Updates
The Exodus of the Mixed Multitudes
By Rebecca Kaplan
Oakland Post
As this week marks the celebration of the Passover holiday, it is a time in which scripture tradition calls upon us to reflect on the story of the Exodus – events that took place over 3,000 years ago – and on lessons from that time as they impact our lives today.
The Talmud, the ancient Jewish religious text, states that, “In every generation, we must see ourselves as coming out of Egypt.” And Exodus 12:14 tells us, “This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the LORD—a lasting ordinance.”
One of the Passover traditions is to re-read scripture text about the Exodus and to reflect upon their meaning, both for history – and for our lives. In doing so, we are urged to find new lessons each time.
As the City of Oakland struggles with how to overcome oppression, violence, and dissension, the ancient words of liberation can bring new support for our work today.
The scriptures tell not only the story of how ancient people fled a place of oppression – but also the story of how a community of several hundred thousand people struggled together to build a new society of freedom and justice.
Text of Exodus details the creation of new laws – including prohibitions on theft and murder, rules about tithing to support everyone in the society, and on behaving with kindness and equality towards the stranger.
And when the Exodus is described, it is often told as being the story of what happened when “the Israelites” went forth from bondage to freedom. While that story alone could be interesting and important, it turns out that there is even more to it.
Text of the Bible teaches that it was not only the Israelites who went forth out of Egypt. In fact, the empire had captured and held as slaves people of many different nationalities – people from many different backgrounds. And so – when the slave revolt occurred, it would not be surprising to learn that people of many different nationalities left towards freedom. As is described in Exodus 12:38, “And a mixed multitude went up also with them.”
This mixed multitude shared a common history of oppression and a common seeking of freedom. But it was not all one ethnic group – rather, it was people of many different languages, cultures and backgrounds who were then wandering in the desert together for the next 40 years.
Learning, struggling, and working together to come up with new ways to live and work together – in other words – the Exodus story is also the story of Oakland.
Happy Passover.
Raid’s toll too high
Feds crack down on legal business as gunman kills 7
By Neill Franklin
Huffington Post
As I sit and watch video after video of Monday’s senseless federal raid of Oaksterdam University and other medical cannabis-related facilities managed by Richard Lee, the orchestrator of California’s historic Proposition 19, a few serious concerns come to mind.
I noticed agents from at least three federal agencies: the Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Marshals Service and the Internal Revenue Service. I’m not talking about two agents here and a couple more there. There were several dozen federal agents spending their day on the scene.
Meanwhile, just blocks away, a deadly shooting was taking place. While federal agents were using a battering ram, a sledgehammer and power saws to break into a business that complies with state and local law and pays taxes, a gunman was murdering seven people at Oikos University, just three-tenths of a mile away.
As a retired police officer who wore the badge for more than 30 years, this is not how I want our law enforcers to be spending their time. Rebecca Kaplan, a member of Oakland’s City Council, said it best: “We have a serious gun violence problem in Oakland. If there are extra law enforcement resources available, they should be focused on fighting illegal guns and gun violence.”
VIDEO:
Beyond the human toll, what’s the fiscal cost to taxpayers of this federal raid? For Monday’s multiple-hour operation, I would estimate at least $22,000 to $30,000 just in man-hours alone, for straight time and not overtime. The planning for this raid is even more draining upon man-hours — at least another $20,000. What about the many hours of investigation follow-up, which will most likely carry on for months if not longer? Throw in likely judicial cost, and when all is said and done, we could be looking at a taxpayer price tag of $250,000 or more for a raid of Oaksterdam properties, which will result in … what?
Let’s take a look at the results of this “successful” raid upon those who care for the sick. The first indicator of success is one of public safety. That’s why we have such enforcement activity in the first place — law enforcement and public safety should be synonymous. Will the raid make the community safer? Will there be fewer homicides?
Oh, wait, there never were any on-site at Oaksterdam. They occur blocks away while we, “the police,” do our thing here. Will there now be fewer robberies in the neighborhood?
