Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Yeah.

So as soon as we get her in her seat, then we're going to get started.

Thank you.

M.

This meeting has come to order.

Before I take roll, I will provide instructions on how to submit a speaker's card for items on this agenda.

If you are here with us in chambers and you would like to submit a speaker's card, please fill one out and turn it to a clerk representative before the item is ready to record.

Present.

Present.

And chair five.

Present.

We do have four members present.

And before you begin, Chair, do you have any announcements for us?

I think I do not.

We can proceed.

Thank you so much.

Starting with our first item, approval of the draft minutes from the committee meeting on May 12, 2026.

And there are no speakers.

I think I heard a motion.

We have a motion made by Councilmember Gallo, seconded by Councilmember Houston to accept the draft minutes of the meeting of May 12, 2026 as is on roll.

Councilmember Gallo.

Aye.

Councilmember Houston?

Aye.

Councilmember Wong?

Aye.

And Chair Five.

Aye.

This motion passes with four ayes to accept the draft minutes of the May 12th, 2026 as is.

Uh to my committee members, I need to change the order of the agenda.

I wanted to move item five last to allow the HSD item to be heard consecutively.

So the order would be item number four, then item number six, then item number five.

And I just need a second.

Thank you.

We have a motion motion made by Chair Five, seconded by Councilmember Guyo to change the order of today's life enrichment committee agenda on role.

Councilmember Gallo.

Aye.

Councilmember Houston.

Aye.

Councilmember Wong.

Aye.

And Chair Five?

Aye.

And once again, we will change the order after item two.

It will be item number four, six, my apologies.

Item number three, it would then be item four, six, and then five.

Thank you.

Moving to item two, determination and schedule outstanding committee items.

And there are no speakers for this item.

I'll entertain a motion.

Second.

We do have a motion made by Councilmember Gallo, seconded by Councilmember Wong to accept determination to schedule outstanding committee items, which is your pending list as is on roll, Councilmember Gallo.

Aye.

Councilmember Houston.

Aye.

Councilmember Wong.

Aye.

And Chair Five.

Aye.

This motion does pass with four ayes to accept determination of schedule outstanding committee items, which is the pending list as is.

Moving to item three.

Receive an information report from the chair of Oakland Mayor's Commission on Persons with Disabilities regarding their status and recent activities.

And you do not have any speakers for this item.

Wonderful.

Thank you for being here with us today for this presentation.

Madam City Clerk, if you could put seven minutes on the clock.

You have the floor.

Hello.

Chair Fife and Life Energy Committee.

To start with some of the positives this year, uh despite some um some hiccups that slow down nomination and appointments of new commissioners due to the change in mayoral staff.

We have had a number of new commissioners join, and I'm happy to report that they are the most active commission.

We this is the most active the commission has been uh in my tenure with many of our commissioners participating.

Um, more than I've ever seen in and out of meetings in pursuit of of our strategic goal, which is attached attachment B.

And our attachment A, which I won't spend too much time on today, provides detailed updates on the presentations, the correspondences, um, all the activities we've had uh throughout the year, working with various different city uh departments with various different outside organizations and uh on various tasks, including a lot of uh project feedback, a lot of long-range planning feedback, things like that.

Um I'd like to move on to oh, also that uh we were able to conduct our annual community needs survey um this year and would direct you to the report to see some of the outcomes of it.

Um notable ones uh as similar to last year.

Uh we still have many needs and housing that needs and transportations, but we've also found that there are um there's an important lack in just information available to Oaklanders on how to access even existing city resources, and we're working on trying to improve just the distribution of you know making sure people know what resources are available to them, rather than making use of them.

Some challenges we want to highlight are staffing, which we'll get to in a bit, a constant challenge.

We have had challenge with emergency preparedness, where we've uh, after a lot of like research and going back and forth, found that, for example, um, the fire department does not have emergency wheelchairs.

We don't have 24-7 staff ready for emergency preparedness, and that we're worried that um existing staff are not well enough trained to handle people with disabilities, and those worries about emergency preparedness are are uh come up often, along with where worries about construction compliance, where we see very often that um construction around the city is not compliant to standards and are uh serving as barriers to Oaklanders um extremely often.

As mentioned, there are definitely lacks a lack of resources.

We um have some requests on uh improving, especially uh housing.

Um, the uh AIP program from HCD in particular could use some love.

It's a great program that is understaffed and under-resourced and could use the resources, especially in the face of the current Smith litigation around affordable accessible housing.

Lastly, I want to move on to some of our asks for this year.

Um, we will continue to, we are starting to work on our survey, community survey for the next year, and ask for your support in distributing that uh using your mailing list and resources to help get that uh extend our reach further than it has been in the past.

We, like I said, we have asks around uh supporting HCD along with Oakdot to help both prepare for um be proactive around housing and Smith litigation and to continue working on the current settlement, as y'all have done the past.

I appreciate and finally uh the most important top issue for us is uh staffing of our ADA programs division.

Right now it is staffed by two uh wonderful staff members, but it is missing at least three, two of which have been promised by this council but have not been delivered.

In fact, since my last time, since my time here last year, those positions have been moved um over to Oak Dot and effectively all intents and purposes been eliminated, which is an important which is backsliding on our commitments to people with disabilities.

Um this has pretty dire consequences.

If you'll permit me to share personally, I don't think you can see it here, but like just this last weekend trying to walk uh to a friend's house, I trying to avoid a SAVI obstruction, walked headfirst into inappropriately placed construction equipment, suffered pretty rough hit, um, was shocked by the uh trauma from the collision, had blood pouring down my face, um, was extremely frustrated and frankly humiliated at my inability to walk my own city.

And thankfully, I was only a block away from my friend's house who could help take care of me.

Uh, thankfully it was not worse, and um I'm able to be here today.

Um, but this is not an isolated incident, these kinds of barriers exist throughout the city.

Um, in our outreach and working with our commission hosted a neighborhood walking tour last year to support Oakland's General Plan Outreach, and staff were shocked to hear from Oaklanders' testimonials that, like, for example, people in wheelchairs, up to um a quarter of their trips that they started, there are they aren't able to complete.

Um, so full fourth of their trips, they just have to give up on mid-trip because of obstructions in the built environment.

Um this is a direct outcome of failing to staff our uh ADA divisions, uh, ADA programs division uh failing to staff at least even the architectural uh associate that they've been asking for for upwards of a decade.

I take some responsibility in not pushing hard enough on getting that position funded and ask that you take that accountability with me, and that we move forward on getting this funded.

