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. City drops another $3+ million to clear sunken boats from Oakland estuary
City officials staged an effort to pull some 40 derelict vessels from the Oakland estuary this week. The effort comes after years of allowing “anchor out” vessels to float there indefinitely, similar to the RV encampments on Oakland’s streets. The city finally moved to clean up after an Alameda-based group helped get a federal grant. City officials issued a press release and held a press conference celebrating the cleanup and featuring the police chief announcing, “We’re not going to put up with it anymore,” adding that the city is moving to “reclaim the waterfront” for the public. The city appears eager to spin this belated clean-up effort as progress (which it is), but the city’s effort came only after decades of complaints and untold environmental damage to the bay waters — and only after the state stepped in and threatened to impose fines. Read more
2. Oakland city workers prepare for a strike at union-led “strike school”
Oakland city workers attended “strike school” during their contract negotiations with the city. A video of the session shows city workers holding signs and shouting a call-and-response chant: “What do we want? Fair contract! When do we want it? Now!” IFPTE Local 21, which represents the city’s professional and technical workers, and SEIU Local 1021, which represents clerical and front-line service workers, have been locked in contentious contract negotiations with the city for months. The unions issued a joint press release claiming that, “Mayor Barbara Lee and city administrators have thus far refused to address the city’s understaffing crisis. After months of dragged-out negotiations and the expiration of union contracts, workers express frustration at the city’s unwillingness to invest in staffing. ‘Striking is a last resort, but we’re ready to do whatever it takes.’” Read more
3. Oaklandside news editor moderates communist group’s forum
Local media outlet The Oaklandside’s senior news editor Darwin Bondgraham emceed a forum on policing for communist group Seeing Red in Oakland last Saturday, Sept. 19. The group billed the event as “a provocative discussion about contemporary police power, what it might look like to deconstruct it.” Bondgraham is the author of the book, “The Riders Come Out at Night,” about the infamous police misconduct scandal in the early 2000’s that led to a federal consent decree and decades of oversight of Oakland’s police department. For his part, Bondgraham helped promote the event with a post on Twitter (renamed X after Elon Musk purchased the social media platform) stating, “Tonight in Oakland, Stuart Schrader will be talking about his important book, Blue Power, a history of police associations and political organizing. Roll through.” Read more
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4. Oakland’s teachers union backs Jennifer Brouhard — and her own party doesn’t. (The Oaklandside’s profile mentioned neither)
On September 22, local media outlet The Oaklandside published a profile of the Oakland Unified school board District 2 candidates (incumbent board president Jennifer Brouhard and challenger Arielle Fleisher) with the headline, “An experienced incumbent meets a parent challenger.” The profile gave Brouhard 59% of the space compared to her challenger, misstated a Stanford study and Prop 39, and supplied evidence for one side only — a framing Oaklandside has used before. The profile also didn’t mention that Brouhard receives substantial political support from teachers union Oakland Education Association (OEA), of which Brouhard is a past board member, and whose contracts Brouhard now votes on as school board president. Two days later, in its profile on the District 2 city council race (“Democratic socialists are on a roll. Can one win a seat on Oakland city council?”), the Oaklandside again checked one candidate’s claims but not the other’s — and the same side came out ahead. Read more
5. Sheng Thao "catch and kill" story allegations admissible in trial, judge rules
A federal judge said Friday that jurors can hear accusations that former Oakland mayor Sheng Thao’s co-defendants sought to buy off a local journalist to prevent a story about alleged sexual misconduct that occurred during a 2023 trade mission to Vietnam. Thao also attended the junket. Court filings discuss a video of then-San Leandro councilman Bryan Azevedo recounting sexual activities with prostitutes during the Vietnam trip. The prosecution’s filings assert that, "when Thao learned about the reporting, she became irate, concerned that Azevedo's behavior on a trip she was prominently associated with would reflect badly on her and harm her politically." The journalist, Steven Tavares of East Bay Insiders, says that Thao co-defendant Andy Duong offered him a “sponsorship” of $2,000 per month through county supervisor David Haubert’s chief of staff, Shawn Wilson. Wilson was a co-host of Tavares’ podcast at the time. Wilson admits that he accepted $10,000 from Duong for “public relations” work. Read more
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