Connect with us

City Government

The Post Denied Place at 1st Mayoral Debate, Candidates Complain

Published

on

The Oakland Post was denied a place at the table at a Mayoral Candidate Public Safety Debate this week presented by Metropolitan Greater Oakland (MGO) Democratic Club and a group that calls itself Make Oakland Better Now!

 

The Thursday evening event featured a panel of journalist handpicked by the event organizers but not the Oakland Post, which was not asked to participate. When the Post asked to be included, hoping to correct what was probably an oversight, the request was turned down.

They refused to budge, even when asked by mayoral candidate Bryan Parker.

Invited journalists included Bob Gammon, East Bay Express; Chip Johnson, S.F. Chronicle; Matt

Brian Parker

Bryan Parker

Artz, Oakland Tribune; and Bianca Brooks, Youth Radio.

The Post had been looking forward to asking questions of all the candidates, but especially Mayor Jean Quan, who has been refusing to respond to questions on important public safety issues – police accountability, jobs and air quality at the Oakland Army Base development and lack of job opportunities for young people in the Fruitvale District and West Oakland.

Responding to the Post’s request to be on the panel was Bruce Nye, speaking for the Make Oakland Better Now! “As far as I can tell, we never received a request from the Post to participate in this event,” he said, though the other participants were asked by the event organizers to participate.

“We simply could not add another panelist two days before the debate,” Nye wrote in an email.

Added Gretchen White, MGO president, “(We) worked to achieve a press panel that represents different points of view on public safety in Oakland,” she said. “Given the time constraints of the debate, it was and is not possible to invite a larger array of local media.

“The Post was not the only newspaper not included,” she said in her email.” Neither were such news sources as Oakland North, Oakland Local, the Chinese and Korean language dailies, bloggers and local magazine and television reporters.”

In an emaill to White, the Post replied: “(We) understand that there are many different news outlets, but the Post has been serving Oakland’s African American community since 1963 and covers public safety issues that none of the other news outlets cover.

“Among our key issues are jobs and unemployment, which are directly tied to public safety, and we work to hold the mayor and city staff accountable for city job programs and promises to create jobs,” the Post said. “We are (also) the only news outlet that is asking to participate in the debate, in addition to the ones that you handpicked to represent all the media.”

Several candidates for mayor condemned the exclusion of the Post from the interview panel.

“I am disappointed that the Oakland Post will not participate in the debate,” said City Auditor Courtney Ruby. “The Post is an important voice for the Oakland community and raises important questions. I would be happy to answer any questions the Oakland Post has for me before or after the debate or at any time.”

I think it was an oversight for the Post not be included for the panel,” said Councilmember Libby Schaaf. “The Post is a important voice providing Oaklanders critical information about what Oakland is doing, and it needs to be at the table throughout the mayoral campaign.”å

“I think that the organizers of the debate should include a representative of the Post on the interview panel,” said civil rights attorney Dan Siegel “The Post represents a constituency and a perspective that is not present on the existing panel.”

Courtney Ruby

Courtney Ruby

“Not the right decision,” said Port Commissioner Bryan Parker, who added that he was talking t the organizers to encourage them to change their minds.

Post publisher Paul Cobb says he believes MGO leaders’ disagreements with Post on the way it has been reporting city issues may have had something to do with the refusal to allow the Post to participate.

“I think they are still upset at us for exposing the truth about the bogus charges against Desley Brooks and Larry Reid last year, which derailed an attempt to start a witch hunt on the Oakland City Council.”

Added Cobb, “ Our coverage led Quan’s staff to apologize to Scotlan Center for making groundless accusations that disrupted youth services to West Oakland. In addition, we exposed that the city had to send $600,00 in job funds back to the state. “

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

City Government

Vallejo Continues to Accept Applications for Boards, Committees and Commissions

The City of Vallejo is requesting applications to serve on a number of the City’s boards and commissions. Vallejo residents who are interested in serving on an advisory body are invited to submit an application and supplemental questionnaire for consideration.