Um, this is not technically difficult.

This has been promised to the department in the past, and um and then withheld.

Financially, this should not be a big ask.

In fact, uh a quick uh cursory overview of our city attorney's annual reports over the past few years demonstrates millions of dollars, anywhere from three to eighteen million dollars per year on infrastructure settlements alone.

Uh an arch an architectural associate successfully mitigating even just one settlement, uh pays for one to twenty years of their salary by itself.

They should not be financially challenging.

Um we have some recommendations on how to move forward specifically.

For example, having those positions funded through an internal service funding model that takes from all departments equally instead of relying only on the Oak Doc budget, and um ask and would we are uh available to talk more and see this through.

I ask that before I'll be here um in the chambers throughout through the rest of the meeting and ask before you leave here today, come find me and set up some time to talk through this and please help us get this done this budget cycle so that we can bring more dignity to the lives of Oaklanders with disabilities.

Um that concludes my report.

Uh again, there's plenty of details not included in the uh attachments.

Happy to discuss more of those now or later.

And thank you so much for your time.

I appreciate the time support you've given us even as I ask for more of it.

Thank you, Anwar.

And I I do want to apologize and and hope you are feeling better for what happened to you.

That sounds incredibly scary and painful.

And so, yes, we do want to work towards making things safer in our community for people with disabilities in Oakland.

Um, Madam City Clerk, do you have uh do we have speakers on this item?

So I will entertain questions for our presenter from the committee.

Councilmember Guyot.

Thank you for the information.

For the for the public's uh understanding, can you define a person with disabilities?

How is that defined here in Oakland?

There are many different disabil uh many different definitions I could go on.

Um that are classically used are any person who has some sort of impairment that prevents um any sort of like key life function, such as mobility, um, like cognitive ability, um, things like that.

Uh, and spans um spans the gambit of uh like difficulty moving, difficulty hearing, like uh sensory disabilities, cognitive disabilities that make it hard to parse the environment around you.

And I point out that um no one uh everyone knows someone with a disability.

Everyone will eventually have a disability if they live long enough.

Um we have a large elderly population in Oakland, and I'm happy um to report that we are on good terms with like our uh commission on aging and we work together often.

Um and these are matters that also pertain to our youth who are also in some respects like uh don't have full accessibility to the world.

So so disability is defined more physical challenge that we have, not mental but physical.

Uh it is both.

Okay, and is there a an age group that you know to receive the services?

Do I have to be 35 and over to qualify for disability, or can I be 12 years old and be disabled and qualify?

And anyone can qualify if they have a disability, though you will eventually qualify just by matter, just by what age does to us, right?

Um and life, just as that is.

So so right now the city services that we're providing, the majority are providing to perhaps people with a disability that are on wheelchair can't walk physical, uh, but is what age group are we providing the housing and the other services?

Um I can't say for certain I'd want to follow up exactly, though I'd note that we aren't providing nearly as many services as we should be, and um that uh yeah, I'll leave it at that for now.

So so right now, so the services at Oakland provide those with disability are more housing related.

Um I would ask our uh department.

Um our access coordinator could better answer exactly what services they're able to provide, but generally they do a lot of behind the scenes work with staff to make sure that new housing, new uh transportation projects, new all sorts of things are um compliant, that we're building things accessibly.

Um I'd point out, like, and I've seen this through my advocacy as well that you cannot properly serve people with disabilities without experience with disability.

That lived experience is extremely crucial, and it's essential that we have staff within the city who know exactly what it's like to be disabled and who have those experiences so that everything we do because this touches everything we do, is done with a lens of disability.

Um when we fail to do that, it leads to um trauma and problems for people with disabilities.

It leads to a large amount of legal uh liability and settlements that we see, and it leads to a worse quality of life for our most vulnerable neighbors.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Guy.

Councilmember Wong.

I wanted to ask about the intersection of housing, older housing stock, and those with disabilities actually a neighbor of mine.

I uh learned had left my apartment building because uh we have a really crappy elevator and um it's it's an older housing unit and he had gotten injured and uh was not able to use the stairs and had recently learned.

I think that apartments that were uh older than the Costa Hawkins Act before 1983 are not covered by ADA.

Is that true?

Can you speak more about that?

Yes, and I think this is the subject of the Smith litigation where systematically um we cannot rent control any housing newer than I believe it's 1990.

Any housing um, however, the ADA only applies to housing newer than 1990, which means that there is a systematic gap where you literally cannot have um affordable rent controlled housing that is required to be ADA accessible.

Is there anything we can do about that?

Um, we're currently being sued for that right now, the city of Oakland.

We're currently yeah, we're currently being sued, and I um I think talking with city attorney and with our program staff um can help inform what our options are.

Um, but yes, I think that there is.

The the I I just want to interject.

What needs to happen in order for uh Oakland to be able to make these units available is to change state law.

This is state law that governs um Costa Hawkins.

You know, there were several attempts to repeal Costa Hawkins over the years.

I'm very familiar with those efforts, but it's it because we are bound by that, there's very little the city of Oakland can do right now.

So just to answer your question, but we should support any efforts that occur at the statewide level.

Yeah, that's my personal perspective.

No, makes sense.

Um, and then there's this elevator ordinance enforcement.

Uh do you mind educating us on what what is that elevator ordinance?

So this is ordered to be passed just in a couple years, modeled after modeled after an ordinance that's existed in Berkeley for almost three decades that basically is supposed to um put fines on buildings that fail to notice and repair elevators within um 24 hours to a week, depending on the circumstance.

Umtably the enforcement for that new ordinance falls on the people who are affected by it.

They need to basically seek those damages themselves, which is a massive barrier, and effectively makes enforcement extremely difficult.

Got it.

As to say we have a new law in the book that should help with this elevator problem, but the way it's implemented makes it hard to enforce it.

Okay, interesting.

Thank you.

So I'm I'm aware that there has been a request for the life enrichment committee to help support advocacy with the mayor's office and um some other budget requests.

The budget requests would be a full city council asked, and so that's why I'm going to recommend that we move this to the full city council so that we can have those conversations at that time.

I think they're pertinent.

Again, as you stated, and while in your presentation, um those commitments have already been made.

So we just need to follow up with that second step.

So I will make a motion for this item to be.

I'll wait for the city clerk to okay.

I'm gonna make a motion for this item to be moved to the full city council on non-consent.

Thank you, Chair Fife.

