Nikki Fortunato Bas, Councilmember

06/18/2020

🚔🅿️ HEADS UP ON PARKING CHANGES: In about three weeks starting Monday, July 6th, the City will restore parking meter operations. Each vehicle will receive one warning ticket as a courtesy to educate the driving public of the change. After the initial courtesy warning, vehicles in violation will receive a regular parking citation. The courtesy warnings will only be given during July.

Meanwhile right now, the City continues to enforce red, yellow, white and green curbs; blue curbs / spaces; fire hydrants; sidewalk and crosswalk blocking; double-parking and bike lane violations; wheelchair ramp obstruction; essential construction work; unauthorized use of disabled person parking placards.

Until we're otherwise informed, the City will continue NOT to enforce: time-limited parking (example: one-hour or two-hour zones); residential permit parking; street sweeping parking.

06/17/2020

💚🎁 SUPPORT LAKESHORE BUSINESSES: The Lakeshore Business Improvement District has created a fun way for us to show our love for local businesses and score a chance to win one of over 30 local prizes!

If you make three purchases of $10 or more from different businesses in Lakeshore by July 12, you'll be entered into the prize drawing. If you make six purchases, you can enter the drawing for the grand prize of $100 worth of certificates and more from Lakeshore businesses.

Details on how to enter the drawing at lakeshoreavenue.com/lakeshore-love. See a list of Lakeshore businesses that are open at bit.ly/lakeshorebizopen.

06/17/2020

Reported Hangman Noose In Oakland At Lake Merritt Not First Time

We condemn hate + racism in our town. Hanging a noose at Lake Merritt is an anti-black threat of racist violence. This is intolerable in the wake of the suspected lynchings of #MalcolmHarsch & #RobertFuller in So Cal. #BlackLivesMatter

UPDATE: Statement from OPD - bit.ly/30ZAMc2

Oakland news - On Tuesday via Twitter came news of the siting of a hangman noose on a tree near a walk path along Lake Merritt. It was the focus of this Zennie62 on YouTube video blog and Oakland News

06/16/2020

🌻🌼🌷 COMMUNITY GATHERING: Next Saturday 6/27, join Eastlake neighbors for a physically distanced resiliency & mutual aid get-together at Park Boulevard Plaza Park (2100 Park Blvd @ E 21st St). Come anytime between 11am and 4pm -- tables will be set up to give away vegetable plant seedlings, neighborhood resource guide, kits with hygiene essentials, posters, and stickers. You can leave behind a message, a token or a gift for others in your neighborhood.

This is a child friendly and free event. Shout out to the Friends of Cleveland Heights Neighborhood Council for helping to organize & fund!

Artwork by Lacey Johnson.

06/15/2020

💲🚨 REDISTRIBUTING OUR BUDGET TO MAKE OUR COMMUNITY SAFER: I’ve heard from thousands of you in the past two weeks expressing concern that 44% of our general purpose fund budget goes towards policing while 2.4% goes to Parks and Recreation, 2.3% to Human Services and less to other important services. The calls to divest in policing and invest in community recognize that communities of color have been historically over-policed and under-resourced.

We know that a living wage, access to holistic health services and treatment, educational opportunity, and stable housing are far more successful in reducing crime than police or prisons.

We must ask: how much of a police budget and how many officers do we need to keep our communities safe?

MY PROPOSAL: By taking a hard look at our police budget, I am proposing a set of initial ways to reallocate at least $25 million towards improving safety and providing the services our residents really need.

These reallocations include -- expanding housing and supports for community members coming home from incarceration by shifting $900K that the proposed budget allocates for OPD’s Homelessness Unit with Measure Q funds; $2.5M for a homeless outreach team as an alternative to OPD, encampment leadership stipends, motel vouchers and funding for successful exits from motels into housing; $1.5M to pilot the Mobile Assistance Community Responders of Oakland (MACRO) program in East Oakland in partnership with community organizations to enable a crisis worker with mental health training to be dispatched to 911 calls for mental health crises; $2.5M to support OUSD in replacing school police with school-site based life coaches, violence prevention / crisis intervention teams, and gender-based specialists.