Just the opposite: Violent crime has been down in the area since Oaksterdam became operational. Well, maybe there will now be less “pot” being sold to kids in the neighborhood. Actually, expect that to increase now that any marijuana being sold in the area, post-raid, will be done by drug dealers on the corners who don’t check ID.
Oh yes, one more observation: Patients will no longer have access to safe medicine in safe environments. They will be forced to acquire cannabis from the dangerous illegal marketplace, lining the pockets of criminal organizations, gangs and thugs instead of universally supported local businesses that pay taxes and create jobs.
What about the success of this raid for the IRS? If its goal is to put more people out of work, causing less people to pay federal and state income taxes, call it success. If the goal is to have the state collect fewer taxes from cannabis sales, call it success.
And as for the U.S. Marshals Service, I’m still trying to figure out its role in this. Maybe it was to apprehend members of the Mexican cartel lurking in the classrooms of Oaksterdam U? Oh wait, this wasn’t a cartel operation. It was a legal state and city business where employees were U.S. citizens and members of a workers union.
It’s clear to see that this raid will be far from any true success. This raid is undoubtedly counterproductive to public safety. More people out of work, a staple of business removed from the community, patients forced into the dangerous illegal marketplace, thousands if not millions of dollars back into the pockets of criminals, fewer tax dollars for the city of Oakland and homicides occurring just blocks away while so many law enforcement resources were being squandered raiding medical cannabis facilities.
Am I accusing law enforcement of being responsible for the seven murders just blocks away? No, but what I am saying is that they are misguided and focused upon those things that will not improve public safety. It is their duty and responsibility to prioritize things of public safety first, not politics.
Our commander in chief, President Barack Obama, the head of the executive branch, carries that ultimate responsibility for the actions of federal law enforcement. Last week, he let the city of Oakland and this country down.
At a time when 80 percent of the public supports medical marijuana, I can’t for the life of me imagine how this fits into the president’s re-election strategy.
There’s still time for President Barack Obama to rein in the federal thugs who work for him and seem hell-bent on intimidating the medical cannabis industry out of existence, but the hour is growing late.
Neill Franklin, executive director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, was a narcotics cop in Baltimore.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/neill-franklin/oaksterdam-raid_b_1401116.html
Federal Agents Bust Marijuana School ‘Oaksterdam’
By Nishat Kurwa
NPR
Federal agents busted Oaksterdam University, one of California’s most prominent medical marijuana institutions. The raid of the school in downtown Oakland and other dispensaries yesterday brings into sharp focus the disconnect between state and federal policies on medical marijuana.
AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:
From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I’m Audie Cornish.
ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:
And I’m Robert Siegel.
Federal authorities raided several medical marijuana-related businesses in Oakland, California, yesterday. They were targeting one of the biggest backers of the cannabis industry in Oakland. Nishat Kurwa of Turnstyle News has the story.
(SOUNDBITE OF CROWD)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Hey, hey. Come down.
NISHAT KURWA, BYLINE: A few hundred supporters of Oaksterdam University filled a block on downtown Oakland’s main street while federal agents carried out green trash bags full of items taken in their raid. The self-proclaimed university is one of multiple businesses founded by medical pot impresario Richard Lee. Lee has spearheaded the growth of this industry in Oakland, running pot dispensaries and classes for people who want to jump into the lucrative businesses and driving legislation to legitimize it in the city and the state. Here’s Lee talking to CBS’ “Morning Show” about his businesses’ impact on the city.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, “MORNING SHOW”)
RICHARD LEE: People around here love it because they see how much we’ve improved the neighborhood.
KURWA: Looming over an empty parking lot across the street from Turnstyle’s offices, there’s a large-scale mural with Oaksterdam University emblazoned across images of Oakland landmarks. Business owners in this area have a love-hate relationship with the pot business. It’s been part of the downtown revival but has also brought new problems. King Solomon is the manager of the Triangle Gift Shop across the street from Oaksterdam’s offices.