We do have a motion to make it by Chair Five, seconded by Councilmember Gaio to receive and forward this item to the June 2nd City Council agenda on roll, Councilmember Gallo.

Aye.

Councilmember Houston.

Aye.

Councilmember Juan.

Aye.

And Chair Five?

Aye.

This motion passes with four eyes to receive and forward this item to the June 2nd City Council agenda, and the request was for non-consent.

Moving to moving to item four.

Adopt a resolution one amending resolution number nine through eight one nine to extend their agreement with city span technologies for 12 months for the client services and contract database ongoing grants management licensing, user support, project management, and custom programming for Oakland fund for children and youth funded programs in an amount not to exceed 200,000 for July 1st, 26th to June 30th, 27, and waiving the competitive multi-step solicitation process for the acquisition of computerized of information technologies and waiving local and small local business enterprise requirements and there are no speakers.

Good afternoon, LEC Chair Fife and fellow council members.

My name is Robin Love, and I'm the Children and Youth Services Manager within the Human Services Department.

I am here today to seek your approval to proceed with amending resolution 90819 to extend the contract with City Span Technologies for our uh client services and contract database, ongoing grants, management licensing, user support, and uh project management and custom programming.

This extension will allow us to uh continue with the smooth onboarding of new programs and offboarding of old programs during the transitional phase as we have recently closed our RFP and are getting geared up for a fiscal year 26-27.

It'll also allow us staff time to adequately prepare, publish, and fully conduct the information technologies professional service requests for proposals, which was released and is currently open for all vendors.

City span technologies received a zero um availability analysis from the from Du West, the Department of Workforce and Employment Standards.

Without this database, as you can see by our waiver um justification, we will not be able to conduct effectively and efficiently the business of managing our grants.

We'll have more grants this year, and so this database is vital and essential for us to uh do the work that we need to do around grants management, it increases accuracy, it reduces errors, and it allows me to uh receive an expenditure report uh in real time so I can manage our funds as well as all agency reporting is entered into this city span database.

We have also opened up city span to uh the Office of Workforce Development Board for the Mayor Summer Youth Employment Program, so that they now are uh working with their grantees uh in City Span.

I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have.

Colleagues, yes, Councilmember Gaio.

Working with city span technologies, so within the human services department, we have a few divisions that actually have a city span uh technologies and the database.

We have significantly invested and built out the database to accommodate our specific needs.

There are early conversations about how can uh city span uh be uh shared with other departments and what the cost would look like uh because it is a very robust database and allows us to do so many things, including produce the data uh about who we serve and the demographics.

And they would they report directly to who within the city of Oakland to you then?

Yes, okay.

So we uh contract directly with City Span Technologies.

Okay, thank you.

And we meet weekly.

Uh, okay.

I'll second.

Thank you.

We have a motion made by Councilmember Gallo seconded by Chair Five to approve the recommendations of staff and afford this item to the June 2nd City Council agenda on roll.

Councilmember Guyo.

Aye, Councilmember Houston, aye.

Councilmember Wong.

Aye.

And Chair Fife.

Aye.

This motion passes with four ayes to approve the recommendations of staff and afford this item to the June 2nd City Council agenda and through the maker, is it a consent or non-consent?

Consent.

Thank you.

Moving to item six.

And I'm Robin Love.

I haven't changed my title.

I'm the children and youth services manager within the human services department.

I'm here today to seek your authorization to amend resolution 900.

Ms.

Love.

Are you for item six as well?

I thought we switched them so my two would be together.

Yes, ma'am.

I would need to read it into record really quick.

Going too fast.

No.

Thank you.

Uh reading in item number six.

Adopt the resolution, amending resolution number 90310, which awarded Oakland Fund of Children and Youth grants providing direct services for fiscal year 24 through 25 to replace the lead agency for the Healthy Wealthy Wise program from children and outreach children and youth outreach to the youth employment partnership without changing the grant award amount to 225,000.

And there are no speakers for this item.

Thank you.

I wanted to bring it back to you as soon as possible in order to get your authorization.

YEP has exceeded or met the majority of all their objectives.

They are located in the Frueville neighborhood, and we're excited that they were able to absorb this program because it is vital to the uh children and youth that it serves.

And I'm happy to answer any questions you may have.

Councilmember Guy.

Okay.

No, just um I want to thank um your leadership in terms of reaching out to youth employment programs.

I and for the members of the public, uh, the YAP has it's a program, the neighborhood's been around for many years.

Uh, not only you know providing these services, but also helping youngsters that want to continue their education, to receive their diplomas, but also to learn they learn how to build construction, building portable shares for the homeless and down the street, and most of all, I just want to publicly thank YAP because they're out there cleaning my neighborhood with me, and they come out and take care of the streets that we work on and not only their own immediate neighborhood, but uh, but uh thank you for this information and I'm honored to make a motion to approve the item.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We have a motion made by Councilmember Guyo, seconded by Councilmember Houston to approve the recommendations of staff and afford this item to the June 2nd City Council agenda on roll.

Councilmember Gaio.

Aye.

Councilmember Houston.

Aye.

Councilmember Wong.

Aye.

And Chair Fife?

Aye.

This motion does pass with four ayes to approve the recommendations of staff and afford this item to the June 2nd City Council agenda through the body that will be on consent or non.

Consent.

Thank you moving to item five adopt a resolution directing the city administrator to develop an amortization program to relocate industrial recycling facilities operated by the California waste solutions and CAS Inc.

from areas in the West Oakland to address negative environmental impacts on local residents and proceed to planning commission and immortalization legislation no later than December the 31st 2026 and there are no speakers okay do we have Brendan Moriarty in is he here I just wanted to make sure you were here just in case you had the planning department is here too if you need that okay so this is an item that I am bringing forward to this body it is been a long time coming that West Oakland does significant work to address recyclers and just over overarching the overarching issue of pollution in in the district um and this is one of the ways that we are trying to do that relocating heavy industry from residential neighborhoods is a longstanding community and city objective particularly for West Oakland residents who've been subject to disproportionate exposure from polluting industries although I'm the council member for West Oakland at this time I've been a longtime supporter and advocate for environmental issues across the city from East Oakland to West Oakland I've spent the last 10 years in coalition with residents everyday residents who are trying to move polluting industries out of their neighborhoods and in 2012 the city revised its redevelopment plan for the Oakland Army base to include relocation of California waste solutions and CAS from the West Oakland neighborhood to the North Gateway area on the Oakland Army base as a key community benefit this resolution details the decade long effort to relate relocate these two recyclers per the revised redevelopment plan including ENAs and an LDD I should probably say exclusive negotiating agreement a lease and development disposition agreement with CW CWS specifically so I'm trying to not use acronyms so much.

