Also: Nine out of ten Black survey respondents said crime and public safety are 'concerning' or 'extremely concerning' — the highest concern level of any group for any issue in the survey.
Thank you for sharing this data. This aligns with the feedback I receive from people in D6/D7. On Friday, I spent some time with the Oakland NAACP talking about the longstanding disparity issue in the Town. I run a fairly large department that provides a number of services to the public as well as delivers capital projects for public benefit. I suppose one could say I represent the problem, but I’m seeking solutions. The imbalance can’t be denied. You can see it visually. In Atlanta, I spent a lot of time in the “SWATS” helping residents understand how the city sausage was made. It’s time to do that in Oakland.
I was sitting in the dog park thinking about another topic. I do have a dog, but I also sit in the dog park alone to think. Yes. Weird. The topic runs parallel to the statistics presented in this article- voting. Allow me to draw on my professional experience from other jurisdictions. This is not an Oakland comment. I don’t want to be presumptuous, but I suspect it rings true here. There is an inverse relationship between voter turnout and investment of municipal resources. Simply stated, communities who vote in high numbers tend to get more attention. Even if a community turned up only to vote for the city surveyor or dog catcher (neither are applicable in Oakland), there would be immediate attention and near immediate change. I have consulted in multiple countries, states, counties, and cities where street paving was a political tool. Those who turned out to the polls got more. Again, I am making no commentary about Oakland. Voter turnout changes things, even if you don’t trust the system. If we only had an election in 2026, then we could test my voter turnout theory in Oakland. I’ll bet a dozen chocolate chip cookies from Oaklandia that I’m right.
2020 Proposition 19 was sold in the name of Equity but hurts Black families. Sign petitions at ForCalifornians.com to #FiXProp19 to #SaveOurChildren'sFuture and #ReclaimVoters'Rights . Don't wait until you lose a loved one and are losing your truly affordable multigenerational home to act.
Why not ask ALL residents of Oakland and, perhaps, if you feel the need, record the race. I think you'll find that very few think the taxes being paid are worth it. Only the unions want taxes to go up.
Who thinks that 1/3 of Oakland employees should be making more than $300K. That's ridiculous.
Most Oaklanders do not support the Authoritarian agenda imposed on us by the One-Party Progressive regime that has taken over the town. The issue is not race, it is that the city does not provide the services (public safety, sanitation, functional and well-maintained infrastructure) for which we are repeatedly taxed. The money is increasingly diverted to fund the one-party machine. This will not change without voting reform: Voter ID, no mail in ballots except for the exceptions prior to the Covid era, In-person voting in neighborhood precincts, same day count of ballots, no late ballots included, and no ranked-choice voting.
How do we get these verifiable facts into the heads of the patronizing, out-of-touch, self-styled "progressives" of the demographically wealthy voter precincts of town?
Nice article. I really enjoy these Oakland Specific Substack articles. Less noise from legacy media.
I wanted to offer my opinion about this line in your article:
"It is worth stating plainly: this is not reflexive anti-tax sentiment."
Did I miss the analysis supporting this statement? I think most (those paying attention) Californians would agree that taxes across the state, and certainly locally in Oakland, are burdensome and never produce the promised results on time, on budget, etc. Or, our tax dollars are sent into the unaccountable NGO machines who are not required to provide proof of success (homeless, drug rehabs, get out the vote, etc).
I suppose one could generally say they are not anti-tax. I'm not anti tax. What I am is, anti fraud, anti grift, anti waste of our tax dollars. Yet year after year, Oakland elects the next progressive darling to the council or mayor's office. The city drives deeper into debt, trash piles onto the street corners and into the lanes of traffic.
This happens because the elected officials fear what they praise about Oakland. Oakland's history of protest. Yet now, our protesters are SEIU and DSA backed organized protesters who do nothing to control the radical elements within their crowds (antifa, black bloc, bamn) who then burn and loot in the name of social justice. God forbid someone in elected office take a public stance agauant them. They will then be called a white supremacist or adjacent to. Or "right wing". (gasp!) And then their next election will be derailed by another more progressive tax wasting politician. I still remember seeing photos in the paper of Kaplan walking arm in arm against the OPD with Occupy Oakland before the council ordered them removed from FOP The cycle begins.
Tax dollar wasting City government at the behest of their SEIU overlords blame the police department of much of the finance drain. Yes, OPD spends a ton on OT. There is no denying that. The City has also paid 10's of thousands of tax payer dollars to conduct audits on how big should OPD be. Study after study recommends 1000-1200+ sworn officers. OPD has fewer than 650, doing the work of 1000-1200+. It seems OPD cannot provide the police services Oakland deserves without overtime. Oakland deserves a traffic unit who investigates vehicle accidents in a timely manner and a 911 and regular police reaponse that isnt embarrassingly slow. That cost real money. A properly staffed department does not need to rely on overtime to fill the holes.
Has there ever been a politician in Oakland who ran on closing budget gaps by saying no to new spending? Certainly not in Oakland. Like BART, politicians just kick the can down the road and pray for a bailout.
