City Government

Oakland Cannabis Proposal to Fund Social Services Deadlocks in Council

Published

10 years ago

September 29, 2016

Public Safety Committee officials on Tuesday deadlocked on a proposal by council members Desley Brooks, Noel Gallo and Larry Reid that would require all pot businesses in Oakland to share their earnings with the city to help fund its social services.

The plan would make cannabis businesses and those who lease their property in Oakland give 25 percent of their profit to the city in order to receive operation permits.

It would also require at least one seat on the board of directors for the Commercial Cannabis Activity, and would restrict permits to people who have lived in Oakland for at least five years.

Desley Brooks, Noel Gallo and Larry Reid

Money generated from the plan would go towards a Cannabis Equity Fund, which would support three job-training programs, loans, community beautification and the establishment of a council district activities fund.

Supporters like local activist Carroll Fife said the proposal is necessary to address racial disparities in the bourgeoning pot business, which is expected to rake in more than $7 billion by the end of this year.

“We have an opportunity to fix what is wrong,” Fife said on Tuesday. “Let’s level the playing field and give more people opportunities to have the middle class existence that we have been robbed of.”

“The vast majority of people who are making money off this industry are white males, and it has not been an industry that has by and large included a majority of the population,” Brooks said.

On Tuesday, Brooks also emphasized how the plan would support Oakland’s historic Equity Permit Program, which City Council passed in May to provide unique support to those hardest hit by the Drug War.

Opponents – which include Terryn Buxton, who represents Brooks’ district for Oakland’s Cannabis Regulatory Commission – said the plan would drive the cannabis business out of Oakland.

In addition, the deadlocked proposal presented on Tuesday contained amendments from a previous version of the plan, which had received criticism from city and state officials for possibly not complying with state and federal regulations.

“Even if (the plan) is legal, which it’s probably not, it’s just ridiculous to the point where it’s not going to happen,” Councilmember Dan Kalb said on Tuesday. “What’s going to happen is that people are going to leave.”

But now that the plan is back to the drawing board, “everything is up for negotiations” according to Brooks.

And although the Committee took no official action on Tuesday, she said she’s still pleased with the outcome. “We changed the conversation… people are finally talking about funds that need to be set up to assist equity in business. For me, it was a victory.”

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Oakland Post: Week of July 1 – 7, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of July 1 – 7, 2026

Published

3 days ago

July 5, 2026

Oakland Post

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Inaugural Juneteenth Awards Ceremony Celebrates the Fillmore’s Black History, Leadership and Resilience

Addressing more than 100 Black and Asian attendees, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie stated “San Francisco is reliant on the Black community, and we must invest in this community.”

Published

2 weeks ago

June 26, 2026

Oakland Post

District 5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood, Rev. Dr. Amos Brown, Pastor Emeritus of Third Baptist Church, SF Mayor Daniel Lurie. Photo by Linda Parker Pennington.

By Linda Parker Pennington

The Fillmore Community Ambassadors held its first annual Juneteenth Wesley Johnson White Horse Awards ceremony on June 19 inside the newly reopened Fillmore Heritage Center.

The event featured awards for former San Francisco mayors London Breed and Willie Brown, along with Third Baptist Church Pastor Emeritus, Rev. Dr. Amos Brown.

The Koret Heritage lobby at the newly reopened center at 1330 Fillmore St. held a standing-room-only, culturally diverse and multi-generational audience while the art gallery featured photos of Fillmore community members in action, red Japanese lanterns, art and calligraphy, and Chinese artwork, giving the space a multicultural feel.

Addressing more than 100 Black and Asian attendees, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie stated “San Francisco is reliant on the Black community, and we must invest in this community.”

District 5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood acknowledged that “the Fillmore community has had a difficult history. Thanks to Rev. Amos Brown’s continuous focus on accountability and resistance, you hold us accountable and continue to inspire us.”

Mahmoud is referring to the Fillmore’s Japanese residents who were forced from their homes and sent to concentration camps during World War II. Black people occupied those homes until the return of their Japanese neighbors and then gave them back, while homes that had been unoccupied were lost. The presence of the Asian community on Juneteenth is a testament to that shared history.

In receiving his honor, Amos Brown elicited a powerful spontaneous call-and-response, where members of San Francisco’s many Black churches proudly shouted out the names: “Bethel AME! Providence Baptist! Jones Memorial! Glide!”

Awards program Master of Ceremonies Shawn Richards of Brothers Against Guns warmly introduced Breed, highlighting her many accomplishments, particularly on “March 16, 2020, when she became the first mayor to shut down a major U.S. city due to COVID-19, saving thousands of lives.”

The audience was captivated by Breed’s emotional speech touching on past traumas, present conditions, and future hopes for the neighborhood where she grew up.

She recalled another trauma of the neighborhood during the City’s redevelopment era in the 1960s, where Black residents were forced to move with a promise of being able to return that was largely unfulfilled.

“We remember when this land was just a field because they bulldozed hundreds of Victorian homes that Black people owned. They built the Fillmore Center, where most Black people can’t afford to live or start their own business. But we are still here.”