City Government

Council Members Must Pass Strong Local Jobs Policy, Say Residents

Published

9 years ago

September 16, 2016

Oaklanders are being asked to vote in November for a $600-million infrastructure bond to enhance streets, sidewalks, lighting and sewers.

But is the City Council willing step up to guarantee before November that the jobs created by this local tax money will go to hire Oakland residents, especially unemployed and underemployed Black workers?

That was the question asked this week by residents who attended the Thursday meeting of City Council’s Rules and Legislation Committee to ask councilmembers to place a resolution on the council agenda for an ordinance that requires city money to be spent to hire Oakland residents.

Such a resolution was approved by the council in 2008 but was never implemented. A provision of this policy would require the hiring of workers in zip codes with the highest levels of joblessness.

The city’s present local hiring rules are ineffective in producing jobs for Oakland workers and in particular for Black workers, according to community members.

Currently, African Americans make up 28 percent of the city’s population but obtain only 5 percent of the employment hours on most city-funded projects.

“In 2008, there was a resolution that was proposed to create a citywide jobs policy that would mitigate the negative impact of the lack of a local hire for Oakland residents and particularly for African American residents” who have an extraordinarily high rate of unemployment, said Carroll Fife, a leader of the Post Salon Community Assembly, the Oakland Alliance and the Oakland Justice Coalition.

“We are asking you with urgency” to put the resolution on the City Council agenda “so we will know whether or not to support an infrastructure bond,” she said, emphasizing that the council must act before the November election.

Noni Session, District 3 City Council candidate, called on council members to understand the urgency of the need to put Oaklanders to work.

“Good government en- tails more than just profit seeking,” she said. “Profit- making alone as a municipality has led to where we find ourselves today – with insecure housing, a general feeling of scarcity and the disintegration of our social fabric in Oakland.”

“As a City Council, you have a charge to incorporate social responsibility into our city principles, particularly into our business principles,” she said.

Agreeing with the words of Noni Session, Post publisher Paul Cobb also thanked Councilmembers Rebecca Kaplan and Desley Brooks for supporting the community request for the City Council to pass a strong jobs ordinance.

People in Oakland are talking about “whether or not they should vote for ballot measures that cause them to pay more taxes while the jobs that flow from those (tax monies) go to residents outside the city,” said Cobb.

At a meeting last Sunday, the Oakland Post Salon Community Assembly agreed unanimously to urge the City Council to resurrect and implement the city’s 2008 jobs policy.

The resolution to put the jobs policy on the City Council agenda will come up again at the council’s Rules and Legislation Committee, next Thursday, Sep. 22, at 10:45 a.m. in City Council Chambers.

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Oakland Post: Week of May 21 – 27, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of May 21 – 27, 2025

Published

7 hours ago

May 25, 2025

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IN MEMORIAM: Nate Holden, State Senator and Longtime Los Angeles Councilmember, Dies at 95

Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn described Holden as “a lion” in the State Senate and a force to be reckoned with on the Los Angeles City Council.” Hahn added that she learned a lot working with Holden when she was a new councilmember.

Published

6 days ago

May 19, 2025

Oakland Post

Former Los Angeles Councilmember and California State Sen. Nate Holden. File photo.

By Bo Tefu, California Black Media

Former Los Angeles City Councilmember Nathaniel “Nate” Holden, a prominent figure in the city’s politics, passed away at the age of 95, his family confirmed on May 7.

Holden, who represented South Los Angeles for 16 years on the City Council and served one term in the California State Senate, was widely regarded as a forceful advocate for his community.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn described Holden as “a lion” in the State Senate and a force to be reckoned with on the Los Angeles City Council.”

Hahn added that she learned a lot working with Holden when she was a new councilmember.

Holden’s journey to political prominence began in the segregated South, where he was born in Macon, Georgia, in 1929. He often recalled the childhood moment when he first heard the governor of Georgia vowing to continue suppressing Black people.

“Doing the best you can for the people. Law and order. Make sure that people’s communities are safe. I did it all,” said Holden, reflecting on his legacy.

Holden is survived by his sons, including former California Assemblymember Chris Holden, who represented a district in Southern California that includes Pasadena and Altadena in Los Angeles County and cities in San Bernardino County.

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Oakland Hosts Town Hall Addressing Lead Hazards in City Housing

According to the city, there are 22,000 households in need of services for lead issues, most in predominantly low-income or Black and Latino neighborhoods, but only 550 to 600 homes are addressed every year. The city is hoping to use part of the multimillion-dollar settlement to increase the number of households served each year.

Published

7 days ago

May 18, 2025

Oakland Post

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By Magaly Muñoz

The City of Oakland’s Housing and Community Development Department hosted a town hall in the Fruitvale to discuss the efforts being undertaken to remove lead primarily found in housing in East and West Oakland.

In 2021, the city was awarded $14 million out of a $24 million legal settlement from a lawsuit against paint distributors for selling lead-based paint that has affected hundreds of families in Oakland and Alameda County. The funding is intended to be used for lead poisoning reduction and prevention services in paint only, not water or other sources as has been found recently in schools across the city.

The settlement can be used for developing or enhancing programs that abate lead-based paint, providing services to individuals, particularly exposed children, educating the public about hazards caused by lead paint, and covering attorney’s fees incurred in pursuing litigation.

Most of the homes affected were built prior to 1978, and 12,000 of these homes are considered to be at high risk for lead poisoning.

City councilmember Noel Gallo, who represents a few of the lead-affected Census tracts, said the majority of the poisoned kids and families are coming directly from neighborhoods like the Fruitvale.

“When you look at the [kids being admitted] at the children’s hospital, they’re coming from this community,” Gallo said at the town hall.

In order to eventually rid the highest impacted homes of lead poisoning, the city intends to create programs and activities such as lead-based paint inspections and assessments, full abatement designed to permanently eliminate lead-based paint, or partial abatement for repairs, painting, and specialized cleaning meant for temporary reduction of hazards.

In feedback for what the city could implement in their programming, residents in attendance of the event said they want more accessibility to resources, like blood testing, and information from officials about lead poisoning symptoms, hotlines for assistance, and updates on the reduction of lead in their communities.

Attendees also asked how they’d know where they are on the prioritization list and what would be done to address lead in the water found at several school sites in Oakland last year.

City staff said there will be a follow-up event to gather more community input for programming in August, with finalizations happening in the fall and a pilot launch in early 2026.