Embattled Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao faces looming budget crisis, recall vote
In Oakland Tuesday, the city's budget woes and a pending recall vote were in the spotlight as supporters and opponents of Mayor Sheng Thao held dueling rallies a short distance apart ahead of her "State of the City" address.
During her address, Thao highlighted crime-reduction strategies, investments and developments in Oakland, as well as progress on the homelessness issues.
"Looking back at where we were, where we are today is nothing short of inspiring," the mayor said at one point, taking an optimistic tone. "Sometimes in the day-to-day grind, we forget to look at the bigger picture. And when I look at the deeply impactful work we have accomplished together, I am truly amazed."
While the mayor painted one picture of the state of the city, a number of council members say the city is in serious trouble because of the budget issues, and the Mayor's lack of transparency is just making it worse.
Tensions were running high in Oakland's Chinatown Tuesday morning as protestors supporting Thao staying in office traded jabs with those who want to see her recalled.
It comes as the city is dealing with a serious budget deficit after restructuring the deal to sell its share of the Oakland Coliseum.
According to the mayor's office, the sale is still on track to go through. But instead of the city getting payments over the next few months, the majority of the money wouldn't be available until the end of the fiscal year, leaving a $48 million hole to fill.
"We are in a bad budget situation. We need to be open and honest about where we are and what we need to cut," said Councilmember Janani Ramachandran, who has been raising alarms about the Coliseum deal.
She says the city is already working from a contingency, worst-case scenario budget and the city administrator's office us making cuts to balance the budget, but she says what no one is talking about is where those cuts are coming from.
"People deserve to know the truth and as much push back as I'm getting for exposing these realities, I'm going to keep doing it so the public has a sense of what's actually going on and what to anticipate," said Ramachandran.
KPIX's Katie Nielsen pressed Mayor Thao for answers after the rally.
When Nielsen told the mayor, "Councilmembers said they're not getting any answers about where the contingency budget cuts are coming from," and asked for comment, Thao replied, "All the documents are already published so everyone can read it."
When Nielsen pressed the mayor and asked if there were cuts to police or fire at this point?, Thao said, "Absolutely not."
Councilmember Treva Reid says those cuts are inevitable because public safety is the single largest expense from the city's general fund. There's no way to close the budget gap without making drastic cuts to public safety.
"There are no details and when there are no details there is a deeper degree of mis-trust," says Council Member Reid. She questions whether the lack of transparency from the mayor's office has to do with the possibility of her being recalled.
"I believe that fear and desperation will lead to a lot of things and I believe that we are feeling the weight of that level of pressure in this election period," says Reid.
Voters will decide in November whether to recall Mayor Thao. The recall requires a simple majority to pass.