Oakland Report’s Newsstand is a daily roundup of Oakland news from across the spectrum — a one-stop destination for readers to keep abreast of what’s happening in The Town. “I got 5” features the top five headlines we found interesting or notable this week.
1. BART’s “manufactured” crisis: East Bay Times says voters should reject regional transit tax.
If the Measure RTM transit tax is approved by Bay Area voters, Oaklanders would pay higher sales taxes for the next 14 years. The editorial notes that BART serves around half the passengers it did before the pandemic, but it keeps running the same number of trains and its expenses remain the same. It also asserts that Measure RTM is a regressive sales tax at a time when many Bay Area residents struggle to make ends meet. East Bay Times says Measure RTM is “disrespectful” to voters and people “should not be asked to pay more taxes to those agencies that fail to maturely manage their budgets.” Read more
2. From potholes to storm drains, Oakland is far behind on maintaining basic infrastructure
🎥 The city of Oakland released a report in September 2026 that says up to 40% of its underground stormwater drainage systems are failing and require replacements or upgrades. The report says that a full citywide rehabilitation would cost $3.6 billion and “take at least 70 to 8 years to complete.” Recent public relations moves by the city suggest that it plans to use the report to ask voters to approve more fees through a potential future ballot measure — not to reflect on its own decades-long failure to maintain these systems. The city’s recent talking points in local media and elsewhere suggest that it intends to highlight the disproportionate impact of the deferred maintenance on Oakland’s poorest neighborhoods. It remains to been whether the city will reflect on the inequities the city itself created through decades of deprioritizing basic maintenance. Maintaining a safe and reliable infrastructure is a core service of the local government, which collects property taxes and other taxes on the premise that residents and businesses benefit from this service. If recent news reports are any guide, the city seems poised to use its own failures as a campaign talking point to extract more taxes from its already overburdened citizenry. Read more
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3. Oakland liquor store operator Go-Gos to jail for selling drugs in his shop
🎥 An Oakland liquor store operator was arrested for selling drugs from hidden compartments in the store. Go Go Amigo Market at 992 105th Avenue was previously the scene of two homicides, and was raided in July for selling drugs and possessing a gun with no serial number. According to news reports, they are accused of selling opioids like Oxycodone in their store — a neighborhood mini-grocer that also sells food and other items to neighborhood residents. Some commenters on social media sympathized with the arrestee, saying that they were just trying to make ends meet, and the police were harassing them. Others shared comments that the store had been engaged in this activity for years, and were glad to see the effort to curtail it. Read more
4. Judge denies Sheng Thao co-defendant’s request to see informant’s tax returns
The request was made by defense attorneys for David Duong, owner of California Waste Solutions. Duong’s lawyers argued that documents seized through a search warrant served on informant Mario Juarez included Juarez’s tax returns. (Juarez also was charged with bribery conspiracy in the case but has pleaded guilty and is testifying for the prosecution.) Prosecutors argued that the defense’s motion, “would allow the defense to dictate the government’s search warrants” and, “would violate the Fourth Amendment.” David Duong is charged with bribery and conspiracy in an alleged scheme to funnel money to former Oakland mayor Sheng Thao, including a no-show job for Thao’s partner Andre Jones, in exchange for Thao steering lucrative city contracts to Duong’s business. Thao, Jones, Duong and his son Andy Duong are set to stand trial later this month. All four have pleaded not guilty. Read more
5. Oakland mayor Barbara Lee on the hot seat as city unions picket her speech and threaten to strike
🎥 Public sector unions IFPTE Local 21 and SEIU Local 21 picketed outside the mayor’s state of the city speech amid contentious negotiations over the unions’ contracts. “We’re working hard on everything that you need to make the quality of life that you deserve real, okay? So we’re working day and night, myself, the city council, and we’re gonna continue until we get a fair contract for you,” mayor Lee said to the picketing workers as she entered city hall. The city is grappling with projected $100+ million budget shortfalls in each of the next five years. The unions say they are preparing to hold a strike authorization vote later this month; they last went on strike in 2017, which lasted a week. Read more
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Great 5 picks for the Oakland Report. Thank you and you are right no more taxes. Taxes will not fix Oakalnd problems. Oakland was once a productive city, thriving in production and business. We need to create that again. We need to ensure every Oaklander can make an honest living, raise their families in a beautiful, safe, productive city. Mindy Pechenuk for Oakland Mayor 2026