ART & SOUL 2014

 

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Friday Nights In The Parks, every Friday through August 15 from 6 to 9 pm at Willie Wilkins Park, 1100 98th Avenue; the Carter Gilmore Park,1390 66th Avenue; and at the intersection of Market and Brockhurst. 

These programs are modeled after Los Angeles' Summer Night Lights Programs and are connected to broader Oakland Unite efforts focused on gang reduction and shooting and homicide intervention and response. The programs are intended to disrupt violence by offering programming and extended park hours in neighborhoods with high rates of violence, during the peak hours when violence occurs. The 2011 Messengers4Change initial park program evaluation shows positive results: The average number of police incidents in the Willie Wilkins Park area decreased by 48% during the three six-week periods that the events were held when compared to the average for the previous two years. To see a list of local sponsors and learn more about the events, please read the media release at http://www2.oaklandnet.com/w/oak047899 .

For specific information about the East Oakland Parks program, please contact Jennifer Argueta, Community Engagement Coordinator, at jargueta@oaklandnet.com. For specific information about the West Oakland program, contact Dylan Hamilton, Program Analyst, at dhamilton@oaklandnet.com.

The Tribune published a recent story about the proven success of the Friday Summer Nights program. Here's a quote testifying to its positive effect on public safety in targeted areas: 

The initial summer's events showed positive results. The average number of police incidents in the Willie Wilkins Park area decreased by almost half during the time the events were held compared to the average of the previous two years, a city news release stated. The programs are aimed at supporting residents who take a stand against violence and decreasing violence by offering activities and extended park hours in neighborhoods with high rates of violence during the peak times when violence occurs.

 <<Mani Draper performing at Willie Wilkins Park on 98th last night.   

A recent poll was taken to solicit citizen input on the proposed new safety measure.  A strong percentage said they would likely support renewing the measure at the current tax rate -- no tax increase --  after being told about the programs it would fund.  The measure funds police officers and violence prevention programs like Ceasefire.   In addition residents  are increasingly more optimistic about the City and the perception of safety is improving.  The measure has not yet been assigned a Measure Letter but will be available here:  http://www.acgov.org/rov/elections/20141104/  

Myself, Vice Mayor Larry Reid and Councilmember Noel Gallo asked the City Council to vote that the City of Oakland commit to aiding the humanitarian relief effort for unaccompanied children who have immigrated to the United States, in keeping with the spirit of Oakland's status as a Sanctuary City.

As the daughter of Chinese immigrants, I feel strongly that the bottom line here is clear and urgent: we are talking about children who need our help, and Oakland stands shoulder to shoulder with everyone offering that help.  In my twenty plus years of public service I know that Oakland has a long history of welcoming refugees:  Southeast Asians after the War in Vietnam, Central Americans during the fights against dictators, Bosnian and Serb families during the end of Yugoslavia, African refugees from any African families and recently Bhutanese and Nepalese.  Now with the new influx of youth fleeing from violence in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras.  Oakland has already seen scores of these children reunited with families or set up in temporary homes, and we are ready to accept  more.

The resolution commits the City to collaborating with local, state and federal organizations to address the short and long term needs of unaccompanied immigrant children entering into Oakland and the East Bay region. This will include:

• Publicizing the need for host families and sponsors who can provide safe and stable housing opportunities for the unaccompanied children and working to move children from shelters into homes of relatives or host families as soon as possible; and
• Identifying city resources to ensure that City Departments, in partnership with non-profit organizations, can offer a continuum of culturally competent relief services to meet the medical, mental health, educational and legal needs of these children and their families.

The resolution also asks President Barack Obama, federal, state and local officials to:

• Stop the deportations of all children by granting them refugee status under domestic and international law, access to legal representation and due process;
• Support congressional funding for humanitarian care and essential services for the children; reject further expenditures on border patrol and militarization of the border; and
• Support H.R. 4936, the Vulnerable Immigrant Voice Act of 2014, to provide legal representation to unaccompanied minors and mentally disabled individuals during immigration proceedings.

See an excellent article from the Oakland Post: Oakland "Locks Arms" to Aid Immigrant Children  

The Oakland City Council voted unanimously Wednesday night to award a major contract for waste and recycling services to a locally-owned business that worked with me and my staff during final negotiations to minimize cost increases to rate-payers after 15 years without an increase.  This contract has been looked as a model for other cities because in addition to looking at price it also had high criteria from reducing both landfill waste and green house gases.  Under this contract our diversion rate should goe from about two thirds to over 80 percent.  Recapturing methane from composting and the distance to landfill are also improved. 

The contract will go to California Waste Solutions, a company founded in Oakland in 1990 by David Duong (above) and his family. Many know David and his family who came to America as refugees.  For more than a decade they have been collecting about half of Oakland's recyclables. This contract will mean a big ramp up, but in the end can be a triple win: it marks a great leap forward for an Oakland-grown company that is headquartered here and will build new facilities, makes historic reductions in our landfill use, and most importantly, cuts almost in half the rate increases our residents were facing.

