Berkeley Weekly Update - 2/15/24

Regional Public Safety Partnership Launches

Mayor Arreguin, flanked by elected and law enforcement officials throughout the East Bay, announced the new partnership at an event in Oakland.

Yesterday, regional leaders and law enforcement publicly announced the creation of a regional public safety partnership that was launched by the Mayor’s Office. This comes in response to an increase in violent crime and community concerns following a string of high-profile incidents throughout the region. The purpose of this convening is to unify efforts across the region in enhancing overall public safety, with specific focus on the prevention, deterrence, and accountability of violent and property crimes. Meetings will take place quarterly, which will provide an opportunity for elected officials and law enforcement throughout the East Bay to work collaboratively on public safety objectives. The first meeting took place last month.

Last week, Governor Newsom made two major announcements to combat crime in the East Bay. This includes the deployment of 120 California Highway Patrol Officers to the region and a partnership between the State Attorney General’s Office and the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office to increase the number of attorneys to prosecute significant cases targeting major criminal networks in the region. The creation of a regional public safety partnership will complement and build upon this work. This partnership will enable greater coordination and regional strategies that prevent and deter crime, and hold criminals accountable.

Economic Development Dashboard Shows Continued Growth

Local jobs in the construction industry saw one of the highest levels of growth over the past year.

The 2023 economic dashboard has been released, showing that Berkeley’s economy is strong. Unemployment rates throughout the State have increased slightly over the past year, even though the number of jobs has also increased. Berkeley’s unemployment rate is 4.0%, up from 3.5% in 2022, but lower than Alameda County (4.5%) and California (4.9%). Unsurprisingly, the sectors that saw the largest job growth were arts, entertainment, and recreation (+10.9%) and leisure and hospitality (+6.4%), a testament to the rebound and recovery since the pandemic. Construction was also in the top three (+9.4%), which reflects Berkeley’s ongoing construction boom that is generating hundreds of new housing, including the biggest pipeline of affordable housing.

Hotel occupancy rates continue to rise (70%) but are still below pre-pandemic levels (80%). However, the return of meetings, conventions, and related high-value accommodations has resulted in our hotel tax revenue reaching pre-pandemic levels to nearly $8 million. While office vacancy rates remain relatively high, which is the case across the country as many people have switched to working from home, ground floor retail vacancy is on the decline, down 0.3% to 8.1%. However, this still remains higher from pre-pandemic levels (5.4% in 2019). Sales tax is down compared to last year, but on-par with pre-pandemic levels.

Research and Development, startups, and biotech continue to grow in Berkeley, with two major projects in the works. The Berkeley Commons Life Science Campus by Aquatic Park is nearing completion, which will be home to around 1,500 jobs, and the former site of Pacific Steel has been sold, with plans to develop it into Berkeley Forge, another campus for innovation and research & development, creating up to 2,500 local jobs.

Small Sites Program Update

One apartment building renovated under the Small Sites Program recently reached full occupancy.

The Small Sites Program, which was approved by Council in 2018, aims to acquire and renovate small multifamily properties (5-25 units) into permanently affordable housing. So far, the program has resulted in the creation of 21 units of housing over two projects. The first project, an eight unit property in South Berkeley owned by the McGee Avenue Baptist Church, had been vacant for 20 years and needed significant renovation to become habitable. Through partnering with the Bay Area Community Land Trust (BACLT), they secured a total of $2.1 million from the Small Sites Program to complete the renovation at a cost of $263k per unit, significantly lower than the cost of constructing a new unit, which can be upwards of $1 million per unit. The residents moved in 2022.

The second project in North Berkeley converted a 13-unit building that had recently been Ellis Acted (when a property owner evicts tenants in order to remove housing from the rental market). Another project sponsored by the BACLT, they were able to renovate the property and maintain the housing for tenants who had not yet moved out. This was also accomplished in 2022, but recently reached full capacity thanks in part to the Berkeley Housing Authority providing Section 8 vouchers. Despite additional costs during renovation, the cost per unit was a modest $300k per unit.

Youth Summer Job Openings

There are multiple seasonal job opportunities, such as lifeguards, available to youth and young adults this summer.

The Parks, Recreation & Waterfront Department has multiple seasonal job openings this summer for youth looking to find new skills and work experience. Specifically, they are looking for overnight camp staff, recreation activity leaders, lifeguards, and others to join our recreation staff and work outdoors while providing fun, active, and creative programs for Berkeley youth.

To qualify, you must be 16 years or older, be able to work 20-40 hours per week, and be available for work June 1 through August 31, to qualify for seasonal positions. To be a lifeguard, you must be 15 years of age and must have a current lifeguard certification. For more information and to apply, click here.