In June, the Alameda County grand jury released the result of its investigation into three city offices: the Building Services Division, Parking Bureau and Information Technology. The report included several recommendations.

The city, facing mounting public criticism of its Building Services Division, issued a response to these recommendations. The city acknowledged room for improvement on some counts and listed the various steps it will take to rectify some concerns, but ignored others.

Assuming that the city follows through on all of these plans, will it be enough to make things right?...

This article is part of 'Oakland Inside,' a continuing investigative news series that examines the inner workings of Oakland City Hall and explores accountability issues around CEDA Building Services. This coverage was made possible by a grant from The Fund for Investigative Journalism. Read all stories in this series.

Building Services Division

The Building Services Division of the Community and Economic Development Agency (CEDA) is responsible for addressing blight and building code violations.

Code enforcement is supposed to work this way: An inspector visits a property, confirms there is a code violation and then works with the property owner to fix the problem. As a last resort, the city can fine the property owner and use the fine to hire a contractor to fix the issue. If the property owner doesn't pay the fine, a legal note (called a "lien") can be placed on the property. Having a lien will hurt the homeowner's credit and as a worst case, the property can be foreclosed to recoup the fine.

The grand jury report described the Building Services Division and its actions as "appalling," "disturbing," "ambiguous" and having "an atmosphere of hostility and intimidation toward property owners." The report recommended that the division undertake the following steps to rectify these problems. The city, whose responses are paraphrased in bold, did not appear enthusiastic to make these changes.

• Ensure that the true property owners are notified of violations through every stage of the abatement process. This is "challenging." The city says it will continue waiving fees whenever owners are improperly identified.
• Implement a training program that emphasizes working with – not against – property owners. The city says it is developing staff training to emphasize neighborhood preservation and rehabilitation over enforcement.
• Revise fees and base them on actual reasonable costs incurred by the city. "The city's fees are based upon city costs." City consultants are expected to review best practices from other cities.
• Develop a centralized case management system that is easily accessible to all inspectors and property owners. The city says it will integrate permitting, code enforcement, and other activities in a new online database.
• Establish a clear, simple, effective appeals process that is easily understood by property owners and provides clear instructions for use. "The city is in the process of reviewing its appeal process to improve transparency and clarity."

The city did not address to the following recommendations.

• Provide the property owner a clear written description in simple-to-understand language on the notice of violation and not just refer the property owner to a city code section.
• Establish deadlines for inspectors to respond to property owners.
• Develop an operations manual to ensure inspectors operate in a consistent manner in applying code enforcement.
• Immediately establish an ombudsman function (not a Building Services manager or inspector) to review all appeals and to assist the property owner.

The city disagreed with one recommendation. Prospective liens are liens placed on a property before the final decision is made on the code violation.

• Eliminate the use of prospective liens. The city says it will continue using prospective liens to warn prospective buyers that issues may exist.
  

Parking Bureau

The grand jury also investigated the Parking Bureau. The report found that new systems remarkably improved the efficiency of citation processing and new training enhanced customer service, despite staffing reductions. The appeals process meets the requirements of state law. Basically, the bureau should continue tracking trends and train staff, but "indicators are moving in a positive direction."

The investigation recommended that the city:

"Issue an annual report on parking citations that includes the following: number of tickets issued, number and outcome of appeals, length of time to resolve appeals, length of phone waiting time and fine recovery and collection rates. This report should be made available to the public and posted on the city’s website."

The city says it will create the report, but made no mention of making it available to the public.

Information Technology

Oakland is one of only four cities that does not belong to the East Bay Regional Communications System Authority, or EBRCSA. Oakland developed its own system after the 1991 Oakland Hills fire, when the regional effort was slower to act. According to the city, it has upgraded to the EBRCSA's standards, but continues to operate separately of the authority.

The report also discussed examples of police officers falling into radio "dead spots."

"Officers responded to a potential hostage situation inside a public building in East Oakland. While confronting the suspect inside the building, officers were unable to use their radios. An officer had to use a phone inside the building to contact dispatch while another officer ran out to the street to use the radio."

Beyond adopting the regional standards the city claims to have finalized, the city made no mention of the report's final two recommendations. The city's Information Technology Department must:

• Report quarterly to the Oakland City Council on radio communication failures, the status of the new system and its upgrades.
• Bridge the communication gap between front-line public safety personnel and information technology staff to ensure that problems are quickly and satisfactorily addressed.