City’s cash management report shows $192 million loss since June 30
Rebecca Kaplan’s undocumented special revenue project; city set to forgive $8 million housing loans; Lake Merritt project could be delayed by late bonds; Flock contract up for debate - Agenda Watch
Our Oakland Agenda Watch column provides summaries of upcoming public meeting agenda items that catch our attention. This week, we’re reviewing the November 18 agendas of Oakland City Council’s standing committees.1
City’s cash management report shows $192 million loss since June 30
Finance and management committee special meeting, Nov. 18, 2025, agenda item #5
The city’s quarterly cash management report shows that the city’s operating pool portfolio balance decreased from $2.28 billion as of June 30, to $2.09 billion as of Sept. 30. The finance director’s report offers these reasons for the decrease:
“This net balance decrease was mainly due to the following: receipt of $23.25 million in property tax revenues, offset by debt service payments of approximately $72.53 million. The remaining balance decrease of approximately $142.90 million is due to the receipt of other revenues, such as Sales Tax, offset by operational expenses such as payroll and vendor payments.”
— Bradley Johnson, Director of Finance
In other words, the city’s debt and operating expenses exceeded its income by 8.3 percent — a $192.2 million net loss.
Rebecca Kaplan’s undocumented special revenue collection project
Finance and management committee special meeting, Nov. 18, 2025, agenda item #4
The finance and management committee’s November 18 agenda lists this intriguing title:
“Informational Report on Special Revenue Collection Project from: Councilmember Kaplan and Councilmember Ramachandran”
No written materials were submitted for the report, leaving the project’s details a mystery, aside from what can be gleaned from its equally intriguing subtitle:
“Including Hiring and Activating the Work to Bring in Additional Revenue from Non-Filed Businesses.”
Shortly after Rebecca Kaplan stepped down from the city council on May 20, she was awarded a $149,000-per-year job working in the city administrator’s office as a “Project Manager (Illegal Dumping).”2
There appears to have been no public recruitment for the job.
The “special revenue collection project” seemingly is a hot topic for the city. It has appeared on council committee agendas at least five times this year, including on March 13, April 9, April 10, and November 6.
On all five occasions, no written materials were submitted for the agenda.
City’s inability to sell bonds could delay $8.8 million “complete streets” construction around Lake Merritt
Public works and transportation committee special meeting, agenda item #3
The public works and transportation committee will review a proposed $8.8 million contract award to Gallagher & Burke, Inc., for streetscape construction work around Lake Merritt:
Pedestrian, bicycle, transit and vehicular traffic safety improvements on Lakeside Drive, Lake Merritt Boulevard, and 17th Street
Pedestrian lighting on East 12th Street and International Boulevard near the lake.
According to the staff report, the construction contract would be funded by a combination of grants and city bond issuances through Measure U.
The staff report notes that the use of Measure U funds for the project are “contingent upon the availability of funding in the upcoming bond sale, which is currently planned to be finalized by November 2025.”
The report further notes that if the bond sale is delayed, the city may delay the project.
See this related article:
City set to forgive $8 million in loans to affordable housing developer
Community and economic development committee special meeting, agenda item #4
The city council is preparing to forgive $8 million in outstanding principal and interest owed by East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation (EBALDC) for two apartment complexes it refurbished with loans from the city.
According to the staff report, the proposed loan forgiveness is intended to, “preserve 58 units of affordable housing in East Oakland, both located in Council District #2, for 55 years until 2073.” If approved by the full city council, the loan forgiveness would equate to approximately $138,000 per unit.
The two apartment complexes in question are the Highland Palms property at 1810 E. 25th Street and the Eastlake property at 2515 10th Avenue.
According to the staff report, EBALDC is Oakland’s largest provider of affordable housing with approximately 2,100 existing housing units in 27 properties, and another 1,100 units “in the new construction development pipeline.”
The report states that EBALDC has experienced “financial distress and operational challenges—such as depleted reserves, high vacancy rates, and deferred maintenance that have plagued Eastlake and Highland Palms due to underestimated repair costs and market shifts.”
EBALDC is seeking to improve its financial position by selling the Highland Palms and Eastlake properties to new buyer Christian Church Homes, apparently at a significant loss. According to the report, the new buyer has agreed to preserve the properties as deed-restricted affordable housing until 2073.
According to the report, “no other property in the City’s affordable housing portfolio has had its loan forgiven and been sold to a new buyer.”
The report notes that the city attorney has deemed the loan forgiveness to be legally permissible on the basis that it is “tied directly to continued affordability restrictions through 2073, transfer of ownership to a new, qualified affordable housing operator, and new performance covenants that enhance oversight and accountability.”
Flock Safety contract, security camera policy, emergency response times, crime statistics
Public safety committee special meeting, November 18, 2025
Flock contract and security camera policy. The public safety committee will review a proposed $2.25 million contract award to Flock Safety for its automated license plate readers, and a proposed policy for the city’s network of security cameras throughout Oakland. (Notably, the staff report also confirms that Oakland Police Department currently has an operational staffing level of 511 sworn officers — far below the minimum level of 700 officers the city promised to Oaklanders when voters approved Measure NN in 2024.) Agenda item #3
Audit of emergency response times. The city auditor produced a report which found that the city has inadequate 9-1-1 staffing and slow and inequitable police emergency response times. Agenda item #5
Crime report. The latest crime statistical report covers the time period from April 2025 to September 2025. The data indicates an overall decrease in most crime categories citywide when compared to the same period in 2024. However, as Oakland Report reported last year, OPD’s crime data is generally unreliable.3 Agenda item #4
See this related article:
“Disparities in contracting” study is nearly four years overdue
Life enrichment committee special meeting, November 18, 2025, agenda item #4
Similar to the above-noted Rebecca Kaplan “special revenue collection project,” this item concerns a report that has yet to materialize for public review: a “disparities in contracting” study the city commissioned in 2022.