Published

on

Courtesy City of Vallejo.
Courtesy City of Vallejo.

By City of Vallejo

The City of Vallejo is requesting applications to serve on a number of the City’s boards and commissions. Vallejo residents who are interested in serving on an advisory body are invited to submit an application and supplemental questionnaire for consideration.

There are currently openings on the following boards, commissions, and committees:

For City Boards and Commissions, except for the Civil Service, McCune Collection, and Sister City Commissions, the Surveillance Advisory Board, and the Participatory Budgeting Steering Committee, all appointed members must complete and file a Statement of Economic Interests, Form 700, within 30 days of appointment.

All City Board and Commission members must complete AB 1234 Ethics training and file a Certificate of Completion within 30 days of appointment.

In most instances, to be eligible for appointment, applicants must be residents of the City of Vallejo. Information regarding the duties of each board and commission and specific criteria for appointment may be found within each application. With some exceptions, appointments are typically for a term of four years.

The application period will remain open until a sufficient number have been received in the City Clerk’s Office

Interviews with the City Council are tentatively scheduled for the evenings of June 3 and 10. Applicants must attend the interview to be considered for appointment on a board or commission.

Application forms and supplemental questionnaires are accessible in several ways:

By U.S. Mail: City of Vallejo, C/O City Clerk, PO Box 3068, Vallejo, CA 94590

Continue Reading

Alameda County

D.A. Pamela Price Fights Back Against Recall

In an attempt to thwart the recall call campaign against her, Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price announced at a press conference on Tuesday, April 30, that her team is launching a state investigation on the political action committee funding the recall. Speaking at Everett and Jones Barbeque Restaurant at Oakland’s Jack London Square, Price accused the recall campaign as undemocratic and says she will fight against injustice.

Published

on

Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price addresses the media and her supporters during a press conference at Everett and Jones Barbeque Restaurant at Oakland's Jack London Square. Photo by Carla Thomas.
Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price addresses the media and her supporters during a press conference at Everett and Jones Barbeque Restaurant at Oakland's Jack London Square. Photo by Carla Thomas.

By Carla Thomas

In an attempt to thwart the recall call campaign against her, Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price announced at a press conference on Tuesday, April 30, that her team is launching a state investigation on the political action committee funding the recall.

Speaking at Everett and Jones Barbeque Restaurant at Oakland’s Jack London Square, Price accused the recall campaign as undemocratic and says she will fight against injustice.

Price announced that the California Fair Political Practices Commission (CFPPC) was looking into the complaint filed by her supporters against two groups supporting the recall.

Price said the group Reviving the Bay Area appears to be the financial and organizational arm of Save Alameda For Everyone (SAFE), the group leading the recall effort against her. The complaint by recall-opposing group Protect the Win for Public Safety alleges Reviving the Bay Area has breached the law by not filing a third quarter report listing its contributors and hiding its funding sources from the public at least through September of 2023.

Price also claimed that the SAFE recall group is functioning illegally both financially and operationally.

“Between September 2023 and November 2023, they donated approximately $578,000 to SAFE without complying with the laws that govern all political committees in California,” said Price. “We applaud the FPPC’s action to investigate this entity as well as the finances that have also come under question of the SAFE committee, where we’ve learned that they were paying some of the main spokespersons and funding an illegal force that they called a security force.

“So there have been a lot of financial irregularities, coupled with the irregular practices of the signature-gathering company PCI Communications that literally paid for hundreds of people to come into our community and gather signatures using bait-and-switch tactics and misleading people and engaging in fraudulent signature-gathering.”

Price also accused the Alameda County Registrar of Voters of not operating properly.

At a press conference at the City Hall Plaza late Tuesday afternoon, SAFE and recall supporters demanded that supervisors set a special election date before the November general election. Supporters of Price and opposers of Price clashed and spoke passionately against each other.

