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COMMENTARY: Will Progressive Victories Mean a More Democratic, Inclusive Oakland?

The results were a significant defeat for the moderate, pro-big-business regime of outgoing Mayor Libby Schaaf, her corporate backers and the candidates she groomed and promoted as her legacy. The failure of Schaaf-backed candidates may have had a lot to do with the starkness of that legacy.

Published

4 years ago

November 25, 2022

Ken Epstein

Newly elected local leaders, pictured from left: Sheng Thao, Mayor of Oakland; Nikki Fortunato Bas, District 2 Oakland City Councilmember; Janani Ramachandran, District 4, Oakland City Councilmember; Kevin Jenkins, District 6, Oakland City Councilmember; Valarie Bachelor, District 6 Oakland Board of Education; Pamela Price, Alameda County District Attorney.

By Ken Epstein

The sweep of progressive-leaning local candidates in November’s elections potentially means a seismic shift toward democratic and egalitarian policies in Oakland as the city seeks to grapple with ballooning homelessness, garbage-filled streets, violent crime, a police department still unable to emerge from federal court oversight, and lack of commitment to building housing that most Oaklanders can afford.

At the same time, the results were a significant defeat for the moderate, pro-big-business regime of outgoing Mayor Libby Schaaf, her corporate backers and the candidates she groomed and promoted as her legacy.

In part, the failure of Schaaf-backed candidates may have had a lot to do with the starkness of that legacy.

While failing to address city needs, Schaaf served as a prominent cheerleader for Oakland A’s owner John Fisher’s exclusive residential development at Howard Terminal alongside a new baseball stadium.

In opposition to many residents, she also backed the closing of many more neighborhood schools, the growth of charter schools, and blocked efforts for greater racial equity in construction in the awarding of city contracts.

Schaaf did not intervene to help stop the closure of Mills College, the historic Oakland-based women’s institution, which would have benefitted from some of the energy she spent leading the charge for the A’s real estate project.

The national political showdown between Republicans and Democrats may also have impacted the results, as progressives and mainstream Democrats across the country joined forces to slow down the so-called Red Wave to a trickle.

While this national energy likely helped fuel Oakland’s progressive tide, the results for city races and the closely watched Alameda County District Attorney’s race may count as among the most important local progressive victories in the country.

According to civil rights attorney Walter Riley, who worked with other local leaders and activists during the election to mobilize progressive voters, that work of mobilizing the community will continue.

“This election was about a vision for Oakland, affordable housing, housing the unhoused, stopping closure of predominately Black and Brown schools, cleaning up the city, crime, and criminal justice,” he said. “The entrenched opposition will be divisive, (and) we will build unity.”

The final results of the election were apparently posted on Monday by the Alameda County Registrar of Voters. However, before the election is official, the results must still be audited by the registrar and certified by the Oakland City Council.

Election results:

Sheng Thao, Mayor of Oakland

Sheng Thao Is Oakland’s Next Mayor

City Councilmember Sheng Thao on Nov. 8 squeaked out a victory in her race with Councilmember Loren Taylor, who was backed by Mayor Schaaf. The race was widely seen as a referendum on Schaaf’s eight years as mayor.

Thao won 50.30% of the final vote, compared with Taylor’s 49.70%, beating him by 682 votes out of a total of 113,636 ballots cast.

In a statement released Monday, Mayor-elect Thao said, “I’m also very humbled to be here. Fifteen years ago, I was living in my car with my baby. I’ve been through a lot to get to this moment.”

One of her top priorities is public safety. “That involves doubling down on the violence prevention programs that we know reduce violent crime, addressing root causes of crime by working to create more jobs and educational opportunities, filling vacancies in our police department with experienced and diverse officers, providing real support for victims, and redoubling our efforts to get guns off our streets,” she said.

Thao also pledged to “make Oakland the most proactive city in California on housing and homelessness. We’re going to have an aggressive housing policy that protects renters, fights displacement, and treats our unhoused with the dignity they deserve.”

Pamela Price, Alameda County District Attorney

Pamela Price Will Be Alameda County District Attorney

The election of civil rights attorney Pamela Price as the first Black District Attorney broke the chain of succession of hand-picked white district attorneys who maintained the inequitable criminal justice system that has become increasingly out of touch with county residents in the last decade.

Price’s victory, which will have an impact on the push for criminal justice reform nationwide, will be closely watched by both reform advocates and well-funded supporters of the status quo.

