Op-Ed: Council Needs to Ensure Hiring of Black Workers on

City Projects

By Kitty Kelly Epstein

African-Americans are 28 percent of the Oakland population

but get only nine percent of the work on projects that their
tax dollars are paying for.

A great set of policy changes to create fairness were

requested by the Post Salon and agendized by the Rules
Committee of the City Council for immediate action.

Now, the recommendations have been rewritten in such a

way as to make it seem that more studies will be
conducted, instead of action taken.

Councilmembers Larry Reid, Lynette McElhaney, Rebecca

Kaplan and Annie Campbell-Washington need to introduce
and pass the clear action items (including jobs policies for all
city-funded development projects, and rejection of various
loopholes) at the CED committee meeting on Oct. 11 and
pass them on to City Council at its next meeting.

People who care about fairness will not want to vote for a
$600 million infrastructure bond in November to fund
projects where Black people do not get jobs.

The jobs policy is on the City Councils Community and

Economic Development (CED) committee agenda Tuesday,
Oct. 11, 1:30 p.m. at City Hall.

Kitty Kelly Epstein is an educator and an Oakland

community activist.