BERKELEY — The City Council on Tuesday allocated $1.5 million for programs aiming to reduce consumption of sodas and other sugar-sweetened beverages.
The one-year infusion will come out of the city’s general fund and is roughly equivalent to the projected first-year take from Measure D, the 1-cent-per-ounce tax on the distribution of sodas and other sugary beverages approved by Berkeley voters in November 2014 and implemented in early 2015.
Measure D raised about $700,000 in the first six months and appeared to be exhibiting an upward trend.
The Sugar Sweetened Beverage Product Panel Of Experts Commission, which has an advisory role in the spending of the funds, had recommended a $2 million allocation, but the council balked at spending more than the amount generated by the tax.
The $1.5 million will be divided as follows: a $637,500 grant to the Berkeley Unified School District for cooking, gardening and nutrition programs; another $637,500 to community-based agencies through a competitive request-for-proposals process; and $225,000 to the city’s Public Health Division to coordinate, evaluate and report on the programs.
“We are definitely on the cutting edge, and all eyes are upon us,” said Berkeley Health Officer Dr. Janet Berreman, noting that Berkeley’s Measure D is the first soda tax in the nation.
“This is what we want to be remembered for,” said experts commission Chairwoman Jennifer Browne.
Councilmen Max Anderson and Darryl Moore advocated that the city respect the intent of Measure D by spending most of the money on programs aimed at minority youth, who are disproportionately afflicted with juvenile diabetes, obesity, tooth decay and other health problems associated with sugary drinks.
Earlier during Tuesday’s regular meeting, the council declared a homeless shelter crisis in Berkeley as part of the consent calendar; still unclear is how Berkeley will address the crisis and how it would fund solutions. In a report, Councilman Kriss Worthington, who sponsored the declaration, cited strategies in San Jose, San Francisco, Sacramento, Portland (Oregon) and Hawaii to establish emergency shelters, increase the numbers of shelter beds, and develop long-term housing.
The council also agreed to target Housing Trust Fund spending to help secure federal and state housing funds, and to streamline the permit process for housing projects with a majority of affordable units, with details to be worked out by interim City Manager Dee Williams-Ridley. A fourth housing-related item sponsored by Worthington, a proposed $1 million loan to the Housing Trust Fund to stimulate development of affordable rental housing, was postponed to a later date.
The council also postponed a vote on a proposed paid sick leave ordinance, pending further study by a subcommittee to be made up of council members Linda Maio, Jesse Arreguin and Susan Wengraf.
Earlier, the council approved continuing at least through the end of the current fiscal year a pilot project to deploy the fire department’s fourth ambulance. Since the current trial period began in March 2015, Berkeley has seen a 61 percent reduction in mutual aid calls to other agencies, according to a report by interim Fire Chief Avery Webb. Additionally, the fourth ambulance has eased the intense workload of the three other ambulances, fire officials reported.
Several council members spoke enthusiastically about a possible fifth ambulance in the future.
