By Liz Hartka
The City of Oakland’s website lists thirty-eight Boards and Commissions. These bodies oversee many different aspects of city governance: transparency, health, education, social welfare, planning, public safety, and finance, to name just a few. If you’re interested in learning more about how the City of Oakland functions, consider joining the Observer Corps.
With the reshuffling of roles at City Hall, some Committees, Boards, and Commissions have gotten off to a slow start, with few meetings in the first quarter. At groups that have met regularly, discussion often revolves around the City’s budget woes. At the Finance and Management Committee meetings, participants have pointed out the risks of cutting costs now, e.g., not filling potholes, and dealing with possible consequences later, such as litigation resulting from pothole-induced accidents. City Council members are cautious about approving contracts during the current crisis. Members of the public have begged that funding be retained for housing and transportation, Meals on Wheels, senior centers, food pantries, and other worthy projects. Oaklanders have raised concerns about how cuts to the Oakland Police Department’s budget might affect everything from crime levels to the OPD’s efforts to get out from under federal oversight.
On the bright side, Observer Corps members have reported that the Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission has been diligently tracking Measure Q balances between budget iterations. Likewise, the Public Ethics Commission has created a subcommittee to explore revenue sources for implementing Measure W (passed in November 2022), which created a program called Democracy Dollars that aims to make it easier for candidates to seek public office in Oakland. The PEC also discussed the formation of a Democracy Dollars Engagement Plan subcommittee to move this program along.