APTP Statement on Oakland's New Budget: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
APTP would like to thank our supporters, allies, and coalition partners for your tireless efforts this budget season. We have asked for your energy over the last several months of the budget process, and are grateful to ALL of you who wrote, emailed, called, attended meetings, attended actions, hosted events, and more.
Last night Oakland’s City Council voted to balance the $4.2 billon city budget. With Oakland facing an historic $360 million budget deficit, many of the programs and services that we have fought for were threatened. Despite the difficult circumstances, we were able to secure several key victories, preventing cuts to vital violence prevention programs for youth, seniors, and women, and securing non-carceral public safety solutions for businesses across Oakland.
While we were able to prevent cuts to many programs that truly keep us safe, we were not able to secure the requested funding for our Department of Violence Prevention, Office of Cultural Affairs, or Department of Transportation, among other departments. Unfortunately we were also unable to prevent an increase to the budget of the Oakland Police Department.
The fight for a true People’s Budget continues!
While we are still reviewing the results of the City Council meeting, here is an initial recap of where we are after this budget fight:
THE GOOD:
Police Accountability: Internal affairs has been moved out of the Oakland Police Department to the Civilian Police Review Agency. This means that, for the first time, a civilian-led agency will have the power and the ability to hold police accountable for misconduct.
Violence Prevention and Cultural Affairs: Due to the tireless advocacy of CURYJ, UPM, and a number of other organizations who engage in violence prevention work, the city council voted to restore several million in cuts to the DVP and Cultural Affairs last night. While the restorations do not maintain the level of funding that was initiated several years ago, last night’s investments were critical to ensure that critical violence prevention programming can continue.
Staffing Study: The budget includes an OPD staffing study that will provide more transparency to the people. OPD relies on a veil of secrecy to maintain its $350+ million dollar budget – this study will provide us with the information we need to make an even stronger case to Defund the Police.
THE BAD:
OPD’s budget has increased again — this time by $40 million. With all officers receiving annual 3.5% raises FOR YEARS under an MOU between the Oakland Peace Officers’ Association and the City of Oakland, Oakland’s officers are some of the highest paid officers in the country. In 2021, 25 officers received ~$350,000 or more in total pay, with one officer receiving $480,000.
Not only does the OPD’s $350+ million police budget prevent the city from funding other departments, it has the potential to bankrupt the Town. Oakland has hundreds of millions of dollars in pensions that are not in the budget (most for retired cops!) — those are obligations that the city MUST pay that it has no realistic plan for. The only way to pay what the city owes to pensioners is to defund the police department.
THE UGLY:
On top of the $40 million increase proposed for police, several councilmembers fought hard for EVEN MORE police programs:
Councilmember Ramachandran fought hard for an OPD grant writer that would have brought in additional funds, weaponry, and surveillance technology to our abusive and unaccountable police department.
Councilmember Gallo demanded that motorcycle cops be budgeted so they could be deployed to our schools because OUSD no longer has its own police department.
Councilmember Reid spent $150,000 on security cameras for businesses with no supporting evidence that those cameras would improve public safety. She also demanded that traffic cops be reinstated despite the countless studies that show traffic enforcement in Oakland is racist, ineffective, and disproportionately harms Black and Brown Oaklanders.
WHAT’S NEXT?
Despite the right wing pushback we've seen after the 2020 uprising, APTP will continue to build power in Oakland to defund OPD and refund the community.
Unless and until our elected officials feel that their constituents are in alignment with APTP and our goals, many of them will continue to maintain the status quo, and others will not have the space they need to push back against the status quo to build solutions that truly keep us safe.
To achieve our goals, we will be launching a public education campaign across the Town, and will need YOU to take part. It will take ALL of us to make the change we believe in. Please be on the lookout for next steps!