OAKLAND CITY COUNCIL APPROVES NEW BUDGET

After delays, debates and a lot of controversy, Oakland approved a new budget on Tuesday. In a divided vote, the city council passed Mayor Sheng Thao's version of a budget that largely depends on the sale of the city’s portion of the Oakland Coliseum to close a $177 million budget gap. It's a plan not all city councilmembers agree on.

"Coliseum funds, in my very firm opinion, should have never been incorporated into the budget proposal and it is unequivocally the fault of this mayor and city administration to have proposed this at the last minute and change the timeline for the entire process," Councilmember Janani Ramachandran said. If the Coliseum deal goes through, the city would largely avoid major cuts to public safety. But if the deal falls apart, a series of brutal contingency cuts would kick in. Those include reducing the number of sworn police officers to 600, temporarily closing five fire stations and eliminating vacant positions across several city departments.

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