SOBO Meeting July 21, 2010 Minutes

8/2/2019 SOBO Meeting July 21, 2010 Minutes

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Downtown Oakland Association/Lake Merritt-Uptown District AssociationJoint SOBO Committee

July 21, 2010 12:00 p.m. Cathedral Conference Room D

Present: Martin Ward, Tanicia Jackson, Michelle Lane, Laurie Berberich, NolaMontgomery. Aliza Gallo, Tom Tewksbury

Staff: Marco Li Mandri, Steve Snider, Andrew Jones, Ted Tarver, Harold Dees,Rick Williams, Victoria Decker, Fiona Simms

Guests: Michael Fried

MinutesThe following items were discussed and recommendations or actions are made tothe Board as follows:

Subject Discussion Action?SecurityAmbassadorReport:1)Update fromTed Tarver2)Mehserle Riot

damage report3) HospitalityAmbassadorProgram

Ted Tarver had a meeting with the City, theCity Attorney, CEDA, security managers fromthe districts, OPD, and CHP, all of whom wereinvolved with the Mehserle Verdict incidents.

The main conclusion was that everyone wascaught off guard by the Thursday verdict

announcement, and that it was released solate in the afternoon. We did not receive a full2 hour notification as we were told we would,and there was a breakdown in communicationbetween each agency. There was no direct lineof communication between all of the agencies.

It was noted that the City of Oakland has anobligation to ensure the publics right to freespeech and peaceful protests.

The protest was peaceful until about 8:00 pm,after dark, when a small group broke awayfrom the crowd and became violent. A majorissue was differentiating between violentprotestors and peaceful protestors before anyacts of violence are committed. Police musthave a cause to arrest someone. The policeofficers are instructed not to rush towards anyperson or crowd because of the possibility ofescalating the violence. The police movedslowly in on the crowds in an attempt to

388 19th Street Oakland, California 94612

DOA Phone 510.238.1122 LMUDA Phone 510.452.4529 Fax [email protected] www.downtownoakland.org

[email protected] www.lakemerritt-uptown.org


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contain them. There was an AC transit bus thattried to drive through Broadway and had toback up because of the blockades.

Because we will know the date of thesentencing many weeks before it occurs, we

will be better able to deal with any incidentsthat occur after it is released. There will beanother meeting to coordinate a game plan.AC Transit and Bart representatives should beinvolved in this planning to preventovercrowding on Bart trains

Many businesses in the districts still haveboarded up windows. There is a concern thatthe boards are feeding into a negative imagefor the districts, and are a step backwards.Many of the businesses have little or noinsurance, and are concerned about thepossible issues after the sentencing. Theycannot afford to take down the boards, andthen put them back up. Many of the boardsare covering broken glass that the businesscannot afford to fix. Marco suggested thatradios are rented for 1 day to ensure thatthere is direct communication between allsecurity personnel. It was also suggested thatthe CBD security team coordinate with alSecurity managers in the district, and perhapsmake the CBD office a base of operations.

The Oakland Police Department is following upwith arrests and prosecution of vandals. TheAmbassadors have been asking businesses toreview their surveillance videos to see if thereis any helpful footage. OPD did release somephotographs of vandals, and Ambassadorshelped identify and locate the suspect. Wecannot put the Ambassadors on the front linesof the violence, but the next best thing is tocapture as much as possible on video or inphotographs, to follow up with arrests andpersecution

We need to follow up and advertise theprosecution of the vandals to bolster

Oaklands image and to send the messagethat violence and vandalism will not betolerated.

MaintenanceAmbassadorReport1) Update fromRick Williams

As soon as maintenance got notice, theyremoved all trash and trashcans, and workedwith PWA to prepare. Rick had theambassadors search the district for anypotential weapons such as bricks, crowbars,rocks, etc. and remove them. The


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maintenance crew was out working at 5 amthe next morning assisting PWA with clean upefforts. Rick commended PWA and thankedthem for their efforts working through thenights to remove the large amounts of trash inthe streets. Even the security crew pitched in

and helped to remove graffiti, 80% of whichwas removed within 24 hours.EncroachmentPermit Process1) HangingPlants: Brackets2) Banners3) Trashcans

Encroachment permit applications have beensubmitted. It is being processed and approvednow. We have rectified the mechanical issues,and are simply awaiting approval.

