About Alameda
Alameda is a wonderful city. For those that follow the council meetings, I tend to be a realistic optimist when it comes to the addressing the challenging issues we face in the City of Alameda. With a City Budget of over $179 M, we can do anything. But we can’t do everything.

Our City is fortunate to have an active community that unite to leverage funding and opportunities to build civic centers and landmarks like the Mastick Senior Center, the Alameda Free Library, Alameda Hospital, and the Alameda Historic Theatre. We also invest in preserving our heritage by funding the Alameda Museum, the Naval Air Museum, and maintaining the Meyers House, along with the fine homes displaying the rich architectural history of our city. With this same level of community spirit, I am optimistic that we can do anything, including providing recreational and open space use and redeveloping Alameda Point. It will depend on whether we are pragmatic enough to accept less than what they want for now and improve on it over time.

Because Alameda is an island, we want to be self-sufficient – we have Alameda Hospital, the College of Alameda, the Alameda Superior Court house, the Chuck Corica Golf Course, Alameda Municipal Power electric, and we rely on our own fire and police department with our own ambulances. The challenge is our ability to being self-sufficient and to sustain the public amenities and services – economically, environmentally and socially. That means we cannot be completely insulated from actions at the state or national level.

State Budget and Alameda
The state of California is planning to borrow about $2.2 M from Alameda to be repaid in three years. They will also be taking about $6M in redevelopments funds over three years, and our allocation of highway users tax are still being threatened. These taxes keep the bridges into Alameda operational. As with any major employer in Alameda, we are confronting the high cost of providing health care for our retirees. That’s where the national debate on health care reform hits home.

Alameda Budget FY 2010
The City of Alameda $179M Budget adopted a balanced “austerity” budget for FY 2010 -- $68.7M in general fund with an $8.8 M positive fund balance for FY 2010 that was created from making $6.5 M in staffing cuts (5%) and refinancing some debt to take advantage of the lower interest rates. But that reserve is earmarked toward unfunded liabilities like retiree health care, deferred maintenance and equipment replacement funds.

Sales Tax Revenue
in Alameda Despite loss in sales tax in surrounding area and the departure of our car dealerships, Alameda saw no losses and even a slight increase – mainly because of the build-out at Alameda Towne Centre, restaurants on Park Street, and the ABB/Concise contact lens company at Harbor Bay Business Park (2007). However, the sales tax revenue in Alameda is $74 per capita, which near the bottom among the 14 cities in Alameda County. The City had commissioned a study in 2006 by Strategic Economics that showed the overall sales tax leakage at $268M that we are losing to other communities. It showed that Alamedans are leaving the city to purchase goods at discounts stores, furniture and clothing.

Alameda Theatre
Alameda Theatre’s performance and attendance has really exceeded expectations and revenues at the civic center garage have met expectations. In poor economic times, residents stay at home and watch a movie. Shops and restaurants near the Theatre on Park Street are doing very well.

Alameda Housing
Alameda’s housing market has dropped slightly, but we not seeing the 25%-30% declines in values in other parts of the state like the Central Valley, but the affordability of home ownership in Alameda is still out of reach of most people. The median price home is around $$600,000 with a monthly mortgage and property tax payment of almost $4,000, it would be less expensive to rent. Residents that move to Alameda don’t move here because it is affordable; it has to fit in with their lifestyle choice of being on the Bay and close to work.

Alameda Point
We are taking time to address change in personnel, at the Navy and in City Management. The parties are assessing the costs of the cleanup and the amount of tax increment that can be generated to redevelop Alameda Point. Over the last two years, the community has developed a good plan. We have a good partner with Suncal and their funders, D.E. Shaw, and they have incurred considerable risks to secure entitlements for the project.

The Community will ultimately get to decide on what they want to see with the 700 acres at Alameda Point. We have an opportunity to create a use for this valuable resource that will be a matter of civic pride for many years to come. This means the right mix of open space, public amenities, homes, businesses, jobs, and transportation solutions. Building design must be harmonious with the “look and feel” of the rest of the Island.