lane related can be found in the paving program. 2019 paving plan. Measure KK.
Getting the third parties (EBMUD, PG&E, etc.) who do work on the streets to collaborate with DOT and community stakeholders to restore the streets with safety, functionality and longevity in mind. Currently, often half of roads are being paved by third-parties and the other half by the city resulting in mismatched lanes on one stretch of road.
https://www.oaklandca.gov/projects/park-boulevard-corridor-study
https://www.pge.com/en/about/pge-systems/electric-systems/pge-moraga-oakland-rebuild-project.html
3. Rebecca Dean CM Ramachandran's office check in
Funding: Early on in the budget process. Timeline- 2 year budget cycle fiscal year 2025-2027. Estimated $280 million shortfall for the next two years.
Ramachandran’s priorities can be found here:https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nJdm2PD3j5UhZN0OCPfpEMPdGPjwN6E6/view?usp=sharing
Early May, the mayor’s proposed budget will be released.
Mid-may there will be a district townhall for budget feedback. RD will follow up with a date for a, likely in-person, event.
What are the council member’s guiding principles for making these budget decisions?: public safety is #1 (fire, police, violence prevention), community ambassador program.
Ramachandran is interested in hiring a grant-writer for OPD.
Best time to send in public comment is in the month of May so that the council member can get feedback on the proposed budget.
Dimond Rec. after-school program is facing budget cuts and a crisis of whether or not it can continue operating. Both staff and families want/need to know sooner rather than later if they can depend on this program operating in the 2025-26 school year.
Follow up question: Is there a cost-recovery aspect to the afterschool programs and summer programs? Can these programs be restructured so that the programs are not dependent on the Parks Department timeline and budget swings?
City Council Meeting 4/14 @ 3:30. Encouraging public comment on: the bond sale Measure U(Item 5.8), Economic Development proposal (item 9),
Here are city council meeting details for 4-14: https://oakland.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1289223&GUID=B7FAB87E-D317-415F-BF43-3A07659B960F&Options=info|&Search=
Sujata has offered to collect public comment on behalf of Glenview Neighbors.
4. Treasurer's Report Ben Scott
$7,107.65 in our bank account
Money is likely from dues and ice cream social, but there has not been detailed tracking of the funds.
Moving forward we cannot expect to continue to receive money from the city of Oakland.
Formerly the city was giving us about $1100- Likely less in the last couple of years.
City was paying for website domain fees, square space, and marketing.
Website is $276/year
Marketing emails $120/year
Moving forward GNA will need to reinitiate dues
Ben and Terry will need to go to the bank in-person to establish Terry on the account and gain online access to the account.
6. Communications Update (report out from Terry-Benjamin-Eddie meeting)
25 hangers, Sandwich boards
Glenview Elementary parent/artist is interested in supporting this effort.
7. May Meeting Planning ALL
Meeting on 2nd Wednesday of the month
May meeting is 5/14 @ 7:30pm
Need a location: Glenview Elementary, Edna Brewer, Blackberry Bistro, ??
Guest speaker: someone from the mayor's office or Janani Ramachandran to speak on the budget.
Next steps: reach out to Rebecca Dean about hosting Janani Ramachandran.
Parking Lot/Deferred agenda items:
Review of GNA Annual Meeting/Event calendar Katy Morsony
Ice Cream Social
Identify a chair, set date. (Historically Sept)
Review mission statement?
Other initiative brainstorming ALL
Monthly board meetings - zoom or in-person is hybrid possible?