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For various reasons, there won't be a regular format Oakland Observer newsletter this week. For a run down of what happened at the City Council meeting last week and at Rules committee Thursday, please take a look at the PDFs of live reporting linked above, which will tell

Unclear Path for IAD-CPRA Transition After Transition Feasibility Report A previously promising proposal to transfer a majority of the Internal Affairs Bureau [IAB] responsibilities to the quasi-independent Community Police Review Agency [CPRA], once budgeted to occur within FY 23-25, received a complicated response at a Public Safety Committee meeting. The

Issues and legislation coming before Council's subject matter committees Tuesday. Not an exhaustive list, but these are issues and legislation worth taking note of. Often, the Council's Committees are the only place significant deliberation occurs on some legislation. Finance Committee At Finance, the main item of

As Legislative Break Draws Near, a Flurry of “Urgency” Legislative Items Bypass Committees & Go Directly To Council City Staff raised eyebrows at Thursday’s Rules Committee with requests for an unusual number of “Rule 24” urgency processes to skip committee deliberation and go straight to full council. Council’s

Community Backlash at Ramachandran on Cultural Affairs Manager Freeze, Budget Despite a hasty end to the biennial budget process earlier this month, and the subsequent cancellation of an already scheduled additional budget meeting that would have happened last week, the budget battle isn’t over yet. Members of the public

There were previously two meetings scheduled for Tuesday—a Special Meeting for budget deliberation was cancelled after the City’s budget passed in record time on the day of introduction. This second regular meeting at 3:30pm has only one non-consent item: Becker Boards Agreement Following a previously contentious process

Oakland’s City Council passed Interim Mayor Jenkins’ FY 25-27 budget along with amendments from a Council budget team led by CMs Janani Ramachandran and Rowena Brown Wednesday morning at a little advertised meeting that began at 9am. The budget session set a record for brevity, amid a historically small