A historic budget deficit in Oakland has many people worried about severe cuts to city services.
Oakland faces an estimated $177 million deficit in the next fiscal year, which begins July 1.
About a half hour before the budget meeting on Friday afternoon at City Hall, a long line of Oaklanders waited to enter the council chamber.
“We matter. Close our [senior] centers, don’t throw us under the bus,” said one woman as she waited to enter
The city opened two overflow rooms for the budget meeting because the room was full. One of the people who couldn’t make it to the meeting and was following the issue closely was Oakland business owner Tina Sullivan.
“I would definitely say don’t cut the police department. That’s what we need most,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan runs Phoenix Optical on her own. Her dog named Bandit is her guardian. She said she always has a dog with her in the store.
“He keeps me company and makes me feel safe. I work here alone,” Sullivan said.
But she wasn’t the only one who attended the budget meeting and wanted to avoid cuts that would impact police and fire departments.
The city council indicated that cuts had to be made in public safety, as this takes up more than half of the budget.
The budget crisis comes as Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao deals with a personal crisis the FBI investigation that took place at her home last week.
Oakland Police Chief Floyd Mitchell said the department had 709 officers on duty Friday, a number that will almost certainly decline.
One option presented to the council was to reduce staffing to 678 officers if the city could get a one-time influx of cash from the sale of the city’s share of the Oakland Coliseum complex. If they can’t get the money from the land sales in time, the other option would reduce the police force to 610 officers.
The police chief said that with 84 officers currently on leave, this would essentially reduce the force to just over 500 officers. He said this would hurt his ability to cover patrol duties and provide basic services.
Many people said that would be dangerous.
“The police are not responding quickly enough to incidents and other things that are happening,” said Oakland resident Larry Sosa.
The city also proposed closing some fire stations and reducing the hours of public libraries and retirement homes.
Some people argue that the city should save youth programs and recreation centers.
“You have to be careful with the police because there are no sworn officers behind the counter,” said Oakland resident Pamela Drake.
Council members acknowledge that all options are bad, but that difficult decisions have to be made.
“Is there an alternative? I said, ‘Yeah, fairy dust. Do you have any?’ Can we go to Disneyland and ask for some fairy dust?” Drake asked.
Sullivan said a miracle won’t happen, but it’s a harsh reality.
“I hate to see it so chaotic,” Sullivan said.
Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas said more than 100 people registered to speak during the public comment. She noted that the sheer number of people speaking could see the vote postponed until Tuesday, July 2.
Da Lin
