Yes, there is a need to cut pay immediately. Let the labor unions sue, they will lose in court. Defer funding for affordable housing. Keep public safety funded but at lower labor rates. If we have a crime wave or raise taxes, it will hurt business attraction and https://substack.com/refer/bryangrunwald
I hope the local unions including Local 21 and SEIU agree to concessions. That will be crucial to solve the short-term budget crisis and create long lasting systemic change. I hope the city and unions consider early retirement buyouts - similar to what the San Francisco Unified School District, which is also facing insolvency- just announced. Clearing some of the future retirement obligations is an important step. Also, the folks closest to retirement age are usually at the top step of the salary schedule, so they are some of the city’s most expensive employees. Making it worthwhile for those folks to retire will have lasting, positive financial impacts for the city budget. Please look at what SFUSD did. Cutting police can not be the only solution. The city can’t recover economically and start to attract new investment until crime gets under control (including the perception of crime).
It's astonishing how our leadership doesn't understand the basic: Safety. But their ideology won't let them. Oakland will never be allowed to leave this situation.
The contention that public safety is 25% is incorrect. Assuming that the documents linked at the Google drive are authentic, the document entitlled reflects total city 2024-2024 fiscal year expenditures of $851.60 million. Justin Johnson, Oakland City Administrator, "Fiscal Year (FY) 2024-25 First Quarter (Q1) Revenue and Expenditures (R&E)," Report (11/08/2024). pp. 2. This document does not reveal the police expenditure in millions. Attachment A to this report has two difference sums for the police expenditure: FY 2024-25 Adjusted Budget ($318.88) and FY 2024-25
Thirty seven percent of the budget (37%) at any one time is consumed by 25% of the personnel. Defunding means dismantling and transforming direct police service relative to the penal work police actually do and redirecting funding to health/social work that police are not fit to do. The police engage in very little crime fighting, e.g. 1 crime per officer per year. Kappeler, Victor E. Ph.D, "How Much Crime Fighting Do ‘Crime Fighters’ Really Do?" ( Eastern Kentucky University, 2013).
Crime rates have been dropping irrespective of the amount of policing. Latter and Li, "New FBI Data: Violent Crime Still Falling :2018 drop extends decades-long trend, but rapes rise for lo sixth straight year," (The Marshall Project, 09.30.2019).
The police are trained to indiscriminately use unlimited force anytime, any place. The use of police for non-violent, non-criminal administrative, social work, and health matters, for which the police are not qualified, is poor public policy, putting everyone at risk (especially disfavored minorities).
When your sole tool is a hammer, everyone looks like a nail. Defund and radically transform consistent with the above statistical data.
Yes, there is a need to cut pay immediately. Let the labor unions sue, they will lose in court. Defer funding for affordable housing. Keep public safety funded but at lower labor rates. If we have a crime wave or raise taxes, it will hurt business attraction and https://substack.com/refer/bryangrunwald
I hope the local unions including Local 21 and SEIU agree to concessions. That will be crucial to solve the short-term budget crisis and create long lasting systemic change. I hope the city and unions consider early retirement buyouts - similar to what the San Francisco Unified School District, which is also facing insolvency- just announced. Clearing some of the future retirement obligations is an important step. Also, the folks closest to retirement age are usually at the top step of the salary schedule, so they are some of the city’s most expensive employees. Making it worthwhile for those folks to retire will have lasting, positive financial impacts for the city budget. Please look at what SFUSD did. Cutting police can not be the only solution. The city can’t recover economically and start to attract new investment until crime gets under control (including the perception of crime).
It's astonishing how our leadership doesn't understand the basic: Safety. But their ideology won't let them. Oakland will never be allowed to leave this situation.
The police consume 45% of Oakland's budget, at $328,600,000 (1/3 of a billion). The City of Oakland's budget in pie chart form is found here: https://oaklandside.org/2021/05/07/mayor-libby-schaaf-2021-2023-oakland-budget-proposal-police-reimagine/
Actually, the city's total budget (GPF and restricted funds) is more than $2.1B. All public safety (both police and fire) is about 25% of that total. Oakland Report goes into this detail: https://www.oaklandreport.org/p/oakland-leaders-perpetuate-misinformation
The contention that public safety is 25% is incorrect. Assuming that the documents linked at the Google drive are authentic, the document entitlled reflects total city 2024-2024 fiscal year expenditures of $851.60 million. Justin Johnson, Oakland City Administrator, "Fiscal Year (FY) 2024-25 First Quarter (Q1) Revenue and Expenditures (R&E)," Report (11/08/2024). pp. 2. This document does not reveal the police expenditure in millions. Attachment A to this report has two difference sums for the police expenditure: FY 2024-25 Adjusted Budget ($318.88) and FY 2024-25
Q1 Year- End Estimate ($370.77). Just using the $318.88 reflects 37.44% of the budget. According to the City's 2023 report there are 5,007.24 persons employed by the city government, of which 1311 are police, or 25%. Jestin Johnson, "Semi-Annual Staffing Report June 2023," (06/08/23) https://oakland.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=12096817&GUID=45AE41E9-9104-4AF8-A7B2-A81A3CE35FB4.
Thirty seven percent of the budget (37%) at any one time is consumed by 25% of the personnel. Defunding means dismantling and transforming direct police service relative to the penal work police actually do and redirecting funding to health/social work that police are not fit to do. The police engage in very little crime fighting, e.g. 1 crime per officer per year. Kappeler, Victor E. Ph.D, "How Much Crime Fighting Do ‘Crime Fighters’ Really Do?" ( Eastern Kentucky University, 2013).
https://plsonline.eku.edu/insidelook/how-much-crime-fighting-do-%E2%80%98crime-fighters%E2%80%99-really-do
https://plsonline.eku.edu/insidelook/so-you-want-be-crime-fighter-not-so-fast#_ga=2.55304172.653556305.1592478355-1613989569.1592478355
Crime rates have been dropping irrespective of the amount of policing. Latter and Li, "New FBI Data: Violent Crime Still Falling :2018 drop extends decades-long trend, but rapes rise for lo sixth straight year," (The Marshall Project, 09.30.2019).
By JAMILES LARTEY and WEIHUA LI
https://www.themarshallproject.org/2019/09/30/new-fbi-data-violent-crime-still-falling#:~:text=FBI%20data%20released%20Monday%20suggests,by%203.9%20percent%20in%202018.&text=Property%20crime%20rates%20continued%20to,following%20a%20decades-long%20trend.
https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/crime-rates-largest-us-cities-continue-drop
https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/crime-2018-final-analysis
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/10/17/facts-about-crime-in-the-u-s/%3famp=1
https://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=dcdetail&iid=245
The police are trained to indiscriminately use unlimited force anytime, any place. The use of police for non-violent, non-criminal administrative, social work, and health matters, for which the police are not qualified, is poor public policy, putting everyone at risk (especially disfavored minorities).
When your sole tool is a hammer, everyone looks like a nail. Defund and radically transform consistent with the above statistical data.