Tonight's City Council meeting will begin at 5:30 p.m. on the third floor of City Hall at 1 Frank H. Ogawa Plaza. You can also watch the meetings on KTOP (local channel 10) and streaming online.

Here are our top five to watch tonight:

14: Call for 2011 Special Election

The city of Oakland has two options to find a permanent replacement for former City Attorney John Russo: City Council vote or a special election. It looks less likely every day that the Council will be able to agree upon a candidate, so they are preparing to hold a special election.

Keep in mind that a city-wide special election costs between $821,000 and a $1 million. Also, if a Council member is elected (which is plausible in this case), Oakland would have to conduct a second special election to fill that vacancy.

This item would allow the city to hold a special election this summer (some day after Sept. 18), and it would allow the special election to include voting by mail and electronic voting.

How would you prefer the city pick its next attorney?

9.2: Oakland Zoo Master Plan Appeal

The long debate over the Oakland Zoo's plans to expand into adjacent Knowland Park will conclude tonight. The zoo wants to expand into 50 acres of the adjacent Knowland Park (preserving 30 acres as open space, building new exhibits and a veterinary hospital on the other 20 acres). Opponents question the intention of the typically conservation-minded zoo, as well as the completeness of the required environmental impact study.

Three groups - the Friends of Knowland Park, the California Native Plant Society and the California Native Grasslands Association - appealed the planning commission's decision to approve the expansion. If the City Council approves this item, it will overrule these groups' objection and grant the zoo permission to begin construction.

13: Revisions to Organizational Structure

As anyone that's ever tried to get a permit can tell you, the city of Oakland is a large and complicated organization. An item on tonight's agenda would consolidate three departments of the 36 departments under the City Administrator.

• The Museum Department will be eliminated.
• The Parking Division, responsible for meters and tickets, will be absorbed by its peer Revenue Division.
• The Department of Contracting and Purchasing will be eliminated, and its duties will be absorbed by its parent Finance and Management Agency and the City Administrator's office.

By eliminating the Museum Department, the Oakland Museum of California will be run by solely by its organizing foundation.

To visualize the proposed changes:

9.3, 9.4, 9.5: Liens for Delinquent Taxes

Do you owe taxes to the city of Oakland from October 2010 to March 2011? You might want to pay up before Aug. 10.

With these measures, the city will place liens on the property owned by people who owe any of the following taxes:

• Real property transfer tax
• Business tax
• Garbage tax

A lien is a note, attached to the property, recording the amount owed. The lien stays with the property until the amount is paid off, or the property is sold, and the owed amount is taken by the city during the sale. With a lien, you no longer have "clear title" to the property and will have trouble refinancing the mortgage. A lien also will affect your credit.

How much money does the city have to collect in these unpaid taxes?

• Real property transfer taxes on 13 properties: $372,184
• Business taxes on 2,928 properties: $2,355,519
• Garbage taxes on 7,995 properties: $1,212,087

Do you think you owe unpaid taxes? Check with the City Clerk's office on the first floor of City Hall. If you do owe one of these taxes, the city will get in touch with you this summer, but your last chance to pay off these fees and avoid a lien is Aug. 10.

7.41: Support AB90 on Human Trafficking

Though it may not be visible, human trafficking continues to be a serious human rights problem in Oakland. A bill in the state Assembly would expand the definition of human trafficking, making it easier to charge and convict traffickers. The bill would also increase the fines for human trafficking and give half the proceeds to community-based organizations to fight trafficking and support the victims.

If this item is adopted tonight, the passage of AB90 will be designated as "Very Important" to the city of Oakland.

9.6: Temporary Taxi Permits

It might get a little easier to catch a cab in Oakland tonight.

While dense downtowns like Chicago, New Orleans and Boston might have as many as 2.4 cabs per 1,000 residents, and even car-centric Los Angeles, Dallas or Houston have about 1.2 cabs per 1,000 residents, Oakland has only 0.76 cabs with 1,000 residents.

In 2007, 11 of Oakland's 315 taxi permits were revoked and have not been reissued. Because of a legal dispute between taxi operators, permit holders and the city, the city may revoke another 41 permits from the Yellow Cab Company. This would push the level of taxi service in Oakland below its already low level; this would make it even more difficult for people depending on taxis to get around.

This agenda item would allow the city to issue up to 41 temporary permits, to prop up taxi service until a more permanent solution can be found.