See my full list of proposed initial budget reallocations at nikki4oakland.com/safety.

Please continue to make your voices heard & support my proposal at this Tuesday’s City Council meeting at 1:30pm: https://bit.ly/oak516mtg.

06/13/2020

🎷🎹 VOLUNTEERS NEEDED TOMORROW: Come out to support #BlackMusicMatters -- a safe, outdoor jam session for & by Oakland's Black music / artist community, organized by @kevchoice, @msryannicole, @aquariusjohns -- tomorrow, Sunday from 2-6 pm at Lake Merritt's Edoff Bandstand (pictured here, it's on the Children's Fairyland side).

It's intended to be a gathering for local black musicians to share, heal and contribute to the current movement with song and joy.

Can you help with event set-up at 10am and breakdown around 6pm? Email [email protected] to respond.

Performances to include Zion I, J. Walt, Neteta Brielle, and Warriors D Sharp! There will also be voter registration & sanitization stations.

06/12/2020

Oakland Unified to shed police department in wake of George Floyd’s death

🚫🍎🤝 REMOVING POLICE FROM OUR SCHOOLS: This week I sent a letter of support to Oakland Unified Superintendent and board members for the "George Floyd Resolution to Eliminate the Oakland Schools Police Department" brought forth by board members Shanthi Gonzales and Roseann Torres, in partnership with the Black Organizing Project's coalition of students, teachers, parents and community.

While Black students are 26% of OUSD students, they represent 73% of all students who are arrested. In the last four years, there were over 9,000 calls for service to the police on students. This is unacceptable, and we must reverse these inequities that disproportionately punish and arrest Black students, forcing them into the criminal justice system.

Removing law enforcement from our K-12 schools is a crucial step in dismantling the school-to-prison pipeline, repairing systemic racism, and healing the historic trauma of over policing and brutality faced by our Black and Brown youth here in Oakland.

I fully support the George Floyd resolution, which also proposes reallocating funds toward student support positions such as school-based social workers, psychologists, restorative justice practitioners, or other mental or behavioral health professionals; and launching a community-driven process for a revised District safety plan.

Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell says “alternative safety plan” will be ready by year’s end

06/12/2020

🙏 Thank you to the frontline healthcare workers who keep us all safe and healthy. Highland Hospital in District 2 and Alameda Health System provide a vital service for our community as a safety-net hospital system there to serve our neighbors without health insurance.

I was inspired and proud to stand today with Highland and Alameda Health System workers in their call for county control of this hospital system now, proper COVID-19 testing and adequate PPE for all hospital staff to keep all of us healthy, and fair contract bargaining with SEIU 1021 members.

06/10/2020

📝💡 SURVEY FOR SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS: Please complete a quick survey to help inform how the City can best support & meet the needs of Oakland's small businesses in reopening and recovering at bit.ly/oakreopening.

Help spread the word and share the link! The survey is in English, Arabic, Chinese, Spanish and Vietnamese.

06/10/2020

🏥🚨✊ ACTION ALERT: Tomorrow, join SEIU Local 1021 at 4pm for a rally & #CarCaravan action at Highland Hospital to help our frontline healthcare workers to get proper COVID-19 testing, PPE and more necessary supports!

Highland Hospital is part of Alameda Health System, which serves the poorest of our East Bay communities, overwhelmingly black and brown. It is critical that workers have the resources needed to stay safe and provide quality care to our community members during these challenging times and year-round.

06/09/2020

🍎🍏 VOLUNTEER FOR FOOD DISTRIBUTION: Can you help on Mondays and/or Thursday mornings to distribute summer meals to families and our community?

Sign up in English bit.ly/37dOJED or Spanish bit.ly/3f9pkPe. You'll be sent another sign-up form for specific shifts. Email [email protected] if you have questions!