However due to circumstances outside of the city's control including parties not meeting the terms of their agreements all contracts have lapsed which has left the city the opportunity to explore alternatives for relocating these recyclers as a point of clarification the memo that is in your packet states that all agreements have lapsed as of December 2022 I want to note that that date applies only to CAS with regard to CWS the LDDA termination notice was sent to the city in May of 2025 I want to define what amortization is because a lot of people don't know amortization is a process by which jurisdictions like the city of Oakland can phase out nonconforming land use after a period of time that is sufficient to allow the owner of the business or the property to relocate the city's adopted environmental justice element of the city's 2045 general plan identifies amortization as a process to allow the city to identify and prioritize non-conforming land uses which would include existing polluting industries like truck intensive uses auto body uses recycling uses and more to phase out over time um we are going to use this process we are seeking to use this process and we're asking to work with the city administrator's office to bring back specific legislation amortization is also discussed in the West Oakland specific plan in line with the city's development the in line with the city's planning documents the proposed legislation directs the city administrator to one develop an amortization legislation timeline, including making any necessary findings, developing a specific timeframe for amortization to occur, and creating a list of alternative sites to reload relocate industrial recycling facilities operated by California waste solutions and CAS, and then two, to proceed to the planning commission with amortization legislation no later than December of this year in preparation for the council's consideration.

I hope that was clear.

I'm willing to answer any questions.

We also have our city staff here who are able to answer questions as well.

But basically, what I'm asking for this body to do is move legislation through life enrichment to the full city council to phase out these two major polluters out of West Oakland and to find alternative sites for them.

And we have no speakers on this item, so it's all this committee.

Councilmember Wong.

So um effort.

They are related, but they are also not directly related.

The connecting factor is that there has been expressed interest in utilizing the army base for these two sites, as stated in my comments.

Both of these sites, are both of these organizations, CAS and CWS, both had contracts to develop at that location, but over the years they've fallen out of their contracts with the city of Oakland.

So because they weren't able to fulfill the aspects of those contracts, the site is available for alternative uses.

Okay.

It's like almost complimentary.

Okay, say that.

Um then I I have a question, I think that is for Brendan.

This list of alternative sites, do are we restricted to looking at alternative sites in Oakland, or I mean, these are companies that operate regionally.

To the chair, my name is Brendan Moriarty, director of real estate, and uh we'll follow the direction of the of the resolution, what the legislation um asks us to do.

Um and I don't recall, does it specifically say Oakland only?

Um, does not it looks like my goal would be to keep the organization, well, one specific one, the one we're still in contract with for recycling services in the city of Oakland.

Okay, not in a residential neighborhood where there are consistent fires, consistent impacts to the overall health of our residents in those locations.

But again, I would prefer that we are able to continue to um experience the revenue that we receive from those organizations, but the health of the constituents that I serve is the top priority.

Yeah, okay.

Councilmember Houston, I see your your light on, and then I council member guy, did you have questions as well?

No, thank you, and thank you for bringing this up.

As we've we've had uh here at the city of Oakland a long historical challenge with CWS, and specifically in this area, locating their recycling or a location for them to since they pick up their our recycle goods from every home, and the challenge has us always been in challenging with waste management where waste management has a facility, CWS didn't have one, and when we started this whole process, and but certainly I don't want those sites located in my district at all.

Not even come nearby.

Maybe Ken will be open to that, but not in my area, and um, but I thought uh, Madam Chair Person, I thought that one is, you know, I'm not sure what the deadline is to renew the contract with CWS with recycling, because that's gonna be a challenge, and uh so what's with uh waste management going together.

Um but so I'm I can understand, you know, in terms of removing that operation uh from West Oakland, uh, but I don't have have any idea where I would locate that in Oakland and certainly don't want it in our neighborhoods.

Uh so good luck with that process.

Thank you.

And it's more of a legal.

Thank you, Councilmember Guy.

Councilmember Houston.

Through the chair.

I thought of CWS they lost their they lost their their contract right with the Army Bay.

So they're stuck to where they are unless they find some other location, right?

Okay.

And since we're talking about property, someone is gonna come up and speak about something that I want the city administrator and the city attorney to address us on the record so um we know as a city how we're gonna move on helping my small business in my district.

So that'll be an open form.

Understood, thank you.

If there are no other questions, I will make a motion to move this to the full city council.

Uh it will probably need more debate though, I'm sure.

Yeah.

Okay.

So I have a motion by councilmember Houston.

I mean, I'm sorry, second.

I made the motion a second by Councilmember Houston to non-consent.

Yeah.

And thank you, Chair Five, to correct my mispronunciation of the word is an organization.

We do have a motion made by Council Chair Five, seconded by Councilmember Houston to approve the recommendations of staff and report to sign until the June 2nd.

2026 city council agenda on rural, Councilmember Guyo.

Aye.

Councilmember Houston.

I councilmember Wong.

I and Chair Fife.

Aye.

And I do want to thank the planning and building department, whoever is over there representing that was available to answer questions.

Give me one second.

I need to finish the motion.

Oh, one second.

I'm sorry.

And thank you to um, thank you to real estate.

Four eyes, the committee approved the recommendations of staff before decide until the June 2nd, 2026 City Council agenda and the request was non-consent.

Moving to open forum.

I would also like to thank the city clerk for putting up with my shenanigans and uh appreciate you immensely.

Thank you.

It is it's so wonderful to be here.

Want to call your name, please approach the podium, state your name for the record.

You do have two minutes.

If you're participating via Zoom, please raise your hand, so you're easily identified, and we will take in person before a Zoom speakers.

Anthony Del Toro, David Boatwright, Jeffrey Kayo, and excuse me for mispronouncing your name as well.

Rosa Gyron, Lara Cabral, Cabrol, Yasmin Villabala, Villa Balba, Brianna Gomez, Pamela Lopez.

If I called your name, please refer to the podium, state state your name for the record, and you do have two minutes.

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

My name is Excuse me, I'm sorry.

One moment.

I I do want to allow Councilmember Houston to say uh a couple words before you speak.

Yes, uh through the chair as a uh the the representative of district seven have a business owner here that's very responsible to speaking at open forum about this this uh real estate piece that he can explain more, and I just wanted it on the record so the city attorney, the city administrator can help him move through this piece.

