Title
Recommendation to Authorize the City Manager to Negotiate and Execute a $100,000 Contract with Block by Block to Help in the Economic Recovery Efforts from COVID-19 in Alameda’s Business Improvement Areas; and Negotiate and Execute an Amendment to the Agreement with Creative Build Inc. to add $103,970 to Provide Extended Hours of Operation for the Day Center and Related Support Services. (Community Development)
Body
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In March 2020, Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act as part of its response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The City of Alameda (City) was allocated approximately $1 million in CARES Act funds from the State of California. At its September 1, 2020 meeting, City Council approved an expenditure plan for the funds. Half of the funds would be used to reimburse the City for expenses it incurred to address impacts of the pandemic on the City and local economy. Three hundred thousand dollars ($300,000) will go to the City’s business associations to assist the local commercial districts and their businesses in economic recovery. The City Council also approved $203,000 for assistance to the City’s unsheltered population and requested that staff return with a proposed plan to expend those funds for Council consideration.
Based on discussion at the previous City Council meeting, staff recommends that City Council authorize the City Manager to negotiate and execute a $100,000 contract with Block by Block to: 1) help in the local economic recovery efforts by boosting the business districts’ safety, cleanliness, and hospitality, and 2) work with unhoused individuals by engaging with them to connect with the existing service provider network in Alameda to address their health and psychosocial needs during the COVID-19 pandemic. This agreement would be a pilot program that would operate through December 31, 2020. The proposed scope of work is attached as Exhibit 1. In addition, staff recommends that the City Council authorize the City Manager to negotiate and execute an amendment to the City’s agreement with Creative Build Inc. (fiscal agent on behalf of Village of Love as operator) to increase the budget by $103,000 to extend the hours of operation at the day center and provide related support services through December 31, 2020 in order to ensure compliance with Public Health orders, as outlined in Exhibit 2.
BACKGROUND
On March 27, 2020, President Trump signed into law the CARES Act, a $2.2 trillion stimulus bill that provides support for employees, small businesses, and local disaster relief efforts. The City was allocated approximately $1 million dollars in CARES Act funds from the State of California.
As part of appropriating these funds at its September 1, 2020 meeting, City Council allocated $203,000 for services for unsheltered residents and requested that staff return with a proposed work plan for the expenditure of these funds for final approval. City Council indicated its support for staff’s proposal to contract with Block by Block, an organization that provides services to enhance business improvement districts through ambassador, street cleaning and trash removal, and safety programs to mitigate and prevent the spread of COVID-19, on a pilot basis through December 31, 2020. However, City Council also wanted to ensure that these services could sync up with the City’s existing network of homelessness programs, especially during evening hours and weekends to maximize effectiveness.
Staff has reached out to both Block by Block and Village of Love, the operator of the day center and the safe parking programs, for scopes of work that would achieve the City Council’s direction to assist the business districts’ economic recovery through enhanced cleaning services and an ambassador program that will support outdoor dining and retail activity during the pandemic as well as ensure that unsheltered individuals can be referred to existing services during evening and weekend hours on a pilot basis through December 31, 2020. Block by Block and Village of Love have provided the attached work scopes (Exhibits 1 and 2).
DISCUSSION
With businesses shut down and Alamedans sheltering-in-place, the presence of unhoused individuals in the business districts has become more visible and has caused concern about the further spread of COVID-19. Some individuals have found refuge behind shops, in front of doorways, along alleyways, and on benches in the business districts. As restaurants, bars, and stores open up for business with outdoor dining and commercial options, presenting Alameda’s commercial districts as sanitary, safe, and desirable destinations is imperative in stimulating the local economy’s recovery. At the same time, support for Alameda’s unhoused citizens is also important, as the economic downturn and high unemployment brought on by the pandemic will no doubt exacerbate the issue of homelessness in the community.
Block by Block can attend to the interests of local businesses, support the needs of those experiencing homelessness, and bridge the economic and the social issues that must be simultaneously tackled as the community emerges from the COVID-10 crisis. At the same time, by extending the hours for the day center and safe parking programs, through additional funding, Block by Block will have resources to refer unsheltered individuals during evening and weekend hours to ensure compliance with Public Health orders. It should also be noted that the City’s warming shelter is scheduled to open in mid-November and operate through the end of March 2021.
