Resolution 14314CITY OF ALAMEDA RESOLUTION NO. 14314
SUPPORT OF A MARITIME ADMINISTRATION SMALL SHIPYARD
GRANT TO BAY SHIP & YACHT CO. TO ESTABLISH A JOB
TRAINING CENTER AND PROGRAM
WHEREAS, the City of Alameda, a community of approximately 74,000
people located on Alameda Island in San Francisco Bay, has a long history as a
maritime community with a significant maritime industry.
WHEREAS, the City's once thriving maritime industry and its economy
suffered a significant loss and still have not recovered from the closure of the Navy
and other military bases on San Francisco Bay in the 1990s. The closure of the
Alameda Naval Air Station in 1997 alone eliminated thousands of direct jobs and
heavily impacted the entire Alameda Island and surrounding communities.
WHEREAS, these blows to the City's economy, together with other
changes, have left this City with sharply reduced revenues, forcing cutbacks in
needed and longstanding public services.
WHEREAS, the accelerating and deepening recession is having a severe
impact on the California and Alameda economies. Recent statistics show
unemployment in the County of Alameda, 9.3% in January 2009, as one of the
highest in the San Francisco Bay Area and California unemployment rates are
over 10%, among the highest in the nation.
WHEREAS, the San Francisco Bay Area and its inland waterways are a
gateway to the Pacific Rim and critical to the local, State and nation's economies,
providing a large, complex marine transportation system for cargo and passenger
movements and intermodal transfer of cargo throughout the world.
WHEREAS, Bay Ship & Yacht Co., with its shipyard facilities in this City of
Alameda, is one of the largest employers in the City of Alameda and the City's
largest maritime service provider. Bay Ship employs more than 250 workers,
including hundreds of technically skilled, blue collar workers, who provide a vital
service for ship construction, reconfiguration, refurbishment, dry-docking and
repair for hundreds of government, domestic and foreign ship owners and
operators annually.
WHEREAS, by the authority of Section 3508 of the National Defense
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009 (Pub. L. 110-417) and the section entitled
"Supplemental Grants for Assistance to Small Shipyards" in the American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the Maritime Administration is offering
grants to small shipyards for (among other things) (i) maritime training programs to
foster technical skills and operational productivity in communities whose
economies are related to or dependent upon the maritime industry, and (ii) capital
improvements and related infrastructure improvements at qualified shipyards that
will be effective in fostering efficiency, competitive operations, and quality ship
construction, repair, and reconfiguration.
WHEREAS, Bay Ship & Yacht Co. proposes to establish a job training
center at its shipyard to provide training in the skilled metal work, machine work,
pipe fitting and related trades, and expects to employ many of the graduates at its
shipyard.
WHEREAS, a small shipyard grant to Bay Ship and Yacht Co. for this job
training center will allow Bay Ship to develop the technical skills of its work force
and to be more productive, and thus provide greater value added and cost savings
to its government and commercial customers. Such a grant will also benefit the
City of Alameda and the greater San Francisco Bay Area by providing employment
for skilled workers and support for the City of Alameda's local economy.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the City Council of the City of
Alameda as follows.
1. The City of Alameda strongly supports the application of Bay Ship & Yacht
Co. for a small shipyard grant from the Federal Maritime Administration, inasmuch
as the maritime industry is a vital part of this City's economy and the grant will
foster job training, employment and the growth of this City's economy.
2. The City of Alameda urges the Federal Maritime Administration to give the
application of Bay Ship & Yacht Co. its most favorable consideration and to award
a small shipyard grant to Bay Ship & Yacht Co. to establish its job training center
and program.
I, the undersigned, hereby certify that the foregoing Resolution was duly and
regularly adopted and passed by the Council of the City of Alameda during the Regular
Meeting of the City Council on the 17`h day of March, 2009, by the following vote to wit:
AYES: Councilmembers deHaan, Gilmore, Matarrese, Tam,
and Mayor Johnson - 5.
NOES: None.
ABSENT: None.
ABSTENTIONS: None.
IN WITNESS, WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the official seal of
said City this 18`h day of March, 2009.
Lara Weisiger, C
City of Alameda