By Callie Shanafelt/OaklandNorth
More than a year ago, on February 17, President Barack Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Commonly known as the stimulus bill, the goal of the program is to boost the United States out of the recession by creating and saving jobs. The act claims to “foster unprecedented levels of accountability and transparency in government spending.”
The website Recovery.gov was developed by the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board to track which communities receive stimulus dollars. In this project Oakland North attempted to follow the stimulus dollars around Oakland. The figures cited in this project represent grants reported in Oakland zip codes in the first round of funding that ended on October 10, 2009.
About a third of the stimulus funding has been spent so far according to ProPublica.org. As agencies consider how to spend the rest of the funds, perhaps there is something to be learned from where the money has been allocated and spent thus far.
Stimulus money coming to Oakland by federal agency.
HEALTH
In North Oakland, the bulk of this money is going to medical research at Children’s Hospital & Research Center Oakland and Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, Inc.
One of the largest grants to Children’s Hospital & Research Center went to Dr. Edward Lammer to study heart defects for two years. The money will enable Lammer and his team to continue research into the genetic and environmental factors causing congenital heart defects and what can be done to prevent them. “Without the support of this grant, our efforts in this area of research would have been severely pared back,” said Dr. Lammer. The grant saved the jobs of two scientists and allowed the hospital to buy new technology supplies, including a larger computer server to store research data.
More than $2 million is going to human service programs in Oakland such as Spanish-speaking childcare and services for homeless youth.
A half million is allocated for technological innovation. This includes $341,000 to Children’s Hospital & Research Center to move to an electronic health records system.
DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT
Last year, a contentious issue during the congressional stimulus debate was the balance between tax breaks and cash grants. When it passed, the nearly $800 billion stimulus package included about $500 billion in grants and less than $300 billion in tax cuts.
The Oakland Housing Authority received nearly $400,000 in tax breaks to offer to developers willing to work on phase II of the Tassafaronga Village in the southern end of Oakland. The village is funded in part by the Hope VI program which provides money to severely distressed public housing projects for major rehabilitation, construction and/or community services. Many Hope VI projects transform entirely low-income housing projects to mixed-income buildings.
The Oakland Housing Authority hasn’t spent any of its more than $10 million in stimulus funding for housing on projects in North Oakland because all the public housing buildings in the area are currently being converted to Section 8, low-income rental units. Instead the housing authority is using the funds for long-overdue maintenance on public housing projects in other parts of Oakland “[Stimulus funds are] allowing us to make sure our units are of high quality and that our residents would choose to live there,” said Marcus Walton, OHA spokesman.
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
The City of Oakland got $19.7 million through the Cops Hiring Recovery Program (CHRP) to save the jobs of 41 police officers for three years. In the competitive grant process, Oakland received the largest amount of any California city according to Margaretta Lin, senior advisor on the stimulus for the City of Oakland. Alameda County also got a more than $5.4 million block grant—of which Oakland got $3.2 million—to improve existing programs that target violent crime, with emphasis on anti-gang violence, narcotics trafficking and reducing gun violence, according to a report made to the City Council in October, 2009.
More than $400,000 went to the non-profit Youth Alive to help with hospital-based anti-violence programs for youth. Nearly $100,000 also went to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Oakland for a youth mentoring program. More than $41,000 went to Bay Area Women Against Rape for services for victims of sexual assault.
TRANSPORTATION
When searching Recovery.gov projects in Oakland zip codes, it appears that the most stimulus money coming into the area is for transportation projects. But this is only because the District 4 CalTrans office, which serves nine counties, is located in North Oakland. In reality, of the more than $524 million coming to the office through the Department of Transportation, only $2.4 million is allocated for projects in Oakland.
Most of this money is going to street resurfacing and curbside repair. $70 million was allocated for construction of a BART-to-airport connector, but as reported on Oakland North that project has been canceled, so the money is not included in this tally.
EDUCATION
The majority of the $14 million from the first round of stimulus funds that ended up in Oakland’s classrooms went to meeting the needs of students with disabilities — roughly $10 million. $3.8 million went to Oakland’s charter schools. Charter schools have been a source of much controversy in Oakland . However district spokesman Troy Flint has said the 17 percent of Oakland’s public school students who attend charter schools deserve the funds. “We’re trying to get away from an adversarial mentality and just get at what’s good in either system,” he said.
Flint is more concerned about the potential $36 million the district still has to cut from the budget this school year. “This year when we don’t have this luxury [of stimulus funds], the effects of the budget cuts are going to be more severe,” Flint said.
