13 16-1140 Subject: Fiscal Year (FY) 2017-19 Budget Adoption
From: Office Of The City Administrator
Recommendation: Adopt The Following Pieces Of Legislation:
1) A Resolution Authorizing The Fiscal Year (FY) 2017-2019 Biennial Budget And Appropriating Certain Funds To Provide For The Expenditures Proposed By Said Budget; And
The money in this budget which will be spent on the police academy, the COPS grant match, and paying OPD officer overtime needs to be redirected towards services that benefit the residents of Oakland, especially the most marginalized. Please invest in youth job training, free mental health services, long-term affordable housing solutions, arts education, and restorative justice. Public money should be spent on the public good, not OPD.
Why is OUSD facing a critical budget deficit when we have such a surplus of OPD funding? Education is a far better tool to reduce crime than police. I know the prison lobbies have more power than the education community, but please consider the well-being of our children and invest in OUSD, and defund OPD.
Please invest in the safety of our community, but not by increasing funding to the police. I hope we all can listen to those most impacted by policing, and the many alternative and less expensive solutions they offer.
A small but very loud and vocal group is spreading the false rumor that all Montclair residences are in favor of needlessly expanding funding for such things as five full time inspectors, etc. This is not the position of the majority of hills residents.
The house I have lived in and owned for over thirty years was within the fire zone, but was not damaged by the fire. Like most, I moved here because of the trees and vegetative nature of the hills- the so called urban forest. We do not wish to turn the hills into just another Rockridge.
The past two decades have shown that the program is ineffective, subject to arbitrary interpretations, and capriciously enforced. It would be better to spend the money on ensuring that fires are sufficiently manned overnight (even if they are declared “out) and on better training for both firefighters and supervisory personal so that they will be better prepared to quickly put out, completely out, the small fires that occasionally happen.
Please reduce funding for the OPD. There are far more effective, evidence-based approaches to reducing violent crime, and they also happen to improve communities in other ways. We should instead be focusing on housing and employment programs for those released from prison, on providing services to the homeless, and on public education and mental health services.
As an Oakland resident, I strongly oppose this budget and urge you to reconsider your budget allocations - to reallocate funding to represent the actual needs of Oakland residents, community members and voters, especially those most vulnerable and impacted by gentrification, racialized and militarized policing, ICE deportations and the Trump administration. I urge you to invest in what this community actually needs - in affordable housing, mental health and crisis care, public health care and programs, community preparedness to crises and natural disasters, etc. Not in OPD, which is overfunded, has no accountability or auditing (do you have any proof that OPD is effectively using money to keep the community safe?), and clear evidence and incidences where OPD has actually causes harm (including death), especially to Black and Brown, poor and working and houseless communities. #DefundOPD #InvestinCommunity
As a resident of Oakland, I strongly encourage the council to decrease funding for OPD and increase funding for things that actually keep our communities safe - affordable housing, mental health services. Police do not keep our communities safe!
As a resident of Oakland, I strongly oppose this budget. Oakland needs more mental health care, affordable/SAFE housing for the community, more money for teachers and investment in our youth. OPD needs less money and scandals. Do the right thing and put this money into the community, not into an already corrupt police system.
Divest from OPD and invest in our community! Oakland police are unqualified to respond to things like mental health calls, and there is no reason to send a heavily armed police officer to tow a car or issue a ticket. Furthermore, the City of Oakland's reckless spending on police overtime that exceeds budget allocations is a disgrace given how many things our community truly needs like: after school programs, mental health services, affordable housing and more social workers (to name a few). I urge the City Council to divest from Oakland's police and re-invest in Oakland's people.
Oakland needs more money for schools, affordable housing, fire safety, and other critical city efforts, not a massive police force. A bigger police budget does NOT equal a safer city. I hope the council will decrease OPD funding and fund non-policing alternatives to support the health of our communities instead.
I join the majority of Oakland residents in looking for solutions to the crisis we face with housing, health care, mental health care, schools, and more. We need a jobs program for black and brown youth. In order to improve our city we must cut the police budget which is very inflated compared to other cities. We need to put our dollars where they will improve our community. I have lived and worked in Oakland for decades. Please do what we need to make a positive change. Cut the police budget and put those resources elsewhere.
I stand with my community-members imploring you not to increase funding for OPD. We desperately need a budget that acknowledges our need for affordable housing, mental health resources, and restorative justice alternatives. We have seen, time and time again, that the further militarization of our communities does not work and our brothers and sisters of color pay with their lives. This is as much a moral as a fiscal issue and it is time for Mayor Schaff and City Council to invest in the people of Oakland, not in a police state.
Please listen to the voices of your constituents and do not increase funding for OPD. Oakland needs investment in public schools, accessible community centers, the development of affordable housing, and mental health and counseling services, not funds which support force against and the surveillance of our communities, and most often our low-income communities of color.
Mayor Schaff and City Council,
Oakland is facing a moral crisis. This is a plea for a recognition of our common humanity. Do not increase OPD funding -- Black, Brown and poor people already suffer under aggressive policing, pushing them into our nation's prison system which has consequences on their economic, political and social futures. Be brave so you can sleep at night.
Do not increase funding for OPD. Oakland need more funding for education, mental health services, and above all affordable housing, not increased police presence in our communities.
I do not support increasing police funding. Community money needs to support community resources that benefit Oakland residents. We need less police and more educators, counselors, mediators, art programs, libraries, college and career pathways, access to healthcare, and affordabke housing.