06/09/2020

YOUTH SUMMER EMPLOYMENT: Youth Employment Project has devised plans to train & employ 250+ Oakland youth and young adults through a mix of online training, smaller group sizes & outdoor work with physical distancing.

For Oakland teens not comfortable going to worksites in July and August, they'll still be able to earn $250 in compensation by completing 10 remote employability workshops.

There are also 150+ other summer job opportunities for Oakland youth. Sign up at www.yep.org/how-you-join/summer-application.

06/08/2020

Oakland Police Commission to host town hall over protests, tear gas

TOWN HALL: Tonight at 6pm, Oakland Police Commission Town Hall re OPD response to demonstrations + review of policies. I'm urging the City to immediately halt the use of tear gas for crowd control during #COVID19. It impacts peaceful demonstrators and residents + increases spread. We also need answers to whether tear gas + other weapons were used legally in accordance with Oakland's policies.

See info on meeting and how to join here: go.aws/3dLm9N3

KTVU spoke to at least 10 people who were at the youth-led demonstration by police headquarters at 8th and Broadway on June 1 when the tear gas was deployed before the 8 p.m. curfew. All of them insisted they witnessed no violence or threats toward police.

06/08/2020

Joining 100s of people this weekend to care for our small businesses and streets was uplifting. We are building Black-Asian Unity and supporting the Movement for Black Lives. Also admiring the art and imagining more murals.

In Chinatown, I talked with business owners and neighbors, helped clean graffiti with Mayor Schaaf, and met Tarika Lewis who designed the *Asian Black Unity* art that we see in Chinatown with organizer Tommy Wong. Lewis was the first female member of the Black Panther Party. Thanks to the 300 volunteers and the organizers including OCA - Asian Pacific American Advocates: East Bay Chapter, Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce, Oakland Chinatown Coalition, and many others.

In Eastlake / Little Saigon, Oakland Vietnamese Chamber of Commerce, volunteers and donors cleaned and painted the Clinton Park Little Saigon community.

In Downtown, volunteers painted 3 street blocks with BLACK LIVES MATTER on 15th Street between Harrison and Broadway. Organized by @thehatchoak and Good Mother Gallery.

See my newsletter for more on supporting small businesses: nikki4oakland.com/small_biz_reopening

06/05/2020

Oakland tax changes proposed to help small businesses

⚖️🏦💚 MY PROPOSAL FOR A FAIR CHANGE TO OUR BUSINESS TAX SYSTEM: As Black Lives Matter demonstrations continue nationwide, as we face an unprecedented health and economic crisis, here in Oakland we must close a $120M budget gap.

You've made it clear: we must invest in visionary solutions that reimagine community safety & prosperity as the housing, jobs, and services we all need.

Right now, one of the opportunities we have to choose a recovery that is truly healing -- NOT just "going back to normal" -- is how we support small business.

1. WHAT DO WE HAVE NOW? Our business tax system is outdated, placing most of the burden on Oakland’s small businesses, many owned by women, African Americans, and people of color. Unlike other CA cities, we have a flat tax rate: Oakland businesses pay the same tax % no matter how much $ they bring in.

2. WHAT DO WE HOPE TO CHANGE? We propose making the business tax structure progressive, meaning it would progressively increase tax rates for businesses w/ higher gross receipts. This change would increase fairness, support our struggling small businesses, and raise new $ for vital services.

3. WHEN & HOW EXACTLY? The proposal would seek City Council support to put a measure on our Nov. Ballot to give Oaklanders the chance to vote to: provide our smallest businesses tax relief (boosting up to 24K businesses earning

Three Oakland City Council members are supporting a potential ballot measure that would change the. way businesses in the city are taxed.

06/04/2020

🚨BREAKING--CURFEW LIFTED: Effective immediately, Oakland and Alameda County have rescinded their curfew orders.

Please continue to shelter in place and physically distance as we work to stop the spread of COVID-19 and show our love and solidarity with the movement to support our black brothers and sisters. Stay safe!