KING SOLOMON: I think they have a lot of influence for the simple fact that a lot of kids have interests in marijuana and right, you know, with Oaksterdam being right there on Broadway, now, you know, they could ask a buddy to purchase it for them or something like that. I don’t agree with that kind of stuff, but, yeah, I think they’re too close to, like, schools.
KURWA: In 2009, Oakland residents passed a measure to tax and regulate the medical marijuana industry. City officials have supported the development of the industry, especially since revenue has helped the city’s coffers, amounting to about $1.5 million last fiscal year. But that’s caused tension with the federal authorities who are concerned that California’s liberal medical marijuana laws are being abused. The U.S. attorney in San Francisco, Melinda Haag, has been cracking down on pot dispensaries near schools and parks.
Oaksterdam’s businesses fall into this category. As the downtown area has been revitalized, a proliferation of charter schools, entertainment venues and pot clubs have all intermingled in the same neighborhood. Oakland City Councilwoman Rebecca Kaplan is an avid supporter of medical marijuana. She says, since the raids, she’s been flooded with calls from constituents.
COUNCILMEMBER REBECCA KAPLAN: And so some of the people who are calling me very upset, they aren’t just people who care about medical cannabis. There are plenty of people who actually don’t really care one way or the other about medical cannabis policy, but they are outraged about why, if there’s extra law enforcement resources available, why aren’t they being spent fighting guns and fighting violence?
KURWA: Turnstyle talked to several teachers in the neighborhood who didn’t want to go on tape. One charter schoolteacher told me her students are independent thinkers, probably more influenced by their peers than the pot clubs that share their neighborhood. Others say they’re concerned because their students have walked into school carrying leaflets from Oaksterdam, advertising marijuana smoke-outs. For NPR News, I’m Nishat Kurwa.
SIEGEL: Nishat Kurwa is a reporter for Turnstyle News, a project of Youth Radio.
http://www.npr.org/2012/04/03/149937087/federal-agents-bust-marijuana-school-oaksterdam
Federal authorities raid Oaksterdam University
By Mark Matthews
ABC 7
Federal agents have raided the home and businesses of medical marijuana activist Richard Lee. Lee is the founder of Oaksterdam University, a medical marijuana trade school.
Drug Enforcement Agents, Internal Revenue Service agents and federal marshals descended on Oaksterdam University Monday morning, serving search warrants there and at several other places in Oakland all connected to long time marijuana legalization activist Richard Lee. DEA agents loaded black bags of marijuana plants taken from Oaksterdam’s grow room. They took a safe and boxes of paper records.
Around the corner they also raided the Oakland Cannabis Buyer’s Club office on 15th Street and on 17th Street the coffee shop Blue Sky. All of those locations raided were rented or run by Richard Lee, a 49-year-old founder of Oaksterdam University and a force in the fight to legalize marijuana.
“I think they were going after anything and everything that they deemed affiliated with Richard Lee because Richard is one of the leaders of the movement to try and regulate cannabis legally,” said Gale Sky Jones from Oaksterdam University.
Jones told ABC7 she’s a chancellor of Oaksterdam University and Lee’s home was also raided.
A spokeswoman for the DEA said agents were serving search warrants on multiple locations, but that there were no arrest warrants and that all the information in the search warrants is sealed by a court order. That is all she would say.
The raids attracted an often belligerent crowd of protestors, some who tried to persuade the police and others who screamed obscenities. Some protestors tried to keep the DEA from leaving the site, even as they were shouting at them to go.
Andrew DeAngelo is the general manager of a medical marijuana dispensary in Berkeley. He said, “Richard Lee is a real hero to us, he’s a real activist to us, his university is a beacon of change and innovation in our industry.”
Oakland City Councilwoman Rebecca Kaplan said federal enforcement of federal marijuana laws is out of place in Oakland.
“My constituents’ top priority is to be fighting gun violence and stopping gun crime,” said Kaplan.
