Marin County
Voters Overwhelming Approve Oakland Measure R, Allowing Notices to Be Published in Diverse Newspapers
Measure R, which allows the City of Oakland to publish a public announcement of city business in local weekly newspapers, was one of the significant “down-ballot” issues recently passed overwhelmingly by voters in Oakland.
The measure, passed with 74.5% of the vote, was designed to eliminate “obsolete requirements for designation of the city’s official newspaper and require that the council establish requirements by ordinance to designate the city’s official newspaper or newspapers,” according to the ballot title and summary published by the City Attorney.
Measure R updates the City Charter to allow the Oakland City Council to annually pick the newspaper or newspapers that publish “pending ordinances, invitations to bid, the award of contracts and leases, a notice of intention to grant franchises, election proceedings and other matters that require public notice,” according to the city’s description of the measure.
The measure changes the charter requirement that only newspapers can be designated as the city’s official newspaper if they are printed and published in the city and have a minimum daily circulation of at least 25,000 within the city, criteria that no newspaper in Oakland currently meets.
President Rebecca Kaplan sponsored the measure, which was endorsed by local businessman Geoffrey Pete, Councilmember Noel Gallo, former newspaper publisher Robert Gammon and Legislative Director Barbara Lopez,
“I’m so honored that we were able to work together with the
community to update Oakland’s (obsolete) laws about where to publish public notices. Now we will be able to move forward to use the range of diverse local media to better reach everyone in our community with public information.”
Kaplan noted Measure R received the highest vote percentage of all measures on the March 3 Oakland ballot.
