7 21-0472 Subject: Council President's Proposed Budget Amendments
From: Council President Fortunato Bas
Recommendation: Approve A Report And Recommendation Of The Council President's Proposed Budget Amendments To The Fiscal Year 2021-2023 Proposed Budget For The City Of Oakland
I support Council President Bas' amendments for a Moral Budget. Please fund the city’s Department of Violence Prevention in order to identify and support citizens, especially young people, before they get caught in a cycle of violence. Police respond to violence. They do not prevent it. As an educator and 20-year resident of District 6, my hope is that this will lead to better lives for folks in the community.
Dear Councilmembers,
I am a longtime Oakland, District 5 resident, parent and educator writing in support Of Council President Bas' amendments to the budget. I support full funding for MACRO response, including salaried and unionized jobs for responders. We want skilled and experienced community people who will stay and increase their skills over time. Our old model of police funding dominating our pursuit of greater public safety has never born fruit in the 31 years I have lived in Oakland. We need to stop throwing good money after bad. Creating a budget that better reflects our community's values is a start.
I am a livelong resident of District 5 and an Oakland educator. As a youth we had thriving programs at Sanborn Park (now Josie de la Cruz Park). These solution based programs kept us safe and provided us with lunch when school was not in session. Those kind of investments are needed in my community today. We must fully fund a moral and just Oakland budget which includes fully funding the city’s Department of Violence Prevention in order to identify and support individuals before they get caught in a cycle of violence. We need a just recovery that includes affordable housing and homelessness solutions, public safety and violence prevention, good jobs and a vibrant economy, and clean, healthy and sustainable neighborhoods. Also we must keep our traffic guard program fully funded. This is an important safety measure for our youth, Please support the Bas amendments.
I am a resident of district 6 and am writing to support the budget amendment proposed by council members Bas, Kalb, Gallo and Fife. With additional resources allocated to non-emergency calls, there will likely be less police attrition. Additional police academies would then not be needed. What East Oakland needs is more sustained support for violence prevention. The amendment proposed by Bas, Kalb, Gallo and Fife moves in that direction. I do not support Taylor’s amendment for adding a 5th police academy when those resources could be better used in the ways proposed by the Bas, Fife, Kalb and Gallo proposal. Thank you.
I am a long-time resident of District 5 and I wholeheartedly support the budget amendments from Council President Fortunato Bas and the budget team including Councilmembers Fife, Gallo and Kalb. I don't not support increasing the number of police academies. We must reduce our police budget and invest in alternatives to policing as well as critical services that will address the root causes of crime, including affordable housing, mental health services, youth programming, small business support, our libraries and parks. Thank you.
I’m a resident of District 3 voicing my support of Nikki Fortunato Bas’ budget proposal without Mr. Taylor’s amendment. Her budget amendments are a step in the right direction & a marked departure from the mindless, unrestricted & unaccountable police spending allowed by Mayor Schaaf year after year.
I wholeheartedly reject the following decisions proposed in Mayor Schaaf’s budget: 1) the decision to increase the police budget 2) the decision to invest in cop academies 3) the decision to formalize & legitimize OPD’s overtime abuses 4) the decision to invest $19m on police buildings & 5) the decision to spend $500K to plan for a new $500 million dollar OPD headquarters.
The safest communities are not the ones with the most police. They are the ones with the most resources, where everyone has their basic needs met. Instead of criminalizing, caging, & killing our Black, Brown & unhoused neighbors, the City of Oakland needs to ensure that ALL Oaklanders have secure & affordable access to healthy food & water, quality housing, mental health resources, education, meaningful employment opportunities & community-based responses to harm & gender violence. The key is preventing the violence in the first place, not hiring more cops & building more prisons to address the violence after it’s happened.