And of all days to make that argument, Monday’s shooting at Oikos University certainly underscores the city councilwoman’s statement.
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/east_bay&id=8604371
Pot trade school raid questioned by Oakland city councilwoman
By John Hoeffel
Los Angeles Times
Rebecca Kaplan, an Oakland City Council member who has been a long-time advocate for medical marijuana, questioned the federal raid Monday on some of the city’s most recognized pot businesses, including the internationally known Oaksterdam University.
She noted that the budget-strapped city, which had to cut its police force, is struggling with rising gun violence, including a shooting Monday at Oikos University that involved multiple victims.
“It’s so unfortunate. I mean, we have got in Oakland a real need for law enforcement resources on real crime that’s a threat to people,” said Kaplan, who went to the scene of the raid. “If there’s extra law enforcement resources available, it would be nice if it would be devoted to illegal gun crime and stopping illegal gun dealers.”
The Oakland city official who oversees its medical marijuana laws declined to comment on the action, which targeted Richard Lee, who put a legalization measure on the ballot in 2010 and who operates a dispensary, a nursery and the nation’s first pot trade school.
“No comment right now, do not have enough information,” Arturo Sanchez, the assistant to the city administrator, wrote in an email response.
Kaplan noted that Oakland has some of the tightest regulations in the country and said it has had no trouble from its four dispensaries.
“We’ve ended up with very well-behaved facilities, and it’s really been a success story in terms of how regulation can work,” she said.
She wondered why the federal government was not focused on unapproved dispensaries or dispensaries that are creating problems in their communities, including those in Los Angeles.
“Why not go after the problem ones? Oakland has had a very strict set of regulations,” she said. “We haven’t had violence. We haven’t had crimes.”
Kaplan credited Lee’s operations, which are all within easy walking distance from City Hall, for helping to resurrect a seedy section of downtown. Lee has become a prominent and easily recognized figure in the city.
Kaplan described him as “an exemplary community member,” noting that he just finished a term as the head of his neighborhood crime prevention council.
“It does raise the question: What is the goal? Is it a political goal? Is it about sending a message?” she asked, noting that Lee is an outspoken marijuana legalization activist. “It certainly raises the concern that people may be targeted for their political speech.”
Kaplan suggested that federal officials could find that the move backfires politically.
“The public response has been outrage,” she said. “Even people who don’t care one way or the other about medical cannabis are expressing outrage about the resource waste in these raids.”
She declined to say what the official response might be in the city where every council member supports medical marijuana, saying that she did not have enough information on the raid.
Senate Panel Calls for MTC to Halt Headquarters Relocation Spending
From the Office of Senator Mark DeSaulnier:
March 27, 2012
N E W S R E L E A S E
Senate Transportation and Housing Committee Approved Senate Bill 1545 (DeSaulnier)
Today the Senate Transportation and Housing Committee approved SB 1545 (DeSaulnier) with a bipartisan vote of 8-0 to prohibit the expenditure of any additional public funds on the relocation of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission headquarters until after an audit is completed by the State Auditor and all issues raised in that audit (if any) are resolved.
“Before MTC purchased the property, they knew the potential move was being audited by the State Auditor. They decided to ignore the audit and to spend the money anyway,” said Senator Mark DeSaulnier (D-Concord). “That decision need not be made worse by spending additional public funds without the oversight provided by the audit. There is no risk in awaiting completion of the audit. It is the responsible thing to do.”
On August 24, 2011, the Joint Legislative Audit Committee unanimously approved a request from DeSaulnier for the State Auditor to audit the proposed move of MTC’s headquarters. The audit is focused in part on whether it is appropriate for MTC to use toll payer money to fund the purchase and improvements of the office building. The audit is scheduled to be completed by June.
SB 1545, an urgency measure which would take effect immediately upon signature of the Governor, would apply to MTC, the Bay Area Toll Authority, and to the Bay Area Headquarters Authority (BAHA). BAHA was created by MTC to make all decisions related to the move of the MTC headquarters.
