City Government

Councilmember McElhaney Blasts Mayor for Failing to Fund Violence Reduction

Published

9 years ago

May 10, 2017

Calling for a new “Department of Violence Prevention (DVP),” City Councilmember Lynette Gibson blasted Mayor Libby Schaaf”s budget for proposing millions in additional spending on enforcement without any new investment in community-led strategies.”

In a email statement distributed Monday, titled “We Deserve Better,” McElhaney criticized the Schaaf adminstration for opposing the Department of Violence Prevention, which is sponsored by McElhaney and Councilmember Larry Reid.

“Over the past two years, the Schaaf administration has spent millions (of dollars) to staff two new departments – the Department of Transportation and the Office of Animal Services – but now holds the DVP to a different standard. This is outrageous and offensive,” wrote McElhaney.

Lynette Gibson-McElhaney

According to the councilmember’s statement, Schaaf’s “budget proposal increases funding for law enforcement, but fails to make any recommendations for new interventions to dramatically reduce shootings & homicides, domestic violence or to strategically address the commercial sexual exploitation of our children. She clearly does not hear the pain in our community.”

“In establishing the DVP, the Council sets a bold vision for public safety: to reduce homicides by 80 percent and attain an 80 percent clearance rate within the next three years,” she wrote.

“This ambitious goal sends a clear signal to the community, OPD and partnering organizations that the Council expects the City Administrator to direct resources and strategies in a manner that produces dramatic safety gains.

The proposal to established a Department of Violence Prevention was discussed at council committee meeting this week and is scheduled for the City Council meeting on Tuesday, May 16.

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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

5 days ago

July 5, 2026

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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.”