'Oakland, the big monster'

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COUNTY NEWS

BAY AREA HOUSING BOND MEASURE

—BALLOT ENVY—A massive housing bond measure that could generate up to $20 billion for affordable housing in the nine-county Bay Area may not be received too favorable outside of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland, if the response this week from Fremont officials is any indication.

—The proposed housing bond measure, which could come before voters in November, hopes to provide cities and counties with addition funding to build affordable housing.

—Early estimates call for Alameda County to receive nearly $1 billion, if the measure is ultimately approved by Bay Area voters. Oakland would receive its own allocation estimated to be around $383 million.

—It’s the latter allocation that bothered some Fremont councilmembers this week, who suggested support for the ballot measure is contingent on whether the city receives an equitable share of its future revenues.

—Fremont is fourth-largest city in the the Bay Area, and second-largest in Alameda County behind Oakland.

—“I can’t support something that I don’t know how much money I’m getting out of,” Fremont Mayor Lily Mei told county housing officials. “I want to know if Fremont will get back what they put in.”

—While Oakland’s homelessness problem gets most of the media attention, along with state and federal funding, Fremont’s own issues have festered for years with growing encampments, people living in cars, and other social disorder related to those suffering from mental illness.

—“We generate the second-most tax revenue,” Mei added. “There is already a direct pull. You have mentioned that there is a separate allocation, specifically for Oakland.”

—“I think there should be some consideration for Fremont, being one of the biggest cities in the Bay Area.”

—Mei added that if Oakland receives its own large tranche of money from the proposed bond measure, Fremont will be impacted by demands from other cities in the county.

—“Our tax revenues are being split by 11 cites,” Mei said. “That is not quite the most equitable, in terms of how we look at it.”

—Fremont’s rivalry with Oakland is nothing new. City leaders have long complained that Oakland receives an outsized amount of funding to combat issues such as homelessness and housing.

—Perceptions in Alameda County that Oakland officials are heavy-handed and self-serving were bolster last year when Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao suggested that neighboring cities pay Oakland an impact fee for services they provide to homeless individuals. Thao claimed a large number of homeless individuals move to Oakland from neighboring cities.

Oakland mayor wants to charge neighboring cities an impact fee for serving their homeless

—Fremont also suffers from being well outside several spheres of influence, including the Alameda County Board of Supervisors, and state and federal offices, which are all located in Oakland.

—“In the city of Fremont, we always feel like we pay a lot more taxes and we never get the percentage back,” said Raj Salwan, a Fremont councilmember.

—Salwan, who is a candidate for Fremont mayor this fall, is also wary of Oakland gaining the lion’s share of the proposed bond measure’s proceeds.

—“We would like to make sure the money coming back to Fremont doesn’t get sucked up by Oakland, the big monster.”

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