The US Department of Transportation announced today that it has even more money to put toward local transportation safety projects than predicted this year:

The SS4A NOFO was amended on April 16, 2024, to include the following four changes: [blah blah blah] As a result, the funds available for SS4A Implementation Grants increase from $580 million to $780 million.
— USDOT Amended FY24 SS4A Notice of Funding Opportunity

In contrast, last week I heard that the revenue numbers going into the City of Alameda's mid-cycle budget process may be softer than expected.

That's relevant to the future of traffic safety in Alameda given that the City Manager had proposed that meeting as the next opportunity to consider increasing the small number of city staffers planning and administering transportation projects:

The City Manager stated the mid-cycle budget is the second regular meeting in May; at that work session, staff will present transportation options and what it would take to get back on schedule; there may be projects that require significant grant funding; staff has talked about strategically deploying resources a little differently and is working on to see if operational items can move faster.
— minutes from the February 20, 2024 meeting of Alameda City Council

There's a choice here: There are sources of "significant grant funding" — but applying for those grants requires that the city have sufficient staff to do so.

Moreover, the city needs to have sufficient staff to actually administer grants that are won and manage the projects that are funded (even if the bulk of the work is implemented by consultants and contractors). To paraphrase the a Planning staffer speaking at the last Alameda Transportation Commission meeting, the problem with applying for grants is that when we win the grant, then we have to actually do the work we proposed!

Furthermore, there are many other day-to-day obligations and competing priorities that need to be carried out by the Planning and Public Works departments.

There's just only so much time to go around. These constraints have led to a pile-up of existing projects in the city's pipeline (with some important projects, like Neighborhood Greenways de-prioritized) and, equally dispiriting, narrowing our range of vision for the future.

Those $1.2 trillion dollars currently coursing through federal, state, and regional channels to repair and improve American infrastructure aren't going to wait on the City of Alameda.

Do City Manager and City Council want to staff up to fully seize this opportunity for Alameda's residents, businesses, visitors, and future generations?