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Agenda Item
7.2 23-0974 Subject: Informational Report Pursuant To Resolution No. 89906
From: Office Of The City Administrator
Recommendation: Receive An Informational Report In Response To Resolution No. 89906 On Prioritizing Public Safety
I’m Bill Joyce, a retired public school teacher of 32 years, resident of the Laurel/District 4, and long time volunteer at the Oakland Catholic Worker, District 7.
I wish to express my appreciation for Mayor Thao for ordering the Audit Report on Ceasefire and urge Council to accept its recommendations in full.
Regular participants on the Friday community walks - the key community engagement component of the Ceasefire strategy will never forget the final walk before COVID restrictions. After meeting with youth during an afternoon session at the EOYDC, Rep, Gabby Giffords (https://giffords.org/report/a-case-study-in-hope-lessons-from-oaklands-remarkable-reduction-in-gun-violence/) joined Steph Curry, Steve Kerr, and Klay Thompson and scores of local residents in the walk to a Town Hall on Ceasefire at Allen Temple.
What was true then is true now and even more critical: when the Ceasefire strategy is implemented fully as designed, it works. We can recapture its success if we do so as rigorously as before when we were considered a national model. The Audit Report is the blueprint. Please accept its recommendations and implement it fully ASAP.
My name is David Peters, and I live in District 3. I support the Ceasefire program!
How much have we paid California Partnership for Safe Communities (CPSC) to launch and manage the Ceasefire program? It is a conflict of interest for CPSC to prepare an audit report on a program that they were paid to launch and manage. Has the City Auditors office weighed in on this conflict? This is yet another good governance issue that needlessly undermines the public's confidence in our Mayor and Council's ability to understand and implement proper oversight in accordance with auditing protocols.
Here's an excerpt from conflict of interest best standards:
an auditor with a substantial financial benefit in an auditee might be unbiased in expressing his opinion on the auditee, but the public would be reluctant to believe that he was unbiased. Independent auditors should not only be independent in fact; they should avoid situations that may lead outsiders to doubt their independence.
My name is Pastor Jim Hopkins of Lakeshore Avenue Baptist Church. My church is in District 2. I live in District 4.
As a leader in Faith In Action East Bay I gave thanks when I learned that the Ceasefire strategy, a strategy with a proven record of saving lives, was coming to Oakland. I was encouraged to see its success as it was implemented and practiced. In recent years, I was discouraged to see its impact diminished. Something was surely amiss.
The goal of the Ceasefire Partnership in 2023 was to reduce the number of homicides to 89 from 120. We failed. The number rose to 126.
The problem is not that the community partners were not doing their part. The problem is that the Mayor's office and the OPD had structurally de-prioritized something that had been proven to work.
This needs to be corrected. The audit by the California Partnership for Safe Communities identifies several specific changes that need to be made. I urge the Council to mandate all of them with all due speed.
It is a matter of being serious about saving lives and restoring communites.
I am Jean Moses. I live on 9th Avenue in Nikki Bas's District.
I strongly urge the City Council to follow the recommendations of the California Partnership for Safe Communities and to revitalize the Ceasefire program. Its successful, data-driven gun violence reduction model is something that our community needs and deserves.
It is also imperative that funding from Measure Z be continued after that Measure sunsets at the end of this year.
Community safety should be our very highest priority, and a proven method to improve that safety should not be jeopardized for any reason.
Thank you.
What actions does the City Works/Public Works/Building Dpt or any other agency responsible for this issue is going to take to remediate a problem of a non-functioning storm drain next to APN 37A-2783-9 installed on the curbside of Delmont Ave curbside. Currently the storm drain is not connected to any pipe to properly route the rainwater. It dispels a large amount of rainwater down to the lots below, thus, causing slippage of lots on Buena Ventura Ave. City of Oakland, instead of fixing the issue of this storm drain, is forcing owners to deal with the results of the land slipping down to Buena Ventura. This issue has been going on for over 15 years, and it seems that no one is doing anything to fix this problem. Multiple complaints were submitted to numerous departments, but this issue slips through the cracks. Management at Building/Planning, City Works, Public Works does not do anything to address this problem!!!
