Seneca Scott, executive director of Neighbors Together Oakland (NTO) and a member of the Coalition for a Better Oakland, is running for Mayor of Oakland. His formal announcement will be made this Monday. I chatted with Seneca, who’s 42 years old, recently. Here is an edited version of our conversation.
SH: Why are you running?
SS: Because Oakland’s in a crisis and I don’t see anyone running to lead us out of it, or who will admit the seriousness of the crisis.
What is the nature of the crisis?
We’re collapsing. We’re losing our city.
How so?
We are going through what many cities are going through right now after the pandemic, after the massive loss of wealth from [the closure of] small businesses, and the financial insecurities of most working people. And that already was in place with the massive amount of homelessness. So homelessness and homeless encampments are the number one issue in Oakland.
And you and NTO are suing the city to implement the EMP?
Yes. I’ll get to that. But I want to get back to what motivates me to run. Because we’re already fighting in that [EMP] space; I don’t need to run for mayor to do that. We can do that [fight for the EMP] through our activism in NTO. But city needs leadership. We need integrity and someone with solutions, someone who’s actually steadfast and dependable.
That’s an indirect indictment of the other candidates.
Absolutely. I would say that people need to look hard at these candidates, and what they’ve done. If you’ve been empowered to do more, and you’re sitting in a position of power right now, what are you doing? How do they talk? Everybody says we’re in a crisis, but if we are, then where’s the action to get us out of it?
Well, someone could say the same thing about you.
Not really. I’ll tell you why. Oakland passed the EMP unanimously in October, 2020. And they didn’t do it [i.e. implement it]. When we filed our lawsuit, in May 2021, we went scorched earth. We’re doing press conferences, we’re doing their job for them. We’re taking this policy right to the homeless community, getting stakeholders from that community, including Vincent Williams, and making sure that we have the political and public will to implement this policy.
Will you promise that, if you are elected, in one year there will be no more encampments?
No. I tend not to make promises because I don’t control the universe.
Then how do we know that anything would change under Seneca Scott?
What I will say is exactly what we’re going to do, and then you can hold me accountable if we don’t.
So what would you do?
The most important thing in Oakland now is that we do not have a mayor who can be held accountable. They don’t have the strength in the City Charter to do it. So we need to change our city structure to a more traditional “strong mayor” model. That’s going to require a charter amendment. If you compare San Francisco mayor and Oakland mayor, it’s night and day the amount of power they have. A strong mayor is accountable to the people, because you know they can do the things they said they’re going to do. The Oakland mayor can’t even line-item a veto power over the budget. If you can’t effect the budget, how can you push an agenda?
Let’s talk about police levels. I understand you have a staffing number you’re envisioning.
We need to be at fully-staffed levels. So two things that we need to make happen with the police. We have a whole year before the new mayor is in office, so hopefully, there’s some strides made this year, in a time of urgent need, to staff our police force. We need to get to at least 900 police officers.
That’s higher than the last time we spoke, a week ago! What made you go from 850 to 900?
Looking at the size, at best practices, how often [police] academies are held, and doing the simple math of what could we do in that time and space.
Chief Armstrong says we need 1,100 cops.
You’re not going to get those in the first year. You don’t have enough [police] academies. Now, if they increase the ability to have bigger academies, I haven’t heard that plan. But if you take, “What’s the largest academy we’ve had so far, what’s the frequency of academies?”, and then multiple that times how much time we have, moving to 900.
So you wouldn’t rule out eventually asking for more than 900?
We need to strive for a fully-staffed police force. Chief Armstrong says it’s 1,100. Now, I like Chief Armstrong, I have a lot of respect for him, I support him [but] I haven’t done my due diligence on that number. I would say right now, because that’s his job, I would go with that recommendation, but as mayor, I’d have to go through it with a fine-tooth comb to make sure we’re spending our money as efficiently as possible. Another issue is federal oversight [the Negotiated Settlement Agreement, or NSA ,and its overseer, Robert Warshaw].
Let’s talk about that.
If we’re not off [the NSA] by the time the mayor’s race comes, the one thing I will do is aggressively advocate to end that.
I think a lot of people would thank you for that.
Well, we’re going to be sending a letter to the Attorney General of the United States about this, and making our plea [to end] this oversight, with no end in sight, and no metrics available to the public to know when we’re out of this quagmire.
There are metrics, but they’re obscure and arcane.
We need something simple. What gets us out of this? It can’t be this one guy [Warshaw], who obviously has the financial incentive [to persevere].
So, first day in office, will you act on this?
Absolutely. I believe leadership is action, not position. As a [former] union organizer, we have a tried-and-true methodology: Educate, agitate, organize. Education is, how many people in Oakland even know about this [NSA]? How many people actually know that we’re under federal oversight, and how much money this guy has sucked out of our city? That’s the first part. Then, when people are educated, you agitate them that we don’t need this oversight.
So, on day one, you would sit down and write to Warshaw and say, Respectfully, we’re now ceasing to cooperate with you.
I would say we will fight to end this federal oversight, up to and including lawsuits. But it’s not just about the legal side. Legal activism requires activism. It can’t just be in the shadows of the court. It has to be out in public.
What other issues do you have?
There’s a lot, but mainly it’s the safety, and just the respect and love we have for our city. I don’t want to live in a city we’re ashamed to live in.
What about dumping?
SS: Dumping. Whew! Illegal dumping—I ran on that for City Council [in 2020]. The plans we made remain the same. We have a zero tolerance for illegal dumping, and we will confiscate your vehicle.
If you can find it.
That’s the law enforcement element. We don’t use our city cameras! Now, I’m very wary of a surveillance state, but you’ve got to balance public safety, and I think it’s well accepted by most people who live in a metropolis that there’s cameras everywhere, there’s cameras on every single individual, there’s cameras on people’s vehicles now, why would we use our cameras to solve crime but not illegal dumping? Could you please turn the cameras on and catch these people? Use the cameras, stop the criminals.
Will there be debates in the coming election?
Yes. I’m really looking forward to debating. Not answering questions on Zoom, but actually debating.
Steve Heimoff