City Government

Mayoral Ranked Choices: Kaplan and Beckles Want Brooks and Price for Mayor

Published

8 years ago

September 23, 2018

By Jovanka Beckles & Rebecca Kaplan

We write as leaders who have endorsed Pamela Price for Mayor, and who have endorsed Cat Brooks for Mayor, to urge that all of us—regardless of who we have endorsed as our first choice—to unite together for the future of Oakland, to use all of our voting power.
Oakland has “ranked choice voting” allowing people to list a first, second, and third choice candidate.

We urge that anyone who is listing Cat Brooks as their first choice, list Pamela Price as their second choice, and anyone who is voting Pamela Price as their first choice, list Cat Brooks as their #2.

Oakland is at a crossroads, with record levels of homelessness, housing displacement and wrongful evictions. The current mayor has refused to treat this like a real emergency, and not yet taken needed actions with public lands, RVs and more.

The Schaaf administration even managed to “misplace” over $2 million that Council had authorized for emergency tenant assistance that would have helped protect renters facing displacement.

Oakland also faces repeated problems of police misconduct being covered up by the highest levels of the administration. The former police chief acted to cover up and allow repeated acts of sexual misconduct against a minor girl by multiple police officers —and Mayor Schaaf publicly defended him at a press conference and refused to bring disciplinary action, and publicly said he’d done nothing wrong.

More recently, when police arrested a community leader and advocate for bicycling while Black, Schaaf did not ask to drop the charges and has not taken corrective action.

When Federal ICE agents came into West Oakland last August and tore apart a local family to send someone for deportation, Schaaf not only authorized OPD to help them, she also publicly spread ICE’s false propaganda about crimes that the family hadn’t actually committed.

Oakland deserves better. We need a Mayor who is committed to justice and is committed to serving the needs and protecting the well-being of everyone in our community, including those who have been most left behind.

Some of our communities are suffering disproportionately —from air pollution and toxins, from violence and from housing displacement. Their needs cannot keep being ignored while harms like illegal dumping and blight are also left to spread unabated.
We can, and must, unite for the sake of our communities.

Attorney Pamela Price, and activist and executive director Cat Brooks provide us the best opportunity to help the people of Oakland and to elect a Mayor who will put public needs first.

We urge voters to use their power and use their votes. Thanks very much for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Jovanka Beckles and Rebecca Kaplan

Jovanka Beckles is a two-term Richmond City Councilmember. She is currently a candidate for State Assembly (15th district), running to build a California for the many, not just the few. She has endorsed Pamela Price for Mayor of Oakland.

Rebecca Kaplan is the at-large council member for the city of Oakland, who was re-elected citywide by a large margin in 2016, and authored Oakland’s vacant property tax to fund homeless solutions (Measure W). Kaplan has endorsed Cat Brooks for Mayor of Oakland.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Up Next

Opinion: Homeless Advocates Criticize Mayor’s Tuff Sheds

Don't Miss

Oakland Post Endorses Nikki Fortunato Bas for Oakland City Council District 2

Oakland Post

Click to comment

Activism

Oakland Post: Week of July 15 – 21, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of July 15 – 21, 2026

Published

1 week ago

July 18, 2026

Oakland Post

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Activism

From Disparity Study to Solutions: Oakland Coalition and Mayor Barbara Lee Renew Commitment to Reform City Contracting

She committed to ensuring the coalition has direct access to City leadership by designating Assistant Deputy City Administrator Chuck Baker the primary liaison. Working alongside Deputy City Administrator Sofia Navarro, DWES Director Emylene Aspilla, Race and Equity Director Darlene Flynn, and other City departments, the coalition will continue advancing these priorities while maintaining regular communication with City leadership.

Published

2 weeks ago

July 15, 2026

Oakland Post

Present at the recent meeting on implementing recommendations on Oakland’s Disparity Study on city work contracts were (first row, l. to r.): Chuck Baker, Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee and Darlene Flynn. Second row, l. to r.) Samuel Adams, Erica Astrella, Chadwick Spell, Cathy Adams, Stanley Cooper, Maria Wagner, Len Turner, Derek Barnes, Paul Cobb. Photo courtesy of Oakland Mayor’s Office.

Special to The Post

On June 30, a coalition of minority business leaders, contractors and others met with Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee to discuss the City’s commitment to implement recommendations outlined in Oakland’s Disparity Study and eliminate barriers that have historically prevented Black and minority-owned businesses from fully participating in public contracting opportunities.

Representatives of the Oakland African American Chamber of Commerce (OAACC), National Association of Minority Contractors Northern California (NAMC NorCal), Construction Resource Center (CRC), and the East Bay Rental Housing Association (EBRHA) said the meeting represented an important milestone in a process that has been underway for several months.

On April 21, the Oakland City Council’s Life Enrichment Committee received a progress report from the Department of Workplace and Employment Standards (DWES), where Director Emylene Aspilla presented the coalition’s working document and outlined a collaborative implementation plan between the coalition and the City. That report established 30-, 60-, and 90-day objectives focused on five key priorities:

Reforming Local and Small Local Business Enterprise (L/SLBE) waiver practices
Strengthening prompt payment compliance
Improving procurement forecasting and transparency
Expanding contractor capacity building and business development
Increasing oversight, accountability, and public reporting

A series of working sessions was scheduled between coalition representatives, DWES, and the City Administrator’s Office to begin implementing those priorities but were temporarily delayed by the resignation of former City Administrator Jestin Johnson.

Rather than allowing that momentum to stall, OAACC President and CEO Cathy Adams requested a meeting with Lee to gain clarity on the City’s direction and reaffirm its commitment to implementing the recommendations contained within the Disparity Study.

Coalition leaders described the meeting as productive, candid, collaborative, and encouraging.

During the meeting, Lee spoke not only from her role as mayor but also from her experience as an 8(a) contractor and business owner, sharing that she understands firsthand what it takes to build and grow a successful company, employ a substantial workforce, compete for public work, and navigate the complexities of municipal contracting.

Mayor Lee also expressed her commitment to personally participate in future working meetings with the coalition.

“This meeting represents a renewed commitment to partnership,” said Adams. “Mayor Lee listened, engaged, and demonstrated that she wants to move beyond conversation and into implementation.”

CRC’s Len Turner said the roadmap is already in place. ““The City already has the evidence. What’s been missing is execution. …Now it’s time to deliver results.”

Mario Wagner, president of NAMC NorCal agreed that the next phase must focus on implementation, funding, and accountability.

“The coalition is ready to get to work. …The next step is ensuring these initiatives receive meaningful funding in the upcoming fiscal budget cycle. Just as important, the City must establish transparent reporting mechanisms that keep the public informed through regular progress reports, measurable benchmarks, and accountability.”

Coalition leaders also acknowledged that while City leadership has indicated it is reviewing Local and Small Local Business Enterprise waiver practices, the community continues to seek a formal response regarding existing long-term waivers, including waivers extending 10 and 25 years. The coalition believes those waivers should be comprehensively reviewed and, where appropriate, rolled back as part of the City’s broader contracting reforms.

The coalition is also calling on the City to include meaningful funding in the upcoming fiscal budget cycle to support implementation of the Disparity Study recommendations and establish better methods and mechanisms to keep the public informed through regular progress reports, measurable benchmarks, and transparent accountability.

The coalition’s immediate next step is to schedule a working meeting with Baker, Aspilla, Lee, and the appropriate City staff to review what has already been accomplished under the implementation framework.