Crime

New App Lets Residents Access Oakland Public Records

Published

12 years ago

October 21, 2013

Oakland unveiled the fruits of being a Code for America fellowship city yesterday with a new open data application called RecordTrac that let’s the public easily search city records, file freedom of information requests and do data queries.

The new app handles the huge volume of record requests that City staff gets with an efficient, web-based query system that should free up city staff time and add transparency to city processes, officials said Tuesday at a launching event.

< p>It was built by three coders, Sheila Dugan, Richa Agarwal and Cris Cristina, who are Code for America fellows appointed to work with Oakland after this city was selected last winter as one of 10 Code for America Fellowship cities. The coders said the tool even responds to requests mistakenly sent to the city instead of the county by directing users to the correct URL.

Within 24 hours of the public launch, 40 requests were filed in addition to the 466 requests that were made through a soft launch within City Hall.

In a city with an active hacking community, including a group called OpenOakland that’s working on its own ideas to improve city services, Oakland and Code for America officials said this is the right application for Oakland because it will assist in that collaboration and answer calls for more transparency in government. That is even as other Code for America cities work on such issues as crime and food assistance, issues important to Oakland as well.

“I think it is exactly the right app for Oakland because there was a lot of tension around public records,” said Code for America founder Jennifer Pahlka.

She and city officials said problems with the previous system resulted more from a former cumbersome data system rather than a desire on the part of the city to keep records private. “When we saw that city workers were trying so hard to answer,” residents’ requests “and yet the systems got in the way,” so they realized a new data app could serve a lot of purposes. Pahlka, an Oakland resident involved in the early civic hacking events here, said RecordTrac app could repair citizens’ relationship with the city around compliance with records requests.

Oakland Mayor Jean Quan and City Attorney Barbara Parker said the city’s goals have included increasing efficiency and becoming more transparent and RecordTrac does both.

The Web-based system has three main menu items: a searchable archive of requests made to the city, an easy template for making a new request, and a way to track the progress of your request.

Dugan, one of the fellows, said the three of them interviewed employees in every city department, “from the fire department to IT,” before concluding that a public records request app was the thing to work on. She said it will improve work flow systems within city departments in addition to adding more transparency for residents.

Cristina said they replaced what had been “a complex system that was difficult to use” with a simple and elegant system that “was built from the ground up around users.”

Other Code for America cities include San Francisco, whose fellows are working on a food stamp enrollment application, and New York, whose fellows are working on a criminal justice application.

Many Oakland residents have gotten involved in grassroots coding efforts and hackathons, much of which has now coalesced in OpenOakland, founded by Steve Spiker, an Oakland resident and Urban Strategies employee who this summer was named a White House Champion of Change for his work on creating OpenOakland and spurring collaboration between residents and their local government. Spiker tweeted a “congratulations” about RecordTrac on Twitter shortly after the application was announced.

Pahlka, too, is an Oakland resident as well as a nationally honored technologist. She is actually currently on leave from Code for America while she serves as a White House deputy director of technology for one year.

That both are Oakland residents is testament to the technology savvy here.

Mayor Quan bragged that “the founder of Code for America lives in Oakland” in describing the tech-savvy citizenry of this city and said Oakland was lucky to get fellows from the organization known as “the Peace Corps for geeks.”

The City of Oakland has collaborated in these efforts not only in seeking to become a Code for America fellowship city but also in creating an open data website called data.oaklandnet.com last January and earlier a community engagement website called EngageOakland.com. More recently, as part of its collaboration with Code for America it created answers.oaklandnet.com which is a web site for citizens to ask questions of the city.

First posted by Oakland Local.

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COMMENTARY: The National Protest Must Be Accompanied with Our Votes

Just as Trump is gathering election data like having the FBI take all the election data in Georgia from the 2020 election, so must we organize in preparation for the coming primary season to have the right people on ballots in each Republican district, so that we can regain control of the House of Representatives and by doing so, restore the separation of powers and balance that our democracy is being deprived of.

Published

3 days ago

February 10, 2026

Oakland Post

Dr. John E. Warren, Publisher San Diego Voice & Viewpoint Newspaper. File photo..

By Dr. John E. Warren, Publisher San Diego Voice & Viewpoint Newspaper

As thousands of Americans march every week in cities across this great nation, it must be remembered that the protest without the vote is of no concern to Donald Trump and his administration.

In every city, there is a personal connection to the U.S. Congress. In too many cases, the member of Congress representing the people of that city and the congressional district in which it sits, is a Republican. It is the Republicans who are giving silent support to the destructive actions of those persons like the U.S. Attorney General, the Director of Homeland Security, and the National Intelligence Director, who are carrying out the revenge campaign of the President rather than upholding the oath of office each of them took “to Defend The Constitution of the United States.”

In California, the primary comes in June 2026. The congressional races must be a priority just as much as the local election of people has been so important in keeping ICE from acquiring facilities to build more prisons around the country.

“We the People” are winning this battle, even though it might not look like it. Each of us must get involved now, right where we are.

In this Black History month, it is important to remember that all we have accomplished in this nation has been “in spite of” and not “because of.” Frederick Douglas said, “Power concedes nothing without a struggle.”

