On Tuesday, April 30, 6:00 p.m. at City Hall, the Oakland City Council, Safety and Services Oversight Commission, Police Commission and Community Policing Advisory Board will hold the annual meeting required by Measure Z, the public safety parcel tax measure passed by the voters in 2014 that funds police staffing and social services directed at reducing violent crime, and that also established the Safety and Services Oversight Commission (“the SSOC”). We encourage all Oaklanders who are able to do so to attend and participate.
The applicable Measure Z provision is as follows:
The City Council, the Commission and other public safety-related boards and commissions shall conduct an annual joint special public informational meeting devoted to the subject of public safety. At each such meeting, the public,Commission and City Council will hear reports from representatives of all departments and the Chief of Police concerning progress of all of the City’s efforts to reduce violent crime.
The agenda for the meeting is available here and consists of the following elements:
1. A Report And Recommendation From the Oakland Police Department, Human Services Department, Oakland Fire Department And Department Of Violence Prevention On Efforts To Reduce Violence In Oakland Through The Measure Z – Public Safety And Services Violence Prevention Act Of 2014 Presented To The City Council Safety And Services Oversight Commission, Community Policing Advisory Board And Police Commission; And
2. A Resolution Adopting A Racial Equity Framework To Guide Public Safety And Violence Prevention Efforts Funded Under Measure Z And Citywide;On The April 30, 2019 Special Joint Meeting Of The SSOC And City Council Agenda
Make Oakland Better Now! has been urging the City to hold this required and important meeting since the passage of Measure Z, and while we are pleased to see the City is finally complying with this requirement, in the near future, we would like to see much larger and more comprehensive meetings, with major publicity and community outreach throughout the City, coverage of the subjects discussed in our recent blog post and letter to City Officials, and much more information about the OPD Strategic Plan, the introduction to which was offered at the City Council Public Safety Committee meeting on April 9.
We will be making this and other points about future meetings on Tuesday, and we hope many Oaklanders can join us and support our position.
