Oakland residents occupy town hall meeting to voice concerns about budget cuts

Due to a historic budget deficit in Oakland, many people fear drastic cuts to city services.

Oakland faces an estimated $177 million deficit in its next fiscal year, which begins July 1.

About 30 minutes before the budget meeting at City Hall on Friday afternoon, a long line of Oakland residents waited to get into the council chamber.

“We are important. Don’t close our (senior) centers, don’t throw us under the bus,” one woman said as she waited to get in.

The city opened two additional rooms for the budget meeting because the room was packed with people. One of the people who couldn’t make it to the meeting and followed the issue closely was Oakland business owner Tina Sullivan.

“I would definitely say don’t cut the number of police officers. That’s what we need most,” Sullivan said.

Sullivan runs Phoenix Optical alone. Her dog, named Bandit, is her security guard. She said she always has a dog with her in the store.

“He keeps me company and makes me feel safe. I work alone here,” Sullivan said.

But she was not the only one who wanted to avoid cuts at the budget meeting that would affect the police and fire departments.

The city council stated that cuts would have to be made to public safety, as these costs account for more than half of the budget.

The budget crisis comes while Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao is dealing with a personal crisis in the form of the FBI investigation that came to her home last week.

Oakland Police Chief Floyd Mitchell said the police department employed 709 officers as of Friday, a number that will almost certainly drop.

One option presented to the council was to reduce the police force to 678 officers if the city receives one-time money from the sale of its share of the Oakland Coliseum complex. If the money from the land sale is not raised in time, the other option is to reduce the police force to 610 officers.

The police chief said this would effectively reduce the number of officers on leave, currently 84, to just over 500. He said this would impact his ability to undertake patrol duties and provide basic services.

Many people said it was dangerous.

“The response of the police department … they are not responding quickly enough to sideshows and other things that are happening,” said Oakland resident Larry Sosa.

The city also proposed closing some fire stations and reducing the hours of public libraries and senior centers.

Some people argue that the city needs to save youth programs and recreation centers.

“You have to carefully cut police positions by not having sworn officers at the desk,” said Oakland resident Pamela Drake.

Council members acknowledged that all options were bad, but that difficult decisions had to be made.

“Is there an alternative? I said, ‘Yes, fairy dust. Do you have any?’ Can we go to Disneyland and ask for some fairy dust?” Drake asked.

Sullivan said there would be no miracle, just the harsh reality.

“I hate to see such chaos,” Sullivan said.

Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas said more than 100 people had registered for the public hearing, noting that the sheer volume of speakers could delay the vote until Tuesday, July 2.