{"id":4248,"date":"2017-02-25T11:57:02","date_gmt":"2017-02-25T19:57:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=4248"},"modified":"2017-02-25T12:08:32","modified_gmt":"2017-02-25T20:08:32","slug":"oakland-holds-community-forum-public-banking-publicbankinginstitute-org","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2017\/02\/25\/oakland-holds-community-forum-public-banking-publicbankinginstitute-org\/","title":{"rendered":"Oakland Holds Community Forum on Public Banking (publicbankinginstitute.org)"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"headline\">\n<h2><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"profile_image\" src=\"http:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/nationbuilder\/image\/twitter\/w_73,h_73,c_fill,d_buddy1.png\/2658169560.jpg\" width=\"72\" height=\"72\" border=\"0\" \/><\/h2>\n<div class=\"byline\">posted by <span class=\"name\"><span class=\"linked-signup-name\">PUBLIC BANKING INST<\/span><\/span><br \/>\nFebruary 24, 2017<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"content\">\n<div id=\"intro\" class=\"intro\">\n<div class=\"content\">\n<p>The idea of creating a public bank in Oakland is under serious consideration, a move that could help the city&#8217;s cannabis industry access financial services and free up more funds for lending and infrastructure development.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net\/pbi\/pages\/447\/attachments\/original\/1487972013\/oaklandcityhall_WalterThompson.JPG?1487972013\" alt=\"oaklandcityhall_WalterThompson.JPG\" width=\"650\" height=\"450\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>Oakland Holds Community Forum on Public Banking<\/h2>\n<p><strong>By Richard Knee, <em>Hoodline.com<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A February 9 forum on the topic organized by the City Council&#8217;s Finance Committee and advocacy group Friends of the Public Bank of Oakland (FPBO) drew a standing-room-only crowd to a City Hall meeting room. Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin and representatives from Richmond also attended, as those cities may wish to participate.<\/p>\n<p>Public banking is a venerable concept, though not widespread; North Dakota has a 98-year-old public bank, Philadelphia\u2019s City Council voted last February to begin the process of forming one, and <a href=\"http:\/\/bankingonnewmexico.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">activists are pushing for one in Santa Fe<\/a>, New Mexico.<\/p>\n<p>On February 28, Finance Committee members Annie Campbell Washington, Dan Kalb, Noel Gallo and Abel Guill\u00e9n are set to receive a staff report on the cost of a feasibility study. At that point, Kaplan said she&#8217;ll bring a resolution to authorize the study, which was backed last November by FPBO.<\/p>\n<p>While the chief motivation is to keep local money in Oakland, a public bank could also give the city&#8217;s cannabis industry expanded access to banking services. Additionally, the proposed institution could provide low-interest loans to students and home buyers, support small businesses and invest in local infrastructure.<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"PBI\" href=\"http:\/\/www.publicbankinginstitute.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">Public Banking Institute<\/a> (PBI) board member and leader in the Santa Fe effort, Nichoe Lichen, offered some feedback.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Who pays for the [feasibility) study matters,\u201d she said. \u201cFor a feasibility study, you need expertise, you need someone who is open-minded, who knows resources. You need all kinds of people \u2014 legislators and banking experts.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kalb scoffed at the notion of private-sector banks being \u201ctoo big to fail,\u201d saying that in reality they had become \u201ctoo big to help the people who need help most.\u201d Bank operators would need to raise significant lending capital, as cash represents just three percent of domestic transactions, said Mark Armstrong, president of Sonoma-based Commonomics.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cInstead of trying to regulate the institutions we have, why not just create a better one?&#8221; asked economics and public finance consultant Tom Sguros. &#8220;All it takes is one city to organize wealth in a way that benefits the people of the city rather than Bank of America,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The cannabis industry is largely cash-only; because most banks are federally-insured, depositing funds from a technically illegal business could create challenges for growers and dispensaries.<\/p>\n<p>Cannabis industry lawyer Henry Wykowski said Harborside Health Center, for which he is lead attorney, does $10 \u2013 $20 million in cash transactions each year, making customers \u201cunnecessary targets for crime\u201d and complicating tax payments.<\/p>\n<p>Arreguin said 8,000 of his city\u2019s nearly 113,000 residents \u201cdo not have a bank account or are under-banked,&#8221; so \u201cwe look forward to participating with you in this effort.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>posted by PUBLIC BANKING INST February 24, 2017 The idea of creating a public bank in Oakland is under serious consideration, a move that could help the city&#8217;s cannabis industry access financial services and free up more funds for lending and infrastructure development. Oakland Holds Community Forum on Public Banking&#8230; <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2017\/02\/25\/oakland-holds-community-forum-public-banking-publicbankinginstitute-org\/\"> Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr; <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4248"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4248"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4248\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4249,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4248\/revisions\/4249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}