By Tanya Dennis

Victims’ rights are also a priority for Ursula Jones Dickson

“I don’t like it when people say ‘my office.’ It doesn’t belong to me. It belongs to the people.”

That philosophy is at the heart of Ursula Jones Dickson’s approach to leading the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office. Asked whether one person can rebuild an office that has experienced years of change, disruption and a massive backlog of cases, she said the answer is ‘yes,’ but only with time, focus and a willingness to change priorities.

“One person can affect policy that changes the office,” Jones Dickson said.

For her, one of the most urgent priorities is gun violence, an issue she says has deeply affected Black communities for generations.

“Gun violence has always been a concern in the Black community,” she said. “We all have a visceral reaction to a helicopter because it often means there has been a chase or gun violence.”

Jones Dickson said gun violence is personal to her because it has hurt both her and her community. “I take it personally,” she said.

She worries that America, and particularly its young people, are becoming desensitized to violence. School shootings and repeated lockdowns are leaving children with experiences previous generations never imagined.

“We can’t act like this isn’t affecting our children,” she said. “When schools become places where shootings take place, they are affected in a different way.”

She believes the community has become dangerously accustomed to guns and violence.

“We have to stop normalizing guns,” she said. “We have so many guns and so many people with guns.”

Perhaps one of the most disturbing changes she sees is the way ordinary disagreements can now become deadly.

“Nobody fights anymore,” she said. “They kill.”

Jones Dickson said the question communities must ask themselves is: “When gun violence becomes a part of the community, how many vigils and how many marches can we stand?”

At the same time, she is determined that victims’ voices will not be lost in the criminal justice system.

“I sit with victims on a regular basis,” she said. “There isn’t a week that goes by that I don’t sit down with a victim’s family and hear them ask why a case has not been charged.”

Victims often need far more than updates about a court case. They need assistance navigating the criminal justice system, counseling, burial assistance and, sometimes, simply someone to sit with them during one of the most painful moments of their lives.

“Victims’ rights have been pushed aside,” Jones Dickson said. “What I want to leave to this office is that victims’ voices will be heard. I don’t care whose toes I step on. Victims will be heard.”

The challenge, however, is enormous. Her legacy is to help victims feel seen and protected.

The office is working through a significant backlog of serious cases while trying to rebuild an experienced, well-trained staff. Jones Dickson said years of disruption, including the impact of COVID and frequent leadership changes, left attorneys needing additional training and contributed to delays.

“There have been three district attorneys in four years,” she said. “Every district attorney wants to build their own culture.”

Her goal is to create a stable office with skilled prosecutors who understand their responsibilities and can move cases through the courts. She emphasized that the work is not simply about winning cases.

“It is our job to prove a case beyond a reasonable doubt,” she said. “Just because law enforcement brings us a case doesn’t mean we can prove it.”

Jones Dickson also believes rebuilding public safety requires rebuilding relationships between law enforcement and the community.

Residents have told her they sometimes see police cars drive through their neighborhoods without officers getting out and speaking to residents.

“When police are in neighborhoods and stop and talk to kids, there is a connection,” she said. “We need more community-based relationships.”

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By Ken Epstein and Post Staff

Earlier this year, two Oakland parents formed a new Political Action Committee (PAC), which they describe as an “Oakland parent-led effort working towards better public schools” focused on electing new leaders in Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) Districts 2 and 6, opposing progressive incumbents.

So far, the Parent PAC has donated to Arielle Fleisher in District 2 and Alexandra Williams in District 6.

According to the latest filing with the City of Oakland, the PAC raised a total of $45,540 but received just 12 individual contributions from Oaklanders who appear to be OUSD parents, totaling $2,100, less than 5% of the total.

Most of this ‘parent’ PAC money came from two sources: San Francisco billionaire Michelle Boyers and the “Champions for Quality Education,” a PAC run by two long-time charter industry advocates in Oakland, Kimi Kean and Hae-Sin Thomas.

Besides charter advocates, the Champions PAC was funded by real estate developers and crypto executives and was active in the 2024 District 3 election. These two contributions totaled $37,120 and, together with a $5,000 contribution from former Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf’s failed state treasurer campaign, make up 92% of the total contributions received by this PAC.

Candidates running against the incumbents and supported by the Champions PAC favor closing more schools in Oakland, claiming in public meetings that this is the only way to balance the budget permanently. However, they have provided no evidence that school closings over the past 20 years have strengthened OUSD’s financial position or improved educational and budget conditions in other districts that have gone that route.

The current school board majority, including the incumbents in District 2, Jennifer Brouhard, and District 6, Valarie Bachelor, strongly oppose school closings.

