Economics

City Holds Public Lands Meeting for Small, Minority and Women-owned Construction Firms

Published

7 years ago

January 5, 2018

The City of Oakland is hosting a public meeting Monday, Jan 8 for Oakland’s small, minority and women-owned construction firms to learn about the latest proposal for developing the jobs’ component of a new city public lands policy.

The meeting will be held 5:30 p.m. – 7 p.m. at Oakland City Hall, Hearing Room 2.
The purpose of the event is to hear what small Oakland construction businesses think about the latest draft proposal.

Councilmembers members Rebecca Kaplan and Abel Guillén are co-sponsoring the event.

“I am committed to working for an effective jobs policy on our public lands, to ensure access to economic opportunity and good jobs for all in our community,” said Councilmember Kaplan.

“In the past, such projects have employed too few Oaklanders and underrepresented African Americans, both as employees and for business opportunities,” she said. “I am advocating to make sure those problems are not repeated in future projects, by advocating to include these issues in Oakland’s public lands policy.”

Kaplan is proposing a “ban the box” policy, so that the formerly incarcerated are not excluded from construction jobs. She also wants to include apprenticeship opportunities for Oakland residents, pre-apprenticeship training for local youth and bringing back building trades training to the local schools.
Councilmember Guillén said the purpose of the Jan. 8 meeting is to provide information and “gather feedback from the business community, in particular woman – and minority-owned, local small businesses in the construction industry.”

“In working with the community, I’m looking specifically at opportunities to strengthen Ban the Box policies (fair hiring practices) and ensure that good-paying jobs are prioritized for Oaklanders,” he said.

“For the better part of a year, I have been working with city staff and community advocates to create a more transparent public lands policy that affirms the many potential uses and value of public land, while prioritizing affordable housing,” he said.

“My ultimate goal is to develop a more predictable, open process for putting public land to good public use.”

Guillén said he supports Project Labor Agreements (PLAs), which guarantee jobs on city projects go to building trades unions.

“Project Labor Agreements are an important priority in creating good-wage jobs for Oakland workers,” he said. “Implicit in that goal is full and fair access to those jobs by all Oakland residents, including African Americans and other folks who may have been excluded from participating.

“I’ve taken steps in other areas dealing with development agreements and the city budget to strengthen job-training and placement programs, and the same commitment to these opportunities and protections would hold with our public-lands policies.”

For more information on the Jan. 8 meeting, contact Sarah Ting at sting@oaklandnet.com

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Related Topics:Business City of Oakland government news Oakland Politics

Up Next

Michael Morgan Addresses LGBTQ Programming Initiative

Don't Miss

Brooks Calls for City to Fund Job Training for Construction

Oakland Post

Click to comment

Activism

Oakland Post: Week of December 18 – 24, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of December 18 – 24, 2024

Published

2 days ago

December 20, 2024

Oakland Post

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Activism

Council of Islamic Relations Applauds Alameda County Decision to Divest $32M from Caterpillar

The divestment from Caterpillar, a company criticized for its human rights abuses globally—including the destruction of Palestinian homes, infrastructure, and agriculture, as well as in the U.S. prison-industrial complex, border militarization, and immigration detention centers—is a significant step in ensuring that Alameda County’s financial resources do not perpetuate harm.

Published

1 week ago

December 14, 2024

Oakland Post

CAIR-SFBA Policy Coordinator Musa Tariq. Courtesy photo.

Special to The Post

The San Francisco Bay Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-SFBA), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, this week welcomed the Alameda County Board of Supervisors’ decision to divest $32 million in public funds from Caterpillar and unanimously commit to adopting an ethical investment policy.

The Board’s decision follows months of advocacy by Bay Area Divest!, a coalition of community organizations calling for accountability in public investments.

In November, CAIR welcomed the reported freeze on the delivery of bulldozers to Israel as an “implicit admission” by the Biden Administration that the far-right Netanyahu government is using that equipment in the ethnic cleansing of Gaza.

CAIR-SFBA Policy Coordinator Musa Tariq said:

“This is a historic moment for Alameda County, demonstrating the power of community advocacy and the County’s leadership in ethical governance. The decision to divest from Caterpillar sends a clear message that public funds should not support corporations complicit in human rights violations.”

In addition to divesting from Caterpillar, the Board voted to move forward with developing a comprehensive Ethical Investment Policy, recommended by District 5 Supervisor Keith Carson.

This policy will include criteria to exclude “investments in industries, corporations, or governments that perpetuate harm to communities and the planet,” such as fossil fuel extraction, weapons production, and entities involved in war crimes, apartheid, and other severe human rights violations.

Alameda County has a proud legacy of socially responsible investment. In 1985, the County divested from South Africa to protest apartheid, and in 1996, it barred investments in companies doing business with Burma due to human rights abuses.

“This forward-thinking policy positions Alameda County as a leader in socially responsible investing,” added Tariq. “By committing to craft the policy within 90 days and implement it within six months, the County has set an ambitious and commendable timeline.”

CAIR-SFBA is an office of CAIR, America’s largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, protect civil rights, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.