Community
“Disparity Study” Examines Patterns of Discrimination, Seeks Remedies for City Practices of Selecting Contractors in Construction, Goods and Services
Facing a “public outcry,” the City of Oakland administration has released a race and gender study of the city’s contracting practices conducted by an outside consulting firm and submitted to the city back in February 2020.
The administration released the report officially at the Dec. 9, 2020, City Council meeting after ongoing pressure from the Oakland African American Chamber of Commerce and a press conference on Nov. 24, 2020, demanding that the report be made public. Businesses and community leaders are also demanding immediate remedies to the disparities.
Within less than an hour of the conclusion of the press conference, City Administrator Ed Reiskin in partnership with City Attorney Barbara Parker, and Mayor Libby Schaaf, posted the study on the city’s website, according to the website Oakland News Now.
“The public outcry for releasing the Race and Gender Disparities Study was heard loud and clear,” stated Oakland City Councilmember Loren Taylor, declaring that the delay in publicly releasing the study was unacceptable and the city “must act quickly to release the completed study and not allow bureaucratic delay and tone-deaf excuses to stand in the way of racial justice.”
He also stated that, “Now more than ever in recent history the voices of so many diverse communities are calling in unison for an end to the institutional racism that has perpetuated the disparities facing Black individuals and businesses.”
Taylor cited Oakland’s 2018 Equity Indicators Report, which found, “White contractors (in Oakland) receiving an average of $1,059,209 per contract which was 11.87 times the average of African American contractors which was $89,191 per contract.”
The study examines where “there were disparities between the availability and utilization of minority- and women-owned businesses in four industries: construction, architecture and engineering, professional services, and goods and services,” seeking to design remedies to existing disparities that are in accord with existing federal and state laws that limit the legality of race-based policies for reducing discriminatory practices, according to a Dec. 9, 2020, report on the City Council agenda.
The city had hired Mason Tillman Associates in 2017 for a total cost of $590,036.25 to complete the study. Required by the City Charter, this is the first study since 2008, examining all prime contracts between July 1, 2011, and June 30, 2016. The consulting firm contacted all companies the city hired during this period to learn about the subcontracts they used, to determine if they were awarded to minority-owned businesses. The 302-page study also examined the practices impacting who gets contracts and makes recommendations for the future.
Chapter 3 of the study, “Prime Contractor Utilization,” examined 7,780 contracts issued between 2011 and 2016 for $566 million. These included 530 contracts for construction, totaling $271,864,842; 1,509 contracts for professional services, totaling $121,529, 429; 1,454 contracts for services, totaling $61,379.771; 4,287 contracts for Goods and Commodities, totaling $111,511,222.
In construction, the city awarded 530 contracts during the study period. Prime contracts were awarded to 91 different businesses. Eight of the 91 businesses received a little over $192 million or 71% of the total construction prime contract dollars.
“The findings illustrate that a small group of prime contractors received the majority of the construction prime contact dollars awarded by the city,” according to the study.
African American contractors won 17 or 3.21% of the construction contracts during the study period for a total of 0.32% of the money or $873,374. The top earners, “Non-minority Males,” won 366 or 69.06% of the contracts, totaling $211,485,354 or 77.79% of the money.
In the category of professional services prime contacts, 45 of the total number of 439 businesses received $85,127,088 or 70% of the prime contract dollars.
“The findings illustrate that a small group of prime contractors received the majority of the professional services prime contract dollars spent by the city,” according to the study.
African American firms received 44 or 2.92% of the professional services prime contracts, totaling $1,06,002 or 0.91% of the money. “Non-minority Males” received 1,069 or 70.84% of the contracts., totaling $105,623,162 or 86.91% of the money.
For a copy of the disparity study go to https://cao-94612.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/City-of-Oakland-Draft-Disparity-Study.pdf
Part II of coverage of the disparity study and how city leaders plan to address its findings will be published in next week’s Oakland Post.
Activism
An Inside Look into How San Francisco Analyzes Homeless Encampments
Dozens of unhoused people are camped at Sixth and Jesse streets in San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood. Tents made of tarps and blankets, piles of debris, and people lounging alongside the allies and walls of businesses are seen from all angles. These are some of the city’s hotspots. City crews have cleared encampments there over 30 times in the past year, but unhoused people always return.
