At Council This Week, 10/21/2025

Non-Consent Calendar

There’s only one item on the Non-Consent this week, and it's the already delayed reappointments of Police Commission Chair Ricardo Garcia-Acosta and alternate Commissioner Omar Farmer. You can read more about it here. After weeks of delay and demand by CM Jenkins that the appointments be substantively discussed at the Rules committee, Jenkins made no move to discuss them last Thursday and instead moved to schedule them to Council. CM Houston, a non-member of the committee, demanded the appointments go to non-consent, where discussion is likely to happen. CMs agreed, with only CM Fife arguing that the item should be vetted at the Rules meeting it was originally scheduled to be discussed at. In each iteration of public meetings, unspecified “concerns” have been brought up about Farmer, and to a lesser extent, Garcia Acosta, while over a dozen members of the public have come during work hours to defend Farmer’s work and reputation, with the most recent Rules meeting being no exception. It’s an open question what will happen at the Council meeting—so far, those bringing up the “concerns” have not come to any meeting in significant numbers.

Consent Calendar

Most items on Non-Consent this week have been discussed in Committee meetings. Though most of the Consent Calendar is unlikely to receive discussion, some are worth noting. One or two may be put on the Non-Consent Calendar.

Centro RAP Assistance Legislation: At the CED meeting that deliberated it and sent it to Council, Jenkins, a non-member, grilled the city and Centro staff about the program and said he’d vote against it. But afterward, Fife said she acknowledged some of the criticisms and moved to amend the grant for a one year allocation–instead of the contracted two and potential four—while issues around service levels are improved. Similarly, a smaller grant for landlord representation was also limited to one year. During the meeting staff noted that the current reports did not accurately reflect work to date. Given Jenkins' strenuous objections to tenant protection legislation, the item may yet be pulled to non-consent.

Legal Defense Of City Officers And Employees In Criminal Proceedings: Despite some public consternation, the item did not generate controversy at the Rules Committee, which discussed it as a substantive matter. But it could still be pulled to Non Consent by one of the 8 CMs.

Agreement Between The City Of Oakland, The County Of Alameda, And The Oakland Alameda County Coliseum Authority: The City and County must also renew their cooperative JPA agreement in the interregnum of the closing Coliseum sale and bonds resolution which may not close until some time in 2026, in order to continue to operate the venue for the Roots and other events. Because it deals with the up and down AASEG deal, the item may get shifted to Non-Consent.

Other non-consent items most likely to receive substantive discussion in some way:

—Middle Income JPA Bond Financing Program From: Housing And Community Development Department//License Agreement Between The Oakland-Alameda County Joint Powers Authority And Oakland Pro Soccer LL

—Head Start Grant Continuation Application FY 25-26

Lawsuit Settlement Agreements of Note

Emilio Castellanos And Dinah Castellanos V. City Of Oakland, Eric Mcginity And DOES 1-50: This would settle claims from residents whose vehicle was hit by an OPD cruiser running a red light in East Oakland. This reporter captured the aftermath of the incident that looked very clearly to be an OPD-caused collision—but the OPD declined to release more information.

Samuel Melton V. City Of Oakland, Kaleo Albino, Darren Allison, And DOES 1-5: will settle the suit of estuary anchor out residents whose boat was confiscated and destroyed. Since then, the City’s attempts at routing anchor outs is effectively moribund—possibly because of this and other lawsuits and a lack of funding.