So Anthony, go ahead, boss.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, uh council.

Thank you for having me.

Um so basically my my situation is a little different.

Um I am a business owner.

I used to work in the nonprofit sector for about 10 years, ran a uh organization called uh California Youth Outreach with Mr.

Henry Woods and um did that for about 10 years, opened up a body shop so I can help kids do my own business.

Long story short, there's a there's an organization that's at the corner of my body shop that the city of Oakland owns that they got illegal permits to basically build a hundred and fifty thousand dollar portable on my property.

Now, I don't know about you guys, but I don't know nobody that can build and get permits in any one of your guys' backyard.

So how can they do that in mine?

I've helped the community, I've given jobs, I've donated, I've done everything I was supposed to do as a community person, and now I um I have to sell my lot because we're gonna purchase a different lot to expand the business.

I've already got I've already lost two potential clients because the person doesn't want to leave, and it's an organization that the city of Oakland is given the authority to not move.

So I don't know what else to do.

I reached out to Mr.

Kent.

Um he's my he's in my district.

I I'm I'm I don't know what else to do.

You know what I mean?

And and I know that if it was any one of your guys', you guys would be doing a lot more than what I'm getting, you know, help with, and it's just very frustrating.

I'm a business owner, I pay taxes.

Um I clean up my own neighborhood.

Um I do a lot because there's a our district is very uncertain.

I mean, it's just un underserved.

And I mean, I know Kent Kent's out there by himself out there with us helping us, doing whatever we can do.

Um, at this point, it's just frustrating.

So as a business owner and as somebody who's done their due diligence with the community, what uh what would what else?

Thank you for your comment.

I apologize, I did miss the top, but the city attorney, city I could repeat it.

I do have a quick question.

Can I ask a question?

Can you uh tell me the name of your business and where you're located?

We own that it's right on the corner and right across the street.

There's a lot.

Um I don't have it's two parcels, I don't have the addresses in front of me, even though I own them, but it's two parcels.

It's on Pittman Street and the East Bay Boxing Association, which is a great organization that the Lady Donna's doing everything she can do.

Uh so I'm not knocking her, but I it, you know, she is the ED, and I just want to know what it is that we can do together because she's like left without resources.

I mean as the person like I think I got it.

What do I what do I do?

I think I got it.

And I don't know how you guys got permits to get on my lot.

That's just crazy.

Like I don't understand that.

I think we're gonna the city administrator's office is going to help you kind of think through that that issue.

Thank you.

Yeah, we can follow up.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Please state your name for the record.

Uh, my name is Jeffrey Cow.

Maybe begin.

Dear council members, my name is Jeffrey.

And today I come to speak on behalf of the mental health crisis affecting our community.

One in five members of our community are affected by a mental health disorder.

And surveys show that more than 50% cannot find the help that they need with policies like macro, already supporting our community and policies like Prop One having major implications on how we budget uh around this issue.

We have already completed the hardest step starting.

However, it is more important that we do not forget that we still have some ways to go.

School-based health centers are currently caught between scrambling for compensation from insurance companies and very volatile funding from pop prop 30 uh 63 and now prop one.

Prop 63 fluctuates with the economy, and prop one is a bond, it's a one-time payment that doesn't sit system uh systematically solve for anything.

By establishing some sort of baseline uh funding annually for them, young citizens affected by mental health issues can finally find help.

Creating a community where people feel safe seeking treatment is essential if we want to continue fighting for a healthier and better city overall.

Mental health affects students, families, workers, people of all ages throughout our city.

When people cannot access treatment, the effects are felt across the entire community, from schools and workplaces to public safety and homelessness services.

As a life enrichment committee, committee, you play a key role in shaping the health and well-being of our community.

I urge you to prioritize, I urge you to prioritize preventative uh mental health care and ensure that future funding decisions go towards access to early treatment for those who need it most instead of late, reaction-based treatment.

So when voting on budgeting for mental health policies, please do not think about it as just another piece of legislation, but as a way to benefit 90,000 members of our community.

Thank you for your time.

Hi, good evening.

My name's Laura Cabran.

I don't know if my time starts yet.

Thank you.

I'm the program director of the Safe Passages Baby Learning Communities Collaborative Program that's been funded by OFCY for 15 years.

I want to thank all the council members and OFCY for the support throughout this time.

We've been able to reach thousands of families in Oakland, children and their parents during that time.

And I'm here to support the grant recommendations that are gonna come to you soon.

And uh thank OFCY and the POC for just how committed they are to funding as many kids and youth as possible.

Um a lot of the funding went to older youth um this time and which is much needed and we appreciate it as an organization.

We fund from the spectrum from early childhood to um young adults.

Um started in our programs 15 16 years ago are now teenagers, so they need that funding as well.

Many of them are in workforce development programs serving our program now and giving back to the program and their community.

So we are very much in favor of the recommendations and the older youth funding, but as a uh early childhood program, we're also here as advocates for the little ones and their families.

So we would like um for OFCY reserve funding to be dedicated to um early childhood funding and funding more of these programs that are not just programs like playgroups and workshops, but we connect families early on to other resources and um really special opportunities that we've been using your investment to offer courses to offer um also just additional support for health and uh mental health related needs for families and just essential needs as well, like food distributions, diapers, and that need.

Thank you for your comment.

Thank you.

Good evening.

Uh my name is Yasmin, and I am here to be have on the Safe Patch Baby Learning Community Collibert program.

I have I am a parent of Ford Children's and uh resident of East Oakland.

Thank you for your continuing dedication to children's and families in Oakland.

I I am in support of the upcoming OFCY grant recommendations.

I want to acknowledge the difficult decisions that were made when selecting proposals and understand why more funding was dedicated towards older youth.

I have two teenage boys and appreciate the support provided to teens.

I am also the mother of two young children.

So I would like to request all LCY reserve funds be dedicated to early childhood and elementary after school programs.

I have experience in the impact programs like the Safe Passage Baby Learning can have on families.

The program connects me to Alameda County Office of Education Opportunity Academy of the Safe Pass Wellness Center.

I am receiving my high school diploma this summer through the academy, and the program has offered me support through my time at their academy.

It is, it is a type of special support offered by early childhood programs to provide additional service that will be missing unless we dedicate more funds to early childhood.

Please consider committing all FCY reserve funds for early childhood and elementary programs after school.

Thank you.

Congratulations on your degree.

Um hello, my name is Brianna Gomez.

