In our monthly newsletter, we provide important information about the work of the Oakland City Attorney's Office, plus updates on legal issues and matters that impact Oakland residents and businesses.

This issue: California State Bar honors City Attorney Parker as Public Lawyer of the Year; updates on major cases and legal matters; and as always, City Attorney in the Community.

I look forward to your questions and comments about the work we are doing on behalf of the people of Oakland.

Barbara J. Parker

Oakland City Attorney

State Bar Honors City Attorney Parker as Public Lawyer of the Year

I was honored and humbled when the State Bar of California announced that I am the recipient of the 2015 Ronald M. George Public Lawyer of the Year Award.

For the non lawyers among us, this award bears the name of California Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald George.

I am thrilled to receive this recognition by the California State Bar, which licenses and oversees California's attorneys. With more than a quarter million members, the State Bar of California is the largest state bar in the country. To practice law in California, applicants must pass the California Bar Examination and pay their annual membership fees to the State Bar of California. Membership is mandatory for all attorneys who are licensed to practice law in the state.

The State Bar of California has shaped the development of the law and regulated the professional conduct of the state's lawyers. Created by the state legislature in 1927, the State Bar is a public corporation within the judicial branch of government, serving as an arm of the California Supreme Court. All State Bar members are officers of the court. The State Bar is currently governed by a 19-member Board of Trustees: Six lawyer members elected from State Bar regions based on California's six appellate court districts; five lawyer members appointed by the California Supreme Court; two lawyer members appointed by the State Legislature; and six members of the public (four appointed by California's governor, one by the state Senate Committee on Rules and one by the Speaker of the Assembly).

This recognition is very special because there are many outstanding and dedicated public lawyers in California. I have worked hard to serve the people of Oakland in the interest of justice and fairness, and to provide top notch legal services to our clients on behalf of the people of Oakland.

I want to express my gratitude to the State Bar. I also want to thank the attorneys and support staff of the City Attorney's Office, who deserve much credit for their work to make our Office shine during my tenure as City Attorney.

I will continue the important work we do, inspired by this award and by the innovation and dedication of the members of my Office.

Updates on Major Cases & Matters

People of California and City of Oakland v. Kang, et al. Alameda County Superior Court Case No. RG15768389

The City Attorney's Neighborhood Law Corps recently filed a lawsuit against a massage business on Hegenberger Road that operates as a front for prostitution. We ask the Court to close the business for one year, the maximum amount of time allowed by state law. The lawsuit also asks the Court order to order defendants to abate all conditions that make the business a nuisance to the community, and seeks $25,000 in civil penalties from each defendant, plus other unspecified damages and attorney's fees.

The business, Green Therapy, describes itself in advertising as a spa specializing in massage, acupuncture and "relaxation" therapy. However, on line ads for the business are overtly sexual in nature in violation of the Oakland Municipal Code, and masseuses do not have massage therapist permits as required by law.

Oakland police have arrested multiple female employees of Green Therapy for soliciting undercover officers during massage sessions. On one occasion last year, officers responded to a disturbance at the business after a woman discovered that her boyfriend had spent $200 for a massage at Green Therapy and called police to report prostitution activity.

The complaint asserts that Green Therapy is operated in manner consistent with a brothel, and that the business interferes with the community's quality of life. In addition, employees of "massage" businesses that operate as fronts for prostitution may themselves be victims of human trafficking.

People of California and City of Oakland v. Lucky Strike Electronics Alameda County Superior Court Case No. RG15754572

We recently filed a Red Light Abatement Action and Civil Nuisance Action to shut down an illegal gambling establishment located at 2701 Fruitvale Avenue.

Lucky Strike Electronics essentially has operated as a small casino at this Fruitvale location, with patrons paying the "house" to use computers for illegal gambling purposes.

Lucky Strike is one of a number of "internet sweepstakes cafes" that have cropped up in Oakland and throughout the country in recent years. Customers are supposed to pay to use computers for business, communication or other purposes, but in reality the computers are used as slot machines or to play other games of chance. The business functions like a casino, with customers paying the house up front to gamble, and then receiving their "winnings" from a cashier when they are done.

Both the property owner and the operator of the business are named as defendants in the lawsuit.

In 2014, the City Council passed an ordinance specifically prohibiting "sweepstakes" programs that serve as covers for illegal gambling and the other crimes that often are associated with illegal gambling, including check and credit card fraud, loan sharking, robbery and money laundering.

The City has shut down other gambling locations, including another business that Lucky Strike operated, by issuing administrative citations and working with landlords to remove the nuisance activity. In this case, the owners of the property did not respond to the City's citation.

More info

City Attorney in the Community

Delta Sigma Theta Vivian Osborne Marsh Social Action Luncheon and Panel on Human Trafficking

I was honored to serve on a panel of experts at the Delta Sigma Theta Berkeley Bay Area Alumnae Chapter's Social Action Luncheon to discuss what we are doing to stop human trafficking of our precious children, which is at crisis levels in the Oakland - Bay Area. The Marriott's ballroom was filled to the brim.

Author, journalist and professor Valerie Coleman Morris skillfully moderated. Some of the other panelists: Andrea Brown, Alameda County Deputy Public Defender; Dr. E. Faye Williams, President/CEO, National Congress of Black Women; Falilah Bilal, Executive Director, MISSEY; and Abel Guillen, Oakland City Councilmember, District 2; (see photo below).

I made human trafficking a top priority when the Oakland voters elected me as City Attorney in November 2012. We continue to file lawsuits to close down motels and other businesses in Oakland (see above) that act as fronts for or facilitate human trafficking and prostitution.

The Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., of which I am a member, recently hosted panel discussions across the country coinciding with National Child Abuse Prevention Month in April.

Delta Sigma Theta, Inc. Human Trafficking Panel May 9

League of Women Voters All-City Luncheon

On May 13, the League of Women Voters Oakland held its 24th Annual All-City Luncheon at the Scottish Rite Center. Oakland's status as a waterfront city inspired this year's luncheon. The featured speaker, National Geographic Society Explorer-in-Residence Dr. Sylvia Earle, gave a fascinating talk titled "Exploring and Protecting Our Oceans -- Why It Matters and What We Can Do To Help."

This year the League gave its "Making Democracy Work" award to Sandra Threlfall, founder of the Oakland Waterfront Coalition and Executive Director of Waterfront Action, and to the Oakland Museum Women's Board, whose White Elephant Sales have raised $20 million over the past 61 years for the Museum to fund special exhibits such as the one in the Natural Sciences Gallery featuring the Cordell Bank Marine Sanctuary. The Neighborhood Law Corps -- the community law unit in the City Attorney's Office -- is a past winner of the award.

Many thanks to the League for another great annual luncheon event, and for all the work the League does on behalf of Oakland and its residents.

LWV All-City Luncheon 2015 (from left to right) Vice Mayor Rebecca Kaplan, Councilmember Annie Campbell Washington, Council President Lynette Gibson McElhaney, Councilmember Abel Guillen, City Auditor Brenda Roberts, Tomiquia Moss, Mayor's Chief of Staff, City Attorney Parker, and Peggy Moore, Sr. Special Advisor to Mayor Schaaf.