July 9 Glenview Neighbors Board Meeting

Attendance:  Board - Sujata, Lauren, Ben, Rajan, ChaCha, Garrett, Terry 

Guests – Mimi Rohr (Ramachandran Office), Sandy Gess, Justin Plummer

AGENDA

Welcome & Introductions


Council Member Office Update

  • Mimi Rohr will be filling in for Rebecca while she is on maternity leave.  She is a journalist, including as a reporter for the Montclarion and most recently has founded a communication strategy consulting firm.  

  • Rebecca, who would have provided the budget update, was unexpectedly unable to attend.  Mimi was able to get most of the information from another colleague and provided an overview of revised budget starting with the members of the budget committee (Janini Ramachandran, Zac Unger, Rowena Brown and Charlene Wang).

  • Budget highlights 

  • Reverses all closure of fire stations

  • Increases OPD staffing by increasing the size of Academy classes, hiring civilian staff for desk positions currently done by officers who will return to the field

  • Addresses illegal dumping through targeted technology (cameras and drones), staff to review captured data, 2 Environmental Enforcement officers including training and HazMat certification, Workforce Development program to train residents for careers in beautification and develop Oaktown Proud Campaign, an education initiative to help prevent illegal dumping

  • Creates Economic Zones to focus on established businesses and brining business back to Oakland.  Increase funding for the Safety Ambassador program

  • How the balanced budget would be paid for was not discussed


How is the city addressing Illegal Fireworks (item added to the agenda from the floor by Sandy Gess)

  • Sandy voiced concern about the dangers of illegal fireworks, the expanded and prolific use throughout Oakland and several recent posts on Glenfriends including one from a woman on Glen Park whose home was severely damaged by a fire set by fireworks.  

  • We had an animated discussion about what we ended up referring to as The 4th of July Season, expressing dismay at the lack action and seeming permissiveness by police and city officials, the extreme danger the fireworks pose and the impact of the fire and noise on citizens and pets.

  • We acknowledge this is a big problem facing not just Oakland but the state.  

  • Nonetheless, we agreed on taking this on as a community issue by partnering with surrounded neighborhoods, OPD and OFD.  

  • Sandy will attempt to reach staff at OFD and OPD with the hopes of dedicating our August 13th Community Meeting to the topic.

  • We want to do outreach to nearby neighborhoods (Dimond, Fruitvale, Montclair) and invite them to the meeting.  Ben suggested using the Neighborhood Night Out sponsors and Neighborhood Watch Block Captains to spread the word.  Sandy and others will work on contacting the neighborhood associations.

Ice Cream Social Planning

  • Another lively discussion.  Ben had quite a bit of historical information but no one at the meeting had the full picture.  Lauren reached out to Mary and Katy and will follow-up with them to track down any documentation and get details on questions we had like who to contact for the various participants, who to contact about the tables and chairs, etc.

  • Rajan volunteered to contact businesses for Raffle prizes and contacting the recently reopened Lourds to see if they will donate any ice cream or store the ice cream for us before the event.  We think Rocky’s did this in the past. 

  • Attendee Justin Plummer volunteered his garage across from the triangle to store the tables and chairs.  This will enable us to do a few smaller pickups a day or two before.

  • Lots of support for promoting a no-host picnic at the triangle 

GNA and recent Federal Legislation regarding immigrants - What is our purview?  What can we address within our bylaws?

  • Rajan suggested this item for discussion.  

  • The group strongly supported addressing it in a way congruent with our bylaws which prevent taking a political position.  

  • Given that, the group agreed that any ICE activity poses a safety threat to both the immigrant population and citizen bystanders.  Hosting an educational information night seemed like a valuable contribution we could make.  

  • Rajan shared some policy history on immigration.  Sandy mentioned information provided by Indivisible.  Lauren added the work of LaRaza and their legal clinics.  

  • Rajan will do some background work with the hopes of offering a session for our community.   

  • Mimi said she would research Oakland’s policy with regards to ice and provided this link to Alameda County Immigration Legal Education Partnership and statement after the meeting: Oakland’s status as a sanctuary city means that generally speaking its police department will not cooperate with ICE agents.   

Future Events

We didn’t get to this per se but the two potential topics, illegal fireworks and how to respond in the event of ICE activity seemed to fit the bill.

Mission Meeting

  • Revising the mission statement has been tabled but addressing the bylaws and honing out mission statement would serve our efforts.

  • (This is from the Prescott Neighborhood Council: As a neighborhood level City of Oakland, Police Department sponsored organization we meet to bring community members together to network and partner to resolve community issues together using best practices.)