Last December, BAHA voted to spend $1,000,000 for “architectural and engineering services” for the new building. Additionally, BAHA approved another $140,000 annually for “property management services.” BAHA has already spent $93 million to acquire the building, an old post office at 390 Main Street in San Francisco. All of these decisions were made even though the audit is pending.
# # #
Sen. Mark DeSaulnier (D-Concord) is the Chair of the Senate Transportation and Housing Committee andrepresents the Seventh Senate District, which includes most of Contra Costa County.
Despite cancelled meeting, councilmembers discuss changing city’s banking contract
By Ryan Phillips
Oakland North
For the second consecutive time, the Oakland City Council’s finance and management committee failed to meet because not enough members showed up. The lack of a quorum—only Councilmembers Jane Brunner (District 1) and Patricia Kernighan (District 2) were present—shelved a resolution that would have taken away the power of the City Administrator’s Office to extend the city’s banking contract with Wells Fargo past this year, instead giving the power to the city council to negotiate a new deal.
The role of banks in the foreclosure crisis needs to be examined by the council, and the city’s contract with Wells Fargo should not automatically be renewed without input from the city council when it expires at the end of this year, according to a resolution that is being proposed the offices of Councilmembers Brunner and Rebecca Kaplan (at-large). The city’s three-year deal with Wells Fargo expires at the end of this year, and the bank hasn’t supplied the city with information its requested on foreclosures and loan modifications, according to a report from Brunner and Kaplan’s offices.
On Tuesday afternoon, about a dozen members of Oakland Community Organizations (OCO), a network of community groups that is encouraging Oakland residents to move their money from large banks like Wells Fargo to community banks and credit unions, were on hand at City Hall to lend their support to the resolution. They were among some 30 members of the public who had showed up to speak about the items on the committee’s agenda.
But with only two of the four members present—Councilmembers Ignacio De La Fuente (District 5) and Desley Brooks (District 6) were absent, without a reason given—the committee could not officially meet. “This is not a committee, this is not a committee meeting,” Kathleen Salem-Boyd of the City Attorney’s Office said before walking out of the Sgt. Mark Dunakin Room at Oakland City Hall at what would have been the start of the meeting.
But Brunner said she did not think it was “appropriate to cancel two meetings in a row,” especially with community members present to speak about the agenda items. So even though the committee could not officially meet, members of the public were invited to speak about the issue to Brunner and Kernighan.
Brunner told the crowd that in the course of working with banks about foreclosure issues in recent years, the city had requested that Wells Fargo, Bank of America and Chase “provide information for Oakland on how many loan modifications have been made in the city” or on how many properties have been foreclosed upon here. But, she said, the banks either refused to disclose those numbers or gave only national numbers.
Brunner said that one way for city officials to get that information is to request it during negotiations for a new banking contract after the city’s three-year deal with Wells Fargo expires at the end of this year. “We need to find the right bank for the city,” she added.
Elinor Buchen, a legislative analyst for Brunner’s office, made a similar statement when reading from their office’s report discussing the proposed resolution. “In recent years, the city has struggled to get local information on foreclosures and loan modifications from banks, including from its current contractor, Wells Fargo,” she read. The resolution is to “ensure the city’s contract is not automatically renewed without council review and input,” Buchen said.
A few members of the public spoke, including OCO co-chairman Richard Speiglman, who told Brunner and Kernighan that it was important to “evaluate bank performance and divest funds from irresponsible banks.”
“We saw the toxic impacts of big banks like Wells Fargo in our neighborhoods, thousands of families displaced from their homes, blighted properties abandoned by banks, a sharp decline in home values and countless individuals thrown into crisis,” Speiglman said.
Kernighan said she had previously heard from the City Administrator’s Office that there are only a few banks large enough to handle the capacity of a large city like Oakland. But she said she is asking city staff to “do some serious investigation into whether there are some smaller banks that have the capacity to serve the City of Oakland,” she said.
“There are,” members of the audience responded.