And I am here today representing the story.

The Safe Passages Baby Learning Program.

I want to thank OFCY and City Council members for helping to fund early childhood programs that have helped so many families, including mine.

The program has been part of my life since I was a child.

My mom attended the playgroups of me and my younger siblings, and through those programs, she found community support and lasting relationships, including meeting my godmother Vero, who's also part of Safe Passages herself.

Now, years later, I have the opportunity to give back to the same community that wants supported my family.

And through Safe Passages Baby Learning Program, I have help with food distributions, toy distributions during the holidays, and um giving back to those families that are in need.

I have seen firsthand how these programs bring people together and create safe, supportive spaces for children and parents.

Early childhood programs are not just programs.

They are opportunities for families to feel more connected, supported, and empowered.

That is why committing future funding to early childhood and elementary school after school programs is so important.

When we invest in early learning and community support, we also invest in the future of Oakland's children and families.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you for your comments.

Ms.

Love, are you still in the building?

Okay.

Okay.

After we're done, can the city administrator's office or someone from your department speak to these, speak to this organization about what their asks are?

Yes, I can do that.

Oh, okay.

Thank you.

You haven't seen individuals yet.

No, ma'am.

Thank you.

Hi.

My name is Rosa Giron and I work for Safe Passages Baby Learning Community Collaboration Program.

And I have had the honor of working for that pro for the program for 16 years and serving so many wonderful Oakland families.

I would like to thank of FCY and this committee for the support and dedication to children and families in Oakland.

For the last 16 years, I have seen firsthand how programs like baby learning help families with young children grow and build strong connections.

I would like to request committing OFCY reserve funds to early childhood and elementary after school programs.

Well done.

Okay.

Um hi, my name is Pamela Lopez.

I am here today to support the OFCY grant recommendation that will be presented to this committee in an upcoming meeting.

I am also here to ask that you consider funding more early childhood programs through OFCY reserve funds.

Early childhood programs serve families who depend on this resource and safe spaces to help their child grow.

Every child deserves opportunity to learn, grow, play in a safe, supportive environment without more funding.

Many families will lose access to programs that truly make a difference in their child's lives and futures.

Early childhood programs are not only beneficial beneficial for children today, but they are also an investment in the future of our community.

Thank you for your continued support and funding for programs like baby learning.

We understand that there are many important programs that are limited funds to advocate.

We truly appreciate what OFCY had already made in the early childhood um education and families we serve consider funding the more early childhood programs through OFC Wide Reserve Funds.

Thank you.

David Bowright.

These comments apply not only to the life enrichment committee items.

I believe the effectiveness of all city measures and significant projects, including grants to outside entities be required to make at least semi annual periodic brief reports to the related city committees.

Better follow up and oversight of city operations will aid in decreasing time and money losses that are currently occurring in too many occasions.

The only regular example of this city awareness effort is the crime reporting by the police department.

Oh it's almost five o'clock this meeting is adjourned at 4 59 pm thank you, I'm not sure if you're a little bit more important, necessarily services de traduction for acceder to the services delivery.

Members del publication simply entering in contact in la biblioteca or reservando una facility para una fiesta de cucianios communicarlo a un member del personal solo tiene que pedirlo minimizar los tiempos de espera para la interpretación solicitando assistente linguistica con a reunion publicity auriculares de traduction.

El personal municipal necessitar tempo para organizar la gada del people a lugar de la reuniona force recommendable solicitarlo con la Officina de Access in sus propios terminals in su idioma y ofrecerle la mejor experiencia possible que la ciudad of access igualitary.

Hello, Oakland.

I'm Mayor Barbara Lee, and today I want you to hear one clear message.

Immigrants help make this city strong, and your city is here for you.

Now I know Oaklanders are concerned about the safety of our immigrant communities as federal enforcement activity is escalating across the country.

We stand firmly with our immigrant communities.

Oakland is a sanctuary city, and we will not be intimidated by federal operations designed to create fear and division.

So regardless of your status, you should always feel safe to ask a police officer for help, call 911 to report an emergency or visit city offices to access services.

Now, if you're looking for support, visit our city website for know your rights information.

This resource is available for everyone, individuals, families, organizations, city workers, and even elected officials.

We heard you, Oakland.

You want more connected neighborhoods and better access to housing jobs and everyday essentials.

The draft lands use framework for Oakland's general plan shows how we can make that vision real.

There are many different ways that language access services can be used throughout the city.

From brochures and fact sheets that are in multiple languages to bilingual staff that can provide live translation services.

Here are some of the ways that the City of Oakland can help you get more out of your city government.

With our city website information is available in multiple languages with the click of a button.

And like our bilingual service, over the phone interpreters, video interpreting, and in person interpretations can be provided.

All you have to do is ask.

Necessitive services of traduction for accidental services of the government of the city.

Solo tiene que pedirlo.

What happens if you want to install municipality but necessarily services linguistics?

Members of the publication or interpretation simply with the personal municipality when we enter in contact.

Hello, Oakland.

I'm Mayor Barbara Lee, and today I want you to hear one clear message.

Immigrants help make this city strong, and your city is here for you.

Now I know Oaklanders are concerned about the safety of our immigrant communities as federal enforcement activity is escalating across the country.

We stand firmly with our immigrant communities.

Oakland is a sanctuary city, and we will not be intimidated by federal operations designed to create fear and division.

No city employee will ever ask for your immigration status.

So regardless of your status, you should always feel safe to ask a police officer for help.

Now, if you're looking for support, visit our city website for know your rights information.

This resource is available for everyone, individuals, families, organizations, city workers, and even elected officials.

We will protect the town.

La ciudad está aquí para apoyarlos.

Sabemos que muchas familias están preocupados por lo que está pasando in todo el país.

Oakland is una ciudad sanctuary and no vamos a permitir actions that we can cause money or divide a nuestra community.

Good evening and welcome to the Public Safety Committee meeting of Tuesday, May 26, 2026.

The time is now six oh seven p.m.

and this meeting may come to order.

Before taking roll, I will provide instructions on how to submit speaker cards for items on this agenda.

If you're here with us in chamber and would like to submit a speaker card, please fill one out and turn one into myself or a clerk representative no later than 10 minutes after the start of this meeting or before the item is read into record.

Registering to speak via Zoom is now due 24 hours prior to the start of this meeting time.

This meeting came to order at six.

Oh seven p.m.

and speaker cards will no longer be accepted ten minutes after, making that time six seventeen p.m.

We'll now proceed with taking roll.

