| Make Oakland Better Now! Tells Council, "Fix the Budget Now!" - Friday, January 29, 2010Make Oakland Better Now! Tells Council, "Fix the Budget Now!"
After MOBN! had its budget meeting, took votes there and then surveyed its membership electonically, the results were clear:
- Hands off the police department;
- The city can’t fix this its fiscal problemswith program reductions;
- City salaries and benefits are out of control;
- Fixing these problem will take broad-based, across the board personnel cost reductions in every department.
That is the message MOBN! delivered to the City Council in a letter on January 27. The City Council will be addressing the budget crisis at a special meeting on February 16 at 5:00 p.m. In connection with that meeting, MOBN! told the council:
"The topic of reducing sworn law enforcement personnel should be off the table. Given the city’s ongoing public safety crisis, as well as the constraints of Measure Y and the recently received three year COPS grant, the difficult task of the city is to maintain sworn staffing levels at the authorized level. Since no cost savings would be realized until more than 100 positions were eliminated, and this sort of reduction is unacceptable to just about everyone, public statements by public officials concerning the supposed choice between laying off police officers and voter approval of new tax measures adds little of value to the public debate."
Furthermore,
"The minimal savings that could be achieved through reducing civilian personnel in the Oakland Police Department constitute a false economy. The department desperately needs more civilian police dispatchers, not fewer. Neighborhood Services Coordinators provide an essential link between communities and the department. And personnel reductions in other department functions would likely result in the department filling those functions with sworn personnel who should be on the street fighting crime. In short, MOBN! supports more, not less civilianization."
And,
"The city’s immediate fiscal problems cannot, for the most part, be solved by eliminating programs. While there certainly are city operations bearing little or no relationship to the city’s core responsibilities (e.g., golf courses, Kaiser Auditorium, etc.), our analysis indicates that wholesale program eliminations, even in the areas of Parks and Recreation, City Attorney Neighborhood functions, NSC’s, senior services, Oaklanders’ Assistance Center, etc. would be insufficient to bridge the 2009-10 and 2010-11 budget gaps."
Click the link below to read the entire letter. MOBN! will present its positions at the 5:00 p.m., February 16 meeting, and urges all of its members to attend. read more ... |
| Budget Director Cheryl Taylor Addresses Make Oakland Better Now! Emergency Meeting - Saturday, January 16, 2010Budget Director Cheryl Taylor Addresses Make Oakland Better Now! Emergency Meeting
As Group Considers Budget Proposals
Cast Your Vote Now On What The City Should Do
Make Oakland Better Now! held its emergency budget meeting last Monday night at City Hall. If attendance was a little lighter than we’d hoped, it soon became clear why: the discussion of how the city can solve its short-term budget crisis is incredibly depressing. As one member put it, the discussion was "like figuring out which of your pets to shoot."
Nonetheless, with a guest appearance by City Budget Director Cheryl Taylor -- who knows this subject better than anyone -- we had a great opportunity to learn more about the very difficult decisions facing the city council. The short version: the city can only balance its budget for this fiscal year by cutting almost $9 million in expenses between now and June 30. It has less than $23 million from which to make those cuts. It's looking at eliminating programs, huge across-the-board reductions, or both. Council will be meeting in special session on February 2 at (tentatively) 5:00 p.m. to address all of this. And the situation only gets worse next year.
Later note: The budget meeting has moved to February 16, time TBA.
See excerpts from the meeting:
read more ... |
| January 11 Agenda Now Available - Sunday, January 10, 2010January 11 Agenda Now Available
Click on the link for details. read more ... |
| Reality Check: A MOBN! Conversation with Chief Batts - Tuesday, December 22, 2009
On December 15, MOBN! Board members Bruce Nye, Jim Blachman and Mike Ferro met with new Oakland Chief of Police Tony Batts at the Chief’s office at OPD headquarters. Topics of our conversation included MOBN! Public Safety Committee leadership’s five working goals, Oakland’s homicide problem, the challenges of police resources, qualitative and quantitative, the challenges to Oakland’s communities regarding crime, especially violent crime community policing, the chief’s views on staffing needs and what MOBN! can do to help to improve Oakland’s public safety.
read more ... |
| November Report Published - Monday, November 30, 2009November Report Published
The November 2009 report of the MOBN steering committees and new Executive Board is now available. read more ... |
| Citizen Reactions to Chief Batts - Thursday, November 05, 2009Citizen Reactions to Chief Batts
Oaklander Sandra Pohutsky reports from Chief Batts' appearance at Montera School on Thursday, November 12. Read about it here. And Oaklander Mike Ferro reports from the OPOA meeting on Monday, November 9. Read about it here.
Re-Election for Mayor Dellums?
Read Make Oakland Better Now!'s account of the recent meeting at Prescott Elementary School to introduce Chief Anthony Batts. Will the mayor run again? read more ... |
 | October Report to Oaklanders - Thursday, October 29, 2009October Report to Oaklanders
Read the steering committee's report to the members on developments since the kickoff meeting and future plans. read more ... |
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