Importantly, while many advocates of reducing the number of schools maintain that closing more schools is the road to fiscal health, almost as an article of faith, they do not examine nor even mention the consequences that follow as a result of the many schools that OUSD has already closed over the years.

To name only a few, Oakland has lost Roots International Academy, an East Oakland middle school that was closed over broad community opposition in 2019; Lakeview Elementary School near Lake Merritt, which, despite protests, was closed in 2012; and Santa Fe Elementary in West Oakland, also closed in 2012.

Several Oakland parents have expressed concerns over the new Champions PAC and the misleading name it gave itself.

“It’s pretty disheartening to see a PAC branding itself as ‘parent-led’ when over 95% of its funding came from wealthy non-parent donors and charter-aligned PACs — before most Oakland parents even had a chance to weigh in,” said Journey Meadows.

“Our schools deserve advocates who reflect our community and truly care about our children, not a well-funded campaign to reshape the board from the outside,” she said.

Stefanie Parrott also had harsh words for PACs that push to close schools.

“It is upsetting and insulting when a parent group lobbies for the closure of someone else’s schools, especially without ever engaging actual families of the schools they want to close and without a true understanding of, or with a cruel indifference to, the devastation school closures have on poor Black and Brown communities,” she said.

“This is especially true when the parent group is funded by outside interests like charter industry leaders and out-of-town billionaires,” she continued.

“Instead of dismissing the impacted students and families, they might actually talk to us in West and East Oakland before their ‘advocacy’ harms our communities. I am an OUSD parent, and they don’t speak for me,” Parrott said.

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By Carla Thomas

After remaining closed for more than two decades, Tyrone Carney Park reopened Thursday Aug 27, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony celebrating a $5 million investment in recreation, wellness and community space in East Oakland.

Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee, District 7 Councilmember Ken Houston, city leaders, community partners and residents gathered at the half-acre park, located at 10501 Acalanes Drive, to commemorate its long-awaited revitalization.

“Revitalizing and reopening Tyrone Carney Park strengthens the Town by expanding youth programs, supporting job training, and improving public health,” said Lee said. “Oakland is on the move, fulfilling our promise to build a safer and more vibrant East Oakland.”

The mayor said she thought the sculpture designed by Dana King was beautiful and that the event was emotional for her being the daughter of a veteran. 

“I know the Carney family, and it was wonderful to see Deborah and the entire Carney family there. It was wonderful to see where seniors, youth, and everybody can enjoy a beautiful safe park in Sobrante Park with Tyrone’s legacy.”

Led by Oakland Public Works, the improvement project added four play areas, two fitness-equipment areas, paved walking paths and a circular central plaza with ornamental paving. Improvements also included a lawn, wrought-iron perimeter fencing, new gates, extensive landscaping and a memorial honoring the park’s namesake.

The city contracted with Beliveau Engineering Contractors for structural improvements and Dillingham Associates for landscaping.

Originally opened in 1968, the park closed in 2002 and remained inaccessible for more than 20 years. Its restoration grew from a multiyear collaboration between the City of Oakland, East Oakland Neighborhoods Initiative (EONI) and Sobrante Park Advisory Council.

Community advocacy by EONI helped secure funding through Proposition 68, California’s 2018 Parks and Water Bond. Additional financial support came from Oakland Capital Improvements Impact Fee funds and a California Strategic Growth Council Transformative Climate Communities grant.

Houston said the reopening represented more than the physical restoration of a neighborhood park.

“It reflects our commitment to investing in East Oakland, honoring one of our hometown heroes, and creating a safe, welcoming place where families can gather, children can play, and community can thrive,” Houston said. “Tyrone Carney’s legacy of service will continue to inspire generations through this park.”

The park was named in honor of Carney, an Oakland resident and U.S. Marine Corps private first-class who died while serving in Vietnam on June 9, 1968. He was 20 years old. Before entering military service, Carney participated in the Boy Scouts of America and Youth for Christ.

His first cousin, Deborah Carney, remembered him as a man committed to service.

“Tyrone Carney was a God-sent man,” she said, recalling his words: “ ‘May the works I have done speak for me, when I am resting in my grave and there is nothing else to be said.’”

Oakland Public Works Director Liam Garland said the department was honored to help realize the community’s vision for a safe and welcoming green space.

Myka Hammock, director of Oakland Parks, Recreation and Youth Development, said the park’s tree canopies, play structures and memorial would inspire community youth while providing opportunities for wellness, recreation and connection.

The Sobrante Park Advisory Council and Oakland Parks and Recreation Foundation, both key stakeholders in the redevelopment, will continue serving as stewards of the reopened park.

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