Hello. I am a resident of District 1, and I fully support Council President Bas's proposed budget amendments. It has been my personal experience that the police do not deter crimes nor solve them. Let's reduce police funding and put that money to good use providing for the people who live here. This money could instead go to schools, libraries, healthcare, housing, parks, the arts, helping small businesses, etc. Please do not fund a police academy.
It's time (past time) to begin trying some new approaches to public safety. For the last 50 years or so we have turned more and more to police resulting in the destruction of so many communities from the subsequent disinvestment, then more police. It's not working!
Human Trafficking holding E15th Community Hostage. Children cannot even play in their front yards and no one feels safe. Armed with guns, pimps sit in their cars all day and sex workers walk in the center of the street, wearing very little clothing, committing indecent exposure by wearing no bottoms. This is the absolute worst situation in the three generations our family has lived in this neighborhood. The human trafficking and criminal activity is daily 24/7. This brings gun violence, speeding and reckless driving, shootings at the church and along E15th corridor, and stopped traffic to solicit sex workers on a daily basis (day and night). There are a string of vehicles cursing E15th soliciting sex workers. The streets and alleys are littered with condoms.
This unaddressed criminal activity has resulted in a negative impact to the mental health of our marginalized community. Why has the City abandoned this neighborhood?
Please add speed bumps on E15th St. between 15th Ave and 23rd Ave. Help us recover our neighborhood. By Nicte’ Ordonez
I want to encourage you all to embrace the notion that the MACRO pilot must offer 'proof of concept.' As such, at the level of funding being proposed by the Bas, Kalb, Fife is sufficient but only if the pilot is restricted to one geographical area in East Oakland and not spread out to another district as well.
There needs to be the ability to collect and analyze data generated from the pilot to enable a thorough evaluation before the program is rolled out to other areas. Likewise, the program must operate on a 24/7 basis so that there are no gaps in availability. Likewise, the 911 dispatchers need to be aided by CAHOOTS so they have confidence in their ability to determine which calls are appropriate to send to MACRO. Also, community engagement must not wait until all the important decisions have been made internally. Stakeholders from East Oakland and others need to participate and engage in the implementation, including a role in the hiring of the MACRO director.
I am a resident of Dist 5 and urge the council to support the amendments from President Bas. They will move us in the right direction and are a measured response that are the result of a lot of community input and discussion about reimagining public safety and investment in our communities.
Dear Councilmembers, I am writing as resident of District 3 in support of Councilmember Bas' budget amendments. While I think further divestment from policing is needed the amendments proposed by Bas take us in the right direction towards removing 2 of the 4 police academies -- saving the city $8 million -- and to do a comprehensive audit of OPD. Please support these amendments as we take steps towards reimagining public safety and reinvesting in our communities.
I am a senior citizen residing on Lakeshore Ave (District 2). Oakland needs to prevent violence, including dealing with the underlying causes of violence. We cannot continue to neglect the needs of children and unsheltered people. Every community deserves and needs good parks. The budget proposed by Council President Bas and Council Members Fife, Gallo and Kalb is the best way forward.
I urge the city council to support the budget advanced by Council President Bas and Councilmembers Fife, Gallo, and Kalb. By removing two of the unprecedented four police academies planned for this coming year, the Council President's Budget saves at least $8 million dollars that the city desperately needs to spend on vital services and investments in violence prevention to get us on the path to Reimagining Public Safety.
Bas' proposal funds gender-based violence prevention and survivor support services, violence interrupters, crossing guards, housing initiatives, waste disposal crews, crisis response through the MACRO program, and other investments listed in the Council President's Budget. Alongside the comprehensive audit of OPD, these investments will help us transition to the next phase of Reimagining Public Safety.
The Council President's budget reflects a commitment to moving us away from the disastrous and costly status quo. We encourage you to sign onto her budget and join us in our journey to Refund, Restore, and Reimagine community safety and wellbeing in Oakland.
