Oakland blows past budget deadline
Oakland city attorney says there's no basis for the June 30 deadline; Newark councilmember resigns; San Leandro may extend tobacco shop moratorium; Wahab leads Prop. 47 reform initiative
CITY NEWS
OAKLAND
—KICKING THE CAN—Over the past year, Oakland has suffered the ignominy of a FBI raid on the mayor’s home, a recall against said mayor, the loss of the A’s, and an inability to apply for millions in state funding to combat retail theft.
—Add the Oakland City Council’s inability to adopt a fiscal year budget by the June 30 deadline to the list.
—A special council meeting last Friday, just two days before the state-mandated deadline for municipalities to approve a balanced budget, did not produce a final outcome.
—No vote was taken and the budget item was continued to a future meeting.
—However, Oakland City Attorney Barbara Parker said, “There is no legal impediment to extending the time because you did adopt a budget for this ensuing fiscal year last year.”
—Nonetheless, a deadline is a deadline.
—The council’s inability to face its significant fiscal issues and finalize a budget like every municipality in the state has done over the past month adds to the confusion that appears to be endemic at Oakland City Hall.
—When Councilmember Noel Gallo learned there would be no vote on the budget on Friday night, he grabbed his things and left. Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas appeared momentarily stunned.
—The continuation of the budget item again raises questions for why Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao took until three weeks ago to present her budget, and why did she base it on one-time revenues from the city’s half-interest sale of the Coliseum that at this point is hopeful money, but not yet a sure thing.
—In addition, why did the city council wait until just four days before the June 30 deadline to begin deliberations on a very complex proposed budget?
—THAO RECALL DATE—The recall of Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao was certified by the Alameda County Registrar of Voters almost two weeks ago.
—On Tuesday, the Oakland City Council is set to officially place the recall question on the Nov. 5 General Election ballot.
—It joins the countywide recall of Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price on the same ballot.
NEWARK
—PRICED OUT—Newark Councilmember Mike Bucci resigned last week citing the lack of affordable housing in his city.
—“Unfortunately, we’re just the next people in a long line of folks who have been priced out of town,” Bucci wrote on Facebook.
—“We tried to buy a home a number of times over the years but it never happened for us. Now the window has closed and any chance we had to stay in Newark is long past.”
—Bucci said he was unable to find a house in Newark for less than a $7,500 a month mortgage.
—Housing affordability in Newark and the region has clearly been bothering Bucci for some time.
—In April, Bucci reamed Newark’s mayor for the hypocrisy of offering a proclamation in support of fair housing month to a landlords group.
SAN LEANDRO
—GETTING PAID—Newly appointed San Leandro City Manager Janelle Cameron will earn $350,000 a year, according to a proposed three-year contract that is coming before the San Leandro City Council tonight.
—The contract is a big bump over the first-year, $262,650 contract signed in 2021 by Fran Robustelli, the former San Leandro city manager who left the city last month for the same position on the Florida Gulf Coast.
—MORATORIUM EXTENSION—San Leandro officials may extend a 45-day moratorium on the sale of tobacco-related products and e-cigarettes at new retail locations tonight.
—A loophole in the city’s ordinance allowed for a proliferation of shops to feature tobacco and e-cigarette products under the guise of another business model.
—City staff is proposing the urgency moratorium be extended two year through June 2026. Five of seven council votes are needed for passage.
LEGISLATIVE NEWS
—GIVING PROPS—East Bay state Sen. Aisha Wahab is spearheading late legislation for a competing November statewide ballot measure that would reform Proposition 47, the initiative approved by voters in 2014 that is often blamed for exacerbating brazen retail theft across the state.
—Senate Bill 1381 was cobbled together within days and will be debated this week and fast-tracked toward likely approval by this Wednesday for the Nov. 5 ballot where it will meet a similar, but more vigorous Prop. 47 reform initiative backed by district attorneys.
—Under Prop. 47, if the total costs of goods stolen are less than $950, charges can be reduced to a misdemeanor.
—Among the keys to SB 1381:
Under SB 1381, for serial shoplifters police can use an aggregate total cost of stolen goods over a three-year period to charge them with a felony when it exceeds $950.
Allows district attorney to charge a felony for those who receive two or more shoplifting convictions over a three-year period.
Drug dealers who sell drugs cut with fentanyl and do not notifify the purchaser can be charged with a felony.
The bill also instruct judges to make convicted dealers of fentanyl aware that they could be charged with homicide in the event their customer dies from an overdose.
—The selection of Wahab to lead the effort to reform Prop. 47 in another high-profile assignment from Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office.
—Last summer, Newsom tapped Wahab to lead an effort to build steam for a potential Constitutional amendment on gun control. Specifically, an assault weapons ban, universal background checks, and raising the age to purchase a firearm to 21-years-old.
