City Government

Opinion: We Must Support a Budget that Supports Our Communities!

Published

7 years ago

June 13, 2019

Rebecca Kaplan, Oakland City Council President Rebecca Kaplan

Writing a budget is about the numbers, and it is also about our values. After the release of Mayor Libby Schaaf’s budget proposal, the law requires the Council President to produce a set of budget amendments, in response to community needs and public input. This Monday, I invite you to hear and respond to my budget proposal, which seeks to respond to vital needs, reduce blight and trash, help the homeless, and expand equity and opportunity.

Many of our neighborhoods, especially in East Oakland, lack adequate access to healthy food. My budget includes funding for healthy food corner store conversions, East Oakland business development, and dedicated staff to ensure focus. And it includes funding for the important East Oakland sports center expansion.

The No. 1 concern for Oaklanders in the budget survey was homelessness and our unsheltered community. The point in time homeless study in Alameda County shows homelessness increased by 43 percent over the last two years.

My budget amendments establish a mobile homeless outreach team, hires a full-time administrator to coordinate efforts, provides targeted services to homeless youth, and funds a pilot program for self-governed encampments. It expands temporary housing options such as tiny homes and RVs with safe spaces to park, and provides funds for storage space, mobile showers, and restrooms for our unsheltered neighbors, and for the hiring of the homeless to help improve Oakland.

My proposal expands pro-active illegal dumping removal and strengthens the enforcement and rewards program to make people stop dumping in Oakland, and expands support for job training and preparedness, and youth summer jobs.

My Amendment rejects the Mayor’s proposed cut of 8.5 parks maintenance workers, which was planned to be handled by eliminating upkeep for over 30 community parks, many in areas which are struggling and cannot afford the blight and loss of access to healthy recreation which would be caused by leaving parks in disrepair. We have the opportunity to insist on a budget that responds to community needs. The budget proposals will be discussed at a Special Meeting on Monday, June 10 at 5:00 p.m. in Oakland City Council Chambers.

Rebecca Kaplan, Oakland City Council President Rebecca Kaplan

Posts by Rebecca Kaplan, Oakland City Council President Rebecca Kaplan

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Activism

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

Oakland Post

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Activism

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.”