Kernighan added that while the city can’t change the big banks’ “behavior in the past,” it can make sure the council has a voice in the next negotiations to “put pressure to incentivize better behavior in the future.”
“What we want to see is banks actually renegotiating loans and keeping more people in their homes,” she said.
Brunner noted that the finance committee does not meet again until April 24, and the next city council meeting at which a resolution regarding the city’s banking practices could be heard will be May 1.
Speiglman said that members of OCO heard earlier in the day that there may not be a quorum, but members wanted to show up anyways to try to “start the discussion.”
“We need to give Wells and the other banks notice that they’re not going to get away with this,” Speiglman said in an interview after the cancelled meeting. “To the extent we have control over our resources, we’re going to get them out until they clean up their act.”
Oakland approves $7.7 billion transportation plan
Oakland Local
From City Councilwoman Rebecca Kaplan’s office:
The Oakland City Council joined several other East Bay cities and the Alameda County Transportation Commission this week in moving forward a $7.7 billion transportation investment plan that could create unprecedented enhancements to area infrastructure, public transit and road quality.
The ATC finalized the plan in late January, which outlines how Measure B funding will be spent if re-authorized in November. Since the commission’s passage, cities including Fremont, Hayward, San Leandro – and now Oakland – also have signed on.
“This plan represents a generation’s worth of job creation, major improvements to the way we get around and a profound improvement to both our infrastructure and our environment,” Councilwoman Rebecca Kaplan, who represents Oakland on the county transportation commission, said. “Thanks to hard work from many leaders and organizations in our community, we’ll be able to fix potholes, support BART and AC Transit, significantly improve bicycle and pedestrian safety and create transit-oriented development projects of the future.”
Kaplan said she thanks the many community members, organizations and other officials across the county for a major victory of collaboration between community advocacy groups and elected officials. She noted that the plan’s development, improvement and passage at the commission was the result of more than 40 meetings with community members and organizations who helped craft and improve the plan to ensure response to community needs, fiscal responsibility and improvement to quality of life and mobility in our communities – including environmental, labor, business, neighborhood organizations, advocates for seniors, youth, bicyclists, pedestrians and more.
The plan includes funding for:
-Public Transit – $3.7 billion / 48 percent (BART, AC Transit, regional rail, etc.)
-Local Road Repair – $2.3 billion / 30 percent (Paving, Pothole Repair, Seismic Retrofits)
-Freeway Repair and Enhancements – $677 million / 9 percent
-Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Improvements – $651 million / 8 percent
-Transit-Oriented Development Projects – $300 million / 4 percent
-Technology and Innovation – $77 million / 1 percent
Funding for AC Transit, for example, would increase from $18.6 million per year to $40 million initially and again to $63 million by 2023. Enhancements to rail would receive $355 million. Key bridges and roads in need of repair and maintenance also will receive vital support.
The plan includes funding for innovative programs like the Broadway “Streetcar” project, a program to fund free youth bus passes, and a significant increase in support for transit-oriented development – funding that Kaplan noted could significantly mitigate the loss of city redevelopment funding by supporting key projects at the Coliseum BART station, the area surrounding the Lake Merritt BART station and more.
Oakland City Council President Larry Reid, who represents Dist. 7 and serves as Oakland’s other voting representative, also hailed the plan.
“This will create a profound investment to public infrastructure that will create jobs and keep people moving,” Reid said. “Building a coalition to approve this much-needed funding was a dynamic process – and I’m really appreciative of being able to work with Councilmember Kaplan in negotiating on Oakland’s behalf.”
Measure B, first passed in 1986, created a half-cent sales tax to fund transportation and was re-authorized in 2000 with more than 81 percent of the vote. If passed by a two-thirds vote in November, it would re-authorize the tax and extend it to one cent to provide full funding for the plan.