In an email to supporters after the election, Price wrote, “We knew this election was going to be an exclamation point in history for Alameda County. The DA’s office has been an untouched tower of legacy appointed and unchallenged District Attorneys.”

“For the last 10 years, the DA’s office has stood in the way of the progressive reforms ushered in by our California Legislature and endorsed by Alameda County voters,” wrote Price, who was described by the S.F. Chronicle as a “staunch reform advocate.”

Price was behind early in the race but ultimately won 53.14% of the vote, to Chief Assistant District Attorney Terry Wiley’s 46.86%.

Valarie Bachelor, District 6 Oakland Board of Education

Progressive Majority Flips School Board

For the first time in almost two decades Oakland will have a school board that is opposed to charter school expansion and willing to stand up to state pressure to close neighborhood schools.

The two progressive winners of the Oakland Board of Education elections, educator Jennifer Brouhard and union organizer Valarie Bachelor, will join Boardmembers Mike Hutchinson and VanCedric Williams to form a majority on the seven-member board against closings schools.

Brouhard, District 2 board member, won 63.89% of the vote. She is joined by Bachelor, District 6 board member, who received 54.23% of the vote.

In the District 4 school board, two progressive candidates split the vote, losing to Nick Resnick, who received 51.25% of the vote.

Progressive-Leaning Candidates Win City Council Races

With victories in three races, the City Council’s progressive alliance is likely to absorb fresh energy and new ideas and may be even stronger than it was in the past four years, according to several observers.

Nikki Fortunato Bas, Oakland City Councilmember for District 2, won reelection with 67.79% of the vote. Attorney Janani Ramachandran won in District 4 with 68.47% of the vote, and Kevin Jenkins won in District 6 with 84.22% of the vote.

Lena Tam, Elected New Supervisor of District 3

Lena Tam Elected New Supervisor of District 3

Lena Tam, former vice mayor for the City of Alameda, was elected to the Alameda County Board of Supervisors to serve District 3. She garnered 52.10% of the vote to Kaplan’s 47.90%. Tam had the backing of all three mayors of the cities in the district — San Leandro’s Pauline Cutter, City of Alameda’s Marilyn Ezzy Ashcraft and Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf — as well as the sitting members of the board.

She is replacing Wilma Chan who died last year after she was hit by a car while walking her dog in Alameda.

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At the event, 16 entities signed the EIP pledge, vowing to take steps to increase public contracting opportunities in their spheres for small and historically underutilized businesses. The pledge signees included Hub International, the Port of San Francisco, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, California High-Speed Rail Authority, the Port of Oakland, Robert Graham of Webcor Builders, Holder Construction, the Weitz Company, Sky Blue Builders, Hornblower, Swinerton, Luster National, Talson Solutions, Center for Community Wealth Building, and the Construction Contractors Alliance.

Published

1 week ago

June 24, 2026

Oakland Post

Toks Omishakin, secretary of the California State Transportation Agency, was one of the speakers at the event. Photo by Shellee Fisher Photography and Design.

By Calvin Naito, Special to The Post

On June 4, a national nonprofit named the Equity in Infrastructure Project (EIP) – which aims to increase public construction contracting opportunities for small and historically underutilized businesses – held a day-long event in downtown San Francisco to rally supporters and build momentum to its cause.

It was attended by more than 100 individuals from public agencies, private firms, and other organizations committed to increasing contracting opportunities with governmental agencies, thereby creating more competition and lowering public costs.

The EIP event was held the Hyatt Regency San Francisco in conjunction with BuildIT, which aims to increase contracting opportunities for LGBT-owned businesses.

At the event, 16 entities signed the EIP pledge, vowing to take steps to increase public contracting opportunities in their spheres for small and historically underutilized businesses.

The pledge signees included Hub International, the Port of San Francisco, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, California High-Speed Rail Authority, the Port of Oakland, Robert Graham of Webcor Builders, Holder Construction, the Weitz Company, Sky Blue Builders, Hornblower, Swinerton, Luster National, Talson Solutions, Center for Community Wealth Building, and the Construction Contractors Alliance.

Following the workshop, BuildIT hosted a VIP evening reception honoring EIP, whose principals – Phil Washington, John Procari, and Rick Jacobs – accepted the award.

The event also set in motion the coalition’s efforts to implement recommendations from EIP’s “Procurement for Prosperity: A Playbook.”

