Watching the sheriff
Oakland city administrator issues immediate hiring freeze; BART board director resigns; Firestorm follows proposed airport name-change; Everything is not rosy with Hayward's Russell City reparations
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COUNTY NEWS
BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
—COPWATCH—About four years in the making, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors are set on Tuesday to formally approve the creation of a Sheriff’s Oversight Board and Office of the Inspector General.
—Supervisors will choose between two largely identical ordinances. The second version includes recommendations from Supervisors Nate Miley and Elisa Marquez that settle the last remaining sticking point.
—Who will act as counsel for the Inspector General? County counsel or independent counsel?
—Here are the changes in the proposed ordinance (Option B):
Independent counsel for the Office of Inspector General.
Excludes current and former law enforcement from oversight board membership, along with non-county residents.
Strong encouragement for the sheriff or designee to participate at each oversight meeting.
—A clamoring by police accountability activists and progressives for sheriff’s oversight began during then-Alameda County Sheriff Greg Ahern’s tumultuous tenure.
—The onset of the pandemic slowed down the effort just as it started in 2020.
—The movement faced another setback with the passing of Supervisor Richard Valle in 2022. Valle had taken the lead on sheriff’s oversight and reforms at Santa Rita Jail.
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BART BOARD OF DIRECTORS
—MCPARTING WAYS—BART Board Director John McPartland was not expected to run for re-election to his District 5 seat this November.
—But McPartland, who was first elected in 2008, announced on Thursday that he is stepped down, effective immediately. McPartland cited family considerations for his sudden resignation.
—McPartland’s departure adds uncertainty to the current BART board, in addition to the currently forming field of candidates hoping to succeed him in the Tri-Valley, Castro Valley, and Hayward district.
—The BART Board’s next steps will be discussed at its April 11 meeting.
—It’s late in the election cycle for a special election. Instead, the board will likely appoint a short-term successor.
—If so, an appointment will have to be selected by May 27. If no pick is made, the decision rests with the Alameda County Board of Supervisors, according to BART officials.
—The field in District 5 includes termed out Dublin Mayor Melissa Hernandez, and Gabe Rodrigues, a member of the BART Police Citizen Review Board.
PORT OF OAKLAND
—I FLY (SF BAY) OAKLAND—Last Friday, the Port of Oakland announced a proposal to recast the official name of the Oakland Airport as the San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport.
—The firestorm of opposition was immediate. Many of the responses on social media included the f-word. Here’s one that did not:
—“As the biggest economic contributor to Oakland’s economy, the Port of Oakland should spend its resources to improve our city instead of trying to distance itself from us,” former Oakland Councilmember Loren Taylor wrote.
—“What message does this give to other Oakland businesses and residents? That ditching Oakland is the ideal path to making more profit?”
—The intent behind the Port’s proposed name-change is a reaction to surveys that show out-of-state and international visitors are unaware of Oakland’s proximity to San Francisco.
—Port of Oakland commissioners will discuss the proposal at its April 11 meeting.
BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
—MAC ATTACK—The Alameda County Board of Supervisors are on the path to approve the creation of a five-member East County MAC, to provide local representation for the mostly rural unincorporated areas in District 1 Supervisor David Haubert’s district.
—Sunol, however, is not part of the proposed East County MAC, and will retain its own MAC, according to the draft ordinance.
—Since the Castro Valley MAC was created in 1981, three others have formed—Sunol, Fairview, and Eden Area.
CITY NEWS
OAKLAND
—NEED NOT APPLY—In light of Oakland’s massive $177 million budget deficit, Oakland City Administrator Jestin Johnson is calling for a hiring freeze, effectively immediately.
—Johnson made the directive in a March 27 memo to department directors and fiscal staff. The plan does not include sworn positions.
—The hiring freeze will remain in the place through the 2024-25 mid-cycle budget, Johnson wrote.
—A moratorium on all virtual and in-person professional training and conference requests funded through the general purpose fund is also in place, Johnson wrote.
—There’s mounting pressure on city officials to avoid cuts to staffing and services that were largely sidestepped during last year’s gargantuan $360 million two-year budget shortfall.
—“There’s no cuts per se that are on the table,” Oakland City Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas said at Thursday’s Rules and Legislation Committee meeting.
—CITY’S COLISEUM LEASE OFFER—Here’s a potential revenue source to lessen the budget woes in Oakland.
—Oakland’s lease offer to the A’s is for three years with a two-year extension. The A’s would pay $19.4 million a year to essentially play in an empty stadium.
—The city and A’s are scheduled to meet for a third time on Tuesday. However, there is growing sentiment the team will instead play in Sacramento for the next three years while a potential ballpark is built in Las Vegas.
—HIRING THE CHIEF—Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao is renewing talk about a potential ballot measure to strip the Oakland Police Commission of one of its top powers—the ability to help select a police chief.
—It’s a strange talking point by Thao, offered just days after incoming Oakland Police Chief Floyd Mitchell was introduced to the public.
—Thao is clearly jaded by the city’s process for hiring a police chief. In this case, the effort took over a year.
—But the ballot measure to amend Measure L1, which established the police commission in 2016, and Measure S1, which expanded its powers, were extremely popular with Oakland voters. Each received more than 80 percent support.
—It’s a dangerous move by Thao to lead an effort to roll back a popular ballot initiative when her own popularity is less than desirable.
HAYWARD
—HISTORY REPEATING ITSELF?—Last week, Hayward city officials vowed to right the wrongs of the forced displacement of Russell City residents six decades ago.
—However, there was clear signs of acrimony between members of the Russell City Reparative Justice Project’s steering committee and city officials.
—“This is a process that has been challenging and traumatic in a number of different ways,” said Michael V. Johnson, a member of the 13-person steering committee.
—From the start, Hayward officials appeared to be stymying the steering committee’s efforts.
—Johnson told the Hayward City Council last week that City Attorney Michael Lawson provided them with a “stoplight presentation” prior to the group beginning its work.
—“There were things we were told that we should not to ask for because of the risk of litigation,” Johnson said.
—Last week, the Hayward City Council received 26 recommendations from the steering committee to address the harm caused by the forced removal of Russell City residents from their properties in the early 1960s.
—The recommendations were created by a research team selected by the city, Johnson said. The steering committee merely prioritized them.
—Hayward city staff also asked that the number of recommendations be limited to a few items, said Aisha Knowles, the group’s co-chair. Knowles said the steering committee did not want to narrow scope during the work session phase of the project.
—The city was also ignorant of one key transgression in Russell City’s history when they scheduled last week’s special meeting to a smaller room adjacent to the council chambers.
—The documentary “The Apology,” which Knowles helped produced, focuses on a pivotal Alameda County Board of Supervisors meeting in 1963 that would signal the end of Russell City.
—The fateful meeting had to be moved to a larger venue to accomodate the throng of residents.
—“Having an understanding of our history from 1963 is important,” Knowles told Hayward councilmembers. “If we invest in resources to imagine reparative justice solutions, then we always got to recognize that there is work to be done to ensure that history does not repeat itself 61 years later.”