By Magaly Muñoz
Dozens of unhoused people are camped at Sixth and Jesse streets in San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood. Tents made of tarps and blankets, piles of debris, and people lounging alongside the allies and walls of businesses are seen from all angles.
These are some of the city’s hotspots. City crews have cleared encampments there over 30 times in the past year, but unhoused people always return.
But it’s normal to have tents set up again within less than 24 hours after an encampment sweep, David Nakanishi, Healthy Streets Operation Center Manager at the Department of Emergency Management, says. Sometimes there’s less people than before but often there is also no change.
“Most of the people that were in the encampments that want to go inside, we’ve gotten the majority of those [into shelter],” Nakanishi says. “Many of the people we encounter now, are those who have various reasons to not accept shelter, and some are already in shelter/housing”.
Since the ruling of Grants Pass by the US Supreme Court earlier this summer, which allows cities the authority to ban people from camping or sleeping on the streets, San Francisco has been at the head of the conversation to crack down on encampments.
Where neighboring cities in the Bay Area are clearing encampments a few days a week, San Francisco is sweeping 10 times a week, two per weekday.
Considering the controversy that plagues the city around its harsh policies, the Post decided to tag along on a ride with Nakanishi to show us how he decides what encampments make it on the city’s sweep list.
Nakanishi, having over 20 years of experience in homelessness management, drives around the busiest parts of the city almost daily. He’s tasked with arranging a weekly sweeping operation schedule for city teams to engage with unhoused folks to help get them off the streets.
So what exactly is he looking out for when deciding what encampments get swept?
It depends, he says.
Locations like schools, recreational centers, senior centers, or businesses are places he tends to want to address quickly, especially schools. These are the places where the complaints are highest and access to facilities is important for residents.
He says he also takes into account 311 calls and reports made to him by city staff. On the date of publication, over 100 calls and reports were made about encampments around the city, according to San Francisco data.
Nakanishi made a few 311 reports himself on the ride along, pulling over to take photos and describe the encampments into his 311 app. He says it helps him remember where to possibly sweep next or allows smaller teams in the city to engage quicker with individuals on the streets.
Nakanishi also looks at the state of the encampments. Are there a lot of bulky items, such as furniture, or makeshift structures built out of tarps and plywood, blocking areas of traffic? Is trash beginning to pile up and spill into the streets or sidewalks? Sites that meet this criteria tend to be contenders for encampment sweeps, Nakanishi says.
Street by street, he points out individuals he’s interacted with, describing their conditions, habits, and reasons for denying assistance from the city.
One man on 2nd St and Mission, who rolls around a blue recycling bin and often yells at passing pedestrians, has refused shelter several times, Nakanishi says.
People deny shelter for all kinds of reasons, he says. There’s too many rules to follow, people feel unsafe in congregate or shared shelters, or their behavioral and mental health problems make it hard to get them into proper services.
Nakanishi references another man on South Van Ness under the freeway, who city outreach have attempted to get into shelter, but his screaming outbursts make it difficult to place him without disturbing other people in the same space. Nakanishi says it might be an issue of the man needing resources like medication to alleviate his distress that causes the screaming, but the city behavioral team is in the process of outreaching him to figure that out.
In October, city outreach teams engaged with 495 unhoused people. 377 of those engaged refused shelter and only 118 accepted placements, according to city data. That number of monthly referrals is consistent throughout the entirety of 2024 so far.
Nakanishi has long advocated for the well-being of unhoused people, he explains. In 2004, he was working with the Department of Public Health and told then-Mayor Gavin Newsom that there needed to be more housing for families. Nakinishi was told it was easier to deal with individuals first and the city “will get there eventually.” 20 years later, family housing is still not as extensive as it could be, and the waiting list to get placements for families is a mile long with over 500 names.
In 2020, he was a Senior Behavioral Health Clinician at a hotel in the city during the pandemic. He says in 2021 he collaborated with DPH to provide vaccines to those staying in the makeshift hotel shelters once those became available.
Despite the constant media attention that city outreach is inhumanely treating homeless people, so much so that it has led to lawsuits against San Francisco from advocates, Nakanishi says not a lot of people are seeing the true conditions of some encampments.
