Public safety state of emergency isn’t needed, says Oakland mayor

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Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao at the Genesis Worship Center on Saturday afternoon.

CITY NEWS

OAKLAND

—DUELING PUBLIC SAFETY EVENTS—The back-to-back neighborhood rally and informational panel on public safety Saturday afternoon in Oakland occurred on a weekend in which the city suffered more homicides and more mayhem.

—The event at the Genesis Worship Center in East Oakland brought some big names in public safety to the table, including Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price, Alameda County Supervisor Nate Miley, and various law enforcement officials.

—Thao and Price came toting PowerPoint presentations and both had moments of combativeness amid growing criticism, and in Price’s case, a nascent recall.

—Thao’s highlights:

• When asked about calling for a state of emergency to combat violent crime in Oakland, Thao said the city has received state funding from Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office, while forging partnerships with the California Highway Patrol and Alameda County Sheriff’s Office to help with patrols.

• “All of these things are done by your executive CEO, which is me, your mayor,” Thao said. “Calling for a state of emergency right now when we are doing everything that this would allow us to do. Let’s just call it what it is. It’s just political theater.

  “For me, I’m about doing the action and doing the work. So this has already been done. Let’s figure out how our babies can get jobs. Quit it with the political theater. Let’s talk about how we come together.”

• On Thao’s role to lower crime: “Change don’t happen overnight. I don’t know about any of you all. But change, especially systems change, it don’t happen overnight,” Thao said. “Next year, let’s look at the numbers and then have me held responsible for that.”

• “I’m all about saving lives. I don’t about you all,” Thao while gesturing to the audience.

• “Look, I see it. People ain’t stopping for the red lights and the stop signs. It’s madness.”

• On the search for Oakland’s next police chief: Thao said she’s frustrated. “This process should have already started.”

• On the federal oversight: “I wish I could go fire somebody from the judge or the federal monitor. That is not the case. It’s only the judge that can fire the federal monitor.”

• Thao is hopeful Oakland PD can shed federal oversight next year.

—Price’s highlights:

• Price reiterated her assertion that Oakland Police are not doing their jobs.

• She blamed the families of victims for not being fair when asking to meet her, while also adding a racial component.

• “One of the things I said when I first met with victims, when I first got there, I’m not going to pick and choose who I’m going to meet with,” Price said. “It is not fair for me to meet with the family of a white family that has lost a loved one, and I don’t meet with a black family.”

• Price blamed former Alameda County Nancy O’Malley for the proliferation of guns in Alameda County.

—Miley’s highlights:

• Oakland’s problems with public safety have been around for decades, Miley said. “Oakland has been suffering from pathologies that have been tough to deal with for decades. To blame it on any one administration is not really productive.”

• Miley reiterated his long-time support for law enforcement, but was much more blunt on Saturday when he referenced Adolf Hitler, Donald Trump, and The Proud Boys.

  “There are evil people in our world and we need law enforcement to deal with evil people. Like Hitler. He was an evil person. I also believe Trump is an evil person. How many would agree with that? The Proud Boys are evil people.

  “We need law enforcement to do their jobs constitutionally to help deal with these evil people. We also need resources to look upstream to work with our young people. Intervention when they go off the beaten track. But then sometimes we need to have consequences for bad behavior because we cannot have a society that is lawless.”

—OAKLAND AIRPORT—The item here last Friday about Southwest Airlines’ worry about public safety in Oakland was raised at Saturday’s event at the Genesis Worship Center.

—Bishop George Matthews spoke of break-ins and smash and grabs in Oakland casting a pall over the city’s business community, while adding an assertion about airlines moving out of Oakland.

—Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao did not directly respond to Matthews’ statement about airlines moving out of Oakland, only noting she has a strong relationship with Port of Oakland officials.

—When Thao took a seat, Matthews pushed the issue, saying the tidbit about airlines leaving Oakland came from an unnamed Oakland councilmember.

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