My name is Julie Litwin. I am a member of Kehilla Community Synagogue. I live in District 1. I support a moral budget that prioritizes preventing violence rather than just responding to it. We should invest in housing, jobs, health care, education, mental health services, etc., which would address the root causes of violence. And we should focus on providing social workers mental health workers and others to de-escalate situations that the police are not trained to handle. As a person of faith, I believe that it is vital that we have a budget which speaks to healing the historical divestments from Black, Brown, and API communities. Please support Council President Fortunato Bas' recommendations and reject the Taylor Amendment. Thank you for your consideration.
Hello Councilmembers, I write you today, as a resident of District 1, in full support of Council President Bas's proposed budget amendments. The police budget is too high as it is and we have to start thinking differently. We deserve a more equitable city for everyone.
My name is Rev. Kurt A. Kuhwald. I reside in District 3 represented by the astute and courageous Carroll Fife, I am a member of the Faith Alliance for a Moral Economy, and I am also a member of the Economic Justice 4 Black Oakland, under the able leadership of Saabir Locket.
I represent the 140 faith leaders & 28 faith institutions signing the Faith Moral Budget.
The tragedy at Lake Merritt is clear: police dont prevent violence, they respond to it. 60+ cops were at the Lake yet 7 people were shot & one was killed. Message: the current system doesnt protect the people of Oakland from violence.
It's vital we have a budget for healing the historical divestment from Black, Brown & API communities. Our budget must be a moral document prioritizing affordable housing & homeless solutions; public safety & violence prevention; good jobs & a vibrant economy; provide healthy & sustainable neighborhoods welcoming to our immigrant community; it must also move to modernize policing in Oakland. CM Bas’ budget does just that! Interfaith leaders support it wholeheartedly.
The People of Oakland are in desperate need of investment in the wake of a pandemic. ARP funding should be used to keep Oaklanders housed & connect them with job opportunities. The Taylor Amendment would use those funds to pay for a 5th police academy. The City Council must REJECT the Taylor Amendment. COVID-19 relief dollars should help Oaklanders recover from the COVID-19 crisis, & NOT train new cops!
My name is Ronald Wacker. I am a Vice President of the Piedmont Pines Neighborhood Association but am speaking today as an individual. I strongly support the Taylor/Reid/Thao amendments and Council member Taylor's compromise calling for any new unanticipated revenue be used to conduct a 5th police academy.
I am a graduate of the Oakland Citizens Police Academy. During a ride along, I experienced first hand a call for a person in potential danger to himself or others and the time it took for the officer to determine that the individual was stable enough so care could be shifted to County mental health professionals. The development of new programs which decrease the need for police resources will take time and will require on-going OPD involvement to ensure public safety.
In the call center, I saw how hard the dispatchers worked to achieve response time performance goals. I can't imagine the impact of reduced staffing and urge the Council not to reduce these resources.
Finally, I learned what it means when Oakland is Code Red, no officers available, on a Tuesday, early afternoon. Imagine the stress on the dispatchers and officers.
The force, measured in numbers, must be maintained. The police academies are key to maintaining the force and, because they are Oakland trained, key to improving service to the community.
My name is Amy Carlson and I am a member of First Unitarian Church of Oakland and I worship in District 3.
My voice represents the 215 members of my congregation as well as the 28 faith institutions who have committed to signing on to the Faith Moral Budget Letter. I was a part of the delegation of faith leaders that delivered that letter to city hall on April 30th.
As Unitarian Universalists, my church community believes it is a spiritual imperative to build Beloved Community and to accountably dismantle racism and other oppressions in ourselves and in our institutions, especially right where we live and worship.
We are committed to healing the historical divestments from Black, Brown and API communities in Oakland. Rather than increasing police spending like the Mayor’s budget, we are demanding the adoption of a budget that addresses the root causes of economic and racial violence.
We support President Bas’ amendments to the mayor’s budget. We are asking that the council adopt a budget that invests in community, invests in ending homelessness, invests in housing services and protections for frontline workers, and invests in violence prevention.
