October 2022

Dear friends, family, and constituents,

At District 3’s Public Safety Townhall, residents expressed justifiable fears and concerns towards the assaults, homicides, and robberies they have experienced first-hand in Oakland. Many residents recognized crime to be a consequence of entrenched structural conditions such as poverty and lack of housing, and want to see long-term investment in changing these conditions. They also want to see a more immediate change in the present moment.

How do we do this? We can organize around a “two-pronged” approach that includes solutions that can start TODAY and those which need to be nurtured and maintained in order to see fruition. Both are necessary.

As we consider how to create a world where crime is not manufactured; a world where crimes committed by the wealthy are seen and punished as vigorously as crimes of “lower castes'', it’s important to note that as long as we invest in crime fighting over EVERYTHING else, we will continue to create the conditions that got us here in the first place. The unspoken reality we’re experiencing is a growing number of people acting out the lived trauma of inequity, disinvestment, abuse and oppression. This is not an excuse, but an inevitable conclusion to the foundational practices of one of the most violent and discriminatory countries in the world.

This flawed process works in conjunction with a criminal justice system that rarely rehabilitates and often returns people back to the community institutionalized and more desperate than when they were incarcerated.

In The Short-Term

What are some immediate changes that can happen today? At the townhall and through the many conversations that followed, some suggestions have included:

Staff beats dramatically differently - Enlistments in America’s military AND police departments are at historic lows. This city and many others are struggling to meet even their budgeted numbers. The election rhetoric of getting to 900+ cops in Oakland is just that, and if more officers on the street are desired, reconfiguration of the existing structure is the fastest, most realistic AND most affordable way to get there. Currently some Oakland Police Department (OPD) roles such as investigators are city-wide, preventing them from both having an awareness of hyperlocal problems and the ability to address the issues residents are asking for. If a beat had 8 OPD members (5 beat officers, 1 sergeant, 1 problem-solving officer that works with the community to identify issues, such as the violence being inflicted on people living without shelter, and 1 investigator), each community within a beat would have more resources available to them with one-half of the current overall OPD staffing.
Staff the beats for longer assignments - Currently officers can change assignments each year, resulting in officers rarely getting to know the community and vice versa. Longer assignments will lead to officers becoming more effective in understanding the communities where they work, solving issues and doing their jobs.
Strengthen community organization in each beat - There is both a short-term and long-term nature to this, where we can promote diversity and membership in the current Neighborhood Council structure. Over time this work could also lead to hiring and training community members to lead community councils and support addressing the resource needs of each neighborhood on a block-by-block basis.

In The Long-Term

To paraphrase UC Berkeley Professor Nikki Jones at the townhall, we know that the young people who are most at risk of being targets or perpetrators of violence are those who are disconnected from school and similar social institutions, who have been hungry and very likely unhoused. This is the problem we need to solve if we ever hope for crime to reduce in the long run. As the third point above begins to lead us, we can do this by centering our public safety work around building a care-taking community, where we build up government services and social institutions. We have to address historic harms or accept the consequences.

Another concrete long-term strategy that does this type of work includes the Richmond Model that centers its work on creating “a beloved community.”* The model differs in a number of ways from traditional intervention programs such as Ceasefire, for example by creating actual city jobs with good benefits for the formerly incarcerated. The model has been correlated with a 71% reduction in gun violence by 2017 across the city since the creation of the Office of Neighborhood Safety in 2007.*

As I’ve stated on many occasions, we’ve been here before. We’ve seen the War On Drugs and we’ve seen the era of being tough on crime. The benefit of the long view is that we have also seen that there has NEVER been ongoing work on eradicating crime-creating conditions, but rather the opposite. We can’t make the problem just those who are committing the crimes. We need to make immediate changes to how we resource and police our communities now, while planting the seeds to actualize significant changes in the next decade and beyond.

I will be sharing more information about everything mentioned above through the next few newsletters including how one phrase allegedly upset the entire system of public safety in America: Defund the police. Stay tuned, but better yet, stay informed.

In service and solidarity,

Councilmember Carroll Fife

*The Chosen Ones: Black Men and the Politics of Redemption by Nikki Jones, pgs 172-3

Items In This Newsletter

Updates On The Wood Street Encampment
District 3’s Public Safety Townhall
Universal Basic Mobility Pilot - Free Transit Passes For West Oaklanders
Rent Registry Workshops
West Oakland Nest Community Clean-Up - Wednesday October 26th
West Oakland Farmers Market Diverting Food Waste
Images From In The Community

Updates

Updates On The Wood Street Encampment

Hundreds of supportive emails and public comments were shared in the lead up to legislation I introduced on October 4th to allow immediate emergency access to the city-owned former Oakland Army Base as an emergency housing intervention for displaced residents of the Wood St. encampment and others. During the meeting however, the City Administration resisted efforts proposed in the legislation and City Council ultimately asked the City Administration to provide a plan on October 18th with at least some solutions and ways that we could move forward.

Homelessness, once again, dominated public comment during the October 18th special meeting. I called on the Mayor and the City Administration to embark on a two-pronged strategy, to:

Open a city-leased lot on Beach Street for temporary housing, designed to meet the immediate needs of the unhoused community displaced from Wood St. This lot is one of many vacant CalTrans-owned properties in close proximity to the Wood St. site, and even though the City Administrator has been in contact with CalTrans since the Spring of 2022, they have not been proactive about pursuing use. I motioned for the City to move forward with the planning required to provision the site and the motion was approved.
To seek a waiver from the Governor and Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) to utilize the former Oakland Army Base, this waiver has been one of the primary obstacles the City Administration has been presenting to prevent use of the site. This motion, with an amendment made that the City Administration can spend up to $100,000 through the waiver process instead of the $180,000 that they had requested. The City Admin had suggested taking $80,000 away from a security program dedicated to a tiny house village in the South Prescott neighborhood at 3rd and Peralta in West Oakland.