The city of Oakland should reduce funding for the Oakland Police Department- we need more affordable housing, better public schools and more employment opportunities, not more cops patrolling the streets and racking up overtime pay.
Defund OPD invest in education
The money in this budget which will be spent on the police academy, the COPS grant match, and paying OPD officer overtime needs to be redirected towards services that benefit the residents of Oakland, especially the most marginalized. Please invest in youth job training, free mental health services, long-term affordable housing solutions, arts education, and restorative justice. Public money should be spent on the public good, not OPD.
Why is OUSD facing a critical budget deficit when we have such a surplus of OPD funding? Education is a far better tool to reduce crime than police. I know the prison lobbies have more power than the education community, but please consider the well-being of our children and invest in OUSD, and defund OPD.
Please invest in the safety of our community, but not by increasing funding to the police. I hope we all can listen to those most impacted by policing, and the many alternative and less expensive solutions they offer.
A small but very loud and vocal group is spreading the false rumor that all Montclair residences are in favor of needlessly expanding funding for such things as five full time inspectors, etc. This is not the position of the majority of hills residents.
The house I have lived in and owned for over thirty years was within the fire zone, but was not damaged by the fire. Like most, I moved here because of the trees and vegetative nature of the hills- the so called urban forest. We do not wish to turn the hills into just another Rockridge.
The past two decades have shown that the program is ineffective, subject to arbitrary interpretations, and capriciously enforced. It would be better to spend the money on ensuring that fires are sufficiently manned overnight (even if they are declared “out) and on better training for both firefighters and supervisory personal so that they will be better prepared to quickly put out, completely out, the small fires that occasionally happen.
Please reduce funding for the OPD. There are far more effective, evidence-based approaches to reducing violent crime, and they also happen to improve communities in other ways. We should instead be focusing on housing and employment programs for those released from prison, on providing services to the homeless, and on public education and mental health services.
As an Oakland resident, I strongly oppose this budget and urge you to reconsider your budget allocations - to reallocate funding to represent the actual needs of Oakland residents, community members and voters, especially those most vulnerable and impacted by gentrification, racialized and militarized policing, ICE deportations and the Trump administration. I urge you to invest in what this community actually needs - in affordable housing, mental health and crisis care, public health care and programs, community preparedness to crises and natural disasters, etc. Not in OPD, which is overfunded, has no accountability or auditing (do you have any proof that OPD is effectively using money to keep the community safe?), and clear evidence and incidences where OPD has actually causes harm (including death), especially to Black and Brown, poor and working and houseless communities. #DefundOPD #InvestinCommunity
As a resident of Oakland, I strongly encourage the council to decrease funding for OPD and increase funding for things that actually keep our communities safe - affordable housing, mental health services. Police do not keep our communities safe!
As a resident of Oakland, I strongly oppose this budget. Oakland needs more mental health care, affordable/SAFE housing for the community, more money for teachers and investment in our youth. OPD needs less money and scandals. Do the right thing and put this money into the community, not into an already corrupt police system.
Divest from OPD and invest in our community! Oakland police are unqualified to respond to things like mental health calls, and there is no reason to send a heavily armed police officer to tow a car or issue a ticket. Furthermore, the City of Oakland's reckless spending on police overtime that exceeds budget allocations is a disgrace given how many things our community truly needs like: after school programs, mental health services, affordable housing and more social workers (to name a few). I urge the City Council to divest from Oakland's police and re-invest in Oakland's people.
I do NOT support increased funding to OPD. This city is in crisis! Fund your people not their abusers!!!
Oakland needs more money for schools, affordable housing, fire safety, and other critical city efforts, not a massive police force. A bigger police budget does NOT equal a safer city. I hope the council will decrease OPD funding and fund non-policing alternatives to support the health of our communities instead.
I join the majority of Oakland residents in looking for solutions to the crisis we face with housing, health care, mental health care, schools, and more. We need a jobs program for black and brown youth. In order to improve our city we must cut the police budget which is very inflated compared to other cities. We need to put our dollars where they will improve our community. I have lived and worked in Oakland for decades. Please do what we need to make a positive change. Cut the police budget and put those resources elsewhere.
I stand with my community-members imploring you not to increase funding for OPD. We desperately need a budget that acknowledges our need for affordable housing, mental health resources, and restorative justice alternatives. We have seen, time and time again, that the further militarization of our communities does not work and our brothers and sisters of color pay with their lives. This is as much a moral as a fiscal issue and it is time for Mayor Schaff and City Council to invest in the people of Oakland, not in a police state.
Please listen to the voices of your constituents and do not increase funding for OPD. Oakland needs investment in public schools, accessible community centers, the development of affordable housing, and mental health and counseling services, not funds which support force against and the surveillance of our communities, and most often our low-income communities of color.
Mayor Schaff and City Council,
Oakland is facing a moral crisis. This is a plea for a recognition of our common humanity. Do not increase OPD funding -- Black, Brown and poor people already suffer under aggressive policing, pushing them into our nation's prison system which has consequences on their economic, political and social futures. Be brave so you can sleep at night.
Do not increase funding for OPD. Oakland need more funding for education, mental health services, and above all affordable housing, not increased police presence in our communities.
I do not support increasing police funding. Community money needs to support community resources that benefit Oakland residents. We need less police and more educators, counselors, mediators, art programs, libraries, college and career pathways, access to healthcare, and affordabke housing.
The city of Oakland should reduce funding for the Oakland Police Department- we need more affordable housing, better public schools and more employment opportunities, not more cops patrolling the streets and racking up overtime pay.
Please do not increase funding for OPD! That funding can go towards affordable housing and other critical community services!