Oakland North also took a closer look at education stimulus dollars including grants received after the first reporting period.
LABOR
One of the main objectives of the stimulus is to create jobs. “You know, you don’t need to be an economist to know that jobs are the engine of our economy,” Vice President Joe Biden said when the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was signed into law. The two purposes of federal Department of Labor grants are to provide job training and extend and expand unemployment benefits.
The Department of Labor granted more than $7.5 million to the Peralta Community College District and the City of Oakland. These grants are a part of the Workforce Investment Act grants for laid-off or unemployed adults and youth to assist with job training programs. “We are trying to solve the problem of poverty by placing people in jobs that are good for the community and the environment,” said Margaretta Lin, Oakland’s senior advisor on the stimulus.
However, between the time that President Obama signed the legislation in February of 2009 and that November, the unemployment rate in Oakland increased from 14.1 percent to 17 percent.
OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT
The bulk of this money — $5.1 million — went to the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit district for “tunnel hardening,” according to the grant statement on Recovery.gov and was allocated “for costs related to enhancing the nation’s transit infrastructure to prevent, protect, respond to, and recover from threats or acts of terrorism.” A smaller grant of approximately $530,000 was also issued to Alameda County for port security.
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
The City of Oakland received the majority of the Environmental Protection Agency’s grants issued within Oakland zip codes. More than $2 million went to help 1,000 truckers at the Port of Oakland retrofit their diesel trucks in order to reduce emissions. The city wants to help another 1,000 truckers.
$4.7 million is going to “the financing and construction of wastewater treatment facilities and associated infrastructure, green infrastructure, nonpoint source projects, estuary projects, and program administration.”
The Oakland Housing Authority also got $200,000 for cleanup at the mixed-income Lion Creek Crossings Phase 4 project site to tear down and rebuild what used to be Coliseum Gardens low-income housing project.
ENERGY
The majority of these funds coming into Oakland zip codes are going to the City of Oakland for energy conservation projects. According to Margaretta Lin, Oakland’s senior advisor on the stimulus, city staffers coordinated the efforts of different city departments and community organizations to create jobs and upgrade public infrastructure. “These monies by themselves are not very much,” said Lin. For example, by coordinating green jobs training programs with weatherization and energy retrofit construction projects the city was able to spread the money twice as far.
“Oakland expects to: create or retain 31 jobs, while avoiding 2 million kWh per year of electricity use, 77,000 therms per year of natural gas consumption, 534,000 gallons per year of vehicle fuel consumption and over 5,500 metric tons per year of greenhouse gas emissions through these projects,” according to the grant report on Recovery.gov.
COMMERCE
One might assume the Department of Commerce grants would go to increase trade or support small businesses. However, the majority of the $377,000 coming to Oakland through the Department of Commerce (about $263,000) is actually allocated for environmental conservation and restoration. Recipients include the East Bay Regional Park District, the California Wildlife Fund and the Student Conservation Association, Inc
ARTS
Half of this money went to the National Federation of Community Broadcasters—a national alliance of stations committed to community radio—to save jobs “that are threatened by declines in philanthropic support during the current economic downturn.” The other half went to save the jobs two staff people at The Crucible arts education facility in West Oakland.
AGRICULTURE
The Department of Agriculture contributed the smallest portion of the stimulus funds coming into Oakland. One $5,300 grant went to the school lunch program at the Oakland Military Institute charter school.
NOW WHAT?
The focus on energy efficiency and green jobs training programs helps Oakland, according to City of Oakland stimulus advisor Margaretta Lin. But she hopes the next round of stimulus funds will provide more flexibility to individual cities and let Oakland channel more money into needed projects like infrastructure repairs. “Local needs look different from one another,” she said. “We have one-hundred-year-old infrastructure below our buildings.”
Overall, the stimulus funds have helped programs and organizations throughout Oakland stave off deep budget cuts, but many of the grantees are still facing tough budget choices.
The City of Oakland has created a coordinated effort among city staff to monitor and apply for future stimulus funding. Oakland North will continue to follow the money.
Back to menu
Popular Posts
- ‘Why would you all do this to me?’ asks man whose makeshift cabin was taken in Oakland sweep. ‘I literally needed somewhere to sleep.’
- Reliving the memories: Reggie Jackson and other A’s legends hit the Coliseum field one more time
- Would Prop. 36 reduce retail theft and drug offenses, or would it just punish harshly without deterring crime?