Politics

To balance an $83 million general fund deficit,  the Oakland City Council passed an amended budget proposal Tuesday night  that leaves many departments’ budgets substantially smaller. The most controversial change, Council member Jean Quan noted while reading the proposal aloud, was the $13.4 million cut to the Oakland Police Department’s personnel budget.  It’s equivalent to the 10 percent cut the city requested from all departments. The police union is still in talks with the council and how the money will be…

The roller coaster ride of city budget-balancing will not come to an end on July 1, at least according to several Oakland City Council members at last week’s meeting.  However, looking at Mayor Dellums’ original proposal to balance an $83-85 million general fund deficit in comparison with the revised proposal that four city council members put forth on June 11 gives us a slightly clearer picture of what to expect . Here’s how some of the departments will be affected:…

by SHILANDA WOOLRIDGE The Citizen’s Police Review Board earned permission to move forward with their plans at the Public Safety Comission Meeting; but not without some consternation from City Council Member Larry Reid.

The BART boardroom opened its doors Tuesday night and community leaders and members  said they feared  the “top to bottom” assessment by an outside consulting group was nothing more than a public relations ploy by BART. “You don’t know the facts as we know the facts,” Dr. Ramona Tascoe, an ordained minister and medical doctor practicing in Oakland, told the consultants, the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives,  known as NOBLE The NOBLE assessment team of eight began their…

In the beginning, a little after 3:00 p.m., the council chambers were crowded and the air was thick with anticipation. Two television stations jockeyed for camera room, residents lined up against the walls and some people found seats in the balcony to watch the Oakland City Council discuss a new alternative budget proposal to Mayor Dellum’s much maligned proposal for 2009-2011 on Tuesday. But by 11 p.m., after countless speakers and hours spent quibbling over parking meter fines, the cameramen…

By SHILANDA WOOLRIDGE Nuisance parking—cars left, abandoned or parked indefinitely—was most on the minds of the dozen or so residents at the West Oakland Senior Center Tuesday night for the joint Neighborhood Crime Prevention meeting.

Mayor Ron Dellums’ proposal to reduce the Oakland Police Department by 140 officers if he fails to get federal stimulus money could end up cutting 202 officers and effectively ending  community policing, according to police. The emergency 911 would not be affected, police said. “It is going to be traffic officers and Problem Solving Officers,” said Jeffrey Thomason, the public information officer at the Oakland Police Department. Thomason said that even if the cuts were made, the Oakland Police Department…

In the murky darkness underneath the 24 Freeway in Rockridge is a little slice of doggie heaven. On a recent Thursday afternoon, five or six pooches – it’s difficult to keep track – romp inside a large, caged doggie run while their owners chat. The dark, mulched run is not pretty to look at, but it’s convenient. Not far away, in a much more verdant spot, several children climb on small rocks in a shallow, plant-fringed pond or play on…