The City has finally released the proposed language for "fixing" Measure Y. The part about eliminating any budget appropriations for 739 officers we all expected. What this means is the city will be able to start collecting the tax again if it passes (they claim they have now stopped) while at the same time deleting any police staffing requirements. The reality is that they haven't been complying with this requirement for the past two years anyway, because they failed to budget for police academies. So I sued them. The purpose of the fix is at least partially to get rid of $20 million of potential liability.
The rest of the proposed revisions stem directly from either the first or the second suit. The part about paying for recruitment and academy training is from the first suit. They want to be able to use Measure Y funds to pay for this even if the officer might not be placed into a Measure Y position for 9 years. As it stands now , the city owes the Measure Y fund around $15 million for illegal expenditures. Passage of this revision could reduce that somewhat, although it would be logistically impossible to implement. This proposal is just ridiculous.
Then there's the part about violence prevention programs. Under the current language, Measure Y funds can only be spent on certain types of violence prevention programs for youth. But the city has been spending it on whatever programs they wanted with no regard whatsoever for the limits contained in the measure. I sued them over this in my second suit. So now they're trying to change the language to mirror what the've actually been doing. Pathetic.
Moving along, there's a change related to the $4 million that the fire department gets. I pointed out to the city numerous times they weren't complying with those obligations either. The deputyvfire chief admitted there were no mentorship programs, even though they were promised under Measure Y. So the city is now trying to delete that requirement too.
I have to say I feel truly honored to have inspired a city-wide ballot measure. But please reject it anyway.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
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The proposed revision of Measure Y and new taxes are vulnerable on many policy grounds, perhaps most strongly that passing everything the City puts on the ballot would not add up to a comprehensive solution of the fiscal crisis.
ReplyDeleteIn addition to policy, though, residents are talking about a major political reason for defeating these measures: the current city council and mayor are a disgrace. Until they go, we hand over not one more dime to them.
Amen, Mr. Pine. Amen.
ReplyDeleteMarlene, Could you copy the language the City is proposing, or at least post a link to it? Or how about a guest post on another Oakland blog for wider distribution...Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI'm having some technical limitations at the moment and can't post links. However, VSmoothe at abetteroakland.com has the links on her tax fever post.
ReplyDeleteWhat's your take on "Park Policing" in the lineup of the items that 75% of the tax revenue can go to?
ReplyDeleteThat does NOT mean we'll get Park Rangers back.
Also, with 75% towards the top of the list items and 5% for audits/admin, that balance of 20% can still go to outreach/youth services. Wow. That's $4M. The same amount the Fire Dept just lost from Quan's "fix."
Barry
ReplyDeletewhere are you getting the idea that the fix takes $4 million from the fire department?
As for the big tax measure, it promises absolutely nothing. Not one additional police officer. No promise of no more layoffs. Nothing. Its just a big pot of money for public safety and the only real restriction is that at least 75% has to go to non violence prevention stuff. So actually they could spend it all on police salaries and benefits. But none of this matters because it doesn't have a chance of passing.