West Oakland Works

WEST OAKLAND BUSINESSALERT

Draft Notes from Meeting Held February 25, 2009 at SF Enterprises

OPD Representatives
Officers Francioe, Griffin, Johnson, Komoda, Miller, Rowbathann; Sandra Sanders-West

Business Community Attendees
Bill Aboudi (OMSS/WOCA), George Burtt (2500 Campbell/WOCA), Edward Kangeter (Custom Alloy), Debbie Hauser (Bus Alert staff), Michael Herling (Chair-Business Alert/Consolidated Cleaning), Carlos Jordan (OMSS), Felise & Malia Langi (SF Enterprises), Margot Lederer (CEDA/City of Oakland), Steve Lowe (WOCA/WOPAC), Tim Morse (Bay Alarm), Lowell Rice (WOCA), Carletta Starks (Councilmember Nadel’s Office), Bob Tuck (Atlas Heating/WOCA)

The City of Oakland’s “Helpful Phone Numbers” directory will be provided to BusinessAlert participants, per Chair’s request.

After self-introductions, Chair opened the meeting for general discussion with OPD officers.

Increased illegal dumping on Hanna Street was noted. Public Works is responding, but dealing with ongoing dumping is frustrating for business managers. Dumpers act quickly and vacate the area, most often on Sunday’s, when haulers dump after working over the weekend. Employees have been encouraged to obtain license plate numbers of dumpers, when possible. Business owners in the area are doing all they can to identify dumpers for follow up by OPD and Public Works, including providing photos. City staff is working with the owners of undeveloped live-work properties to maintain the areas for which they are responsible. Once vacant areas are populated, dumping will decrease. Chair requested special attention for the Hanna Street area from OPD officers on Sunday’s.

Bill Aboudi reported continued dumping at Maritime and Burma, including couches and motor homes across the street from the homeless shelter. Contributing to this problem is the City’s effort to conserve energy through the elimination of lighting on Burma Road. Private security patrols are conducted at the Army Base, but poor lighting prevents surveillance cameras from being effective.

Noted that some owners of nearby recycling businesses are not abiding by the ordinance that took effect December 1st to prevent materials theft, requiring delayed payment by recyclers on certain materials. OPD recommended that, although any officer can take a report on the scene of such a theft, the area’s PSO, Officer Taupal should be contacted about this issue. (Officer Taupal is out on injury; Sgt. Anthony Ramos should be contacted in his absence.)

Tim Morse reported on his discussions with Chair concerning the supplementation of OPD patrols with private patrol services in the West Oakland area. He described the differences between OPD patrol and private patrol. Private patrol is customer-focused, undistracted by other area criminal activity. Private patrol serves as a crime deterrent. While some private security firms apprehend trespassers, for example American Private Security, some do not, including Bay Alarm. Bay Alarm guards are armed for self defense and contact OPD when a crime has occurred at a customer’s site. Marked security vehicles serve as a deterrent to crime. Pooling of resources to hire a private security firm can be cost-effective if sites served are located geographically near each other and if patrols occur several times each evening. Participating businesses pool funds in a centralized bank account to pay for security services. Businesses using more patrol services than others pay accordingly. Bay Alarm is unable to provide pricing on private security until more details are known about services required.

Margot Prado reported that the City of Oakland will play a role in providing commercial security assessments for businesses through the Neighborhood Services Division in the future. Margot stressed that it will also be important for City staff to physically walk West Oakland to ascertain the number and location of businesses interested in receiving group security services and commercial security assessments.

Margot proposed the development of a database of security providers and programs so that business owners can examine available resources. The “security ambassador” program was discussed, with OPD officer reporting the downtown program has only been effective in reporting criminal activity to OPD, not deterring it or eliminating it. Noted that the security ambassadors act as professional witnesses to crime. Lt. Freddie Hamilton is a potential speaker for a future West Oakland BusinessAlert meeting to discuss downtown’s security program. Consensus that having a matrix of local security providers and programs would be helpful for area businesses.

Carletta Starks noted an inaccuracy in January’s minutes – WOPAC is funding cameras to survey high crime areas, not those solely affected by graffiti. Cameras will not be placed in areas affected solely by graffiti. Efforts to have cameras installed in high crime areas of West Oakland are ongoing. Issues raised by the ACLU pertaining to the use of cameras will hopefully be resolved shortly. Wendy Simon is the WOPAC contact working with Redevelopment staff on camera installation, through April 1st.

Margot presented “Mandela Parkway Industrial Zone Map” that displays potential area infrastructure improvements, including the locations where improved lighting would be beneficial. Efforts will be made to include additional data on the maps, including designation of OPD beats. The group reviewed the maps, and Margot explained that there will be a process for prioritizing potential improvements as part of the infrastructure project she is managing. Councilmember Nadel is planning a town hall meeting in March and will be seeking public input on priority infrastructure improvements for the area. Margot will work to get the results of the town hall out to area business owners. Inclusion of the Army Base in the infrastructure project was recommended by Steve Lowe, however Margot reported that Army Base improvements are the responsibility of other City staff.

Vacant and under-development properties in the area were discussed. Noted that the area vacancy rate is very low, with the red-tagged Santini property being one of the few vacant buildings. Linden Street Brewery is not yet open for business, with some construction work still pending. Margot reported on her ongoing efforts to attract Semifreddi’s to West Oakland. Options to locate space for the relocation are limited, however the City will continue attraction efforts. It will be important to prepare and maintain available West Oakland properties for attraction opportunities that may present themselves during this economic downturn.

Next Steps
· “New Technologies” will be added as an agenda item for future meetings, so that technological advances in safety and security services and systems can be discussed. Tim Morse will inquire about Bay Alarm’s use of spotter scopes and cameras as a potential means of identifying trespassers.
· A security programs and providers database will be initiated to serve as a resource to West Oakland business owners.