Police parcel tax will be on the November ballot
I’m sure you’ll read about it in the newspaper tomorrow, and I’ll do something longer on this discussion probably this weekend, because it was pretty interesting. But there you go. The Council voted in favor of asking you to tax yourself (PDF!) to the tune of $266/year (by the third year) for more police. Now it’s all up to you in November. Ignacio De La Fuente and Desley Brooks said no, everyone else said yes.
Jean Quan informed everyone that the annual cost is roughly what it costs to fill up her car once, so it really isn’t that big a deal. Seriously! Watch it:
Quan also thinks that trainees in the Academy should count towards the total number of police on the force.
Get Updates
Newest Comments
- len raphael: Unconfirmed that MJQ laid off 100 employees today, blaming RDA court case. How much did she and the CC waste in legal fees betting against Jerry’s lawyers?
- ralph: No, Livegreen, Occupy Oakland is doing plenty good. They are the poster children for the new, “This is Your Brain on Dope” Campaign.
- Livegreen: They seem to b determined to shut down Oakland and little else. They’ve forgotten Wall St. I can’t help but think the Officers who were preventing them from breaking in to City Hall could have spent...
- gregory mcconnell: The Occupest disrupted City Hall today. They managed to make it difficult, but not impossible, to go into City Hall. They demanded that people who accosted cops on Wednesday should be released. I was out...
- livegreen: I watched the M-Y mtg last night, & it was painful. Jose is a nice guy, but he has difficulty running a meeting that gets anything done. They debated for about 1 hour whether they should discuss recommendations...
- len raphael: The murder of 5 year old Gabriel Martinez. Got a call from an acquaintance who lives in East O and often gets supper at his family’s taco stand. She asked where she can sign up to help on the recall.
- Ravi: I’m sure that all of those Quan diehards (“a recall would be a waste of time and too expensive”) are very gratified that this lovely and deserving woman is having such a good time. No doubt they prefer...
- len raphael: JQ “”I’m actually having a lot of fun,” she said after rehashing many of the lower moments from her first year in office.” “http://www.insidebayare a.com/news/ci_19651889R...
- Ravi: And regarding police reform and the crime thing, Judge Henderson could decide to put OPD under Federal jurisdiction because the terms of the NSA haven’t been fulfilled by the City Administration. Those folks in City...
- len raphael: Harbinger of things to come to the City Council when they eventually have to make similar decisions. But they won’t. The Fed bankruptcy judge will do it for them.
- livegreen: Yeah, but OUSD has to do something. There are way too many schools for the school population. There’s simply no choice. At least they’re willing to make the tough decisions. Unlike the City of...
- len raphael: Are those school board recalls entirely over the school closing decisions? Different groups or one umbrella?
- Ravi: Two recall petitions for Quan; five recall petitions for five school board members.
- len raphael: City says there are now 7 concurrent recall petitions. Not clear how many are for Quan and how many for Council Members. Direct democracy at work.
- Ravi: Can the Oakland City Council lead? Nope, nor can the Mayor. It’s up to the citizens, who are deeply divided and have been for a very long time.
- len raphael: Oakland Local is the only on or offline general circulation media that shows understanding of the depths of our fiscal situation and understands that it’s causes precede the real estate crash. One of these...
- Mkilian: Related to the Cal Supremes haircut to Oakland with respect to RDA and the immediate need for a “fiscal operations plan” is another issue put forth in Oakland’s internet newspaper, Oakland Local, is...
12 Responses to “Police parcel tax will be on the November ballot”
July 15th, 2008 at 11:55 pm
If City Hall miraculously got their act together by November, I can see why this would be put on the ballot. After all, we do need the police. If the reform efforts are all in place 3 1/2 months from now, it will be an interesting election day.
July 16th, 2008 at 7:38 am
Nothing will happen between now and election day. You expect a different result from this same crew? That is insane. Vote NO CONFIDENCE. They are demonstrably wasting the money they already have: don’t give them a penny more.
They could already afford the additional cops if they didn’t pay $260,000 per year to Little Miss Debbie, $210,000 to her little assistant, and the Finance Director (who tried to hand a couple thousand dollars in CASH) to the whistle blower Controller fired by Little Miss Debbie), Little Miss Debbie’s 2 kids who alllegedly (by the fired Controller) submitted falsified time sheets, and are now permanent employees (with rules adjusted so they can stay).
Note that those salaries do not include full benefits including car allowances, and still don’t include all the pension liabilities we will have to eventually pay.
You expect different results from a city mismanaged to that extent until today, and now in the next 3 months something is going to change to make it non-dysfunctional? I want some of what you’re smokin.
July 16th, 2008 at 8:57 am
Quan wants the police academy cadets counted????!!!! Was she smokin crack? Seriously? NFW.