As with the undocumented Kaplan project, there are no written materials to accompany this agenda item.
According to city records, the city council in 2022 awarded $600,000 to Mason Tillman Associates (MTA) to conduct a “disparities in contracting” study of the city’s professional services, procurement, and construction contracting activities.4
In 2023, the city administrator reported to city council that the study had not been completed, citing disruption from a major ransomware attack, and claimed that the study would be completed later that year.5
The purpose of the study was, in part, to comply with California Proposition 209, which prohibits governmental entities from “discriminating against or granting preferential treatment on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin in public contracting, education and employment.”6
After Proposition 209 became law, Oakland voters approved a change to Oakland’s charter requiring the city to conduct a “race and gender disparity evaluation” every two years, to “determine if the City has been an active or passive participant in actual, identifiable discrimination within its relevant market place.”7
The city has hired MTA before, to conduct a “race and gender disparity study” that was completed in 2020. That study found that the city’s process for awarding grants to local nonprofits lacked transparency and failed to gather key data:8
“The process employed by the City of Oakland to allocate grants lacks transparency. The source of grant dollars and impact of the grants on the health of the communities aren’t easily available. More detailed data should be gathered for grant awards in general — such as grant money source, the community the grantee serves (rather than only where the grantee is located), criteria the City uses to award grants, the duration of each grant, and the intended social impact of the grant — enabling the City to better track grant dollars and determine where grant money is most needed in Oakland in the context of socioeconomic and environmental factors. The grant award process should more closely align with the City’s Contracts and Compliance.”
— from Mason Tillman Associates, “City of Oakland Race and Gender Disparity Study,” February 2020
Fast forward to November 18, 2025, and it appears that the study of “disparities in contracting” that was commissioned in 2022 remains incomplete and unavailable for public review nearly four years later.
Oakland Report is by no means comprehensive in our coverage of public meetings in Oakland. The scope and frequency of public meetings are far more than we can presently cover. You can review the full agendas of all five November 18 council standing committee special meetings on the city’s meeting calendar:
Finance and management committee (four agenda items)
Public works and transportation committee (four items)
Community and economic development committee (seven items)
Life enrichment committee (nine items)
Public safety committee (five items).
City council standing committees are subsets of the city council who vet, revise, and recommend items to the full city council, which then makes the official decisions. The standing committees are critical priming mechanisms of the Oakland government machinery and the product it churns out at the end of the line.
Oakland Report contributors. “City of Oakland gives Rebecca Kaplan, former city council member a $149,000-per-year job.” Oakland Report, Nov. 6, 2025. https://www.oaklandreport.org/p/city-of-oakland-gives-rebecca-kaplan
Gardner, Tim. “Oakland’s crime data mess: How politicians are playing shell games with public safety.” Oakland Report, July 18, 2024. https://www.oaklandreport.org/p/oaklands-crime-data-mess-how-politicians
City of Oakland. “Concurrent Meeting of the Oakland Redevelopment Successor Agency and the City Council.” Adopt A Resolution Authorizing The City Administrator To Award A Professional Services Contract To Mason Tillman Associates To Conduct A Disparity Study For An Amount Not To Exceed Six Hundred Thousand Dollars ($600,000) To Study The City’s Professional Services, Procurement And Construction Contracting Activities For The Period Of July 1, 2016 Through June 30, 2021, And Waiving The Competitive Request For Proposal/Qualifications (RFP/Q) Process And Local And Small Local Business Enterprise (L/SLBE) Program Requirements. Agenda item #6, Mar. 1, 2022. https://oakland.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=5457783&GUID=CD88AE01-033A-41FC-BF2C-E9389901F42C
City of Oakland. “Concurrent Meeting of the Oakland Redevelopment Successor Agency and the City Council.” Receive An Informational Report From The City Administrator On The Status Of The Disparities In Contracting Study Being Conducted By Mason Tillman Associates (MTA) Pursuant To Resolution 89058 C.M.S, Including MTA’s Findings To Date Regarding Disparities In The City’s Professional Services, Procurement, And Construction Contracting Activities And A Timeline On When The Final Report Would Be Presented To The City Council. Agenda item #6.21, July 18, 2023. https://oakland.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=6210067&GUID=A1E39809-F28C-4E9E-83C3-28CD7D071DAF
City of Oakland, California. “Charter of the City of Oakland.” Article VIII, Section 808(b). https://library.municode.com/ca/oakland/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=THCHOA_ARTVIIIFIAD
Wikipedia contributors. “1996 California Proposition 209.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, Aug. 7, 2025. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_California_Proposition_209
City of Oakland 2017 Race and Gender Disparity Study. Mason Tillman Associates, February 2020. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sTy3HgRhB5vDkG_5Cp-Ut3YJch_qExDU/view
This city is a literal joke. As a corporate finance professional and CFA charterholder, I would be utterly ashamed and embarrassed to have my name connected to the word salad put out by Bradley Johnson, where he combines sales tax, opex and other vendor payments in the $142.90mm balance decrease as opposed to discussing their individual impact. It's combined that way intentionally so as to lead the taxpayers uninformed and is thus not an acceptable disclosure.
So much of what the city does like not having adequate budgetary disclosures and not providing details of official meetings is meant to leave the taxpayers either uninformed or misinformed.
RE: the trouble the City is having selling bonds for Complete Streets, how much of this is due to a low credit rating? Is the City a riskier bet for bond issuers due to well-publicised fiscal mismanagement? Which would include a $300M-to $700M bill coming due for judgment over the marine terminal (attempted coal shipping ban)?