On July 16, City Council accepted and provided feedback on the Base Reuse and Economic Development Department‘s (BREDD) status update, which reviewed the past year’s economic accomplishments and a plan for the future. Their work plan highlights revitalizing vacant storefronts, improving business engagement with Alameda Point, refining special event permitting, marketing Spirits Alley, and evaluating and sharing the results of the pilot guaranteed basic income program.
Council also moved to terminate an agreement with Five Keys Schools and Programs, the operator of Dignity Village, over allegations of financial misconduct. Council voted to execute an agreement with an interim operator while staff works to identify a new long-term provider.
Economic strategic plan
The City’s economic development activities are rooted in the 2018 Economic Development Strategic Plan (EDSP) and focus on six sectors—life sciences, clean, green, and high tech, blue tech and maritime, retail and restaurants, tourism and hospitality, and artists and small manufacturers. The EDSP also discusses City services that help all businesses thrive, such as permitting.
This past year, the City’s economic development efforts included workforce development, business marketing, economic and community development initiatives, a guaranteed income pilot program, and engaging businesses through individual site visits and business associations to facilitate networking, permitting, and lease renewal.
Economic development highlights
Highlights included Saildrone Inc. and Rain Industries winning Innovation Awards based on nominating applications submitted by the City and the groundbreaking of a new 229-room hotel, co-branded as a Hilton Garden and Homewood Suites at Bay Farm. Due to the impending closure of the Oakland Airport Hilton, the hotel will likely attract increased business travelers.
For workforce development, the City held an Autumn Job Fair, attracting 34 employers and four City Departments, a Youth Career and Job Fair that included City-sponsored internships and attracted over 700 students, and increased the minimum wage on July 1 to $17 per hour.
Business marketing initiatives included Restaurant Week, the Shop Local Campaign, an editorial in the San Francisco Business Times promoting Alameda Point, and working with a new shuttle operator to develop a pilot transit program between the ferry terminals and Spirits Alley by the end of July.
The City also worked to simplify the special event permit process, adopted a Public Art Master Plan that resulted in awarding $60,000 in grants to cultural arts organizations, promoted awning improvements as part of the City’s Façade Grant Program, regularly convened the Mayor’s Economic Development Advisory Panel (EDAP) to receive guidance from local business, nonprofit, and education leaders, and identified Alameda Point tenants whose leases with the City are expiring to see how Alameda can support their long-term presence. The City also is conducting a study to understand business district vacancy challenges. Staff will provide a status update in late July. The study and strategies to address vacancies are due by early September.
In December 2023, the City dispersed the first payments for Rise Up Alameda, a guaranteed income pilot program. The program includes a research component. A mid-program report is expected in early 2025.
Economic work plan
In the coming fiscal year, BREDD anticipates supporting most of the above programs, with some activities moving into a new phase. The department plans to engage Alameda Point business tenants more proactively, continue refining the Special Event Permit Process, move to the implementation phase of the storefront vacancy strategy for Park and Webster Streets, provide further information about Spirits Alley at events such as the Alameda Point Antiques Fair along with way finding signage, and move to the evaluation and storytelling phase of Rise Up Alameda.
Council feedback
Councilmember Tracy Jensen lauded the work done to support businesses but acknowledged unmet needs. In particular, she expressed frustration at the Council’s inability to put an infrastructure bond measure on the ballot. She commended Alameda’s “robust and thriving life science industries,” saying she would continue to work toward keeping those businesses and recruiting more.
Councilmember Malia Vella agreed that she wished the City could fund infrastructure through a bond measure instead of relying on negotiations with potential tenants and developers.
Vice Mayor Tony Daysog acknowledged that an infrastructure bond would aid economic development and said all he required to support a bond measure was a list of projects specifying where the money would go. He had concerns about life science companies at Alameda Point but supported their presence at the business parks. He suggested a tourism strategy and lauded green energy businesses at Alameda Point.
Councilmember Trish Herrera Spencer said that starting the shuttle service between the ferry terminals and Spirits Alley by the end of July was too late and should have started with the beginning of warmer weather. She lamented that other Spirits Alley promotional efforts, such as advertising at the Antique Faire and directing traffic down Monarch Street, would not start until late summer. She called this a continuation of staff not adequately supporting Spirits Alley businesses.
Mayor Marilyn Ezzy Ashcraft commended staff’s work but added that she had hoped to have progressed further with economic development plans and recommended that the BREDD director, Abby Thorne-Lyman, advise the Council if more staff is needed, saying, “Sometimes you need to spend money to make money.” She was particularly concerned with vacancies on Park Street.
Dignity Village financial misconduct
Dignity Village, an interim supportive housing facility at 2350 Fifth Street, opened in May 2023. The City, DignityMoves, and Five Keys Schools and Programs (Five Keys) received a Homekey grant to construct and operate Dignity Village for homeless individuals and unhoused transitional-age youth. The City agreed to a five-year agreement with Five Keys to provide management services, including housing navigation, case management, facilities maintenance, and 24/7 security.
In June, Five Keys and the City mutually agreed to terminate the agreement when staff of the Housing and Human Services Division of the City Manager’s Office and Alameda Police Department became aware of alleged financial misconduct by a Dignity Village staff person. The investigation is currently ongoing, and Dignity Village put the staff person on leave. City staff did not specify what the financial misconduct was, but distraught public speakers who identified themselves as Dignity Village residents referenced a breach of personal information.
City Council unanimously voted to formally terminate the agreement with Five Keys and execute a one-year agreement with Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency (BOSS) to provide interim supportive housing and property management at Dignity Village for up to one year while staff conducts a Request for Proposal (RFP) process to identify a long-term provider.
Contributing writer Karin K. Jensen covers boards and commissions for the Alameda Post. Contact her via [email protected]. Her writing is collected at https://linktr.ee/karinkjensen and https://alamedapost.com/Karin-K-Jensen.
