Features

An alarming report on asthma in Berkeley and Oakland will be front and center at this Tuesday’s Berkeley City Council meeting 

Berkeley children are hospitalized for asthma at twice the rate of the state average and African Americans are more than four times as likely to be hospitalized for the respiratory illness as other Berkeley residents, according to a 2004 report from the Oakland Berkeley Asthma Coalition. The data for the report came from the California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development. 

“As a community we need to talk about what we’re going to do about this,” said Berkeley Public Health Officer Dr. Poki Namkung, who will present the report’s findings to the council.  

Also on the agenda for Tuesday, the council will once again consider how to spend $3.4 million in unanticipated property tax revenue and Fire Chief Debra Pryor will detail a Fire Department proposal to cut service without eliminating one of the city’s two ladder trucks. 

Last week, for the second time, the council held off on supporting a recommendation from City Manager Phil Kamlarz to dedicate the money for a new police dispatch system, the city’s lawsuit against the UC Board of Regents over the UC Berkeley’s Long Range Development Plan, street repairs and a match for a solar bond fund. 

Several councilmembers have been hesitant to dedicate the money so early in the budget process, when the city is facing a general fund shortfall of $8.9 million. 

“The city manager is still trying to ram through the $3.4 million,” said Councilmember Kriss Worthington, who wants to hold off the allocation until the council finalizes the budget in June. 

Kamlarz has recommended that the extra revenue not go to pay for recurring programs, because he fears that would only delay tough budget cuts. At last week’s meeting, Councilmember Laurie Capitelli backed Kamlarz. 

“I’m not spending this to pay for recurring costs,” he said. “I think that it’s delaying the inevitable.” 

Also, the council will consider a proposal from the Human Welfare and Community Action Commission to give it more say in the distribution of funding to local nonprofits. The commission charged that last year the council found more money for local nonprofits, but didn’t seek the commission’s input in choosing which groups received extra allocations. 

Oakland/Berkeley Asthma 

Hospitalization Report 

Findings: 

• From 1999 to 2001 there were over 7,400 hospitalizations due to asthma in Alameda County, an average of 2,500 per year. 

• In Oakland and Berkeley during the same period, there were more than 4,100 hospitalizations with direct charges totaling over $13 million. 

• Hospitalization rates for Oakland children are four times higher than for all California children; for Berkeley children they are 2.5 times higher. 

• Over half of the Oakland/Berkeley residents hospitalized for asthma are children below the age of 15. 

• African-American hospitalization rates are about four times higher than that of the general population. 

• While asthma hospitalization rates have declined slightly in Alameda County over a five-year period, rates have increased significantly in some high risk neighborhoods in East and West Oakland. 

• Over 16 percent of Oakland and Berkeley residents under age 25 hospitalized for asthma have more than one hospital stay for asthma in the same year. 

—Oakland Berkeley Asthma Coalition