The Playbook is a practical guide for public agency leaders and procurement and contracting practitioners to grow the capacity of small and first-time contractors, strengthen competition, and deliver better value for taxpayers.

Toks Omishakin, Secretary of the California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA), a long-time EIP supporter, also told attendees, “This is about commitment. This has been a life’s work. This is a tailwind moment.”

The event’s presenting sponsor was Hub International, one of the largest insurance brokerages in the nation, which was joined by partners Travelers Insurance and the State Compensation Insurance Fund.

After the pledge-signing ceremony, attendees participated in a workshop in which they examined the policies, practices, and programs needed to meet EIP goals, learned from practitioners, and identified next steps toward utilizing the Playbook.

Ingrid Meriwether, formerly of Merriwether & Williams Insurance Services (MWIS) and current president of Hub International’s Aligned Risk Management, MWIS, described the hard-fought lessons she and her MWIS team have learned over the last three decades administering contractor development programs (CDPs) for the City and County of San Francisco, Alameda County, City of Los Angeles, LA Metro, and other municipalities.

The CDPs help small and local construction firms win public infrastructure contracts with these government agencies. The program provides bonding assistance, contract financing, technical support, training, and other services to underrepresented businesses funded by public agencies who seek greater contracting participation with these firms.

Merriwether said programs like these “break down systemic barriers, create greater fairness, and save taxpayers money by enabling more competition. The contractor development programs have, cumulatively, over two decades, helped contractors access over $1 billion in bonding, supporting over $380 million in awarded contracts, and maintaining a loss ratio 250 times lower than the industry average – while saving participating municipalities more than $27 million in contracting costs as a result of enabling more competition.”

Rick Jacobs, EIP co-founder and co-chair urged attendees make plans to meet again in the near future “to continue building on this work, share progress on organizational commitments, and discuss how we can collectively advance the goals of the EIP pledge.”

For more information on the EIP and to access a copy of the Playbook, go online to https://equityininfrastructure.org/

Calvin Naito is communications manager for Equity in Infrastructure Project.

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Oakland Museum Presents Landmark Retrospective Celebrating Beloved Bay Area Artist Mildred Howard

“Poetics of Memory” coincides with a year of major recognition for Howard. In 2026, she received the California Arts Council’s 50th Anniversary Award, honoring artists whose work has shaped California’s cultural and civic life, as well as the Museum of the African Diaspora’s Artist Impact Award. In 2025, she was awarded a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship in recognition of her transformative contributions to American cultural life.

Published

1 week ago

June 24, 2026

Oakland Post

Mildred Howard. Photo by Christine Cueto for the Oakland Museum of California, 2025.

Special to The Post

The Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) opened “Mildred Howard: Poetics of Memory,” the first major museum survey of Bay Area artist Mildred Howard, on June 12.

The exhibition spans five decades of Howard’s influential work, bringing together immersive installations, found-object sculptures, archival materials, and new commissions that explore memory, identity, and power in American life.

Howard was born in San Francisco in 1945 and raised in the East Bay, where she went on to study Afro-Haitian dance, make and sell clothing, and experiment with collage and sculpture.

Her multimedia art practice emerged from these experiences, later becoming associated with West Coast conceptual art, San Francisco funk, and a vibrant community of artists like Oliver Jackson, Betye Saar, and Raymond Saunders. Since the 1970s, she has used found materials and family stories to explore memory—both individual and collective.

At OMCA, visitors enter “Poetics of Memory” through a series of intimate galleries featuring Howard’s early mixed-media pieces and sculptures, along with a large video projection of a number of her public artworks.

Together, they emphasize Howard’s interest in everyday objects as powerful carriers of individual and shared stories. Highlights include collages that remix images of the artist herself; found-object sculptures like The History of the United States with a few Parts Missing (2007) that address omissions in dominant narratives; and public works like “Locks and Keys for Harry Bridges” (2001) that transform urban space into a meditation on access and labor.

This culminates in a richly detailed “studio” environment, where works in progress, archival exhibition flyers, historic photographs of Howard and her community, postcards from fellow artists, and other materials offer insight into her creative process and daily life.

The exhibition then opens into a high-ceilinged, dramatically lit space that brings together Howard’s signature immersive installations. On one end, “Crossings” (1997/2026) – a field of hundreds of ceramic eggs leading to an ornate mirror – suggests cycles of birth, motherhood, and transition, while drawing on the emotional echoes of the Middle Passage. On the other end, “Blackbird in a Red Sky” (a.k.a. “Fall of the Blood House”) (2002) – a red glass shack bordered by a pond – also uses reflection and transparency to draw viewers into the work and prompt consideration of themes of identity and home.

