Measure NN<\/a>, a parcel tax approved by voters in 2024 that raises $47 million a year for police, fire, 911 dispatch and violence prevention programs, and requires the city to maintain a minimum number of police officers.<\/p>\n\u201cI want to make sure that we continue our efforts to recruit more police officers, to get to the 700 mandated by Measure NN,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Robinson called public safety \u201cthe bedrock of all economic development,\u201d adding, \u201cVisitors to the city need to be comfortable at night walking from restaurant to restaurant.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Pechenuk identified public safety and addressing drug activity as key priorities, saying drugs have been an obstacle to revitalizing East Oakland.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to go after the open-air markets so that we stop the drug flows through the streets of Oakland,\u201d Pechenuk said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The candidates also focused on managing the city\u2019s finances, including how to create a sustainable fiscal base and address Oakland\u2019s deficit.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Grisham said the city should seek funding from philanthropic organizations, and state and federal agencies to help close its budget gap, rather than rely on additional taxes on residents.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe cannot continue to tax our people,\u201d Grisham said. \u201cThat\u2019s unfair.\u201d<\/p>\n
Robinson also opposes additional taxes but argued that outside grants and philanthropy are not sustainable solutions. He called for reducing waste in city government while attracting businesses, visitors and investment that could generate long-term revenue.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Pechenuk pointed out businesses, such and In-N-Out Burger, and sports teams that have left Oakland and said the way to offset those losses is by attracting new businesses, data centers and manufacturers, along with speeding up the permitting process.<\/p>\n
Lee emphasized the need to address the city\u2019s structural deficit, so Oakland isn\u2019t in a budget crisis year after year. The city has a long history of deficit spending brought about by, among other things, run-away overtime in the Police Department. This year, the city closed its budget gap with revenue from the sale of the Coliseum. Lee boiled down the solution in a few words:\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t spend what we don\u2019t have,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lee has been mayor since May 2025, winning in a special election after former Mayor Sheng Thao was indicted on federal corruption charges. She pointed to her administration\u2019s balanced budget without layoffs and the sale of $337 million in bonds for infrastructure, housing and transportation as examples of her efforts to stabilize the city\u2019s finances.<\/p>\n
After the forum, resident Scott Figgins said he is looking for a mayor who would make the city administration more responsive to the community. It might seem silly to be concerned about things like potholes he said. \u201cBut I think things like that are symptomatic of a city government that is neglecting to deal with really just some of the basics of administration.\u201d<\/p>\n
Resident Evan Morganstein found the forum useful. \u201cThere really is a difference when you listen to them speak and you think about what they say and look at their resumes,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
(Photo illustration of Barbara Lee (top left), Mindy Pechenuk, Julius Robinson and Brenda Grisham, by Yuan-Hsi Chou)<\/p>\n
MediaJustice brings AI governance fight to Oakland with screening of \u2018Ghost in the Machine\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The four candidates for Oakland mayor talked about the city budget, economic revitalization and other issues at a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":488977,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[2351,143,145,144,172442],"class_list":["post-488976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-barbara-lee","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news","tag-oakland-mayor-race"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488976","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=488976"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488976\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/488977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=488976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=488976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=488976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}