Celebrating East Bay Leaders Keith Carson and Federal Glover Rep. Barbara Lee Makes Final at Geoffrey’s Inner Circle Remarks on By Magaly Muñoz
After decades of public service in the East Bay, community members and leaders came together to celebrate Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson and Contra Costa Supervisor Federal Glover at Geoffrey’s Inner Circle Thursday afternoon. Several leaders were in attendance including fellow Alameda Supervisors Elisa Marquez and Lena Tam, Superior Court judgeelect Terry Wiley, and African American Sports and Entertainment Group’s founder Ray Bobbitt, along with many other guests.
First elected in 1992, Carson has served District 5 for 24 years and announced his decision to step away from his seat earlier this year, just before the deadline to submit new candidate applications. He dedicated his long career to bringing access to health care, addressing homelessness, lowering crime, improving business retention, and growing job opportunities in Alameda County. Glover began his tenure as Contra Costa Supervisor in 2000 and previously served as mayor of Continued on page 8
House Floor
Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA-12). Courtesy of Barbara Lee’s office. By Ken Epstein On Dec. 17, Congresswoman Barbara Lee (CA-12) delivered her final remarks on the floor of the U.S. House of RepresentaContinued on page 8
Oakland Post
Left to Right : Keith Carson, John Gioia, Federal Glover, Nate Miley. Photo by Kevin Hicks.
“Where there is no vision, the people perish...” Proverbs 29:18
Weekly Edition December 18 - 24, 2024
postnewsgroup.com
61st Year, No. 47
Protesters Gather in Oakland, Other City Halls, to Halt Encampment Sweeps
iStock.
The California Poor People’s Campaign’s Victoria King erected encampments for unhoused Oaklanders. Photo by Post Staff.
Victoria King and her committee erected these emergency tents to symbolize the needs of unhoused Oaklanders. Photo by Post Staff.
By Post Staff
U.S. Supreme Court decision over
mons, calling on cities to halt the
the summer.
sweeps and focus instead on build-
Houseless
rights
advocates
gathered in Oakland, San Fran-
The coordinated protests on
cisco, Los Angeles, and other city
Tuesday in San Francisco, Oak-
“What we’re dealing with right
halls across California and Wash-
land, Vallejo, Fresno, Los Angeles
now is a way to criminalize people
ington state this week protesting
and Seattle, were hosted by Poor
who are dealing with poverty, who
increased sweeps that followed a
Magazine and Wood Street Com-
are not able to afford rent,” said
ing more housing.
rights advocate Junebug Kealoh, outside San Francisco City Hall. “When someone is constantly swept, they are just shuffled and things get taken — it’s hard to stay on top of anything,” said Kealoh. Local houseless advocates Continued on page 8
Interim Mayor Nikki Bas Announces Balanced Budget
‘The Council made difficult but clear decisions,’ said Bas. Kaplan proposed for Interim District 2 Council seat.
Nikki Fortunato Bas. Courtesy photo.
Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan. Courtesy photo. By Post Staff Oakland City Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas was sworn in interim mayor on Wednesday and
immediately sat down with City Council members to rebalance the city’s budget, closing a projected deficit and maintaining emergency financial reserves. “The Council made difficult but clear decisions last night,” Mayor Bas said in a statement released Thursday. “With yesterday’s budget adoption, the City of Oakland is on track to maintain our immediate fiscal health and our emergency reserves are at the required level.” “The City now seeks to move forward in strong collaboration with its Labor partners and the community-led Budget Advisory Commission toward long-term fiscal sustainability,” she said. “We all deserve to feel safe and secure, whether we’re taking our kids out to play, running our essential small businesses, parking our car on the
street, or walking home at night.” Bas took over as mayor from Sheng Thao, whose last day in office was Tuesday after losing a recall election in November. “Thank you for choosing me to serve as your mayor. As the first Hmong American woman to become the mayor of a major American city, it has been the honor of my lifetime. I am deeply proud of the progress we created together,” Thao said. Bas, in her final remarks as a councilmember, proposed that the City Council appoint Kaplan to replace her until the April election. “As you know Councilmember Kaplan is retiring, she is willing to serve in this interim capacity. She is a resident of District 2 in Jack London, will not run for the seat in the special election, and I believe that
