There’s a rumor afoot that the Council is going to try to defund the Oakland Police Department by up to $50 million, which represents about 1/6 of their annual budget.
Before you get all agitated, it’s just a rumor. But it’s from a good source. Oakland looks like it’s facing a huge budget deficit, although it’s hard to get accurate numbers. We do know that the School District is in the red for at least $25 million. Beyond that, we’re not being told much about the city’s overall financial condition. Last year, the Mayor and the City Council, especially Bas, made much of the fact that they “balanced” the budget for the next two years. “The Oakland City Council,” the city bragged officially on its website, “adopted a balanced budget for fiscal year 2023-2025 [by] closing a historic $360 million deficit” without any layoffs.
Thao herself boasted, “We have achieved a balanced budget without resorting to government closures or layoffs which disrupt critical services to residents.”
It sounded like a real accomplishment. Yet less than two months ago, Oaklandside headlined “Is Oakland barreling toward another budget crisis?” The article pointed out that “[Oakland budget] staff are projecting a $129 million deficit. And they expect that trend will continue the following year.” It seems that Thao’s and Bas’s rosy scenario from last year was totally unrealistic, which should surprise no one: in Oakland government, the blind lead the blind, and mislead the people.
Hence the rumors. Like Willie Sutton said, when you want money, you go where it is. In his case, it was banks. In Oakland’s case, it’s OPD. Now, if you take a deep whiff of the political aromatics around another attempt at defunding the police, you can smell Carroll Fife and Nikki Bas. Neither has ever given up their attempts to smash OPD. They’ve had to lower their rhetoric because Oakland’s crime wave has caused public support for cops to rise. But deep within their breasts, both council members devoutly hate law enforcement and yearn for the day they can rise from their crypts and drain it bloodless. And today’s budget fears are giving them political cover.
Which leads to the question, What would we do, you and I, if they actually put a defunding measure on the Council’s legislative calendar? We would, of course, fight it, and The Town would see a political battle of epic proportions. On the other hand, we police supporters do need to have an answer to the question, “Well, if you won’t defund OPD, then how do you propose to balance the budget?”
I admit to not being an expert in the Oakland city budget but I do have a strong hunch that there are dozens of programs that could be eliminated. Most of these programs were crafted by the most progressive council members and their staffs to funnel money to their cronies for dubious, hidden reasons. For example, the Department of Race & Equity absorbs $1.4 million in the next budget, of which nearly 90 percent is for personnel. These are high-paying jobs; a data analyst III in the department earns $275,000 a year. Do you know what the Dept. of Race & Equity does? Neither do I. It seems like a swamp, a place where Fife, Bas and Thao send their friends to collect hefty salaries. Cut that department, I say.
Then there’s the Police Commission, which is proposed to get $12 million in the next budget. I have never seen a single data point that suggests the Police Commission is anything other than a financial drain on the city and a hindrance to effective policing. Cut that commission, I say.
Then there’s the Public Ethics Commission, whose proposed budget is $2.2 million. Name me one reason why this commission exists. It can’t be to actually bring ethics to city government, since it’s clear that the City Council and mayor operate in an ethics-free zone. Cut that commission, I say.
And, of course, there’s the Department of Violence Prevention. Budget: $21 million. Of all the departments and commissions Oakland has created over the years, DVP is the most corrupt, the most useless, the least productive. Has violence gone down in Oakland? Are there fewer shootings and murders? Are communities feeling safer because DVP is on the job? No, no and no. Cut that department, I say.
And then, below the department level, there are scores of smaller embedded programs that get $75,000, or $100,000, or $15,000. Individually, they’re chump change. Together, they add up. One example is the Oakland Department of Transportation (OakDOT) (total budget: $89 million). Within the department is a division dedicated to “Geographic Equity.” It literally gives “priority” to funding projects in “priority neighborhoods” that are defined by the presence of “people of color.”
We don’t know how much of OakDOT’s budget goes to the “Equity” division, but it’s only fair to ask why neighborhoods with “people of color” such as West Oakland are prioritized over, say, Adams Point or Redwood Heights, much less the Hills. We need someone to go over every single one of these little programs with a fine-tooth comb to root out those that are unfair, arbitrary and offensive.
You see just how easy it is to save money without hacking OPD to pieces. Go through the budget and weed out every stupid, crackpot expense. The progressives will howl, of course. Let them.
We’ll notify you all the minute that some council member actually puts something that defunds OPD on the legislative calendar. And then, let the battle commence!
Steve Heimoff