There are two possible scenarios for trashcans,the first of which is recommended by Andrew

Jones, and preferred by the City of Oakland.The City has committed to removing the oldaggregate trashcans on Broadway, andreplacing them with the new Renaissance canswith recycling tops. The old trashcans would

then be painted and redistributed into theother parts of the districts, where the CBD hassuggested. This would all be done by the Cityand we would still be able to put our placardson the trashcans. They estimated that in oneday they could remove and reinstall 3trashcans. They already have the newtrashcans in stock.

There are 23 aggregate trashcans onTelegraph and Broadway that we wantremoved and replaced. David Ferguson hascommitted to at least 12, and suggested thatwe buy the other 11 ourselves, giving us acohesive look down Broadway and Telegraph.Were we to purchase these trashcans, therewould be an ID tag with an identificationnumber that associates those cans with us,and we would be responsible for maintainingthose cans.

David Fergusons position is that trashcansshould be removed instead of adding more.We do not have a huge litter issue anymorethanks to Peralta Service Corporation andPWA. He feels that we should do moreeducation about the use of trashcans andremoving them, not adding them.

Our other option is to continue with the planwe have been working on. We can obtain thepermit to install new trash cans. This wouldcost the districts more time and money andthe City is not supportive of this option.

Clock on 16th

streetThe Washington Clock company is partneringwith Neon Works to fix the clock. They areremoving the entire clock, taking it to a shop,

Action: MartinWards moved torecommend to the


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and completely refurbishing it, like new. Thework is quoted at $9843.38 which includesparts, labor, sales tax, pick up, delivery, and a1 year on-site warranty. There will be upkeeping costs in the future.

Board that we take$5,000.00 fromeach districtcontingency fundto repair the clock.Tom Tewksbury

seconds thatmotion.Latham SquareFountainProject:

Andrew explained that the conversion of thetrough to a fountain would be much simpler asthe plumbing is already in place. All that isneeded is some cleaning, and a littlerenovation. Now that we know what isnecessary, all we need is to get a plumber tolook at the fountain and give us a quote.Andrew also explained how he is in dialoguewith Mike McGuire and George Durney inregards to this project.

Tree Watering:

Email fromArthur Boone

Arthur Boone, a volunteer with the Sierra Club

and the City of Oakland, has been networkingwith people, and looking for grants andvolunteers to continue watering/maintainingthe trees. We had the contract to water thetrees on Broadway last year, but since thenMr. Boone has been watering them. He hasrecommended getting a water truck trailer towater them more efficiently. Steve advisesthat we should look into an ongoingpartnership with him.

Budget

Other:a) SurveillanceCameras for theOfficeb) BofA grantand HospitalityAmbassadorProgram

a) There was a homicide that occurred half ablock from the CBD office at 19th and Webster.

The Ambassadors asked the surroundingbusinesses if they have any video surveillancethat could aid in the apprehension of suspects.

Ted suggested that we get a surveillancecamera for the office. We can either set up ourown system, or we can hook up our owncamera to a system that is already in place.Many businesses have cameras that are notset up and working. Ted has found an 8camera system for $500.00 that could work forthe office. There was discussion about how thesystem would work, and it was suggested thatwe look into more detailed costs of installationand maintenance, as well as checking with thelandlord for permission and any otherrequirements.

b) We have selected 3 hires for the newHospitality Ambassador program, and we are

just waiting on Block by Blocks approval of the

Action: MartinWard moved toallocate an amountnot to exceed$1,000.00 fromeach SOBOmiscellaneous fundfor a securitycamera system.Michelle Laneseconded thatmotion and it waspassed.

Tanicia Jacksonmoved to allocate$600 from eachdistricts SOBOmiscellaneous fundto buy newuniforms. MartinWards seconded


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contract. There are some legal issues thatDerrick is working out.

The plan is to have two 10-week sessions eachwith at least 4 Ambassadors. They would work

Tuesday to Saturday from 4 pm to 8 pm. They

will concentrate their efforts more in Uptownand Old Oakland because there is morenightlife in those areas. AC Hire should be ableto fund 2 or 3 more Ambassadors.It was requested that the SOBO committeefund the new uniforms for the program.Martin Ward requested that the committeereceive regular updates on the hiring processand implementation of the hospitalityambassador program.

the motion and itwas passed.

Next MeetingDates

The next two meetings will be on August 19th,and September 22nd.

Minutes taken by Fiona Simms, staff

Documents

SOBO Meeting July 21, 2010 Minutes