Council members Brown.

Present five present.

Houston is excused and Chair Wong.

Present.

Thank you.

We have three members present, one excused Houston.

Chair, before we begin, do you have any announcements at this time?

I do not.

Oh yeah, except I will be moving um agenda item number six up as the first thing after we do the schedule of outstanding committee items.

Okay.

Thank you.

Noting the change of the order of the agenda to hear item number six after item two.

Moving on to item one, approval of the draft minutes from the committee meeting of May twelfth, two thousand twenty-six.

We have no speakers.

We just need a motion.

Second.

Thank you.

That's a motion made by Councilmember Brown, seconded by Councilmember Five to accept the appropriate draft minutes from the committee meeting of May twelfth, two thousand twenty-six.

On roll council members brown.

Aye.

Five.

Aye.

Houston's excuse and Chair Wong.

Aye.

Aye.

Thank you.

Item number one passes with three eyes, one excused.

Houston.

Reading in item two, determination of schedule about standing committee items.

And we have one speaker that signed up to speak.

Okay.

Colleagues, uh, city administration.

Do the chair, I have nothing.

Okay, thank you.

Move approval of the um pending list.

Okay, great.

Second.

Yes, we'll go to public comment.

Thank you.

Calling in the name that signed up to speak on item number two, Rajani Mandal.

Rajni, you can unmute yourself and begin your comments.

Rajni Mandel district four.

This is regarding the NSA update.

Uh, for tomorrow's federal court hearing on Oakland's negotiated settlement agreement.

I wanted to take a moment to recognize something important.

For the first time in the history of the NSA process, OPD has reached compliance with all 51 tasks.

A milestone that reflects years of work and more recently, extraordinary collaboration.

I want to acknowledge the leadership and efforts of Mayor Barbara Lee, Chief James Beer, Assistant City Administrator Michelle Phillips, Deputy Chief Lisa Osmus, Deputy Chief Aaron Smith, City Attorney Brian Richardson, Bridget Martin, and many staff across OPD, the City Administrator's Office, City Attorney's Office, who have worked tirelessly behind the leadership and collaboration that have brought Oakland here.

Tomorrow's hearing will likely focus not on whether progress has happened, but whether it can last.

Thank you for your comments.

Chair that concludes all speakers on this item, and we do have a motion.

We have a motion made by Council Member Brown, seconded by Council Member Five to accept the determination of scheduled outstanding committee items as is on roll.

Council members Brown.

Aye.

Five.

Aye.

Houston's excuse and Chair Wong.

Aye.

Thank you.

Item number two passes with three ayes, one excuse Houston to accept the panning list as is.

Now going on to item number six.

Adopt a resolution approving the 2026 to 2030 community violity violence reduction plan as required by the Oakland Community Violence Reduction and Emergency Responses Response Act of 2024, Measure N, and approved by the Oakland Public Safety Planning and Oversight Commission.

And there are three speakers that signed up to speak on this item.

Great.

Felicia, are you giving the presentation today?

Hey Felicia, how's it going?

Good afternoon, Chair Wong and members of the committee, Felicia Burden, City Administrator's Office.

The presentation will be made by the chair of the OPSPAC, Oakland Public Safety Planning and Oversight Commission, Yuana Chukleva, and Vice Chair Julia Owens, and they were both here to present this afternoon.

Great.

Thanks for clarifying that.

You guys have the floor.

Okay, good evening, everybody.

Thank you, Councilmember Wang.

Thank you so much, Council members, and now to all the community members who are here.

It is an honor to stand before you tonight to talk about the four-year violence reduction plan that we have developed in collaboration with our three superstar departments.

And I before I begin, I just want to name that I was the chair up until last week.

Now I'm just the commissioner.

And our actual chair, Julia Owens, is here with us today as well.

And Vice Chair Carrie Gutierrez will be joining us shortly.

And we have with us also Deputy Chief Tedesco from the police department, Chief Covington from the fire department, and I think Chief Joshi is here, or she will be on her way shortly since we changed the agenda item time.

And they will also speak briefly as well.

And here tonight, we are going to present our uh community violence reduction plan for the years 2026 to 2030.

Um our presentation will cover a very brief reminder of what measure and does, a synthesis of our process for developing the plan, and an overview of the plan's four-year goals, metrics, and strategies.

We're gonna move through this presentation at a lightning speed.

We've been given 12 minutes, so we're gonna be really, really fast.

So there's plenty of time for questions.

And actually, it would be really great if we could get the slides on up on the screen.

I'm not sure.

Ah, okay, wonderful.

Can we go to the next slide, please?

So, as you all know, measure and end was approved by about 71% of voters in 2024 to provide stable funding through parcel and parking taxes to support violence prevention efforts in our cities.

It has three key objectives to reduce homicides, robberies, carjackings, break-ins, domestic violence, and all gun-related violence.

Number two, to improve Naiwan response times.

Number three, to reduce the incidence of human trafficking, including the sexual exploitation of minors.

Every year, the measure is projected to raise 24 to 20 uh 45 to 47 million dollars.

If we can go back to the next slide, that would be great.

Of which about three million go to the fire department, 23 million or um 60% of the rest after administrative expenses and net um annual um budget and financial expenses go to police services, and the last 40% go to the uh to violence prevention services.

And the measure created us, this OPSPOC, the Oakland Public Safety Planning and Oversight Commission to ensure accountability for taxpayer dollars.

And we can go to the next slide.

So we are a five-member citizen planning and oversight commission appointed by the mayor.

Um, this is a photo of us.

This is my little baby.

As you can hear, she's upset that I'm not with her in this moment.

Um so she make more she might make more appearances.

But we're appointed by the mayor, always to provide oversight of measure and end funding, develop the community violence reduction plan, evaluate the implementation and impact of the plan, and make policy recommendations to city council.

Our vision is for everybody in Oakland to be able to live free of violence, and our mission is to provide oversight, accountability, and truly transparency to the community.

Everything we have done so far has been about being accountable to the goals of the measure and showing our community the measure and then will make a difference.

And if we go to the next slide, so the um the we're responsible for developing a four-year community violence reduction plan, like I mentioned.

The plan has to describe community needs related to violence reduction impact goals and outcome metrics and strategies for how we're gonna get there.

As mandated by the measure, the plan incorporates the spending plans of each department, and it essentially does this: it takes the spending plans, zooms out, and sets a high-level strategic direction for violence reduction in our city, while the departments themselves make all programmatic and implementation decisions.