As proposed in the attached scope of work, Block by Block Ambassadors will be available on-site along several blocks on Park and Webster Streets where foot traffic and activity is heaviest. Ambassadors will be available during the late afternoon/early evening hours when downtown is bustling, after hours when restaurants and other businesses are closed, and on weekends when families and visitors are most active. On-call services will be available to respond to specific issues. Service priorities will include cleaning human excrements, power washing and sanitizing areas not covered by Public Works, picking-up trash and debris left on sidewalks and storefronts, and helping de-escalate situations between merchants, unhoused residents, and guests. Ambassadors will also hand out masks to downtown patrons. These services are especially critical during the pandemic to protect the health and safety of the entire community and to prevent the spread of the virus.
The Block by Block program can also enhance and improve the efficiency of the City’s current street outreach and mobile case management provider, Operation Dignity, so that it can focus their work on the encampments, FEMA trailers, and parking lots where people living in their vehicles stay. Ambassadors will dedicate their attention in the business districts so that merchants are supported with clean streets, safe neighborhoods, and a resource to de-escalate situations and resolve non-emergency issues with unhoused residents.
Block by Block will fill the gaps and complement the services currently performed by the Public Works Department. While Public Works performs macro-level clean-up and maintenance of public right-of-way areas, an unmet need identified by local businesses that the program can address is the cleaning, power washing, and sanitizing when waste, human excrement, biohazardous materials (e.g., hypodermic needles) are left in front of private properties.
To address City Council’s concerns that the Block by Block program have resources to refer unsheltered individuals to, staff has requested a proposal from Village of Love to extend the day center and safe parking programs’ hours of operation to evenings and week-ends. Village of Love has prepared the attached scope of work to provided extended hours and related services to compliment the Block by Block program. The Block by Block program and extended day center and safe parking hours will be provided on a pilot basis through December 31, 2020. The effectiveness of both programs will then be evaluated and reported back to the City Council.
ALTERNATIVES
• Authorize the City Manager to negotiate and execute the agreement and amendment to agreement described above and consistent with the attached work scopes.
• Modify the attached work scopes for one or both of the proposed programs.
• Decline to authorize the City Manager to proceed as described above and provide further direction to staff.
• Allocate the CARES Act funds for different activities.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
City Council approved the acceptance of $1,003,970 in State Coronavirus Relief funds at the September 1, 2020 Council meeting (File 2020-8255). At this meeting City Council directed staff to develop a spending plan for $203,970 of this funding. Any necessary budget adjustments needed based on the approved spending plan will be included in the October budget update. No additional funding beyond the funds provided by the States Coronavirus Relief funds will be needed to support the recommended programs.
MUNICIPAL CODE/POLICY DOCUMENT CROSS REFERENCE
This action is consistent with the Social Service Human Relations Board, Charter and Ordinance authority “to improve social services in the community” (Alameda Municipal Code Section 2-11.5) and the Report on Homelessness Policies and Programs.
This action is also consistent with and supports Government Code Section 8630(c) resolution declaring the existence of a local emergency in response to the COVID-19 pandemic directing staff to respond appropriately to local emergency.
CLIMATE IMPACTS
The Social Vulnerability Assessment section of the draft Climate Action and Resiliency Plan states:
“adaptation strategies should consider how [the homeless] will receive emergency communications and how they will be sheltered. Proper, safe housing for all is an adaptation and resilience strategy. Planning strategies should always consider these vulnerable populations in adaptation efforts.”
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
This action is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) pursuant to CEQA Guidelines section 15601(b)(3).
RECOMMENDATION
Authorize the City Manager to: 1) negotiate and execute a $100,000 contract with Block by Block to help in the economic recovery efforts from COVID-19 in Alameda’s Business Improvement Areas; and 2) negotiate and execute an amendment to the agreement with Creative Build Inc. to add $103,000 to provide extended hours of operation for the Day Center.
CITY MANAGER RECOMMENDATION
The City Manager recommends approval with caveat that the $203,000 would come from $503,000 set aside in CARES Act funding for future COVID 19 programs.
Respectfully Submitted,
Debbie Potter, Community Development Director
By:
Ana Bagtas, Community Development Manager
Financial impact section reviewed,
By: Nancy Bronstein, Interim Finance Director
Exhibits:
1. Block by Block Scope of Work
2. Village of Love Scope of Work
cc: Eric Levitt, City Manager