Members of the MOBN! board recently met with Oakland’s Project Ceasefire team for a progress update. While the project is moving slowly, it is moving in the right direction. We are pleased with the team’s care, thought and implementation, with one reservation: the project still needs a full-time manager to devote his or her full attention to this important project. Team members also see this need. At the City Council Public Safety Committee meeting on Tuesday, December 11 at 5:30, they will be asking for an allocation of Measure Y reserve funds for a full-time manager. MOBN! will be attending the meeting to urge that the committee recommend, and Council ultimately approve, the dedicated management everyone in the Cease Fire process agrees is essential. We’ve also expressed our views in this letter to the Committee.
MOBN! members know that we and other community groups have been advocating for an effective Ceasefire program for a number of years now. The evidence from across the country is that when implemented carefully and properly, Cease Fire is one of the few strategies proven to reduce homicides in violent cities. Point 4 of the MOBN! Public Safety Plan provides:
The City must fully implement long-term Cease Fire programs for gun violence reduction and open-air drug market elimination, based on the Cincinnati /Boston model. The City must regularly report to the citizens on the extent to which these programs are reducing gun violence and eliminating open-air drug markets.
More information is available here, here, here and here. Scott Johnson’s recent post on the City’s current efforts is available at Oakland Effect here.
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