Oakland Post “Where there is no vision, the people perish...” Proverbs 29:18
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Oakland Police Union Criticizes City’s New Budget
OPOA Preident Hoy T. Nguyen. Courtesy photo. By Post Staff The Oakland Police Officers Association (OPOA) this week sent a letter to Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee strongly criticizing the city’s new two-year austerity budget, recently passed overwhelming by the City Council, and called on Lee to intervene to reopen the budget to increase funding for the police. In a letter sent Monday, OPOA President Huy T. Nguyen claimed that the Council had “railroaded through (a budget) with little to no public input,” which does not meet the public’s demand for city leaders to put public safety first. Responding to the letter, the Mayor’s Office said, “The Mayor received the letter this morning and is looking forward to continued dialogue with the Oakland Police Officer’s Association on a comprehensive public safety strategy as set forth by voters in Measure NN.” In an interview with KRON4
News, Mayor Lee said, “I’m surprised that the letter was released to the press so early before I had a chance to discuss this with (OPOA President Nguyen). But I will discuss it with him.” In the OPOA letter, Nguyen said, “The Council didn’t ‘find’ money—they gutted a police academy, eliminated sworn positions, and ignored the voter-approved Measure NN. This isn’t budgeting—it’s abandoning the people of Oakland.” Measure NN, which passed in 2024, requires the City to maintain at least 700 sworn officers. While the current budget authorizes 678 officers for the next two years, the department currently has only 657 officers, and more than 100 are on leave. The OPOA letter criticized the Council’s decision to use civilians instead of sworn officers in certain positions, such as internal affairs, Continued on page 8
62nd Year, No. 27
Weekly Edition July 2 - 8, 2025
NNPA Elects Dr. John E. Warren Day Laborers in Oakland as New Chairman of the Board Are Experiencing Wage Theft From Employers: Nonprofit Pleads City for Funding
Dr. John E. Warren is the publisher of the San Diego Voice and Viewpoint and the newly-elected Board chair of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, the trade association representing America’s Black-owned publishing and media companies. File photo.
Warren G Joins Oakland Ballers Ownership Group
Gabriela Galicia, Nik Theodore, and Luis Valentan give a presentation on wage theft at the Street Level Health Project’s headquarters. The organization is fighting to provide resources on worker rights for migrant workers amid recent budget restrictions. Photo by Magaly Muñoz. By Magaly Muñoz Day laborers in Oakland are losing wages due to theft from their employers, a new survey study shows, and a local nonprofit is asking the city to reinstate its funding in order to address the injustices faced by these workers. According to a study from the Center for Urban Economic Development at the University
Warren G. Courtesy photo. Special to the Post Legendary Rap artist Warren G joined the Oakland Ballers ownership group for a Block Party Celebration for baseball legend Rickey Henderson Day at the pre-game party on June 21. Warren Griffin III aka ‘Warren G’ is best known for his G-Funk sound and hit song “Regulator” that topped the Billboard charts in 1994. He shared the hit record with Nate Dogg and Snoop Dogg singing on the verses. Warren G’s hip-hop career has spanned three decades in the West Coast music landscape. He has
been credited for the discovery of Snoop Dogg and penning a number of hits coming out of the Los Angeles rap scene. Warren G said he is excited to be joining the professional baseball ranks with his creative juices and business acumen. Gary Reeves and Warren G look forward to bringing back cutting-edge music and other social impact creative endeavors to Oakland and the league soon. “It’s time for me to step forward and build my legacy, so that my family can continue to benefit from my body of work. This is a new chapter for me to build on,” Griffin said.
Oakland Residents:
Paid Internships to Clean Up the Streets
of Illinois Chicago, nearly 30% of day laborers surveyed (out of 138) experienced wage theft in and around Oakland. The average amount stolen from workers was reported as $590. Most day laborers work physically demanding jobs such as landscaping, demolition, moving, and hauling. Workers can be picked up in any of six known day Continued on page 8
OUSD Welcomes New Chief of Staff
Dan Bellino. Courtesy photo. Special to The Post
The Oakland Unified School
District now has a new chief of
staff, one of the highest-ranking positions in leadership.
As current chief of staff, Dr.
Dexter Moore, Jr. transitions to a
new leadership role on the other
side of the country, OUSD has brought in a new chief of staff with decades of education experience, including as a former chief of staff to an Alameda County superintendent of schools. Dan Bellino fully took over the role as of July 1. Bellino is an accomplished education leader with more than 21 years of experience from the classroom to the board room. He most recently served as deputy chief of Student Programs at the Alameda County Office of Education (ACOE). In that role, he primarily supported ACOE’s Court Schools, driving systems integration and improved Continued on page 8
DA Angela Jones Dickson. Wikimedia photo.
DA Files Manslaughter Charges Against Man in Deadly Freeway Collision
Special to The Post
Alameda County District Attorney Ursula Jones Dickson filed felony charges Tuesday against Emmanuel Gonzalez Mendoza. On June 27 at approximately 3:30 a.m., California Highway Patrol (CHP) officers from the Oakland Area Office responded to a report of a multi-vehicle traffic collision on Interstate 80 eastbound, near Buchanan Street in Alameda
County.
Upon arrival, officers discovered a three-vehicle crash, which resulted in the death of one driver. Gonzalez Mendoza is alleged to be the driver of the vehicle that caused the crash. It is further alleged that at the time he was driving, Gonzalez Mendoza had an excessive amount of alcohol in his system and that he was driving under the influence of alcohol, causContinued on page 8
Mayor Barbara Lee. Official photo. Barack Obama. Facebook photo. George W. Bush. Facebook photo.
Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee, Others Express Disappointment on Trump’s Freeze on USAID
Special to The Post Begun in February, the Trump Administration has all but shut down programming that saved millions of lives in Africa and beyond since it started in 1961. “On Tuesday the U.S. Agency for International Development
(USAID) was shut down and the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) was largely frozen by the Trump administration,” Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee said in a statement today. She and former presidents Continued on page 8