Earlier this week, Barbara Lee was sworn in as Oakland’s new Mayor to serve the remainder of the term of her disgraced predecessor, Sheng Thao.
Lee persuaded a small majority of Oakland voters that she was up to the task of leading this struggling city through simultaneous crises: serious crime, disorder, and the threat of bankruptcy. The city must close a $54 million budget deficit by July 1, the school district has an additional $95 million deficit, and while several crime rates are dropping from pandemic highs, they remain well above state averages.
I was among the 47% of voters who preferred former City Council member Loren Taylor. I saw him as a smart, energetic, non-ideological problem-solver devoted to Oakland. But like anyone who wants the city to survive and thrive, I want Lee to succeed.
Here are five ways Lee can help Oakland recover from years of chaos.
1. Make Loren Taylor the city administrator
Taylor’s strengths are precisely those that Lee lacks. He’s a pragmatist and a policy wonk who approaches the city’s problems like an engineer. He isn’t preoccupied with appeasing politically influential stakeholders (such as city workers’ unions); he asks for realistic plans and demands data to measure progress.
These aren’t necessarily the best traits for a politician, but they’re ideal for a city administrator. Lee’s strengths are her political relationships and ability to bring coalitions together for causes such as the construction of affordable housing or combating homelessness. That’s what she should focus on as mayor. Her role should be that of a CEO: articulating a vision for the city and bridging the differences between competing factions. She should let Taylor be her COO, looking after day-to-day operations and making sure tasks are completed on time and under budget.
2. Ask the Trump administration to remove the Oakland police from federal oversight
In 2003, the Oakland Police Department (OPD) was put under the watch of a federal judge in response to a scandal that unfolded in 2000. The federal monitor assigned to track OPD’s compliance, Robert Warshaw, a former police chief who now audits police departments under consent decrees for a living, earns his law firm up to $1 million a year in that role, paid for by Oakland taxpayers. He has every incentive to keep the gravy train running.
The OPD should have been released years ago from the out-of-court settlement agreement that imposed these oversight conditions. Oakland police officers have more important things to do than the endless paperwork required by oversight rules and should not be paralyzed with fear that — with Warshaw looking over their shoulders — they could be fired for doing their jobs. The agreement has left Oakland with a police force that is incentivized to be passive in the face of crime.
For over two decades, every Oakland police chief has failed to reclaim the city’s police force for its residents. In an April executive order, President Donald Trump pledged to review all existing receivership arrangements over local police departments, including out-of-court settlements. Thus, a President who is already a calamity for California and the rest of the country could, in this one narrow way, actually help Oakland. Lee should use her political relationships in Washington to make sure Oakland, whose police force has been under federal oversight longer than that of any other U.S. city, is finally sprung free.
3. Maintain the presence of the California Highway Patrol on Oakland’s streets
The main reason crime has decreased slightly in Oakland is Gov. Gavin Newsom’s assignment of CHP officers to the city starting in February 2024. Until the Federal settlement agreement is lifted, OPD will continue to be unable to control crime, and we will continue to need the state’s help. CHP have been especially effective at suppressing stunt-driving sideshows, a plague on Oakland. Lee ran on a commitment to leverage her political relationships for Oakland’s benefit. If she has sway with the governor, this is one way she should use it.
4. Bring city workers back to the office
San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie has the right idea: He wants city workers back in the office at least four days a week.
The work-from-home era has been a disaster for downtown Oakland. Without foot traffic, local businesses have suffered, and crime has risen. Nearly a third of offices are empty. Major employers like Kaiser and Clorox have had to take measures to keep their employees safe on the sidewalks right outside their offices. Oakland fixtures like Le Cheval have closed.
The pandemic has been over for years. It’s time for Oakland city workers to return to the office. Many of us, myself included, have benefited from working from home and have built work-life balance around it. The mayor can be flexible in preserving some of these gains, but she should appoint a city administrator who is committed to bringing workers back to City Hall. Downtown Oakland needs its commuters again.
5. Livestream union contract bargaining
Contract bargaining and updates to the City Council are both held behind closed doors. With Oakland facing bankruptcy, this opacity is not acceptable. Voters deserve transparency.
Since Lee was backed by the unions that represent city workers, the public has every reason to be suspicious. For the public’s benefit and for her own reputation, Lee should make contract bargaining as visible as every other part of city government. She should do this by livestreaming bargaining sessions on the city’s website, just like council meetings and other public forums.
Politically, it won’t be easy. But nothing in Oakland ever is. If Barbara Lee wants to go down as the city’s savior, she must try.
Leighton Woodhouse is an independent journalist and documentary filmmaker in Oakland. He writes the Substack newsletter Social Studies.