{"id":495288,"date":"2026-10-14T02:08:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T02:08:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/495288\/"},"modified":"2026-10-14T02:08:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T02:08:14","slug":"mayor-lee-delivers-2026-state-of-the-city-address-oakland-continues-to-be-on-the-move","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/495288\/","title":{"rendered":"Mayor Lee Delivers 2026 State of the City Address: \u2018Oakland Continues to Be on the Move\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Ken Epstein<\/p>\n

Mayor Barbara Lee, speaking this week to Oakland residents and elected leaders in City Council chambers, delivered the annual mayoral State of the City Address, highlighting the city\u2019s accomplishments as well as the challenges Oakland is facing going forward.\n<\/p>\n

Lee began her remarks praising city workers, who picketed outside City Hall before the meeting, and are currently negotiating with the city for a wage increase and ending understaffing that leaves many departments shorthanded.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are working very hard (not) just to get a contract, but to get a fair contract,\u201d she said. \u201cI know that our City Council and myself are working constantly toward that end.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

The mayor also praised Councilmember Carroll Fife for her legislation for a 45-day moratorium on data center construction, which passed unanimously at the council meeting Tuesday following Lee\u2019s presentation.\n<\/p>\n

Speaking bluntly, she said, \u201cOakland continues to be a city on the move, (but) I want to tell you the truth about the state of our city.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have made real progress, and we still face real challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n

TrendingSaving Lost Souls on Skid Row with Karaoke Songs and Coffee<\/a><\/p>\n

She said the city has balanced its budget but has a structural deficit, which is decreasing, and must operate within the context of federal funding cuts.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cToo many Oaklanders are unhoused, too many families are struggling with the cost of living, and too many neighborhoods still need basic services that they deserve, and too many people are living in fear,\u201d Mayor Lee said.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not sweeping these realities under the rug,\u201d she continued. \u201cWe are being intentional and transparent about how we must face these challenges, but we will not ignore our progress.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Substantial progress includes:\n<\/p>\n

\u2022 Bringing crime down;\n<\/p>\n

\u2022 Building affordable and deeply affordable housing;\n<\/p>\n

\u2022 Cleaning the streets and fixing the roads;\n<\/p>\n

\u2022 Helping small businesses.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are bringing new investment to Oakland,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re making City Hall work better. There\u2019s more to do, but make no mistake, Oakland is on the move.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Speaking broadly about the city\u2019s public safety initiatives, she said that crime continues to decline. Burglaries fell by 26%, and violent crime fell by 17%.\n<\/p>\n

In recent years, homicides and shootings have fallen by double digits, and gun violence has dropped by more than 50% in the last 33 months.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThese aren\u2019t just statistics: these are lives. These are families. These are people who never made it home,\u201d Mayor Lee said.\n<\/p>\n

She talked about what to expect now that federal court oversight of the Oakland Police Department ended last week after 23 years. \u201cEnding federal oversight does not mean ending accountability; quite the opposite,\u201d she said. \u201cAccountability and civilian oversight must remain our standard. Community trust must be our standard.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Mayor Lee also emphasized that Oakland remains a city of refuge.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do not work with ICE; we do not cooperate with ICE; our police do not cooperate with ICE; we will not be militarized,\u201d she said.\n<\/p>\n

The mayor also emphasized that investing in youth is a top priority of her administration and should be considered a public safety strategy.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe advocated for almost $2 million to restore the mayor\u2019s youth summer employment program,\u201d she said. \u201cWe connected youth with Oakland businesses to develop skills that will support them for years to come, and that\u2019s a big deal.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

To create a police force that better serves and protects Oakland, the city is working toward the goal of reaching 700 sworn police officers, she said. These steps include recruiting from Oakland, holding academies, reinstituting a cadet program, and increasing foot patrols.\n<\/p>\n

The city also is strengthening other programs, including the Department of Violence Prevention and Ceasefire, she said. \u201cWe must have this comprehensive public safety strategy, because we must also prevent violence before it happens.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Continuing, Lee said public safety is connected to unsanitary conditions in city neighborhoods.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIllegal dumping is unacceptable, and it\u2019s a moral disgrace,\u201d she said. \u201cNo child should have to walk past piles of garbage on their way to school; no senior should have to live next to it; no small business should have to clean it up outside its door.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

She said the city is changing the way it fights illegal dumping, securing a $9.2 million investment to develop a new strategy. \u201cWe\u2019re not just cleaning it up; we\u2019re working to stop it before it starts. We have the three E\u2019s \u2013 Eradication, enforcement, and education,\u201d she said.\n<\/p>\n

Focusing on the continuing crisis of Oakland\u2019s unhoused residents, she said, \u201cWe consider housing a basic human right, and homelessness remains one of Okland\u2019s greatest challenges.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are two things we must do: keep people from becoming unsheltered and help people who are unsheltered get back into housing with services that they need,\u201d Lee said.\n<\/p>\n

Since 2024, homelessness in Oakland has fallen by 20%, she said. In the past year prevention programs helped keep 1,000 families in their homes, and over 1,300 affordable homes opened over the past two years.\n<\/p>\n

Addressing community tensions over encampments, she said, \u201cWe should never have to choose between compassion for people experiencing homelessness and the health and safety of our neighborhoods.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\u201cA strong city has to deliver both,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s the work we\u2019re advancing through Oakland\u2019s new homelessness strategic action plan.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Ken Epstein Mayor Barbara Lee, speaking this week to Oakland residents and elected leaders in City Council…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":495289,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[12735,51111,113047,7360,383,93,136794,405,10372,174872,4309,143720,974,143,145,144,590,13,12956],"class_list":["post-495288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-carroll-fife","tag-city-budget","tag-city-workers","tag-crime-reduction","tag-economy","tag-featured","tag-federal-oversight","tag-government","tag-illegal-dumping","tag-lead-story","tag-mayor-barbara-lee","tag-municipal-government","tag-national","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news","tag-police-department","tag-politics","tag-state-of-the-city"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495288","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=495288"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495288\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/495289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=495288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=495288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=495288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}