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Oakland Roads
2
Oakland Roads
Allocation - emphasizing equity
sources
Hannah Jane
Roads impact everyone, especially as the city grows. Yet roads are not equally maintained in different parts of the city. Who gets money, and why?
Why is this important?
What is gas tax?
Oakland has more than 7,700 open service requests to repair potholes.
In an effort to fix the problem, the city has a three-year plan to spend a $100 million on street repairs (that's an all-time high).
Funding
It's complicated: construction workers can't afford to live in Oakland
The city plans to use $2.9 million in state gas tax money to keep its streetlights on, then use what it saves of its own money to prevent cuts in parks and recreation.
2016 map of projected repairs
According to Article 19 of the state Constitution, gas tax money is to be used for the “research, planning, construction, improvement, maintenance and operation of public streets and highways (and their related public facilities for nonmotorized traffic).”
https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/philmatier/article/In-Oakland-money-intended-to-be-used-for-this-13827090.php
"Oakland faces more acute difficulties than other cities. It’s suffered years of disinvestment, and although politicians tout a bright future of housing and commercial projects, the boom hasn’t quite arrived yet. Oakland doesn’t have a huge tax base to pay government workers, so Russo relies heavily on his employees’ passion and enthusiasm.
Yet passion only goes so far. The Department of Transportation — known as OakDOT — has a 20 percent job vacancy rate overall, and 27 percent of its engineering and planning positions are open. Those holes “severely” impact its ability to deliver projects, according to a report the city released earlier this month to track spending of the infrastructure bond.
“I love Oakland — it’s an emerging town, and I got to do a lot of things creatively,” said Mahendra Gautam, a former OakDOT engineer who spent two years with the department. Ultimately, he couldn’t justify Oakland’s modest wages or his hour-long commute from a suburb because he couldn’t afford housing near his job. Gautam departed six months ago for a higher-paying gig at a regional transportation agency."
Oakland in 1877
History
Downtown Oakland began as a small town set in the midst of oak groves that grew along the eastern shore of the San Francisco Bay in 1852. The underlying urban form of downtown was established shortly after the town’s founding: a basic grid that begins at today’s Jack London Square and extends north.
Population Growth for the Bay Area’s Three Central Cities: 1850-2013
City Planning
Various Plans for the city throughout history to accommodate growth:
https://www.spur.org/publications/urbanist-article/2015-02-03/four-plans-shaped-downtown-oakland-s-first-100-years
“Equity is a goal,” according to the city’s presentation, which specifically notes that the focus on this topic is a major change. “To achieve equity, we prioritize the needs of underserved populations.”
Of the $75 million earmarked for local streets, roughly $37 million will go toward low-income communities and $26 million will go toward the more affluent areas, according to a graph on the city's website. To highlight a few examples, the low-income neighborhoods of Central East Oakland and Fruitvale and Eastlake will get $15.1 million and $14.5 million; while residents in the wealthier East Oakland hills and North Oakland hills will get $5 million and $5.7 million respectively.
http://www.ktvu.com/news/-equity-is-a-goal-low-income-neighborhoods-to-receive-more-money-to-pave-over-potholes
In the community's hands:
Vigilantes!
and here's a link to the mayor's response tweet:
https://twitter.com/LibbySchaaf/status/1125916750640439296
https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Oakland-s-plan-to-improve-roads-stuck-in-a-rut-13701540.php
https://twitter.com/LibbySchaaf/status/1125916750640439296
https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/philmatier/article/In-Oakland-money-intended-to-be-used-for-this-13827090.php