On Monday almost a fifth of our City will be celebrating the Lunar New Year and for anyone who takes it serious, Oakland Chinatown is the place to be this weekend to buy the flowers, special foods and good luck decorations. If you have never experienced it, it will give you a different viewpoint of the City's many Asian cultures.  The Bazaar is free and fun, my volunteers will be at our booth and I will take turns there, too.

This two day celebration held in the heart of Oakland Chinatown welcomes the new Lunar Year - the Year of the Dragon. The event features vendors selling traditional New Year decorations, flowers, gifts, candies, and other items of interest. There will also be continuous live cultural entertainment featuring dragon and lion dancing, martial arts, Chinese cultural music, and a "Little Prince & Princess Contest" presented by the Oakland Chinatown Lions Club. Event is free to the public and hours are 10 am to 5 pm.  

The Year of the Dragon is supposed to be good time for business and new ventures.  So I wish everyone a happy and prosperous New Year!  The Lunar New Year celebrations in Oakland are part of what makes our City a great place to live.  Take a look at The West Coast Brooklyn, a less-than-2-minute-video that celebrates the best of Oakland!  

This week, the City sent out pink slips to employees in light of the February 1 dissolution deadline as a result of a State Supreme Court ruling just before New Year's. City staff have been busy developing a revised budget to take into account the $25-30 million annual budget gap as a result of the loss of Redevelopment.  We will be presenting the budget proposals to City Council at a special meeting on January 25 and Council will have to make its decisions on January 31 at a special City Council meeting in order to meet the February 1 deadline.

The proposed budget will be made public on January 23. Council Member Jane Brunner is hosting a special North Oakland  Budget Meeting on January 24  from 7 to 9 pm at the North Oakland Senior Center, 5714 Martin Luther King Way.

Meanwhile, I have been working with other California mayors to encourage our state legislators to delay the February 1 deadline  while they figure out a fix to maintain key services currently paid for through Redevelopment, such as affordable housing, transit centered development, and other critical economic generators.  

  

The action was required in order to provide employees with the required 10-day notice in the event that their positions are eliminated as part of the budget-balancing decisions to be passed by the City Council on January 31, in compliance with the February 1 deadline to eliminate redevelopment agencies.  Although not every employee who receives a layoff notice will actually be laid off, the notices were issued widely across City agencies and departments in order to provide the City Council with the broadest possible flexibility in making what will surely be a difficult decision-making process with very little time to deliberate. While we expect the final number of layoffs to be about 250 employees, many more employees may be affected by the layoff bumping rights.  This will result in many reorganizations throughout the system.  

  

Redevelopment is the major tool that Oakland--like other urban centers in California--can use to turn vacant and blighted properties into productive, tax revenue-generating and job-producing use. It has also served as a catalyst for private investment to breathe life into areas burdened with deteriorated buildings, environmental contamination, and aging infrastructure that would otherwise lay vacant and nonproductive. As such, Redevelopment funds have been used to support staff, projects, and programs throughout the City organization. The loss of Redevelopment funding creates a potential annual budget gap ranging from $25-35 million, although the exact size of the deficit has not yet been fully determined (due to many unknown/undetermined impacts related to implementing the Court decision).    

 

Many unanswered questions remain regarding the status of projects in Oakland that were funded by Redevelopment funds. City leaders are working around the clock to determine the impact of the Court's decision on these projects and will release more information as it becomes available.  

 

The City Administrator and I will submit a budget balancing proposal on Monday and will present it to the City Council on Wednesday, January 25. Council will consider the proposal and make a final decision by January 31. Unless there is an extension, the Redevelopment Agency will be dissolved on February 1, the same day that the layoffs will take effect.  

   

Please check the City's website and this newsletter for additional information as it becomes available.     

 

  

Survey Re Dogs in Dimond Park: Council Member Libby Schaaf is running on on-line survey to assess people's interest and feelings related to Dimond Park, the relationship of dogs and people in the park, and additionally the possibility of creating a pilot dog run in a specific part of the park. Please take a moment to complete the survey. A follow-up community meeting is tentatively scheduled for February 22 at Dimond Park Rec Center to review findings. For additional information, please contact Don Schnar, who is helping the District 4 office on this project, at Atlas4321guy@yahoo.com. 

