Every second and fourth Tuesday, the city's public agencies participate in a bi-weekly marathon of discussion in the first floor of City Hall. The schedule:

Public Works Committee - 10:30 a.m.

Finance Committee - Noon

Community and Economic Development Committee - 2 p.m.

Life Enrichment Committee - 4 p.m.

Public Safety Committee - 5:30 p.m.

All meetings take place in the Sgt. Mark Dunakin Room on the first floor of Oakland's City Hall (just to the right of the main entrance).

These are our top five issues for May 10:

City considers selling Montclair and Chabot Golf Courses

Mayor Quan's latest FY11-13 budget has a $58 million hole. The Finance Committee will consider one potential solution, proposed by Councilman Ignacio De La Fuente, to sell the city-owned Montclair and Chabot Golf Courses.

At De La Fuente's request, city staff examined what it would take to sell the golf courses. In short, the properties wouldn't be able to do anything for the current budget.

The city bought 13 acres of the Montclair Golf Course for $10 in 1938, and leases the other two acres for $16,512 a year from the State and First Bank of California. The Chabot Golf Course, which covers 265 acres, was acquired over time from a variety of owners. Most of the land (245 acres) was purchased from a single owner for $31,419 and opened in 1923.

Selling the properties would be difficult. The Montclair property must be used as a park, as restricted in its deed. The deed for the Chabot property is illegible, but the title company doesn't believe that there are any similar restrictions. Oakland could have to buy the other two acres of the Montclair Golf Course, and transfer the remaining 17 years of their contract with the operating company.

How much could Oakland make off the properties? An appraiser that specializes in golf courses could charge $40,000 to make that estimate for each course. Surveyors could charge another $180,000 to $225,000 to prepare the documentations for sale. Given the general decline in the real estate market, this could be a tough sell. The report estimates it would take at least 18 months to sell the property, not including the time spent stepping through regulations, even with a national brokerage firm that specializes in golf courses.

Vacant Building Registry Report

The Community and Economic Development Agency reviews a report on the number and status of vacant properties each month. From July 2010 to March 2011, in Oakland:

• The city received 3,600 complaints about blighted property.
• The city conducted 13,500 property blight inspections.
• The city issued $700,000 in liens and collected $110,000.
• Banks registered 870 newly foreclosed properties (paying $495,000 in fees, at $568 each).
• Banks were charged $1.1 million in other foreclosure fees, but only paid $280,000.
• Banks cleaned 253 foreclosed properties and the city cleaned 35.

Life Enrichment Committee Grants

Cities receive state and federal money for a variety of social programs in the form of grants. These grants are the subject of an alliterative and bureaucratic dance wherein a committee authorizes the City Administrator to "apply for, accept and appropriate" the money.

This week, the entire agenda of the Life Enrichment Committee is dedicated to three grants:

• $15,454,593 from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for Head Start (the Child Development Program)
• $375,000 from the California Department of Education to provide meals for the Head Start Program for 2011-2012
• $1,073,929 from the California Department of Education to fund pre-kindergarten and family literacy services

Report on Oakland Police Department Staffing Levels

The Oakland Police Department has much fewer officers than they deem necessary to adequately cover Oakland. In this report, we find that Oakland is set to do much worse.

The OPD projects it will have 462 uniformed officers in June 2014. This is well below even today's modest 653, let alone the recent heyday of 830 officers in January 2009.

Renewal of the Fruitvale Business Improvement District

Business Improvement Districts, or BIDs, are a popular legal mechanism to help neighborhoods help themselves when surrounded by cities with scarce money and/or other priorities. A BID draws a line around an area and increases the property taxes for that area. But instead of sending the revenue into the city's general fund, the BID gets to keep it. BIDs generally spend their funds on marketing, streetscape improvements, security, as decided by a board or committee of district representatives.

Oakland's BIDs must be renewed every 10 years. To renew, the city will hold a public hearing and a vote of affected property owners. The vote would be held this summer, and the result announced in another public hearing on July 19.

If renewed, the BID is expected to collect $324,713 in 2011 for "cleaning, marketing and promotional activities." The city of Oakland and the Redevelopment Agency own property in the proposed district, and pay their fare share ($16,233 in 2011).