Oakland, CA- Today Oakland Councilmember At-Large Rebecca Kaplan, released the following statement on the future of public banking in Oakland and the region:
The public banking feasibility study on the agenda today marks an important step in the process of investigating public banking for the City of Oakland and larger region.
By creating a bank that is accountable to the community, we can fund needed projects, offer low interest loans to underserved populations, and invest in accordance with our values. As distrust in big corporate banks and lack of oversight at the Federal level are growing problems — this is how we can be part of the solution.
Since multiple cities in Alameda County, along with the County government itself, have all expressed interest in working together on a regional collaborative for Public banking, I think it would be useful to ask Alameda County to take a larger leadership role in next steps. This could strengthen our regional collaboration, could include working with San Francisco County as they also explore this, and could reduce pressure on the overworked city of Oakland personnel.
For these reasons, it is my hope that we continue to move forward in our efforts to create a regional public bank, and ask Alameda County to take a leadership role in developing the business plan.