Today, the struggle is to maintain our very institutions and history. Our strength in this struggle rests in our “collectiveness.” Our newspapers and journalists are at the greatest risk. We must not personally add to the attack by ignoring those who have been our very foundation, our Black press.

Are you spending your dollars this Black History Month with those who salute and honor contributions by supporting those who tell our stories? Remember that silence is the same as consent and support for the opposition. Where do you stand and where will your dollars go?

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Activism

Congresswoman Simon Votes Against Department of Homeland Security, ICE Funding

“They need accountability. Republicans already gave these agencies an unprecedented $170 billion for immigration enforcement, funding they have used to conduct raids at schools, separate families, and deploy a masked paramilitary who refuse to identify themselves on American streets. This bill gives them more funding without a single reform to stop unconstitutional, immoral abuses,” she said.

Published

3 days ago

February 10, 2026

Oakland Post

Congresswoman Lateefah Simon (D-CA-12). File photo.

By Post Staff

Congresswoman Lateefah Simon (D-CA-12) released a statement after voting against legislation to fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which supports Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CPB).

“Today, I voted NO on legislation to fund the Department of Homeland Security through Feb. 13, 2026.

“ICE and CBP do not need more funding to terrorize communities or kill more people,” she said in the media release.

“They need accountability. Republicans already gave these agencies an unprecedented $170 billion for immigration enforcement, funding they have used to conduct raids at schools, separate families, and deploy a masked paramilitary who refuse to identify themselves on American streets. This bill gives them more funding without a single reform to stop unconstitutional, immoral abuses,” she said.

“The American people are demanding change. Poll after poll of Americans’ opinions show overwhelming support for requiring ICE agents to wear body cameras and prohibiting them from hiding their faces during enforcement actions. This is the bare minimum transparency standard, and this funding legislation does not even meet this low bar,” Simon said.

“Republicans in Congress are not serious about reining in these lawless agencies. Their refusal to make meaningful changes to the DHS funding bill has consequences that go beyond immigration enforcement. TSA agents who keep our airports safe and FEMA workers who help our communities recover from disasters are stuck in limbo due to Republican inaction.

“The Constitution does not have an exception for immigrants. Every person on American soil has rights, and federal agencies must respect them. The East Bay has made clear at the Alameda County and city level that we will hold the line against a violent ICE force and support our immigrant communities – I will continue to hold the line and our values with my votes in Congress.”

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Post Newspaper Invites NNPA to Join Nationwide Probate Reform Initiative

The Post’s Probate Reform Group meets the first Thursday of every month via Zoom and invites the public to attend. The Post is making the initiative national and will submit information from its monthly meeting to the NNPA to educate, advocate, and inform its readers.

Published

3 days ago

February 10, 2026

Oakland Post

iStock.

By Tanya Dennis

The National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) represents the Black press with over 200 newspapers nationwide.

Last night the Post announced that it is actively recruiting the Black press to inform the public that there is a probate “five-alarm fire” occurring in Black communities and invited every Black newspaper starting from the Birmingham Times in Alabama to the Milwaukee Times Weekly in Wisconsin, to join the Post in our “Year of Action” for probate reform.

Reporter Tanya Dennis says, “The adage that ‘When America catches a cold, Black folks catch the flu” is too true in practice; that’s why we’re engaging the Black Press to not only warn, but educate the Black community regarding the criminal actions we see in probate court: Thousands are losing generational wealth to strangers. It’s a travesty that happens daily.”

Venus Gist, a co-host of the reform group, states, “ Unfortunately, people are their own worst enemy when it comes to speaking with loved ones regarding their demise. It’s an uncomfortable subject that most avoid, but they do so at their peril. The courts rely on dissention between family members, so I encourage not only a will and trust [be created] but also videotape the reading of your documents so you can show you’re of sound mind.”

In better times, drafting a will was enough; then a trust was an added requirement to ‘iron-clad’ documents and to assure easy transference of wealth.

No longer.

As the courts became underfunded in the last 20 years, predatory behavior emerged to the extent that criminality is now occurring at alarming rates with no oversight, with courts isolating the conserved, and, I’ve heard, many times killing conservatees for profit. Plundering the assets of estates until beneficiaries are penniless is also common.”

Post Newspaper Publisher Paul Cobb says, “The simple solution is to avoid probate at all costs. If beneficiaries can’t agree, hire a private mediator and attorney to work things out. The moment you walk into court, you are vulnerable to the whims of the court. Your will and trust mean nothing.”

Zakiya Jendayi, a co-host of the Probate Reform Group and a victim herself, says, “In my case, the will and trust were clear that I am the beneficiary of the estate, but the opposing attorney said I used undue influence to make myself beneficiary. He said that without proof, and the judge upheld the attorney’s baseless assertion. In court, the will and trust is easily discounted.”

The Black press reaches out to 47 million Black Americans with one voice. The power of the press has never been so important as it is now in this national movement to save Black generational wealth from predatory attorneys, guardians and judges.

The next probate reform meeting is on March 5, from 7 – 9 p.m. PST. Zoom Details:
Meeting ID: 825 0367 1750
Passcode: 475480

All are welcome.