Current Openings on Boards and Commissions: Boards and Commissions are a wonderful way to become involved in our City and new openings are continuously occurring due to term limits. Currently, there are vacancies in the Budget Advisory Committee, Citizen's Police Review Board, Planning Commission, Port Commission, Wildfire Prevention Assessment District Advisory Board, and the Measure Z-Cannabis Regulatory Commission. Please take a look at the city website www.oaklandnet.com to explore the City's other boards and commissions.  

Each board and commission requires specific interests and skills, so if you think you are qualified please send a letter of interest and your resume to Richard Cowan, Community Services Manager, who oversees my appointments. Contact him at rcowan@oaklandnet.com with a cover letter and your resume if you are interested in applying. While I am always looking for representatives from traditionally under-represented parts of the City, we are also seeking qualified Board and Commission members.   

 Last year Oakland received $11,000 for the Mentoring Initiative from the Readers Digest We Hear You America Campaign--$1,000 initially and $10,000 when the voting was completed. Help us do well again this year by voting at We Hear You America.  This is one time where voting every day will help-- and please spread the word to your friends. You can upload your favorite photos to show why you love Oakland, too!        

Black History Month at Chabot, February 1-February 28, Chabot Space & Science Center: Chabot celebrates the diverse contributions of all science, technology, and mathematic professionals. Take a flight in a spacecraft simulator and learn about the contributions of African American astronauts, hear a videotaped address to Chabot's visitors and teen volunteers from NASA Administrator Charles Bolden.   

• New Era/New Politics/Oakland Walking Tour, Saturday, February 4, 10 am, Starts at African American Museum and Library: Stroll through downtown on this 90-minute walking tour and learn about Oakland's African American leaders. Reservations encouraged. Free Admission.

• Where Do We Go From Here? The Barbara Lee & Elihu Harris Lecture Series presented by Merritt College & The Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Center, Thursday, February 9, 7 pm, Marriott Oakland City Center, 1001 Broadway: The lecture series promotes an exchange of ideas to help inspire and move forward new leadership and serviceship. All lectures present Civil Rights leaders who worked closely with Dr. King and who continue to work for social justice. Featured on February 9 are Dr. Bob Zellner and Jack Hunter O'Dell. For details call (510) 654-5335 or click here for brochure. Tickets $10 adults; $5 students. Seating limited.   

• Question Bridge: Black Males Blueprint Roundtable, Oakland Museum of California, Saturday, February 11, 1-3 pm: A multigenerational panel of Black male youth, young adults and older community leaders discuss values, leadership and strategies for overcoming social issues that have emerged over the past 40 years.

• Let's Talk About It: Making Sense of the Civil War, Saturday, February 11, 2-4 pm, AAMLO: Monthly group discussions run through May 2012 with this month's focus on the works of Imagining War. Presented by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Library Association.    

• Oakland Youth Chorus, Black History Month Celebration, Sunday, February 12, 4 pm with Oakland Interfaith Youth Chorus. Details at Oakland Youth Chorus website. 

• Tea Tasting Mixer, Saturday, February 18, 2-4pm, AAMLO:  A collaboration between AAMLO, FAAMLO and Take Your Sister To Lunch, Inc., the mixer encourages women to come together, share their experiences and make a difference.

• Black History Month Family Storytime, Elmhurst Branch Library, 1427 88th Avenue, Free, Saturday, February 18, 3 pm: Stories, songs, and rhymes for all ages.  Call (510) 615-6727.

• Celebrate Black History Month with Crafts, 81st Ave Branch Library, Saturday, February 25, 1:30 pm: Celebrate African American History with crafts. We will be making our version of kente cloth and creating container gardens to celebrate both Ghanan and Kenyan heritage. Free. (510) 615-5812.

• Celebrate Black History Month with Crafts, Elmhurst Branch Library, Saturday, February 25, 3:30 pm: Celebrate African American History with crafts. We'll be making our version of kente cloth and creating container gardens to celebrate both Ghanan and Kenyan heritage. Free. (510)  615-5727.    

Free Tax Preparation to Qualified Residents:  If your household income is less than $50,000, you are eligible for FREE tax preparation at a Volunteer Income Tax Assistance site near you in Oakland. People's Credit Union has been doing taxes for 10 years, and invites families and individuals to make an appointment TODAY for daytime, evening, or weekend hours.

Please call (510) 267-0450, ext.305.  People's will electronically file (e-file) your return and direct deposit your refund so that you get ALL of your refund within 7-10 days.  Last year they helped 600 people get about $775,000 in refunds. Se habla espanol.