she is uniquely qualified to jump in and immediately help to serve our District 2 residents, as well as key projects moving forward, and of course help lead the city’s biennial budget process,” Bas said. At its meeting this week, the Council affirmed the City Administrator’s budget balancing actions, utilizing unrestricted and transferred funds to help fill the gap and provided direction and strategies to close the remaining need. The proposals include finding new revenue from increased events and success at the Oakland Coliseum/Arena and other sources, making any further cuts a last resort. They also proposed to immediately collect unpaid business taxes by doing an internal audit and strengthen controls on OPD overContinued on page 8
Last City Council Meeting of the Year Ends on Sour Note with Big Budget Cuts
By Magaly Muñoz
In the last lengthy Tuesday meeting of the Oakland City Council for 2024, residents expressed strong opposition to the much needed budget cuts before a change in leadership was finalized with the certification of election results. In a five to one vote, with Councilmembers Carroll Fife and Janani Ramachandran excused, the council passed a plan aimed at balancing the $130 million deficit the city is facing. Noel Gallo voted against the plan, previously citing concerns over public safety cuts, while Nikki Fortunato Bas, Treva Reid, Rebecca Kaplan, Kevin Jenkins, and Dan Kalb voted in agreement with the plan. Oakland police and fire depart-
Oakland City Council voted on a plan to balance the $130 million deficit at their last regular meeting of 2024. The plan reduces police spending by $25 million, temporarily closes two fire stations, and guts the cultural arts programs. iStock photo. ments, the ambassador program, and city arts and culture will all see significant cuts over the course of two phases. Phase 1 will eliminate two police academies, brown out two fire stations, eliminate the ambassador program, and reduce police over-
time by nearly $25 million. These, with several other cuts across departments, aim to save the city $60 million. In addition, the council simultaneously approved to transfer restricted funds into its general purpose fund, amounting to over $40 million.
Phase 2 includes additional fire station brownouts and the elimination of 91 jobs, aiming to recover almost $16 million in order to balance the rest of the budget. Several organizations and residents spoke out at the meeting in hopes of swaying the council to not make cuts to their programs. East Oakland Senior Center volunteers and members, and homeless advocates, filled the plaza just outside of City Hall with rallies to show their disapproval of the new budget plan. Senior residents told the council to “remember that you’ll get old too” and that disturbing their resources will only bring problems for an already struggling community. Continued on page 8
Man Found Guilty After Shooting Gun into Parked Car with Sleeping Passengers
By Post Staff
A jury has returned a guilty verdict against Camren Watts on two counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm for an unprovoked shooting near the intersection of 51st Street and West Street in Oakland back in September of 2020. Watts fired his gun into a parked car, where two unarmed men were sleeping, several times. One victim suffered multiple wounds, while the other was uninjured. He now faces 23 years in state prison. His sentencing is scheduled for Monday, Feb.
3, 2025 in Department 10 at the René C. Davidson Courthouse in Oakland. “I first want to thank the jury for their service and careful deliberation in this trial,” said Chief Assistant District Attorney Royl Roberts. “I also want to congratulate the Prosecution Team for their hard work securing this conviction and recognize the Inspector on this assignment for their support throughout the case and jury trial. This guilty verdict reaffirms that anyone who uses a gun to harm people in our community will be held to account for their actions in a court of law.”
Damon “Shuja” Johnson at an Alameda County Behavioral Health Care Services Holiday Cultural Event for the Office of Peer Support Services. Courtesy photo.
Through Two Programs, Shuja Helps Others Get a Second Chance at a First-Class Life
By Melody Parker Gloria Woodson, Jaleah Winn Damon Shuja Johnson Special to The Post Under recently passed Proposition 1, California’s behavioral health services will be allocated $1 billion for services for the unhoused in 2026-27, Governor Gavin Newsom announced last summer. Although some of the funds from the Mental Health Services Act were diverted to Proposition 1, individuals living with behav-
ioral health conditions and housing challenges are maintaining hope for wellness and recovery. Damon Johnson, a peer counselor who serves as the executive director of Black Men Speak and Men and Women of Color will be affected by the state’s new rules. Living with a behavioral health condition, he is an advocate and a leader. Damon, best known as Shuja, was incarcerated for 34 years and today is advocating for the rights of persons with similar lived experience and for the surContinued on page 8