Featured
Will Council Back Moratorium on Excessive Rents and Unjust Evictions?
The Oakland Post has asked the eight members of the Oakland City Council and Mayor Libby Schaaf whether they are supporting a declaration of a housing state of emergency, which is on the council’s agenda for a vote Tuesday evening, April 5.
“At the request of the public, on April 5, I will introduce a 90-day emergency rent moratorium prohibiting large rent increases and expanding rent control protections – these reforms are long overdue,” said City Council President Lynette Gibson McElhaney, who has worked closely with community members to iron out legal and technical issues to assure the resolution a place on the agenda Tuesday evening.
Based on the city charter Lynette Gibson McElhaney Rebecca Kaplan Desley Brooks and past practice, the emergency declaration calling for a moratorium on excessive rents and non Just Cause evictions will need the votes of six of the eight councilmembers in order to be approved.
If passed, the 90-day moratorium would go into effect immediately and could be extended by the council.
“Many Oaklanders are suffering under rapidly escalating rents, and Oakland’s current rent stabilization program is inadequate to address the needs of landlords and tenants,” Council President McElhaney told the Post. “I will bring forward strong revisions to strengthen our rent stabilization laws.”
Councilmember Desley Brooks has also helped to assure the moratorium would come to the full council for a vote, and Councilmember-at-Large Rebecca Kaplan has expressed her support.
“We need to be taking serious action to protect Oakland tenants – including working to close the loophole which exempts newer buildings from our rent laws, which deprives many of our tenants the protections from excessive rent increases,” Kaplan wrote to the Post. “And, I am asking that Oakland immediately issue the funds to expand education and enforcement of tenant protection laws.”
“Last year Councilmember Brooks and I, together with community advocates, fought for, and won, funding to expand community based outreach and enforcement of tenants’ rights laws,” she added. “However, this funding has not yet been issued by the administration.”
Councilmember Dan Kalb wrote, “Clearly, we have a crisis of housing affordability in Oakland. We need to build and identify more housing for lowand moderate-income residents. Furthermore, we need to strengthen renter protections to help reduce displacement of current renters in our city.”
“I also can support urgent action within what the law allows that helps stop the displacement of renters due to unfettered rent increases,” said Kalb.
Though the mayor is not on the city council and cannot vote on April 5, she underscored the importance of taking strong actions to address the housing crisis.
“I’ve been declaring Oakland’s affordability crisis an emergency ever since I took office,” Mayor Schaaf wrote to the Post. “Since last summer, I’ve regularly convened 110 diverse stakeholders and experts to identify and implement the actions that will most quickly fix this crisis… 41 achievable actions that will protect 17,000 Oakland households from displacement and create 17,000 new units of housing to accommodate new residents.”
In a reply to the Post, Councilmember Abel Guillen backed the efforts of the mayor’s housing cabinet.
“I am keenly aware of the breadth and urgency of the city’s housing crisis, and the council will consider this legislative action carefully to see how it fits into the comprehensive package of housing goals and strategies that the City’s Housing Cabinet recently recommended,” he wrote.
Activism
Oakland Post: Week of April 24 – 30, 2024
The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of April 24 – 30, 2024
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Alameda County
DA Pamela Price Stands by Mom Who Lost Son to Gun Violence in Oakland
Last week, The Post published a photo showing Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price with Carol Jones, whose son, Patrick DeMarco Scott, was gunned down by an unknown assailant in 2018.
Publisher’s note: Last week, The Post published a photo showing Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price with Carol Jones, whose son, Patrick DeMarco Scott, was gunned down by an unknown assailant in 2018. The photo was too small for readers to see where the women were and what they were doing. Here we show Price and Jones as they complete a walk in memory of Scott. For more information and to contribute, please contact Carol Jones at 510-978-5517 at morefoundation.help@gmail.com. Courtesy photo.
City Government
Vallejo Welcomes Interim City Manager Beverli Marshall
At Tuesday night’s Council meeting, the Vallejo City Council appointed Beverli Marshall as the interim city manager. Her tenure in the City Manager’s Office began today, Wednesday, April 10. Mayor Robert McConnell praised Marshall’s extensive background, noting her “wide breadth of experience in many areas that will assist the City and its citizens in understanding the complexity of the many issues that must be solved” in Vallejo.
Special to The Post
At Tuesday night’s Council meeting, the Vallejo City Council appointed Beverli Marshall as the interim city manager. Her tenure in the City Manager’s Office began today, Wednesday, April 10.
Mayor Robert McConnell praised Marshall’s extensive background, noting her “wide breadth of experience in many areas that will assist the City and its citizens in understanding the complexity of the many issues that must be solved” in Vallejo.
Current City Manager Michael Malone, whose official departure is slated for April 18, expressed his well wishes. “I wish the City of Vallejo and Interim City Manager Marshall all the best in moving forward on the progress we’ve made to improve service to residents.” Malone expressed his hope that the staff and Council will work closely with ICM Marshall to “ensure success and prosperity for the City.”
According to the Vallejo Sun, Malone stepped into the role of interim city manager in 2021 and became permanent in 2022. Previously, Malone served as the city’s water director and decided to retire from city service e at the end of his contract which is April 18.
“I hope the excellent work of City staff will continue for years to come in Vallejo,” he said. “However, recent developments have led me to this decision to announce my retirement.”
When Malone was appointed, Vallejo was awash in scandals involving the housing division and the police department. A third of the city’s jobs went unfilled during most of his tenure, making for a rocky road for getting things done, the Vallejo Sun reported.
At last night’s council meeting, McConnell explained the selection process, highlighting the council’s confidence in achieving positive outcomes through a collaborative effort, and said this afternoon, “The Council is confident that by working closely together, positive results will be obtained.”
While the search for a permanent city manager is ongoing, an announcement is expected in the coming months.
On behalf of the City Council, Mayor McConnell extended gratitude to the staff, citizen groups, and recruitment firm.
“The Council wishes to thank the staff, the citizens’ group, and the recruitment firm for their diligent work and careful consideration for the selection of what is possibly the most important decision a Council can make on behalf of the betterment of our City,” McConnell said.
The Vallejo Sun contributed to this report.
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