The Economic Development Strategy could provide a platform for different city departments to review service delivery processes and establish performance metrics.
Marisa Raya, Economic Development Strategy Project Manager
People that need permits from the city, whether for a special event or to open a business, report very different experiences obtaining them. City staff could set and report standard costs and turnaround times for obtaining permits, as was done for residential building in the recent Housing Element. The Economic Development Strategy could identify where staff cuts are having the greatest impact on permit processing and make recommendations to address the staffing gap.
Oakland has a large number of co-ops, social entrepreneurs, and mission-driven companies. These companies in turn generate legal, business, and technical services to service double- or triple-bottom line companies. For example, here's a list of Oakland companies that meet social and environmental accountability standards. The City should help to market these businesses and consider incentives to support them.
In addition to traditional Commercial Lending, the City of Oakland offers KivaZip crowdfunding opportunities to small businesses. Local company Cutting Edge Capital (http://www.cuttingedgecapital.com/) is a go-to resource for Direct Public Offerings. And Social Impact investors such as the Kapor Center for Social Impact (http://kaporcenter.org/) are at the leading edge of Impact Investing. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impact_investing) How can the City connect local entrepreneurs and businesses to these opportunities?
The City supports a number of job training programs for residents and provides local recruitment and training support for growing Oakland businesses.The City's Workforce Development staff and Economic Development staff can collaborate on designing stronger talent pipelines from training programs to businesses. For example, the City is a partner in the Design It Build It Ship It initiative to connect area community colleges and universities to employers in the manufacturing industry.
Oakland's longstanding "key sectors" have also helped build resilience into our economy. These sectors support a variety of job levels as well as a local economy that can come back from a variety of shocks, whether economic or natural. Specialized city staff are available to help local businesses in these categories.
Of the many economic indicators showing Oakland's market heating up, (http://www2.oaklandnet.com/oakca1/groups/ceda/documents/report/oak042638.pdf) one of the biggest is the 20% increase in apartment rents over the last year. The Economic Development Strategy does not set housing policies, but it should emphasize that new housing and affordable housing is critical for our local workers and businesses and is therefore a citywide economic priority. In addition to participating in citywide initiatives to increase the housing supply, Economic Development staff can identify ways for local businesses and residents to be participants and investors in new development.
Blight and crime affect local businesses. The City uses "Area teams" to bring together Economic Development, Police, and Public Works to target hot spots in the city. Staff should identify ways to increase the resources for blight abatement, such as new neighborhood ambassador programs or community murals to discourage tagging.
The City should develop incentives to support businesses that locate in neighborhoods that currently lack services.
Traditional Business Incentive programs, such as sales or business tax rebates, often focus on new, large companies and the number of local jobs that they create. On the other hand, 90% of Oakland's current businesses have fewer than 20 employees. Should the City create a business incentive program focused on its current businesses?
The City's Cultural Arts & Marketing Department is launching a Cultural Arts Plan to help organize and support Oakland's arts community. A Cultural Arts Plan may address facilities, placemaking, and career and business support for artists.
The Otis College of Art and Design in Sourthern CA has assembled some examples. http://www.otis.edu/creative-economy-resources