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*per Council mtg on 11/19/2024, Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas announced that D4 CM Janani Ramachandran has gone on parental leave, leaving a standing count of 7 CMs at the time of this writing, and subtracting one CM from the math shown here for a currently unknown period

Alameda County's Registrar of Voters released another update yesterday afternoon—at about 3 pm rather than end of business, keeping with the agency's reputation for unpredictability. With 80% voter turnout during the last two presidential elections—and Registrar Tim Dupuis predicting at least 80% turnout this

On Friday night after an additional count of about 16K votes by the Alameda County Registrar of Voters [ALCO ROV] showed little movement in the Recall numbers, Mayor Sheng Thao conceded the race in a social media post posted on Twitter. Thao thanked the public for electing her and promised

Thursday evening saw a collective crash of observer expectations, as the Alameda County Registrar of Voters [ALCO ROV] posted only a small vote count update numbering in the thousands county-wide, and in bare hundreds for the City of Oakland. The trickle of counted votes followed a long ROV 24 hour

Three independent expenditure committees are driving a secondary series of committees run by a close-knit group of political operatives associated with the Thao recall and Empower Oakland. Together they make up the bulk of the money being spent on most of the candidates in the Empower Oakland endorsement slate for

Acknowledging Weak Data, Council Approves Modified Shotspotter Contract for 1.25 Years As an acknowledgement of conflicting narratives of Shotspotter data and efficacy, City Council members voted 7 to 1 on a motion to renew Shotspotter’s contract—but over a modified contract timeline and other requirements from Soundthinking, the

Shotspotter's Moment of Truth Finally Arrives at Council A delayed struggle over renewing the City’s Shotspotter* contract is finally arriving at City Council Tuesday. What will likely be a difficult, and possibly emotionally charged, deliberation for both council members and public should have occurred months ago, as

Council Members Feign Ignorance of Documents CM’s Treva Reid and Janani Ramachandran caused a firestorm last Tuesday when they questioned the payments of the Coliseum sale from AASEG in full council. Few questions could be answered at the time, because neither the sale nor budget were agendized and the

Mayor's Executive Order Allows for Encampment Evictions on Short Timeline, w/out Shelter Availability for "Emergency" Situations Mayor Sheng Thao announced an executive order this week on the heels of a large scale eviction of a nearly decade old encampment at the border of West Oakland.

Settlements for Schaaf Campaign Finance Violations Go Back to Negotiation After PEC Insists on Stricter Penalties In a night of confused deliberation and voting, the Public Ethics Commission ultimately voted to send back two unprecedented former Mayor Libby Schaaf-linked campaign finance settlements for stricter penalty revisions. The votes prompted Gary

Proposed PLA Amendment Roundly Rejected A proposed amendment to Measure U [MU] funding legislation that could have impacted affordable housing development brought out almost 60 speakers who opposed it at Tuesday’s Community and Economic Development Committee meeting. By the end of the meeting, no speaker, city staffer or council

PEC Settlements Show Pattern of Campaign Violations by Former Mayor Schaaf Involving Millions in Contributions A set of draft settlements that will be presented to the Public Ethics Commission next week for final approval detail a "pattern" of unlawful behavior on the part of former Mayor Libby Schaaf.