OAKLAND — A divided Oakland City Council approved a budget Tuesday night that calls for $2.5 million in cuts to the Oakland Police Department — and bypassed a council member’s plan that would have slashed $25 million from the OPD.
The council approved the “Community First Budget” proposed by Finance Chair Lynette Gibson McElhaney, and Equity Caucus partners Vice Mayor Reid, council members Noel Gallo and Loren Taylor, which also provides nearly $27 million in COVID-19 related funding. The four council members called themselves the Equity Caucus because they said their proposal addresses the needs of the city’s low-income neighborhoods.
The vote was 5-1, with Council President Rebecca Kaplan voting with McElhaney, Reid, Gallo and Taylor.
Council member Nikki Fortunato Bas — the author of the plan to defund the police by $25 million — cast the sole “no” vote and council members Dan Kalb and Sheng Thao abstained. All three had repeatedly urged the council delay the vote so they and residents could study the latest Equity Caucus proposal, which was submitted to the council — but not available to the public or on the city website — Monday, less than 24 hours before the Tuesday vote.
Bas and Thao argued “for the sake of transparency” for a delay in the budget approval to give residents a chance to see and react to the Equity Caucus budget proposal. Bas — who said she heard from thousands of residents in crafting her plan — also contended the budget now eliminates the city’s Human Services Department.
McElhaney said the city was “in a crisis” and couldn’t wait another day because of the coronavirus pandemic’s economic toll on thousands of workers and residents in the city.
In approving the Equity Caucus plan, the council members rejected a proposal by Bas, who called for slashing $25 million from the Oakland Police Department, with a goal of reducing funding for police by 50 percent of the city’s general fund budget over the next two years. Bas’ proposal also called for freezing police hiring and filling vacant positions, sought to cut the police operations and maintenance budget by $10 million and proposed $3 million in cuts from the police overtime budget.
Her plan would have used the police cuts to avoid furloughs in parks and recreation, human services, libraries and other departments.
After the vote, Bas was quick to denounce the decision. She tweeted: “5 Councilmembers who passed Oakland budget tonight just killed democracy. They passed budget that was not even published publicly on city website. I didn’t receive it until today’s meeting had already started, and I didn’t receive the policy directives at all.” #oakmtg #DefundOPD
She followed that up with a tweet: “This budget is a slap in the face to thousands of Oaklanders who called on Council to #DefundOPD + #InvestInCommunity #BlackNewDeal – with only a $2.5M OPD reduction. I do not support this. I voted NO. Proud 2 stand on right side of history. Elections matter.” #oakmtg #democracy
This budget is a slap in the face to thousands of Oaklanders who called on Council to #DefundOPD + #InvestInCommunity #BlackNewDeal – with only a $2.5M OPD reduction. I do not support this. I voted NO. Proud 2 stand on right side of history. Elections matter. #oakmtg #democracy
— Nikki Fortunato Bas (@Nikkiforallofus) June 24, 2020
Others were quick to assail the five council members who voted to approve the budget. During the meeting, hundreds of public speakers spoke about the need to defund the police department — by 50 percent — or $150 million. They also pointed out that the new budget calls for concessions from city workers.
“It is clear from Lynette McElhaney’s immediate press release after the city council meeting, that this dishonorable, anti-democratic and possibly illegal move was premeditated,” said Jessamyn Sabbaq, executive director of Oakland Rising, in a statement. “The self-proclaimed ‘equity caucus’ put forth a proposal just hours before the vote that denied both the public, and their own colleagues, the opportunity to figure out what was in it and offer alternatives. Hundreds of people spoke at the meeting and the previous meeting, while thousands called and sent emails over the past couple weeks.”
Sabbaq called the vote “shameful and unforgivable.”
George Galvis, executive director of CURYJ (Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice), said “more than just democracy was wounded.” by the budget approval. “In the midst of a pandemic, a recession, and an uprising, we had a chance to truly care for the people of Oakland, to invest in housing, health care, and education, not tanks and tear gas,” he said in a statement.
The new budget allocates $1.35 million for alternative safety measures like MACRO, a program designed to dispatch health workers instead of police for mental health service calls, and $200,000 in additional funds to the Oakland Police Commission.
“As a Black woman, I have lived in police terror and do not have the luxury to talk about it academically,” McElhaney said in a statement. “The call to defund and reimagine policing is right, but we also owe it to the community to really get it done right this time before we see another Black man murdered on video or another Black child killed in our streets due to community violence.”
The Community First Budget also increased funding for COVID-19 measures.
“Amidst this pandemic and this moment of deep pain, our workers and our community are counting on us to get this money out immediately,” McElhaney said.
McElhaney’s statement broke down highlights in the Equity Caucus budget: $28.3 million to prevent residents from being displaced; $9.5 million for citywide broadband for youth and residents; $4 million to help small businesses; and $1.8 million to support artists, arts organizations, youth programs and cultural institutions.
“This is an absolute affront to Black and brown communities in Oakland, particularly for leaders who have called for deeply democratic changes to the city budget, reflective of the obvious need to end police violence and invest in our neighborhoods,” said Cat Brooks, co-founder of the Anti-Police Terror Project.