Supporters of the recall feel that Price’s, criminal justice reforms support perpetrators of crime, rather than the victims. They also blame Price for higher crime rates in the county. Price supporters feel that her reforms are necessary to transform an unjust system. “Price’s role is to uphold the law and this recall campaign is an attack on her,” said Oakland attorney Walter Riley.

Recall opponents reject those assertions and say Price’s critics don’t understand the role the county’s top prosecutor plays in the criminal justice system.

Price also said she would be going before the Alameda County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday to challenge the signature count for her recall campaign.

Later in the evening, the Board of Supervisors unanimously voted in support of the recall, citing that enough signatures had been collected for the recall effort to continue.

On May 14, the Board of Supervisors will determine a date for a special election recall or place on the November ballot. According to Price, a special election recall will cost the county 15-20 million dollars and her supporters hosted another rally last week, urging the Board of Supervisors to not approve a special election recall.

#PamelaPrice #Recall #AlamedaCountyDA

Continue Reading

City Government

Court Throws Out Law That Allowed Californians to Build Duplexes, Triplexes and RDUs on Their Properties

Charter cities in California won a lawsuit last week against the state that declared Senate Bill (SB) 9, a pro-housing bill, unconstitutional. Passed in 2021, SB 9 is also known as the California Housing Opportunity and More Efficiency Act (HOME). That law permits up to four residential units — counting individual units of duplexes, triplexes and residential dwelling units (RDUs) – to be built on properties in neighborhoods that were previously zoned for only single-family homes.

Published

on

Attorney General Bonta and his team are working to review the decision and consider all options that will protect SB 9 as a state law. Bonta said the law has helped provide affordable housing for residents in California.
Attorney General Bonta and his team are working to review the decision and consider all options that will protect SB 9 as a state law. Bonta said the law has helped provide affordable housing for residents in California.

Charter cities in California won a lawsuit last week against the state that declared Senate Bill (SB) 9, a pro-housing bill, unconstitutional.

Passed in 2021, SB 9 is also known as the California Housing Opportunity and More Efficiency Act (HOME). That law permits up to four residential units — counting individual units of duplexes, triplexes and residential dwelling units (RDUs) – to be built on properties in neighborhoods that were previously zoned for only single-family homes.

A Los Angeles Superior Court Judge ruled in favor of the cities, pointing out that SB 9 discredited charter cities that were granted jurisdiction to create new governance systems and enact policy reforms. The court ruling affects 121 charter cities that have local constitutions.

Attorney Pam Lee represented five Southern California cities in the lawsuit against the state and Attorney General Rob Bonta.

“This is a monumental victory for all charter cities in California,” Lee said.

However, general law cities are excluded from the court ruling as state housing laws still apply in residential areas.

Attorney General Bonta and his team are working to review the decision and consider all options that will protect SB 9 as a state law. Bonta said the law has helped provide affordable housing for residents in California.

“Our statewide housing shortage and affordability crisis requires collaboration, innovation, and a good faith effort by local governments to increase the housing supply,” Bonta said.

“SB9 is an important tool in this effort, and we’re going to make sure homeowners have the opportunity to utilize it,” he said.

Charter cities remain adamant that the state should refrain from making land-use decisions on their behalf. In the lawsuit, city representatives argued that SB 9 eliminates local authority to create single-family zoning districts and approve housing developments.

Continue Reading

Subscribe to receive news and updates from the Oakland Post

* indicates required

CHECK OUT THE LATEST ISSUE OF THE OAKLAND POST

ADVERTISEMENT

WORK FROM HOME

Home-based business with potential monthly income of $10K+ per month. A proven training system and website provided to maximize business effectiveness. Perfect job to earn side and primary income. Contact Lynne for more details: Lynne4npusa@gmail.com 800-334-0540

Facebook

Trending

Copyright ©2021 Post News Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.