Thank you for sharing this data. This aligns with the feedback I receive from people in D6/D7. On Friday, I spent some time with the Oakland NAACP talking about the longstanding disparity issue in the Town. I run a fairly large department that provides a number of services to the public as well as delivers capital projects for public benefit. I suppose one could say I represent the problem, but I’m seeking solutions. The imbalance can’t be denied. You can see it visually. In Atlanta, I spent a lot of time in the “SWATS” helping residents understand how the city sausage was made. It’s time to do that in Oakland.
I was sitting in the dog park thinking about another topic. I do have a dog, but I also sit in the dog park alone to think. Yes. Weird. The topic runs parallel to the statistics presented in this article- voting. Allow me to draw on my professional experience from other jurisdictions. This is not an Oakland comment. I don’t want to be presumptuous, but I suspect it rings true here. There is an inverse relationship between voter turnout and investment of municipal resources. Simply stated, communities who vote in high numbers tend to get more attention. Even if a community turned up only to vote for the city surveyor or dog catcher (neither are applicable in Oakland), there would be immediate attention and near immediate change. I have consulted in multiple countries, states, counties, and cities where street paving was a political tool. Those who turned out to the polls got more. Again, I am making no commentary about Oakland. Voter turnout changes things, even if you don’t trust the system. If we only had an election in 2026, then we could test my voter turnout theory in Oakland. I’ll bet a dozen chocolate chip cookies from Oaklandia that I’m right.
2020 Proposition 19 was sold in the name of Equity but hurts Black families. Sign petitions at ForCalifornians.com to #FiXProp19 to #SaveOurChildren'sFuture and #ReclaimVoters'Rights . Don't wait until you lose a loved one and are losing your truly affordable multigenerational home to act.
https://calmatters.org/commentary/2021/10/californias-tax-on-inherited-properties-hurts-minority-communities/
Great work Loren and the Black Action Alliance. No more taxation without representation!!!!
Why not ask ALL residents of Oakland and, perhaps, if you feel the need, record the race. I think you'll find that very few think the taxes being paid are worth it. Only the unions want taxes to go up.
Who thinks that 1/3 of Oakland employees should be making more than $300K. That's ridiculous.
Here is the full report for all Oakland responses… https://www.eastbaypollinginstitute.org/polls/oakland-q1-2026
Most Oaklanders do not support the Authoritarian agenda imposed on us by the One-Party Progressive regime that has taken over the town. The issue is not race, it is that the city does not provide the services (public safety, sanitation, functional and well-maintained infrastructure) for which we are repeatedly taxed. The money is increasingly diverted to fund the one-party machine. This will not change without voting reform: Voter ID, no mail in ballots except for the exceptions prior to the Covid era, In-person voting in neighborhood precincts, same day count of ballots, no late ballots included, and no ranked-choice voting.
How do we get these verifiable facts into the heads of the patronizing, out-of-touch, self-styled "progressives" of the demographically wealthy voter precincts of town?
Nice article. I really enjoy these Oakland Specific Substack articles. Less noise from legacy media.
I wanted to offer my opinion about this line in your article:
"It is worth stating plainly: this is not reflexive anti-tax sentiment."
Did I miss the analysis supporting this statement? I think most (those paying attention) Californians would agree that taxes across the state, and certainly locally in Oakland, are burdensome and never produce the promised results on time, on budget, etc. Or, our tax dollars are sent into the unaccountable NGO machines who are not required to provide proof of success (homeless, drug rehabs, get out the vote, etc).
I suppose one could generally say they are not anti-tax. I'm not anti tax. What I am is, anti fraud, anti grift, anti waste of our tax dollars. Yet year after year, Oakland elects the next progressive darling to the council or mayor's office. The city drives deeper into debt, trash piles onto the street corners and into the lanes of traffic.
This happens because the elected officials fear what they praise about Oakland. Oakland's history of protest. Yet now, our protesters are SEIU and DSA backed organized protesters who do nothing to control the radical elements within their crowds (antifa, black bloc, bamn) who then burn and loot in the name of social justice. God forbid someone in elected office take a public stance agauant them. They will then be called a white supremacist or adjacent to. Or "right wing". (gasp!) And then their next election will be derailed by another more progressive tax wasting politician. I still remember seeing photos in the paper of Kaplan walking arm in arm against the OPD with Occupy Oakland before the council ordered them removed from FOP The cycle begins.
Tax dollar wasting City government at the behest of their SEIU overlords blame the police department of much of the finance drain. Yes, OPD spends a ton on OT. There is no denying that. The City has also paid 10's of thousands of tax payer dollars to conduct audits on how big should OPD be. Study after study recommends 1000-1200+ sworn officers. OPD has fewer than 650, doing the work of 1000-1200+. It seems OPD cannot provide the police services Oakland deserves without overtime. Oakland deserves a traffic unit who investigates vehicle accidents in a timely manner and a 911 and regular police reaponse that isnt embarrassingly slow. That cost real money. A properly staffed department does not need to rely on overtime to fill the holes.
Has there ever been a politician in Oakland who ran on closing budget gaps by saying no to new spending? Certainly not in Oakland. Like BART, politicians just kick the can down the road and pray for a bailout.