Our collective safety requires different solutions - and Council President Bas's budget is the right way forward for Oakland. I fully support and I call on my City Council to do the same.
I support Council President Bas' amendments for a Moral Budget. Please fund the city’s Department of Violence Prevention in order to identify and support citizens, especially young people, before they get caught in a cycle of violence. Police respond to violence. They do not prevent it. As an educator and 20-year resident of District 6, my hope is that this will lead to better lives for folks in the community.
Dear Councilmembers,
I am a longtime Oakland, District 5 resident, parent and educator writing in support Of Council President Bas' amendments to the budget. I support full funding for MACRO response, including salaried and unionized jobs for responders. We want skilled and experienced community people who will stay and increase their skills over time. Our old model of police funding dominating our pursuit of greater public safety has never born fruit in the 31 years I have lived in Oakland. We need to stop throwing good money after bad. Creating a budget that better reflects our community's values is a start.
I am a livelong resident of District 5 and an Oakland educator. As a youth we had thriving programs at Sanborn Park (now Josie de la Cruz Park). These solution based programs kept us safe and provided us with lunch when school was not in session. Those kind of investments are needed in my community today. We must fully fund a moral and just Oakland budget which includes fully funding the city’s Department of Violence Prevention in order to identify and support individuals before they get caught in a cycle of violence. We need a just recovery that includes affordable housing and homelessness solutions, public safety and violence prevention, good jobs and a vibrant economy, and clean, healthy and sustainable neighborhoods. Also we must keep our traffic guard program fully funded. This is an important safety measure for our youth, Please support the Bas amendments.
I am a resident of district 6 and am writing to support the budget amendment proposed by council members Bas, Kalb, Gallo and Fife. With additional resources allocated to non-emergency calls, there will likely be less police attrition. Additional police academies would then not be needed. What East Oakland needs is more sustained support for violence prevention. The amendment proposed by Bas, Kalb, Gallo and Fife moves in that direction. I do not support Taylor’s amendment for adding a 5th police academy when those resources could be better used in the ways proposed by the Bas, Fife, Kalb and Gallo proposal. Thank you.
I am a long-time resident of District 5 and I wholeheartedly support the budget amendments from Council President Fortunato Bas and the budget team including Councilmembers Fife, Gallo and Kalb. I don't not support increasing the number of police academies. We must reduce our police budget and invest in alternatives to policing as well as critical services that will address the root causes of crime, including affordable housing, mental health services, youth programming, small business support, our libraries and parks. Thank you.
I’m a resident of District 3 voicing my support of Nikki Fortunato Bas’ budget proposal without Mr. Taylor’s amendment. Her budget amendments are a step in the right direction & a marked departure from the mindless, unrestricted & unaccountable police spending allowed by Mayor Schaaf year after year.
I wholeheartedly reject the following decisions proposed in Mayor Schaaf’s budget: 1) the decision to increase the police budget 2) the decision to invest in cop academies 3) the decision to formalize & legitimize OPD’s overtime abuses 4) the decision to invest $19m on police buildings & 5) the decision to spend $500K to plan for a new $500 million dollar OPD headquarters.
The safest communities are not the ones with the most police. They are the ones with the most resources, where everyone has their basic needs met. Instead of criminalizing, caging, & killing our Black, Brown & unhoused neighbors, the City of Oakland needs to ensure that ALL Oaklanders have secure & affordable access to healthy food & water, quality housing, mental health resources, education, meaningful employment opportunities & community-based responses to harm & gender violence. The key is preventing the violence in the first place, not hiring more cops & building more prisons to address the violence after it’s happened.
Respectfully, Jenny Pollack
Hello. I am a resident of District 1, and I fully support Council President Bas's proposed budget amendments. It has been my personal experience that the police do not deter crimes nor solve them. Let's reduce police funding and put that money to good use providing for the people who live here. This money could instead go to schools, libraries, healthcare, housing, parks, the arts, helping small businesses, etc. Please do not fund a police academy.
