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Hand-picked: the political and personal ties between mayor Barbara Lee and her Oakland "charter reform working group"
Mayor Barbara Lee’s eight-member panel consists of her transition advisers, her campaign’s institutional backers, a funder of its own process, and…
 • Alex Montana
Oakland city council pay raises: the charter reform provision no one is discussing
Oakland's charter reform could raise council pay up to 125%, pushing total compensation past $300,000 — yet the provision has been nearly absent from…
 • Alex Montana
5:59
'Our babies are drinking lead and we wonder why they’re fighting at First Friday'
Oakland city council argues over budget amendments and declares a "severe and unanticipated financial event" for the fourth year in a row, ten days…
 • Oakland Report
Oakland’s ‘unanticipated’ financial emergency set to enter its fourth year
City council intends to once again declare a ‘severe and unanticipated financial event’ — suspending multiple voter-approved mandates in order to divert…
 • Sean S. Reinhart
Late-night crime spikes 44% on First Fridays. The city says it has a new plan to curb it.
Oakland’s First Fridays festivals have been followed by unsanctioned, chaotic after-hours gatherings in the streets near the official event area for…
 • Sean S. Reinhart

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Oakland’s charter reform process: the questions it was built not to ask
Mayor Barbara Lee’s charter reform ‘working group’ was hand-picked to diagnose Oakland’s dysfunction. But the group was set up to rule out the reforms…
 • Alex Montana
2:15
Oakland city union warns of a strike if city council does not approve pay raises, other demands
"I stood in a photo with you before I knocked doors for Measure E on Saturday." IFTPE Local 21 union members remind council members who "worked really…
 • Oakland Report
'Death and taxes': Oakland City Council is the one who knocks. (Flashback)
Oakland's Measure E didn't start as a "citizen" initiative. It started at City Council months earlier. Then it was handed off to unions to put it on the…
 • Oakland Report
‘Oakland deserves better’ — Alameda County approves Coliseum buyback term sheet
Developer Ray Bobbitt submitted last-minute changes to ‘carve out’ the Oakland Arena from liability for environmental issues at the Oakland Coliseum…
 • Sean S. Reinhart
Alameda County is back in the Oakland Coliseum business — set to buy back from A’s, sell to developer
Developer Ray Bobbitt has missed nearly every major payment to the City of Oakland. Now the county is stepping back in to help after selling its share…
 • Oakland Report
Oakland is beautiful, but encampments – and the city’s inequitable response – are holding it back
The city of Oakland’s encampment ‘sensitivity areas’ map perpetuates a long legacy of injustice by once again placing an inequitable burden on West and…
 • Oakland Report
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Commentary

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Oakland is beautiful, but encampments – and the city’s inequitable response – are holding it back
The city of Oakland’s encampment ‘sensitivity areas’ map perpetuates a long legacy of injustice by once again placing an inequitable burden on West and…
 • Oakland Report
It’s legal to lie in campaigns – but that doesn’t make it right
Oakland Measure E campaign’s claim that it results in “lower tax rates” is a misleading statement — in common terms, a lie. Nothing in the legal text of…
 • Oakland Report
Oakland Report is growing
Announcing five new additions to the Oakland Report team — and a $50,000 fundraising challenge. Don’t miss a beat! Donate to support our nonprofit work.
 • Sean S. Reinhart and Oakland Report
Oakland is still #1 – in highest taxes
Also: The racially-motivated aspects of Oakland’s taxation and service delivery; Rebecca Kaplan isn't qualified for the job; school administrator pay…
 • Oakland Report and Sean S. Reinhart
Oakland: the politics of emotional blackmail
For years, city leaders and advocates have repeatedly claimed that the city’s failures are someone else’s fault, criticisms are personal attacks, and…
 • Oakland Report
The elephant in the classroom
Oakland Education Association has spent over $239,000 to elect a school board majority friendly to the union’s financial interests. Those board members…
 • Sean S. Reinhart
'Where is my tax money going?': KTVU 2 News interviews Oakland Report
Television station KTVU invited Oakland Report managing editor Sean Reinhart to talk about Oakland's many taxes.
 • Oakland Report
13:08
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'Our babies are drinking lead and we wonder why they’re fighting at First Friday'
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Oakland Report
'Our babies are drinking lead and we wonder why they’re fighting at First Friday'
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Sean S. Reinhart
Oakland’s ‘unanticipated’ financial emergency set to enter its fourth year
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Tim Gardner
Oakland is beautiful and we deserve better - Letters to the Editor
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Bob Borek
Oakland school board (OUSD) approves $102.5 million in budget cuts in 5-2 vote
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