So far, Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee’s performance as the 52nd Mayor of Oakland can be summed up in one-word: disappointing. For someone who came in with such high expectations and an unwritten but very tangible mandate to get Oakland off the ground and running, she’s demonstrated that she does not at all get what it means to be the mayor of a city in distress.
I looked at her so-called 100-days of action, and it can be summed up in this way: I TOOK A LOT OF MEETINGS WITH PEOPLE, WE GOT MONEY FROM THE FEDS, AND WE’VE WRITTEN A PLAN TO MAKE A PLAN, AND MORE PLANS.
That’s it.
An Oakland Adams Point Resident Sounds An Alarm On Facebook
I added this social media post late as my friend Oakland Developer Phil Tagami posted it Thursday night:
Zac Kerry
West Oakland, we are at a critical juncture, and it is essential that we speak out against the egregious conditions that have become commonplace in our community. The proliferation of garbage, illegal dumping, and dilapidated campers, coupled with the alarming rise in gun violence and reckless driving, has created an atmosphere of fear and disorder. Our failure to address these issues has, in effect, legitimized this behavior and set a troubling precedent for future generations. We must join forces to demand immediate action and restore our community to a safe and thriving environment.
Let us in one voice Say Something And Do Something Now.
A Weak Message At A Time Oakland Needs A Strong One
The other problem with Mayor Lee’s claim to have changed Oakland is it comes right at the time when Oakland’s called the second most dangerous city in America. You don’t match that news with reports on how you’re going to do the following:
- United 100+ business leaders in powerful safety coalition
- Funded five police academies and authorized 678 officers toward 700-officer goal
- Funded the expansion of Oakland’s Community Safety Ambassador program
- Revived sideshow enforcement patrols
- Forged major employer partnerships for citywide safety
- Connected merchants with Business Improvement District advisors to activate “Block Captain” model including Police and community ambassadors
- Developing personalized security plans for hospital campuses in partnership with Oakland Police Department
Rather than “use tax increment financing to catalyze building development and economic development and add 200 more police officers and security professionals to help fight crime in Oakland.”
The point is, Mayor Lee focuses on efforts that don’t make money for Oakland, and doesn’t get that more private sector activity literally buys a city its police department. Mayor Lee’s slogan should be “Oakland’s open for business”, not “We’re going to work with you if you’re the same nonprofits I have heard of before”.
And many Oaklanders who are active players in Oakland Government don’t get the monetary connection between the private sector and public sector. The private sector makes the money and the public sector gains money from the private sector to provide services to the private sector. In Oakland, it’s more like the public sector both serves and then gets money from the public sector. No wonder we’re running consistent deficits.
Some Oaklanders have said to me “If we just reduce crime, business will come back.” Nothing could be further from the truth, and it comes from the same people who are naive enough to believe that a simple change in zoning laws will automatically produce everything from affordable housing to better business conditions. None of these people ever consider the role of subsidies in policy implementation. You know, giving people and businesses in the private sector money?
Oakland, which was once one a leader in the use of redevelopment law for economic development prior to 2011, now acts like it doesn’t even understand the powerful math behind tax increment financing. And that’s because they don’t but that’s for another time.
Mayor Lee’s Economic Development Forgot Economic Development
Go through Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee’s first 100 days and you find no mention of any development plans or small business subsidy objectives. Take a look at her so-called “economic development accomplishments”:
- Rallied Oakland’s largest employers for bold investment commitments in Oakland’s future
- Delivered $3 million Business Incentive Program and funded Economic Activation Zones in partnership with Council
- Fast-tracked 22 bright new streetlights around Fox Theatre
- Reinstated Mayor’s Summer Youth Employment Program for 200+ Oakland youth
- Boosted graffiti cleanup resources for business corridors in partnership with Council
- Partnered with Jack London Square merchants for business growth
- Initiated Sister Cities Program revival and international trade connections
- Partnered on green business incubator serving 25 small business owner
Of these, the following are not economic development:
- Fast-tracked 22 bright new streetlights around Fox Theatre
- Reinstated funding for Cultural Affairs Division Manager in partnership with Council
- Employed 75 justice-involved residents to remove 30 tons of trash
The others are good associations, but they have no promise of monetary investment in the private sector to help them fix facades, upgrade kitchens, install bars and gates, get private security, reduce insurance costs, or just have more working capital.
Oakland Government Does Not Get What Economic Development Is
Economic Development is the government spending money on the private sector to see a return on investment in the form of more business activity and more job opportunities for residents. From that perspective, these other “actions” in Mayor Lee’s “economic development accomplishments” are questionable:
- Rallied Oakland’s largest employers for bold investment commitments in Oakland’s future. Me: Well, Mayor Lee, tell us who, and how much money, and what are they investing in, and when? Otherwise, it’s just talk. Where’s the press conference with these CEOs? Where is the website showing what they’re going to invest in and the timetable? So far, we’ve got nothing. Zero. Zilch.
And on the matter of economic development, Mayor Lee totally left out the sports teams that she and other act like they expect to replace the Oakland A’s, Oakland Raiders, and Golden State Warriors. Indeed, while the new industry of sports tourism has had an economic impact of $128 billion and employs over 700,000, Oakland has allowed its sports tourism industry to decrease in value by a whopping $6 billion, or three times the average value of the teams that left our city, and in less than 10 years.
It’s no wonder that Mayor Lee forgets the Oakland Ballers, Oakland Roots, and Oakland Soul even exist! That’s a total slap in the face. I told her Oakland needs a sports commission, and that I started one in 1999 called the Oakland-Alameda County Sports Commission. But Mayor Lee becomes the latest Oakland leader to not see what other cities see: the value of a sports commission.
Mayor Lee says she Removed Roadblocks to Support Small Businesses.Then writes….Priority: Direct permitting reform to streamline city processes and reduce bureaucracy for small businesses.
Uh, Mayor Lee, small business doesn’t start without money. And this is more evidence that Oakland Mayor Lee and whoever’s advising her (and I know who) totally flunked urban economics.
That means Oakland’s doomed to limp along in the present while Oaklanders are left only with videos celebrating its glorious past.
Stay tuned.