Oakland District Six Councilmember and candidate for both re-election and Oakland Mayor (not a legal position to be in, but that’s for another time), took to Instagram to vent his spleen over the way Oakland City Council President Nikki Fortunado Bas and Oakland District 4 (Oakland Hills / Montclair) Councilmember and Mayoral Candidate Sheng Thao changed the Rules Committee schedule in such a way as to prevent his gun-violence resolution from coming up for discussion.
This is what he wrote on Friday via his Instagram account (with appropriate spacing added by this author):
It is extremely disappointing that Rules & Legislation Committee Chair Sheng Thao and Council President Nikki Fortunato-Bas, are using their Council roles to place politics over the lives of Oaklanders.
Following an action alert, I sent out yesterday morning, and a slew emails from Oakland residents supporting my violence reduction resolutions, Chair Thao canceled the Rules committee meeting 30 minutes prior to its start time. She then joined Council President Bas to successfully block the scheduling of these two resolutions to Tuesday’s Council meeting, denying the public the opportunity to participate in a discussion about the enhanced safety solutions proposed.
Politics were clearly at play, given that my two safety solutions were the only items denied by my colleague, who recently joined me in the mayor’s race. I am committed to serving Oakland first, despite the campaign, and expect my colleagues to do the same.
While I am ready to support any viable solutions that will keep Oaklanders safe, including Thao’s lateral hiring incentives, I reject all efforts that stand in the way of saving lives in our city. Not allowing Oaklanders the opportunity to have a dialogue on these items is a direct assault on our democratic process. It is evident that her candidacy for Mayor is undermining her and her Council allies’ duties to be fair and uncompromised leaders.
That is why I will be supporting a full investigation of their actions, including a possible ethics violation and breach in Council rules of procedure. It is my hope that the safety of Oakland residents will be centered in all of Council’s decisions moving forward.
What Councilmember Taylor Wanted To Present To City Council
This is from an email that Councilmember Taylor’s Office sent out to those on his email list:
Year to date, Oakland has experienced 127 homicides, 562 assaults with a firearm, and 480 car jackings. That is unacceptable. Everyday my office hears directly from residents, who are rightfully frustrated, fearful, and tired of the level of violence they and their children are experiencing in Oakland. While those in positions of power would lead you to believe public safety a divisive issue, it is not. An overwhelming majority of Oaklanders understand that we must all do more to create a holistic public safety system that includes prevention, deterrence, AND enforcement measures. Building upon my advocacy for additional police academy in June, an action that was ultimately denied by my colleagues, a couple weeks ago, I introduced the Stand TALL Oakland Call to Action. The goal of this interagency plan was to uplift specific solutions that will reduce the amount of gun violence and crime we are experiencing throughout Oakland and Alameda County.
Today, I am bringing forward a resolution to the Rules committee that will legislate the items of my plan that are within City of Oakland’s purview, including:
- Adding an additional police academy within the FY2022-23 budget
- Hiring five (5) additional non-sworn criminal investigation staff members
- Installing surveillance cameras to aid in criminal investigations
- Unfreezing eight (8) frozen positions to allow for full staffing of the Ceasefire unit
- An informational report from the City Administrator, that includes the following:
- A proposal rate for doubling clearance rate of homicides, including a clearance rate dashboard
- A staffing plan to increase the number of sworn officers to 800
- Identification of grant opportunities for gun tracing efforts
- A report on the effectiveness of 911 surge units, and the impact of freezing 41 positions as proposed in the adopted Council budget
- A plan for ensuring an equitable 911 response across the City
Given the non-controversial nature of his proposal, it’s puzzling that it was not allowed to see the light of day. Stay tuned to updates of this post to help shed more light on what’s happening.