Honest reflections after a year in Oakland politics

The good, the bad, the ugly

Jan 19, 2025

🗳️ Serve on our District 2 Endorsement Committee. Apply to join the Empower Oakland Endorsement Committee, which interviews and vets candidates for Empower’s official endorsements (we reach 50%+ of Oakland voters). Apply here!

📱 Empower Oakland is hiring its first staff! We are looking for a contract social media manager to help spread our message and engage Oaklanders across all our social platforms.

Hey everyone, it’s Gagan, interim Executive Director at Empower Oakland. I helped re-launch Empower Oakland last summer with zero political experience — just an East Bay native who made his career in business, and after traveling and living all over the world, decided to come home and plant my family in Oakland.

After a car break-in and some eye-opening conversations about our city government, I realized Oakland’s greatness is often overshadowed by a few critical, fixable problems we’ve unfortunately learned to accept and normalize.

After 100+ meetings with local officials, public safety workers, and other leaders, we set out to give a voice to the silent majority who believe Oakland deserves better. I’m proud of what we accomplished in just a few months. Now that one election cycle is behind us — and another looms — I thought I’d share some honest reflections…

The Good

Oakland is special. I’ve traveled to all seven continents, but Oakland’s energy, culture, and community keep me grounded here. Our people, parks, restaurants, and neighborhoods are vibrant in ways that make me proud to call this place home.

We have enough resources. Our city’s ~$2B budget should be enough to deliver the services and infrastructure we need. The caveat is whether those funds are managed wisely.

Progress can happen. We didn’t win every race, but we’ve helped shift the conversation toward commonsense policies — even leaders who disagree with us are adopting some of our reforms. We will gain more momentum from here.

Overall positive direction on crime. Factors like more CHP presence, national crime rates trending down, and a shift in public opinion are helping. There’s a long road ahead, but it’s encouraging to see signs of progress, such as the 19% decline in homicides last year.

The Bad

Broken budget. We must overhaul how public money is spent. Our local government workers are underpaid for the job they should be doing, yet overpaid for what they’re actually doing. We need efficiency on every level and the right leadership that is willing to make the tough decisions to get us there. Empower Oakland has written about this at length and we encourage you to decide for yourself.

Stubborn leaders. Even in the face of clear evidence, changing one’s stance in local politics is often seen as political suicide. That hurts all of us by blocking good policy in favor of saving face (or kowtowing to special interests).

Blind eye to petty crime. While violent crime is critical to address, petty crime is what eats away at Oakland’s daily life and local economy. The sad fact is that it’s not getting enough attention and our police department is not resourced or empowered to adequately fight it. It also seems like the department itself could do more with its existing resources. It still boggles my mind that 62% of Oaklanders say they have been victims of a crime.

The Ugly

Unchecked misinformation. While a number of local reporters are fair, many turn a blind eye in favor of establishment politicians despite years and years of mismanagement and corruption. We also learned that our opponents are quick to label outside perspectives as “dark money” or “billionaire-backed” despite both being categorically untrue.

The real dark money. Make no mistake, Oakland’s budget and the people who make budgeting decisions are largely controlled by special interests. Until that power dynamic changes, our leaders are unlikely to make the decisions necessary to get Oakland back on track.

Closed-door decision-making. I’ve witnessed backroom deals where the “winning” candidate is substantively decided months before an election, largely because votes are earned by making open-ended promises to special interest groups. Legal or not, that’s not how a healthy democracy should work.

Looking Ahead

As we embark on the next chapter, I think it makes sense to put some stakes in the ground on what we stand for.

We will talk with anyone. “Guilty by association” has no place in a democracy. We can’t let labels or rumors stop us from finding common ground. This means we will talk to everyone that’s willing to talk to us, no matter how wide our differences may seem.
We won’t bully and we won’t be bullied. One of the more troubling aspects of the past election cycle was the occasional nastiness in public discourse, especially on social media. Please rest assured that this is not our doing — and in some cases we had conversations with folks to put an end to it.
At the same time, we won’t be deterred by any name-calling or false accusations that come our way. We aren’t afraid to say the quiet parts out loud or go against the ‘current’ thing. If people have issues with that, it probably means we’re doing something right.
We won’t take shortcuts. Elections are ultimately won face-to-face, and we plan to ramp up our volunteer efforts so that more Oaklanders hear these ideas directly from neighbors, not just online or in the news.
We believe Oakland deserves better. Oakland’s pride is both its strength, and at times, its Achilles’ heel. We love our city fiercely, but that passion can blind us to the need for changes in policy and leadership. I continue to believe this city can thrive with the right ideas, the right leaders, and the courage to demand better.

If you care about Oakland and want to help us shape the future, we’d love to have you onboard. Reach out, volunteer, and make your voice heard. With fresh energy and renewed commitment, 2025 can be the year that Oakland gains the momentum it desperately needs.

Stay tuned, stay engaged, and stay hopeful!

In other news…

Sheng Thao’s indictment is already getting political. Here’s who might get hit by the fallout (SF Chronicle)
Closed fire station leads to delayed response to Oakland hills house fire (KTVU)
Oakland Police Commission punts on the pursuit policy—Chief Mitchell takes charge (Oakland Report)
Concerned about Oakland’s budget crisis? The city wants your ideas (Oaklandside, Take the Survey)
Oakland congresswoman defends her push for $50 an hour minimum wage (SF Gate)