Under first proposals the City Council rejected in May, residents were facing rate increases of almost 50 percent. Under the contract approved Tuesday, the increase will be just under 27 percent or about $6 more per month.  Many residents, however, can help us reach our Zero Waste Goal by switching from a 32 gallon waste can to 20 gallons.  The increase then will be about $2. 

After years of discussions with Federal Monitors and Compliance Directors, the City is finalizing the reorganization of the Citizens' Police Review Board (CPRB).  After a national search, Mr. Anthony W. Finnell, Sr. became the City of Oakland's CPRB Executive Director on July 7, 2014. Mr. Finnell has over 23 years of experience with investigating police misconduct and building a bridge between the community and the police department. He previously served as the Supervising Investigator for the Independent Police Review Authority in Chicago, Illinois, overseeing the areas of case assignment, misconduct complaint review, investigation compliance, and recommendations for suspension for the Chicago Police Department. Mr. Finnell holds a Master of Business Administration from Keller Graduate School of Management and a Bachelor of Science in Organizational Management from Oakland City University. Please join me in congratulating Anthony Finnell on his appointment and thanking Patrick Caceres for his leadership during this period of transition.  

At the same time, many civilians have been trained to take citizen complaints, so that these complaints can be moved from the police department to CPRB as part of the restructuring.

On Tuesday, July 29, the 18th Quarterly Report of the Independent Monitor for the Oakland Police Department (OPD) regarding the Negotiated Settlement Agreement (NSA) was filed with the U.S. District Court, Northern District. Our federal police monitor, Robert Warshaw, released the 81-page report detailing OPD's  excellent progress and compliance to 17 of the 22 tasks called for in a 2003 directive following "The Riders" case of frequent police brutality of four officers toward the residents of West Oakland. We are making progress and also recruiting and training new officers through six-month police academies.  

In the report, Warshaw says, "We commend the Department for these strides. The mayor, the new city administrator and the recent and permanent appointment of Chief Sean Whent have all contributed to the progress the Department has made."

I am clearly pleased with the report, but does this mean that all the previous issues with OPD have been solved? No, but our progress shows that we are on the right track. What we are doing is working and we need to put additional resources into strategies that are proving to work to reduce crime.

This article in the San Francisco Chronicle details the improvements listed in the monitor's report (click the title to read the entire article): Oakland police doing best job ever in complying with federal reforms. 

It is no coincidence that our reform efforts are continuing to pick up steam as our major crime rates are all falling: police are most effective when they are accountable and have the trust of the communities they serve. We are working to strengthen that trust so we can work together--our police officers and our neighborhoods--to make Oakland a safer place to live, work and raise our families. 

Read the report at www.oaklandpolice.com 

Thirteen individuals associated with known gang violence have been arrested and charged. This action was taken after a long-term investigation was completed in connection with Operation Ceasefire. Before warrants were served, the Oakland Police Department's Ceasefire intelligence-gathering unit identified and reached out to members of two identified violent gangs, YNIC and FE, to offer them opportunities to change and to underline the negative consequences of continued violent criminal behavior. These groups continued to be involved in violence and as a result they received focused attention from multiple law enforcement partners. During the course of this long-term investigation, officers recovered a total of 10 firearms, including one rifle and nine handguns.  

This week, in our latest "Call In" of young people involved in violent crime, EVERY PERSON decided to opt for help from the agencies and churches attending.  This is an encouraging sign that those involved in gangs and other activities know that the program has real consequences, both good and bad.

Ceasefire is a partnership-based violence-reduction strategy with nationally proven results. It has three goals: to reduce homicides and shootings, to reduce recidivism among participants, and to improve police-community relations. The Oakland Ceasefire Partnership includes affected community members, community based organizations, social service providers, police and other enforcement agencies.  In Oakland, Ceasefire focuses on gangs and groups who are involved in large numbers of shootings and killings in East Oakland as well as armed robberies and violent crimes in neighborhoods across the city. Ceasefire seeks to combine the best of community energies, social services and strategic law enforcement efforts to reduce violence more effectively than these entities are capable of when operating alone.  Ceasefire is a multifaceted approach that includes outreach, prevention, and services. 

Ceasefire directly focuses on those groups engaged in violent behavior in a number of ways, including call-ins, one-on-one meetings, outreach and support services and, when necessary, collaborative enforcement. At call-in meetings, groups and individuals at highest risk of violence meet with affected community members, service providers and law enforcement representatives, who all communicate their shared commitment to reducing violence and their care and concern for these young men. Among the most important messages is the power they have to make choices. Participants are given information about the consequences, both positive and negative, that their choices bring and are provided the opportunity to step away from violence. Services and supportive relationships are provided for those who wish to receive help. Participants are also informed about the array of law enforcement tools available to police and the potential consequences they will face should they continue to engage in violence.  Groups and individuals who continue to engage in violence then receive focused attention from the law enforcement partners.