He describes soiled clothing and tents, drenched in urine, and oftentimes rodents or bug infestations in places where people are sleeping. He’s asked homeless advocates- often those who are the most critical about the city’s work- who have shown up to observe the sweeps if those are conditions the city should allow people to be subjected to, but not many have answers for him, Nakanishi says.
The city’s “bag and tag” policy allows city workers to throw away items that are “soiled by infectious materials” such as bodily fluids and waste.
Sweep operations are conducted at 8am and 1pm Monday through Friday. People at the encampments are given 72 hour notice to vacate, but some don’t leave the area until the day of the sweep.
City outreach workers come out the day before and day of to offer resources and shelter to those interested. The Department of Public Works discards any trash that is left over from the sweep and washes down the area.
Nakanishi told the Post that the only time the city takes tents or personal possessions from residents is when folks become physically violent towards workers and police take the items as evidence. Other items taken are bagged and tagged in accordance with city policy.
Stories from local newspapers such as the San Francisco Standard and the Chronicle show instances of SFPD handcuffing residents while their items are thrown in the trash or disposing of personal possessions without reason.
Advocates have long been pushing for a more competent and compassionate process if the city is going to choose to continue sweeping unhouse people.
No matter the lawsuits and constant criticisms from allies, the encampment sweeps are not slowing down, even with the cold weather quickly approaching the coastal city.
Nakanishi says there aren’t a lot of large encampments left in San Francisco so now they do runs of streets in order to stretch out the sweeps as much as possible.
It’s calculated strategies and years of first hand knowledge that make this job work, “It takes dedication to the work, caring for the people and the community, and persistence, patience and sometimes good luck to make the positive changes for the people on the street,” Nakanishi says.
Activism
Oakland Post: Week of November 13 – 19, 2024
The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of November 13 – 19, 2024
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.
Activism
LIVE! — TOWN HALL ON RACISM AND ITS IMPACT — THURS. 11.14.24 5PM PST
Join us for a LIVE Virtual Town Hall on the Impact of Racism hosted by Post News Group Journalist Carla Thomas and featuring Oakland, CA NAACP President Cynthia Adams & other Special Guests.
Thursday, November 14, 2024, 5 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. PST
Join us for a LIVE Virtual Town Hall on the Impact of Racism hosted by Post News Group Journalist Carla Thomas and featuring Oakland, CA NAACP President Cynthia Adams & other Special Guests.
Thursday, November 14, 2024
5 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. PST
Discussion Topics:
• Since the pandemic, what battles have the NAACP fought nationally, and how have they impacted us locally?
• What trends are you seeing concerning Racism? Is it more covert or overt?
• What are the top 5 issues resulting from racism in our communities?
• How do racial and other types of discrimination impact local communities?
• What are the most effective ways our community can combat racism and hate?
Your questions and comments will be shared LIVE with the moderators and viewers during the broadcast.
STREAMED LIVE!
FACEBOOK: facebook.com/PostNewsGroup
YOUTUBE: youtube.com/blackpressusatv
X: twitter.com/blackpressusa
-
Alameda County3 weeks ago
Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price Announces $7.5 Million Settlement Agreement with Walmart
-
Activism3 weeks ago
‘Jim Crow Was and Remains Real in Alameda County (and) It Is What We Are Challenging and Trying to Fix Every Day,’ Says D.A. Pamela Price
-
Bay Area3 weeks ago
In the City Attorney Race, Ryan Richardson Is Better for Oakland
-
Activism3 weeks ago
Oakland Post: Week of October 30 – November 5, 2024
-
Alameda County2 weeks ago
D.A. Price Charges Coliseum Flea Market Vendors in Organized Retail Theft Case
-
Activism3 weeks ago
‘Criminal Justice Reform Is the Signature Civil Rights Issue of Our Time,’ says D.A. Pamela Price
-
Activism3 weeks ago
“Two things can be true at once.” An Afro-Latina Voter Weighs in on Identity and Politics
-
Arts and Culture3 weeks ago
MacArthur Fellow Jericho Brown’s Poetry Reflects Contemporary Culture and Identity