It's time (past time) to begin trying some new approaches to public safety. For the last 50 years or so we have turned more and more to police resulting in the destruction of so many communities from the subsequent disinvestment, then more police. It's not working!
Human Trafficking holding E15th Community Hostage. Children cannot even play in their front yards and no one feels safe. Armed with guns, pimps sit in their cars all day and sex workers walk in the center of the street, wearing very little clothing, committing indecent exposure by wearing no bottoms. This is the absolute worst situation in the three generations our family has lived in this neighborhood. The human trafficking and criminal activity is daily 24/7. This brings gun violence, speeding and reckless driving, shootings at the church and along E15th corridor, and stopped traffic to solicit sex workers on a daily basis (day and night). There are a string of vehicles cursing E15th soliciting sex workers. The streets and alleys are littered with condoms.
This unaddressed criminal activity has resulted in a negative impact to the mental health of our marginalized community. Why has the City abandoned this neighborhood?
Please add speed bumps on E15th St. between 15th Ave and 23rd Ave. Help us recover our neighborhood. By Nicte’ Ordonez
I want to encourage you all to embrace the notion that the MACRO pilot must offer 'proof of concept.' As such, at the level of funding being proposed by the Bas, Kalb, Fife is sufficient but only if the pilot is restricted to one geographical area in East Oakland and not spread out to another district as well.
There needs to be the ability to collect and analyze data generated from the pilot to enable a thorough evaluation before the program is rolled out to other areas. Likewise, the program must operate on a 24/7 basis so that there are no gaps in availability. Likewise, the 911 dispatchers need to be aided by CAHOOTS so they have confidence in their ability to determine which calls are appropriate to send to MACRO. Also, community engagement must not wait until all the important decisions have been made internally. Stakeholders from East Oakland and others need to participate and engage in the implementation, including a role in the hiring of the MACRO director.
Rashidah Grinage
I am a resident of Dist 5 and urge the council to support the amendments from President Bas. They will move us in the right direction and are a measured response that are the result of a lot of community input and discussion about reimagining public safety and investment in our communities.
Dear Councilmembers, I am writing as resident of District 3 in support of Councilmember Bas' budget amendments. While I think further divestment from policing is needed the amendments proposed by Bas take us in the right direction towards removing 2 of the 4 police academies -- saving the city $8 million -- and to do a comprehensive audit of OPD. Please support these amendments as we take steps towards reimagining public safety and reinvesting in our communities.
I am a senior citizen residing on Lakeshore Ave (District 2). Oakland needs to prevent violence, including dealing with the underlying causes of violence. We cannot continue to neglect the needs of children and unsheltered people. Every community deserves and needs good parks. The budget proposed by Council President Bas and Council Members Fife, Gallo and Kalb is the best way forward.
I urge the city council to support the budget advanced by Council President Bas and Councilmembers Fife, Gallo, and Kalb. By removing two of the unprecedented four police academies planned for this coming year, the Council President's Budget saves at least $8 million dollars that the city desperately needs to spend on vital services and investments in violence prevention to get us on the path to Reimagining Public Safety.
Bas' proposal funds gender-based violence prevention and survivor support services, violence interrupters, crossing guards, housing initiatives, waste disposal crews, crisis response through the MACRO program, and other investments listed in the Council President's Budget. Alongside the comprehensive audit of OPD, these investments will help us transition to the next phase of Reimagining Public Safety.
The Council President's budget reflects a commitment to moving us away from the disastrous and costly status quo. We encourage you to sign onto her budget and join us in our journey to Refund, Restore, and Reimagine community safety and wellbeing in Oakland.