I’m Bill Joyce, a retired public school teacher of 32 years, resident of the Laurel/District 4, and long time volunteer at the Oakland Catholic Worker, District 7.
I wish to express my appreciation for Mayor Thao for ordering the Audit Report on Ceasefire and urge Council to accept its recommendations in full.
Regular participants on the Friday community walks - the key community engagement component of the Ceasefire strategy will never forget the final walk before COVID restrictions. After meeting with youth during an afternoon session at the EOYDC, Rep, Gabby Giffords (https://giffords.org/report/a-case-study-in-hope-lessons-from-oaklands-remarkable-reduction-in-gun-violence/) joined Steph Curry, Steve Kerr, and Klay Thompson and scores of local residents in the walk to a Town Hall on Ceasefire at Allen Temple.
What was true then is true now and even more critical: when the Ceasefire strategy is implemented fully as designed, it works. We can recapture its success if we do so as rigorously as before when we were considered a national model. The Audit Report is the blueprint. Please accept its recommendations and implement it fully ASAP.
My name is David Peters, and I live in District 3. I support the Ceasefire program!
How much have we paid California Partnership for Safe Communities (CPSC) to launch and manage the Ceasefire program? It is a conflict of interest for CPSC to prepare an audit report on a program that they were paid to launch and manage. Has the City Auditors office weighed in on this conflict? This is yet another good governance issue that needlessly undermines the public's confidence in our Mayor and Council's ability to understand and implement proper oversight in accordance with auditing protocols.
Here's an excerpt from conflict of interest best standards:
an auditor with a substantial financial benefit in an auditee might be unbiased in expressing his opinion on the auditee, but the public would be reluctant to believe that he was unbiased. Independent auditors should not only be independent in fact; they should avoid situations that may lead outsiders to doubt their independence.
My name is Pastor Jim Hopkins of Lakeshore Avenue Baptist Church. My church is in District 2. I live in District 4.
As a leader in Faith In Action East Bay I gave thanks when I learned that the Ceasefire strategy, a strategy with a proven record of saving lives, was coming to Oakland. I was encouraged to see its success as it was implemented and practiced. In recent years, I was discouraged to see its impact diminished. Something was surely amiss.
The goal of the Ceasefire Partnership in 2023 was to reduce the number of homicides to 89 from 120. We failed. The number rose to 126.
The problem is not that the community partners were not doing their part. The problem is that the Mayor's office and the OPD had structurally de-prioritized something that had been proven to work.
This needs to be corrected. The audit by the California Partnership for Safe Communities identifies several specific changes that need to be made. I urge the Council to mandate all of them with all due speed.
It is a matter of being serious about saving lives and restoring communites.
Thank you.
I am Jean Moses. I live on 9th Avenue in Nikki Bas's District.
I strongly urge the City Council to follow the recommendations of the California Partnership for Safe Communities and to revitalize the Ceasefire program. Its successful, data-driven gun violence reduction model is something that our community needs and deserves.
It is also imperative that funding from Measure Z be continued after that Measure sunsets at the end of this year.
Community safety should be our very highest priority, and a proven method to improve that safety should not be jeopardized for any reason.
Thank you.
What actions does the City Works/Public Works/Building Dpt or any other agency responsible for this issue is going to take to remediate a problem of a non-functioning storm drain next to APN 37A-2783-9 installed on the curbside of Delmont Ave curbside. Currently the storm drain is not connected to any pipe to properly route the rainwater. It dispels a large amount of rainwater down to the lots below, thus, causing slippage of lots on Buena Ventura Ave. City of Oakland, instead of fixing the issue of this storm drain, is forcing owners to deal with the results of the land slipping down to Buena Ventura. This issue has been going on for over 15 years, and it seems that no one is doing anything to fix this problem. Multiple complaints were submitted to numerous departments, but this issue slips through the cracks. Management at Building/Planning, City Works, Public Works does not do anything to address this problem!!!