Chief Sean Whent said, "The success of this operation depended on a coordinated team effort. The hard work and commitment of everyone involved reflects our dedication to reducing violent crime in Oakland." Thank you to our hardworking police officers, our command staff and all the agencies who partnered with Oakland to make our neighborhoods safer with this incredible work aimed at our most violent gangs. With efforts like these, we are seeing real results from Oakland's big-picture strategy to reduce violence and crime

I was quoted in a July 22 Tribune article about the amazing work of our staff: 

"Over the last year we have seen major declines in most crime rates," Quan said. "Much more work remains ahead, but we are on the right track with our work to grow the police force, invest in community-police partnerships like our Ceasefire strategy and create jobs for our residents and youths." 

These are the methods that are tried-and-true and have been yielding great results in cities around the nation. To read the entire Oakland Tribune story, click here 

Public safety is a community responsibility

Nixle Tip Watch allows ANONYMOUS tipsters to send OPD a tip three ways: 

1.   Text TIP OAKLANDPD to 888777 from your cell phone followed by your tip 

2.   Call our toll-free tip hotline at 855-TIPS-247 (855-847-7247) 

3.   Submit a tip by web form - see the option at the bottom of OPD's Nixle messages or visit Nixle Tip to complete and send. 

Anonymous Tipping allows residents to proactively connect with the Oakland Police Department by submitting anonymous tips via web form and text message. Additionally, with the issuance of a tipping passcode to tipsters, we can initiate a two-way, anonymous communication to help gather more information. 

On Friday, July 25, the Oakland Police Department learned that a public safety address (PSA) created by OPD Public Information Officer Johnna Watson and California Highway Patrol Sergeant Sean Wilkenfeld (shown in video above) had been placed on the State of California website (ca.gov). In the video, Officer Watson and Sergeant Wilkenfeld speak plainly about the negatives associated with sideshow activity and street racing: endangering participants, bystanders and other motorists; attracting other criminal activities; and, for those who are caught participating in sideshows, losing your car (it will be towed) and going to jail. The video can be seen on the ca.gov website or on YouTube (above)

On Monday, July 21, fifteen Oakland Police Activities League (PAL)/Explorer youth interns received certificates of completion from the Oakland Police Department for attending a two-week training conducted by veteran police officers and Academy instructors. The interns learned about Community Policing, Criminalistics, Criminal Investigations, Police Procedures, Laws of Arrest, Domestic Violence, and other topics. Upon completion, the interns are assigned to various duties throughout the Police Department. This program is part of the mayor's summer jobs program and in line with our efforts to introduce young people to careers in policing. The training was a great experience for both the officers and youth.

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Since Thursday, July 10, the City of Oakland has been providing courtesy notices to vehicles with one or more unpaid parking tickets when the registered owner of the vehicle could not be contacted by mail. The intention of the On-Vehicle Noticing (OVN) program is to remind the vehicle's owner of outstanding parking tickets in hopes that he or she will pay the tickets to avoid penalties and fees, or towing/immobilization (the "boot"). 

The courtesy notice informs the operator that the identified vehicle may be subject to a registration hold and/or immobilization through booting or towing due to outstanding tickets. The City of Oakland will only boot or tow vehicles with five (5) or more outstanding parking tickets.  

The courtesy notices provide details on where to pay the outstanding citations online, by phone, or in person at the Parking Citation Assistance Center (PCAC). The PCAC, located at 250 Frank H. Ogawa Center, Suite 6300, is open Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Wednesdays from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Recipients of a notice may also call (855) 282-6067 to make a payment over the phone. Additional information on the courtesy notices to help assist the owner include:

• Reference Citation Number 
• Vehicle License Plate Number
• Notice Number
• Date
• Time of Notice

This program is the latest enhancement to improve the parking experience for motorists in Oakland. The City is nearing completion of conversion of the old meter heads to new Smart Parking Meters. The new meters accept payment by coin, credit card or pay-by-phone, making it easier for drivers to keep meters fed and avoid a parking ticket. If a new Smart Parking Meter needs repair, it automatically sends a wireless message to a repair technician, thereby speeding the return of the failed meter to service. 

For additional information on parking in Oakland, please visit oaklandnet.com/parking

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This week, Council confirmed the appointment of the first formal Bicyclist and Pedestrian Advisory Board: Ryan Chan, Chris Hwang, Christopher Kidd, Fred McWilliams, Robert Prinz, Midori Tabata, Royston Taylor, Rosa Villalobos and Kenya Wheeler. Some of them are pictured here.

We also reappointed Alan Yee to the Port Commission where he was just elected President. 

We are currently looking for candidates for the Rent Board.  We need alternates for both the tenant and landlord representative.  Contact Melissa Vargas at 238-7072 or mvargas@oaklandnet.com  We are especially interested in Spanish speaking candidates. 

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From our FaceBook page, July 26: Happy Birthday, Barbara Lee! I ended my day celebrating the birthday of our favorite Congresswoman