06/04/2020

🐉🖤 AFRO-ASIAN SOLIDARITY x YOUR SUPPORT NEEDED: As an Asian Pacific American, I acknowledge anti-blackness and historical tensions in our communities which have impacted our Black brothers and sisters. Afro-Asian solidarity & community building are critical to seeing the changes we need.

Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce has declared solidarity along with the citywide business community to building trust and forging new partnerships to reduce racial inequalities, and to advance just practices that contribute to the vitality of all communities regardless of race, class, gender, national origin, and sexuality.

SUPPORT: Help the Oakland Black Business Damage Fund at bit.ly/oakblkbiz & the Oakland Chinatown Recovery & Resiliency Fund at oaklandchinatownchamber.org to remove graffiti, fix broken windows/gates and clean the streets.

06/04/2020

Oakland councilmembers ask for immediate halt to police use of tear gas

OAKLAND SHOULD IMMEDIATELY HALT USE OF TEAR GAS: I have heard from so many people since Friday concerned about the use of tear gas on crowds of protesters. Oakland should protect peaceful people - protesters, residents, students, vulnerable people - and #StopTheSpread of #COVID19. Thank you to everyone who has shared their experiences and concerns with me and my team.

Today, I urged the Mayor, Police Chief and City Administrator to immediately halt the use of tear gas for crowd control at #GeorgeFloyd #BlackLivesMatter protests during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thank you Rebecca Kaplan and Councilmember Sheng Thao, District 4 for joining me in this request.

Experts say using tear gas for crowd control during the pandemic will likely damage people’s lungs, making them more susceptible to respiratory illness and might catalyze a new wave of COVID-19.

Our Black residents, who are disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 in Oakland and Alameda County, are at serious risk, as they also disproportionately experience pre-existing conditions like asthma that could make tear gas lethal, according to experts.

My office is advocating for the immediate halt of the use of tear gas for crowd control at protests during COVID-19. Please continue to make your voices heard with City leaders. And stay safe.

See reports from KTVU for more: bit.ly/3gNJ78h.

UCSF Dr. Peter Chin-Hong aid that tear gas makes people cough a lot and that people at protests are shouting and possibly projecting the virus droplets at farther lengths.

06/03/2020

♻️✋💙 VOLUNTEER TO HELP SMALL BIZ: This Sunday 11am, please join a physically distanced Rapid Response Chinatown "PickItUp" clean-up with OCA - Asian Pacific American Advocates: East Bay Chapter. Email [email protected] or call 510-306-1866 to RSVP. Meet at Pacific Renaissance Plaza fountain.

You will help pick up trash, sweep broken glass, inspect public assets that may have been damaged, help report issues to OAK311 (as Chinatown has seen underreporting in the past), help with graffiti abatement. If you want to help paint, wear clothes you don't mind ruining with paint.

Photo taken pre-COVID-19.

06/03/2020

Infectious disease specialists call for an end to tear gas during COVID-19 pandemic

🚫😷 STAND WITH US TO OPPOSE TEAR GAS: Last weekend, I reached out to the Mayor, Police Chief and City Administrator expressing serious concern about the use of tear gas, particularly given that COVID-19 is a respiratory illness. I shared that the use of gas could worsen conditions for those exposed on the streets and it reaches into homes downtown impacting residents who may be vulnerable. I expressed that I did not understand why it was used and urged OPD to not use it in the future.

We've learned from residents who live a block away from the police headquarters in District 2 that the gas rises up to the 14th floor and rooftop of their buildings.

Unfortunately, tear gas was used again yesterday. My office will continue to advocate. We also encourage you to help by reaching out to other City leaders to push for stopping the use of tear gas.

See this article from KTVU on how infectious disease specialists are calling for an end to tear gas especially during COVID-19: bit.ly/ktvuteargas.

When people are in these crowded and emotional settings, they tend to shout and "project the virus more than three feet," UCSF Dr. Peter Chin-Hong said.