On May 26, and at additional meetings in June, Oakland’s City Council will be considering one or more of the three budget proposals submitted on April 29 by Mayor Jean Quan.

Good evening, Oaklanders.

The spring and early summer were obviously very tough for the City of Oakland, as the City and OPOA were unable to resolve their dispute in a way that could prevent officer layoffs. As an organization committed to improving public safety, this was very painful to watch.

For the last several weeks, Make Oakland Better Now! has been posting "Tasty Pastries" -- short, sometimes dense pieces designed to pose questions about critical issues involving public safety and the budget in the City of Oaklandd.  We're hitting crunch time now:  the city council has started moving toward laying offf 200 police officers, and intends to meet specially on June 24 to address  the $30 million budget gap for the fiscal year starting July 1. 

Oaklanders who read the Chronicle, the Tribune or some of the Bay Area’s on-line resources have read or heard by now that Oakland is looking at laying off as man

Oakland's structural deficit is so deep-rooted that it cannot be addressed by either rooting out “fraud and waste,” or by trimming programs.  Solving the deficit problem will take comprehensive overall budget reform.  If Oakland  fails to understand and tackle the budget holistically, the City will lose any hope for a better future, better public safety, significant economic development or a higher quality of life here. Read more here.

Tasty Pastry #1