Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao delivered her state of the city address on Tuesday, highlighting her administration’s accomplishments in her first term. Pete Suratos reports.
Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao delivered her State of the City address on Tuesday, highlighting her administration’s accomplishments in her first term.
The address took place during a turbulent year for the mayor that included FBI raids, a city budget crisis and a recall vote in a matter of weeks.
But Thao said that progress is being made under her administration and that crime is going down, due to a ceasefire strategy and the work being done by the city’s department of violence prevention.
“DVP violence interrupters are now proactively in our communities, everyday mediating through conflicts and preventing retaliatory shootings,” she said.
Thao added the recent sale of the Oakland Coliseum is a win for the city and can help address the current budget shortfall.
“This sale will bring in $125 million, with $110 million within this fiscal year,” she said.
But opponents of the mayor disagree with her handling of public safety and the city’s budget issues.
On the issue of public safety, the Oakland Police Officers Association disputes the idea of crime going down.
“We are a little delayed when it comes to reporting the stats for the city of Oakland. It’s hard to get a true accuracy of where the crime levels are at,” said Sgt. Tim Dolan with the Oakland Police Officers Association.
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Oakland councilmembers are also questioning how the new terms of the coliseum sale, with its next payment of $95 million not due until next May, will address the city’s current budget shortfall.
“What we want to know is what is going to happen first? said Oakland councilmember Janani Ramachandran. "Because we are really in a gray zone. We don’t have money that we were supposed to have at this point because the terms of the payment of the Coliseum deal has changed."
The recall is becoming a contentious issue in the city, drawing dueling rallies on Tuesday afternoon of those for and against it.
“We are not going to sit here and allow two more years of destruction and death of people of businesses, of our communities,” said Edward Escobar with Citizens Unite.
And with three weeks to go before the recall vote, Thao is trying to make her case to remain as mayor of Oakland.
“If we stay determined and committed to moving Oakland forward as one. Our town will thrive,” she said.