You know, by putting this on the ballet they can point their fingers back to the public when it doesn’t pass and people complain about crime. “Well, you didn’t want to pay for more cops, so you’re not going to get more cops.” I can see it now. What a lose/lose for the City.
It’s not that I expect the disfunctional to suddenly become functional, but can there at least be some movement towards rational?
July 16th, 2008 at 10:34 am
I really need to find a way to communicate with other residents in District 4 to see if any of them have made Quan aware of their displeasure of her llogic and attitude (I am deaf and not many people seem willing to even try to communicate with me by way of text; email, paper/pen).
I wish I could offer a solution instead of complain… I can only hope that a competent person will be running against her when the D4 Council seat comes up for election.
July 16th, 2008 at 11:13 am
Jean Quan says it costs her $266 to fill up the tank of her SUV? What kind of gas-guzzler is she driving?
July 16th, 2008 at 11:35 am
My concern is that the mayor has been playing politics in an effort to make the point that people don’t really want additional police services— enough to actually pay for—
it in the hope that he can avoid having additional police. I know that is cynical,
but I’m not oblivious to his leftist history.
Also, parcel taxes like this one create at least two revenue streams for the police department: one from the general fund and one from the special tax. What is to prevent some future council from reducing the general fund allocation? Or reducing the normal increase of the general fund allocation?
That would effectively use the parcel tax to fund other priorities.
I think it makes more sense, and is more honest to just go to the voters and ask for a property tax increase. I would vote for that, but only if I thought the Council and City Manager were careful custodians of the city bank account. I don’t see the discipline, however. I think the city should be run more like a business and less like the church it has become.
I’m with Ignacio on this one. Kudos to him.
July 16th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
Well this is not a surprise. And I won’t be surprised if this passes. Disappointed yes, but not surprised.
I live in D4. Quan is an idiot. By her logic, lets just raise taxes to pay for everything that the government wants as long as each tax is less than it cost to fill up her 40 gallon tank. What is she driving?
How do we start a stop this campaign?
July 16th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
I’m not so sure this is going to pass: it needs 2/3 voter approval and I just don’t see that happening in Oakland, even in a general election with Obama on the ballot.
I agree with Donald that the failure of this measure will offer some political cover of the “well, if you all wanted police, you would have voted for them” variety. However, anyone in favor of more police, such as myself, can reject this tax based on the inability of the City to hire the police we’re all already paying for through Measure Y.
The ballots going to be crowded with money, too: high speed rail, water bond, AC Transit, EBRPD, and now this. Folks may just say no to all of it.
July 16th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
Passage will be even less likely if the Council passes legislation allowing landlords to pass on part of the tax increase to their tenants, as Pat Kernighan suggested last night she would like to do.
July 20th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
Campaigning for clean government and safe streets, I called for more cops, a wage freeze, top salary cuts, and audits to cut waste – achievable without layoffs or service cuts. The “leaders” replied freezes and cuts would be too difficult to negotiate and granted raises, apparently believing it easier to lie to and manipulate the voters.
After elections ratifying the leaders’ behavior, Mayor & council proposed a parcel tax for more police, called for reform, and said the budget deficit of the budget they voted to pass was understated.
Voters have been tricked, hoodwinked, and bamboozled. They’re being manipulated to make a Sophie’s choice between increasing our willfully understaffed police force or funding a deficit at least 3 times what leaders told voters it was last month. Familiar faces are now grandstanding to say we need reform and their leadership.
What’s disingenuous is that they all were not long ago feeding at the same trough – either benefiting through others or directly, or passively neglecting the more honorable duty of oversight and vociferously notifying the public of the corruption and budget problems defaming Oakland as much as it’s intractable crime.
Oakland deserves more. It may take recall and prosecution to obtain it.
July 21st, 2008 at 12:10 am
Our mayor and city council owe deborah edgerly big time for giving them the opportunity to blame her for the city’s deficit understatement. she deserves every nickle of that 200k+ pension and lifetime paid medical benefits.
her budget “errors” gave our mayor and most of the council members the political cover they needed to repay their union supporters with pay increases to dig our hole deeper.
maybe that’s why pat k. and jane b. were so complimentary of deborah’s years of past service in their recent mass emails. deborah knew which side her bread was buttered.
-len raphael
temescal
July 22nd, 2008 at 11:10 pm
I’m generally in favor of paying more taxes for increased police services. However, it’s not a straight deal in Oakland, and I don’t believe I’ll get my money’s worth when the go-between is not trustworthy. For every dollar taxed, you can bet that a good percentage will be squandered by some underhanded dealing by our less-than honorable city leaders.
If you want to immediately be safer, and not see your money wasted by people who’ve shown you they can’t be trusted, invest in self-defense courses, tools, private security.