{"id":364019,"date":"2026-06-17T08:35:44","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T08:35:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/364019\/"},"modified":"2026-06-17T08:35:44","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T08:35:44","slug":"what-to-know-about-mayor-barbara-lees-push-to-transform-how-oakland-is-run-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/364019\/","title":{"rendered":"What to know about Mayor Barbara Lee’s push to transform how Oakland is run"},"content":{"rendered":"

OAKLAND \u2014 Turmoil has been brewing for weeks inside Oakland City Hall, where elected leaders are considering whether to place a ballot measure strengthening the powers of the city\u2019s mayor<\/a> on the November election ballot.<\/p>\n

The council voted 5-3 to advance the legislation<\/a> earlier this month, but now some members who supported Mayor Barbara Lee\u2019s push for the measure are wavering before a\u00a0second vote Tuesday that would place the proposed reforms before voters<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Most significantly, Lee\u00a0wants voters to grant the mayor\u2019s office a veto over Oakland City Council decisions and absorb many day-to-day responsibilities of running the city.<\/p>\n

Her plan has met resistance from political advocates and government experts, in addition to council members. In an interview on Monday, Lee seemed frustrated and at times incredulous that critics have likened her proposal to a \u201cpower grab.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not about one mayor,\u201d she said Monday. \u201cIt\u2019s about structural change. It\u2019s about accountability, and how services could be delivered and how financial resources could be allocated.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are nuances to her proposed ballot measure, along with recent and decades-old history that explains how Oakland got to this point.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what the public should know going into the council\u2019s Tuesday meeting, where council members will make a final decision on whether to put the proposal before voters this fall.<\/p>\n

How will the mayor\u2019s veto power work?<\/p>\n

At its core, the proposal creates what is known as a \u201cstrong-mayor\u201d system of governance in Oakland, where the mayor lacks legislative authority and does not sit on the city council. A city administrator, hired and fired by the mayor, currently\u00a0oversees daily government operations.<\/p>\n

As a strong mayor, Lee would gain the power to veto not just council decisions but also specific line items within the city budget. The eight-member council would need six votes to override her vetoes.<\/p>\n

How often does Lee plan to use the veto?<\/p>\n

\u201cVery seldom, if ever,\u201d Lee said Monday, though she also called it \u201ca tool\u201d that could make the process of deciding policies more efficient.<\/p>\n

Upon taking office, Lee assembled a working group of regional officials that \u2014 after deliberating in private \u2014 recommended a strong-mayor model for Oakland. The veto power, its members argued, brings the city\u2019s stakeholders into the same room with a clear idea of who\u2019s in charge.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen there are fiscal and administrative decisions that require a unified direction, strong-mayor systems work best,\u201d said Nicole Neditch, a policy analyst who has previously worked for the city government and served in the working group.<\/p>\n

How else would Lee\u2019s proposal strengthen the mayor \u2014 and what would it mean for the city council?<\/p>\n

She would also gain the ability to hire and fire most city department heads \u2014 a responsibility currently held by the city administrator, who serves under the mayor.<\/p>\n

But the council would find itself with new perks, such as a new ability to give direct orders to staff members. Often, council members in Oakland have complained that they are powerless to clear illegal dumping from a certain sidewalk or address a pothole when those issues are raised by residents.<\/p>\n

The measure also would allow the council to demand records or testimonies from individuals, using the \u201cgeneral law of the state\u201d to find in contempt those who resist a subpoena.<\/p>\n

Lastly, the council could establish \u2014 by a future vote \u2014 an independent analyst to assess the city\u2019s budget and all proposed policies. The analyst, in theory, could provide a kind of objective rebuttal to the mayor\u2019s proposed spending priorities.<\/p>\n

Still, even some\u00a0council members who sided with the mayor earlier this month are concerned about the implications of moving her proposal forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019d be babysitters,\u201d Councilmember Ken Houston, an apparent swing vote in Tuesday\u2019s decision, said in a recent interview about what Lee\u2019s proposal would entail.<\/p>\n

What is the alternative?<\/p>\n

Most California cities \u2014 besides San Francisco and Los Angeles \u2014 are not governed under the system that Lee is proposing.<\/p>\n

Proponents argue the strong-mayor model allows for a more urban city to be led by a singular executive, while Neditch also says such a format \u201cattracts the best people to run for mayor.\u201d<\/p>\n

All those other cities across the state utilize a \u201ccouncil-manager\u201d model, in which the mayor sits on the council and has a single vote on the body, while the hired administrator \u2014 a professional executive \u2014 runs the city.<\/p>\n

Some steadfastly believe Oakland would be better served by a council-manager model, including Councilmember Zac Unger \u2014 who failed to secure support from his colleagues for a competing proposal.<\/p>\n

If the strong-mayor model fails, either at Tuesday\u2019s council meeting or in the November election, then it\u2019s possible a council-manager measure could appear on a future ballot.<\/p>\n

Lee, for her part, said she would support a council-manager model if that\u2019s what the working group had recommended.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhatever the voters determine would make their lives better and to hold leaders accountable,\u201d she said. \u201cThe buck has got to stop somewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

How did Oakland get here?<\/p>\n

Oakland finds itself in this position because of another high-profile politician who thought the city needed a structural fix: Jerry Brown.<\/p>\n

Between stints as California\u2019s governor, Brown ran for Oakland\u2019s top office in 1998, simultaneously campaigning for voters to relieve the mayor from having to sit on the council.<\/p>\n

Whether it worked at the time is for historians to debate. In 2026, though, there is shared consensus between government experts and politicians that the existing system has not worked.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, it\u2019s helter-skelter,\u201d Lee said. \u201cNo one\u2019s responsible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shomik Mukherjee is a reporter covering Oakland. Call or text him at 510-905-5495 or email him at shomik@bayareanewsgroup.com.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OAKLAND \u2014 Turmoil has been brewing for weeks inside Oakland City Hall, where elected leaders are considering whether…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":88289,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[1400,389,184,7,409,332,82306,2333,204,405,1533,181,23,205,100,143,145,406,144,182,13,385,94685],"class_list":["post-364019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-2026-elections","tag-alameda-county","tag-bay-area","tag-california","tag-city-politics","tag-east-bay","tag-east-bay-elections","tag-editors-picks","tag-election","tag-government","tag-keywee","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-local-politics","tag-news","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-mayor","tag-oakland-news","tag-pm-report","tag-politics","tag-regional","tag-social-alert"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=364019"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364019\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=364019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=364019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=364019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}