My name is Julie Litwin. I am a member of Kehilla Community Synagogue. I live in District 1. I support a moral budget that prioritizes preventing violence rather than just responding to it. We should invest in housing, jobs, health care, education, mental health services, etc., which would address the root causes of violence. And we should focus on providing social workers mental health workers and others to de-escalate situations that the police are not trained to handle. As a person of faith, I believe that it is vital that we have a budget which speaks to healing the historical divestments from Black, Brown, and API communities. Please support Council President Fortunato Bas' recommendations and reject the Taylor Amendment. Thank you for your consideration.
Hello Councilmembers, I write you today, as a resident of District 1, in full support of Council President Bas's proposed budget amendments. The police budget is too high as it is and we have to start thinking differently. We deserve a more equitable city for everyone.
My name is Rev. Kurt A. Kuhwald. I reside in District 3 represented by the astute and courageous Carroll Fife, I am a member of the Faith Alliance for a Moral Economy, and I am also a member of the Economic Justice 4 Black Oakland, under the able leadership of Saabir Locket.
I represent the 140 faith leaders & 28 faith institutions signing the Faith Moral Budget.
The tragedy at Lake Merritt is clear: police dont prevent violence, they respond to it. 60+ cops were at the Lake yet 7 people were shot & one was killed. Message: the current system doesnt protect the people of Oakland from violence.
It's vital we have a budget for healing the historical divestment from Black, Brown & API communities. Our budget must be a moral document prioritizing affordable housing & homeless solutions; public safety & violence prevention; good jobs & a vibrant economy; provide healthy & sustainable neighborhoods welcoming to our immigrant community; it must also move to modernize policing in Oakland. CM Bas’ budget does just that! Interfaith leaders support it wholeheartedly.
The People of Oakland are in desperate need of investment in the wake of a pandemic. ARP funding should be used to keep Oaklanders housed & connect them with job opportunities. The Taylor Amendment would use those funds to pay for a 5th police academy. The City Council must REJECT the Taylor Amendment. COVID-19 relief dollars should help Oaklanders recover from the COVID-19 crisis, & NOT train new cops!
My name is Ronald Wacker. I am a Vice President of the Piedmont Pines Neighborhood Association but am speaking today as an individual. I strongly support the Taylor/Reid/Thao amendments and Council member Taylor's compromise calling for any new unanticipated revenue be used to conduct a 5th police academy.
I am a graduate of the Oakland Citizens Police Academy. During a ride along, I experienced first hand a call for a person in potential danger to himself or others and the time it took for the officer to determine that the individual was stable enough so care could be shifted to County mental health professionals. The development of new programs which decrease the need for police resources will take time and will require on-going OPD involvement to ensure public safety.
In the call center, I saw how hard the dispatchers worked to achieve response time performance goals. I can't imagine the impact of reduced staffing and urge the Council not to reduce these resources.
Finally, I learned what it means when Oakland is Code Red, no officers available, on a Tuesday, early afternoon. Imagine the stress on the dispatchers and officers.
The force, measured in numbers, must be maintained. The police academies are key to maintaining the force and, because they are Oakland trained, key to improving service to the community.
My name is Amy Carlson and I am a member of First Unitarian Church of Oakland and I worship in District 3.
My voice represents the 215 members of my congregation as well as the 28 faith institutions who have committed to signing on to the Faith Moral Budget Letter. I was a part of the delegation of faith leaders that delivered that letter to city hall on April 30th.
As Unitarian Universalists, my church community believes it is a spiritual imperative to build Beloved Community and to accountably dismantle racism and other oppressions in ourselves and in our institutions, especially right where we live and worship.
We are committed to healing the historical divestments from Black, Brown and API communities in Oakland. Rather than increasing police spending like the Mayor’s budget, we are demanding the adoption of a budget that addresses the root causes of economic and racial violence.
We support President Bas’ amendments to the mayor’s budget. We are asking that the council adopt a budget that invests in community, invests in ending homelessness, invests in housing services and protections for frontline workers, and invests in violence prevention.
Our collective safety requires different solutions - and Council President Bas's budget is the right way forward for Oakland. I fully support and I call on my City Council to do the same.