We do not have the luxury of waiting years for the administration to figure out solutions that never materialize – people need a place to go today. The trickle-down theory that market-rate developments will relieve our affordable housing crunch does not work. It’s time for a new approach. There is no time to waste: the City must take advantage of vacant and underutilized properties to provide unhoused people a safe place to exist while we work towards improving the delivery of homelessness services and create the type of low-rent housing Oakland desperately needs. We need county support in the form of mental and physical health supports and wrap-around services as well.

The evening after the Oct 4th City Council meeting, I went LIVE with Councilmember and Council President Pro Tempore Sheng Thao to debrief the outcomes, you can watch here.

There was also in-depth news coverage of the October 4th meeting by Oaklandside, the Courthouse News Service, and the SF Chronicle.

2. District 3’s Public Safety Townhall

On October 8th, my District 3 office hosted a Public Safety Townhall where residents shared what public safety issues they have been observing, and city staff from Oakland Public Works, the Fire Department and the Police Department shared what services their departments are currently providing and plan to further develop in order to address these issues.

We greatly appreciated the contribution Professor Jones provided by sharing her insights from extensive research studying crime, policing, and Black youth. Many, including myself, appreciated her framing of centering public safety work on building a care-taking community.

You can find video news coverage of the townhall by FOX2 here and can view the livestream from the event, as well as a few clips, below.

3. Universal Basic Mobility Pilot - Free Transit Passes For West Oaklanders

OakDOT’s Universal Basic Mobility Pilot is now coming to West Oakland. This pilot program provides transportation subsidies to Oaklanders via pre-paid debit cards, and can only be used on public transit (BART, AC Transit, Amtrak, Ferry), shared mobility, and bike equipment/repair.

Last year, they ran a pilot in East Oakland, where they distributed transportation vouchers of $300 each to 500 individuals. They are now expanding the program to the West Oakland community with 1,000 vouchers and up to $320 loaded on each card ($160 to start after completing the sign up survey, and $160 after taking a follow-up survey). Individuals qualify for this program if they: 1) live and/or work in West Oakland and 2) take a brief survey describing how they travel and their select demographic information.

You can take the West Oakland Eligibility Survey here.

Events

4. Rent Registry Workshops This Fall

In June, City Council passed legislation to add a Rental Registry to the Rental Adjustment Program (RAP). This is a major step in the right direction for housing justice in Oakland and something I’ve advocated for for years. With minimal cost and hassle, rental registries can add much-needed transparency to the landlord-tenant relationship, keeping landlords accountable and helping renters stay safe and stable in their homes.

City staff are now better positioned to identify violations of allowable rental increases and track affordability, and tenants will have access to more information on their building and the associated protections they are entitled to. Oakland follows cities like San Francisco, Berkeley, and many others who already have one.

To inform property owners about this program means for them, there are currently 3 workshops scheduled for the following dates and times:

Wednesday, November 16, 2022: 5:30 pm - 7:00 pm
Wednesday, December 14, 2022: 5:30 pm - 7:00 pm

For more information, please visit the Rent Registration In Oakland– Information and FAQs webpage and feel free to share the images below.

5. West Oakland Nest Community Clean-Up - Wednesday October 26th

The City of Oakland West Oakland NEST (Neighborhood Enhanced Service Team) will be conducting a cleanup and outreach event on Wednesday, October 26, 2022 from 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. at 7th West (1255 7th street).

The West Oakland Nest team is looking for both attendees and volunteers. If you are interested in volunteering with me and NEST, please contact Angela Moore AMoore@oaklandca.gov.

6. West Oakland Farmers Market Diverting Food Waste

The West Oakland Farmers Market has started a food recovery program with Dig Deep Farms! In two weeks, they donated 618 pounds of fresh local produce, some of which was donated to Downtown Oakland Senior Center, West Oakland Health Council, and the Eritrean Task Force-Orthodox Church.

Impacts in West Oakland?

Dig Deep Farms is in the process of opening up a new Food Hub in West Oakland which will solely serve and impact West Oakland and Jack London neighborhoods.The West Oakland Farmers Market’s priority is to have produce from the market donated to the West Oakland community first.

Market Still Open!

If you haven’t gotten a chance to go, please do and let all your friends and family in West Oakland know about it! We want to keep this market serving West Oakland.

Market open every Sunday 10am - 2pm on Peralta between 18th and 20th

In The Community

A lot of activity this past month! Apart from the Public Safety Townhall, I was able to attend the annual Autumn Lights Festival, my entire office participated in Oakland Tech’s Ergathon, and I spent the past weekend in celebration and honor of the Dr. Huey P. Newton Center for Research and Action opening at 14th and Broadway, and closed out with a festive Block Party honoring the 1 year anniversary of the bust at Mandela and Dr. Huey P. Newton Way.

The Autumn Lights Festival is a fundraiser by the Friends of the Gardens at Lake Merritt (FGLM), a collection of themed gardens of diverse plants, habitats, demonstration gardens and landscapes requiring varying levels of upkeep. Volunteers provide much needed maintenance assistance as the City of Oakland’s gardening staff has been dramatically reduced over time. My award went to the talented creatives of Majorelle Arts for Charismatic Metafauna, a work of art that can best be appreciated in real life.

The Oakland Tech Ergathon is also raising funds for rowing scholarships so any Oakland Unified School District student can participate if they would like to join. Met many students, parents, and teachers as well as the UC Berkeley rowing team who was there to support the youth. So far the Ergathon has raised $14,686 of their $30,000 goal! Their fundraising link can be found here.