October 2011 Vol. 11, Issue 6
News from the Oakland City Attorney 
Legal Briefs Newsletter
In This Issue
City Attorney wins cases against prostitution hotels, reorganizes office to focus on community priorities
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Greetings!

BJPGreetings!

As Oakland's City Attorney, my mission is to lead a legal office that represents the City and the public with the highest level of professionalism, integrity and competence.

Since I took office in July, my team and I have been working hard to overhaul and improve the City Attorney's Office across the board.

We've made some big changes -- not only to deal with the City's budget crisis, but also to refocus our existing resources where they can make the biggest difference for our community. 

In this edition of our newsletter, I'll give a brief rundown of the changes I've made to reflect my vision for the City Attorney's Office. As always, I look forward to hearing your questions, concerns and ideas for improving how the City serves the residents and businesses of Oakland.

Very truly yours,

Barbara J. Parker
Oakland City Attorney

New Code Enforcement Unit & other changes in the City Attorney's Office 

 

Over the last few months we have reorganized to focus on three important areas:

 

1. Public Safety and Code Enforcement.

We are in a public safety crisis in Oakland. As City Attorney I have expanded our Public Safety Unit to work with the police and the City Council on crime reduction strategies. We've also launched a new Code Enforcement Unit to deal with serious neighborhood problems like blight, problem liquor stores, prostitution and other nuisances that too often lead to more serious crime and violence in our community.

 

2. Protecting Taxpayer Resources.

It's our job to represent the interests of Oakland residents and businesses at City Hall, and that includes carefully protecting their tax dollars. In recent years, the City Council has cut nearly 40% of our staff, but the demand for legal services has only increased. As a result, bills for expensive outside attorneys have gone through the roof. One of my first actions as City Attorney was to review all outside counsel contracts, and to reduce or eliminate those expenses as much as possible by handling cases in-house.

 

3. Service to Our Clients & the Community.

One of my goals for reorganizing the office was to step up our service to our clients within City Hall, and to be a stronger advocate for those in the community who use and rely on City services. To that end, I have asked attorneys to broaden their practices and take on more responsibilities. We've also made some structural changes to become more flexible and better able to meet our own high standards for the service we provide.

 

While reorganizing the office, we have continued to aggressively represent the City in court. This month, we won an important legal battle in the fight against prostitution and exploitation of minors in Oakland. 

 

City Attorney wins cases against prostitution hotels  city atty

Last December, the City Attorney's Office sued the owners of three local hotels that had become centers for prostitution -- including child prostitution.


Two of the hotels -- the Economy Inn and the National Lodge -- are located along the "track," an area of International Boulevard known for prostitution and related crimes. The third -- the Sage Motel -- is on MacArthur Boulevard.

 

This week, a Superior Court judge ruled in the City's favor, ordering the owners to clean up their businesses and prevent prostitution on their properties. The judge found that prostitution and related activities at the hotels presented a "grave and irreparable harm to the public."

 

The judge ordered the hotels to install security cameras and lighting, limit the number of visitors per room and put up 8-foot fences to control access to their properties. Any minors who are not with a legitimate parent or guardian must have valid ID, and non-registered guests cannot "loiter, prowl or wander" upon the properties at any time.

 

This is an important win for our community. All three of these hotels were sources of numerous complaints and police reports about prostitution, including child prostitution, among other crimes. They allowed and profited from a criminal industry in which horrific crimes against women and girls are routine.

 

By all accounts there has been a dramatic decrease in prostitution activity at these businesses since we filed the lawsuits.

 

The City sued the hotels based on California law that holds hotel owners responsible for preventing prostitution in their businesses. We will continue to enforce the law against hotels that flout the law in order to profit from the exploitation and abuse of women and girls in our community. 

Legal Briefs for September 2011:

 

Progress on gang injunction cases: Judge grants preliminary injunction order against the Norteņos gang and five members ... Says status report on the North Oakland injunction shows "positive implementation" by the City. 

 

Thank you again for your interest. Your thoughts and feedback are very much appreciated. 
 
Sincerely,
 
BJP