Howard’s newest video installation, “Moving Stills” (2026), repurposes never-before-seen family footage she took as a teenager on a train trip to the American South. Projected onto cascading layers of translucent fabric that stretch across an entire gallery wall, the piece immerses viewers in a layered meditation on memory, migration, and time.

The “Mildred Howard: Poetics of Memory” exhibit will be on display through Oct. 11 at the Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak St., Oakland, CA 94612. Museum hours are Wednesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., with extended hours on Fridays to 9 p.m.

This story is sourced from the Oakland Museum of California press office.

Oakland Post

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Stop the Hate Symposium Brings Oakland Together Through Dialogue, Partnership, and Community Healing

More than a meeting and panel discussion, the annual symposium serves as a powerful example of what can happen when neighbors, community leaders, and organizations choose conversation over division, and unity over silence.

Published

1 week ago

June 24, 2026

Oakland Post

Speakers and guests at the annual ‘Stop the Hate Symposium posed with Oakland Chinatown Improvement Council ambassadors. Photo by Marcus Calloway.

By Dr. Maritony Jones, Special to The Post

With the purpose of creating safer, stronger, and more inclusive communities, and in partnership with the Oakland Private Industry Council and other community organizations, the Oakland Chinatown Improvement Council (OCIC) hosted the ‘Stop the Hate Symposium’ on June 13 at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center.

The free event featured keynote speakers, breakout sessions, cultural programming, creating a space where people from many backgrounds sat together with a shared purpose.

The turnout itself reflected the urgency and importance of the topic. The room was packed with community members eager not only to listen, but also to participate. Throughout the event, speakers shared data, personal experiences, research, and practical solutions designed to address hate, violence, social inequity, and community safety.

The keynote panel featured respected leaders and advocates, including Ray Bobbitt, founder of the African American Sports & Entertainment Group (AASEG); Ryan Takemiya from RAMA; Caheri Gutierrez from the Unity Council; honorary guest speaker Oakland City Councilmember at-Large Rowena Brown and City Councilmember Charlene Wang; representatives for Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee and U.S. Rep. Lateefah Simon, with Gia Vang of NBC serving as moderator.

The symposium also offered multiple breakout sessions that addressed issues affecting communities across Oakland and Alameda County:

Session 1, 2, 3: Building Safer and More Inclusive Communities, led by Pastor Raymond Lankfort, CEO of Oakland Private Industry Council (OPIC), Jessica Kang, research manager for Stop AAPI Hate, Kara Guerra of The Unity Council, and Gabriela delaRiva of the Spanish Speaking Citizens Foundation
Session 4: Talk Story: Collective Healing and Relationship Repair, presented by Ryan Takemiya, executive director of RAMA
Session 5: Sexual Violence Prevention, presented by Tunisia Owens, interim deputy director of Realized Potential
Session 6: Violent Attacks on Teens, presented by MaryAnn Alvarado, program manager of Youth Alive

Every session contributed to an important truth: meaningful change begins within communities, through honest dialogue and a willingness to work together.

One of the strongest themes to emerge from the day was the need to create more conversations and stronger partnerships—not just during times of crisis, but consistently and intentionally. Relationships among organizations, neighborhoods, and community leaders often operate behind the scenes but are not always highlighted or celebrated.

Bobbitt spoke powerfully about this issue, noting that partnerships and relationships often go unrecognized despite being essential to community progress. He pointed to examples such as the partnership between OPIC and OCHIC, emphasizing that these collaborations deserve more visibility, investment, and expansion.

Perhaps his most memorable message resonated deeply throughout the room. Bobbitt explained that when a grandparent is attacked or harmed, the impact extends beyond race or ethnicity because today’s families and communities are increasingly multicultural and interconnected.

“We are not going to see our grandparents as just Latino, Asian, Caucasian, or African American,” he shared in essence. “We are going to see them simply as our grandparents.”

Those words reflected the heart of the symposium. Hate may target one group, but pain and loss are felt by everyone. Likewise, healing and progress are shared responsibilities.

For more information about the Stop The Hate Program visit the website: https://www.oaklandchinatownchamber.org/stop-the-hate (or) https://oaklandpic.or