The plan includes comprehensive accountability measures, including the creation of an independent watchdog and requires the commission to regularly review expenditures.
http://oaklandlocal.com/posts/2012/03/oakland-approves-77-billion-transportation-plan
Oakland wants Wells Fargo concessions
Proposal aimed at limiting foreclosures
By Matthew Artz
Oakland Tribune
The foreclosure backlash is spreading to Oakland, where two council members are trying to pressure Wells Fargo to keep people in their homes.
A proposal that goes before the council’s Finance and Management Committee on Tuesday would rescind the city administrator’s authority to unilaterally extend Oakland’s banking contracting with Wells Fargo past this year, giving council members an opportunity to seek new provisions regarding foreclosures, loan modifications and the maintenance of foreclosed property.
“The bottom line is we’re trying to put some pressure on the banks to refinance mortgages, so people can stay in their homes,” said Councilwoman Jane Brunner, who is co-sponsoring the proposal with Councilwoman Rebecca Kaplan.
In the wake of the foreclosure crisis, several major California cities have sought to tie banking contracts to banks’ performance in limiting foreclosures and helping small businesses. San Jose and San Francisco both have adopted policies to consider foreclosure rates as criteria in awarding banking contracts, and Berkeley is considering divesting from Wells Fargo.
Oakland pays Wells Fargo about $300,000 a year to handle key banking functions such as payroll direct deposits, vendor payments and custodianship of city investments totaling about $540 million.
The city is satisfied with the banking services, but has been frustrated by the unwillingness of Wells Fargo and other major banks to provide information on local foreclosures, according to Brunner and Kaplan.
With the city’s banking contract up at the end of the year, they want to compel Wells Fargo to accept new accountability requirements before getting the two one-year contract extensions that the city can exercise.
Wells Fargo spokeswoman Holly Rockwood wrote that the bank had been a good corporate citizen, making below-market loans to a variety of city organizations and giving more than $3.3 million to local nonprofits. The bank also has sold at foreclosure less than 2 percent of its homeowner-occupied loans over the past year, Rockwood wrote.
Assistant City Manager Scott Johnson said he has spoken to Wells Fargo officials about providing more information regarding foreclosures and city properties held by the bank, which could help the city fight blight.
Although the bank’s contract expires at the end of the year, city leaders prefer sticking with Wells Fargo rather than opening the contract up to other banks. A request for proposals would take about six months to prepare, Johnson said. He added that there also are only a few banks capable of providing the same services as Wells Fargo and that switching banks is a complex undertaking that can be difficult to implement.
http://www.insidebayarea.com/news/ci_20158887/oakland-wants-wells-fargo-concessions
Oakland Police Make Arrests and Recover Guns
OAKLAND POLICE DEPARTMENT
News Release
Contact: Officer Johnna Watson
Oakland, CA — Within the last week, members of the Oakland Police Department have been making good arrests, and getting guns off the streets of Oakland. ”I am extremely proud of the work we are doing” said Chief Howard Jordan. He went on to say, “getting guns off the street is certainly a high priority, it makes a significant impact on the quality of life for our residents.”
On March 5, 2012, at 5:10 p.m., Oakland police officers were dispatched to the Walgreens drugstore located in the 3200 block of Lakeshore Avenue, on a call of an individual who had entered the store with two firearms. When officers arrived on scene they detained and arrested 26-year old Oakland resident, Eugene Mollex for possessing two firearms.
On March 7, 2012, Oakland police officers arrested a suspect in connection with the March 5, 2012 bank robbery of the Mechanics Bank, located in the 1900 block of Harrison Street, in Oakland. Investigators identified the suspect as 53-year old Oakland resident, Edwin Herold, as the person responsible for committing the bank robbery. Investigators say Herold walked into the bank and demanded money from the teller, then fled the bank with the loss.
On March 7, 2012, at 4:53 a.m., while patrolling in the 6400 block of Foothill Boulevard officers observed a shootout between a male adult on foot, and a male adult passenger in a passing car. Officers arrested the suspect who was on the street and recovered a firearm. The victim who was a passenger in the car, self transported to the hospital, and is listed in stable condition.