And if we go to the next slide, it's a brief overview of the process we've taken to get here.

In the fall, we work closely with the police department, fire department, department of violence prevention to discuss their public safety priorities and to set together strategies and metrics for success.

We then consulted with a lot of the city agencies.

We spoke with the with the city administrators' office, the city attorney's office, the finance department, the mayor's office, the budget, the director of the uh of the budget, of the audit, auditor Houston, the Department of Race Inequity, and also as well, we spoke with some of you in developing the original goals and strategies.

And we also held focus groups with community members and community-based organizations that are doing violence prevention work that are focusing on human trafficking as well as the measure and coalition and some of the department of violence prevention staff.

In March, we refined all those strategies and then we drafted our plan.

Then we send the plan to all of you for your input, and we also shared it out with the public because we wanted to get as much feedback as possible.

We held five community listening sessions, one online and four in person, one here, one in East Oakland, West Oakland, Fruitville, because we wanted to hear from communities that are most impacted by violence.

Um, and so here we are today.

You have the final version in your hands.

We hope that you approve it so that you can bring it to the full city council meeting on June 2nd.

Um, and the plan will then go into effect on July 1st as required by the measure.

And we and just want to preface um and and note here that um if you were to vote for approval of the this plan, you're not changing any of the budgeting processes, procurement processes, or financial processes the city already has.

The departments still need to develop their budgets and their spending plans in collaboration with the finance department.

What this plan simply does is sets a strategic roadmap for where we are going for violence reduction in the city as required by the measure itself.

So everything in this plan, as we've confirmed with the city attorney's office, complies with the law, and you see you as city council members, you know, continue to have all the authority they already have in approving budgets and making uh other decisions for our city.

So, with that, I'm gonna pass the mic to oops, uh vice chair, vice chair Gutierrez, who's uh joining us right now.

I'm just gonna give her a second to situate herself because she came right on time.

Thank you.

Okay, hi, good evening, council members.

Thank you so much for uh making the time to meet with us, and apologies for my uh tardiness.

Um, so this next slide.

Uh you all know this uh slide, it's really about how uh crime in Oakland has uh gone down through many different categories.

So, in respect of time, we're gonna move past this.

Feel free to take a look at that in your packet.

Next slide.

All right, so themes from community listening sessions.

So, in addition to relying on quantitative data, our listening sessions and other community engagement activities helped surface other critical community needs.

What we heard in these meetings was support for one more upstream youth violence, uh youth prevention Services in Oakland.

Two, renewed commitments to community policing, and three, greater investments in addressing commercial sexual exploitation.

Although the community violence reduction plan cannot do it all, the strategies laid out in the C VRP are designed to sustain and build on the momentum the city has made in violence reduction to accelerate improvement in areas requiring greater investment and ensure reductions in crime and violence are experienced equitably across Oakland communities.

Next slide.

Okay, so now we're going to share with you the community violence reduction plan's four year community violence reduction goals and an overview of the 12 strategies designed to achieve these goals.

So we're going to start with the first seven.

The four-year community violence reduction goals established by the commission and departments are these.

One, reduce homicides and non-fatal shootings annually by 10% through 2030.

Two, reduce domestic violence, sexual assault, commercial sexual exploitation crimes by 10% by 2030.

Three, improve clearance rates for violent crimes named in Measure N, including homicides, robberies, carjackings, domestic violence, and gun related violence by 10% by 2030.

Four, and I think this is a very important one because while we have statistics that really represent that crime is going down, it's also very important for us to make sure that we're measuring how people feel.

So four, improve feelings of safety, resilience, and reduce trauma among people served through direct services funded by Measure N by 2030.

Five, improve 911 answering speeds such that 90% of all 911 calls are answered within 15 seconds by 2030.

6.

Improve OPD response times to meet the state average of five minutes for violent crimes by 2030.

And seven, maintain a sworn police force of at least 700 police personnel and at least 480 firefighters by 2030.

Okay, and now I'm going to pass it to Commissioner Julia.

Hello.

Nice to see you all again.

These strategies were developed to achieve these goals and are organized by three main functional areas: direct intervention for people most affected by violence, strengthening Oakland public safety systems, and improving emergency response.

Next slide, please.

One more.

So the majority of funding is allocated to strategies one through four, which are direct interventions for people impacted by violence and are led by DVP and OPD.

Strategy one supports direct wraparound services for people at the highest risk of gun violence, including outreach, hospital-based intervention, and life coaching.

Services supported under this strategy are provided by the DVP staff and CVO grantees.

Strategy two supports OPD's implementation of ceasefire, the city's focused deterrence strategy.

It funds sworn personnel to conduct enforcement operations and collaboration to reduce street group and network-related shootings and homicides, decrease recidivism and incarceration for individuals engaged in violence, and strengthen trust between communities and public safety systems.

Strategy three funds the development of crime reduction teams within OPD, or excuse me, funds the deployment of crime reduction teams within OPD, which are tasked with investigating and responding to violent crimes in areas of the city that are hardest hit by violence and crime.

CRTs operate as a cross-functional resource within OPD, leading complex high-risk operations and providing essential support to ceasefire, the special victims unit, homicide, robbery, and local and federal task forces.

Strategy four supports the provision of direct services to survivors of domestic violence or commercial sexual exploitation.

Similar to the CVI strategy or services in Strategy 1, these direct services are provided by DVP staff and CBO grantees.

For strategies five through nine, these will strengthen Oakland's public safety system.

Strategy five supports a multi-pronged recruitment and retention efforts to achieve and maintain the minimum staffing levels of sworn and non-sworn personnel as required by Measure NN.

Strategy six supports activities designed to foster and sustain trust between OPD and the residents of Oakland, which may include community engagement activities, communication efforts, and internal practices that strengthen transparency.

Strategy 7 supports increased capacity to pursue grants and new funding opportunities that align with the Measure NN objectives.

Strategy 8 supports capacity building and training for the ecosystem of nonprofit providers and DVP staff, providing community violence intervention and gender-based violence services.

Strategy nine supports OPD's efforts to increase enforcement and strengthen collaboration with other agencies in order to interrupt commercial sexual exploitation, including the sexual exploitation of minors.

Activities supported under this strategy include enforcement, investigation, expanded staffing, collaborations, and relationship building with CBOs.

For strategies 10 through 12, these focus on improving emergency response.

Strategy 10 invests in efforts to improve the quality and efficiency of Oakland's alternative response programs.

This may include evaluation, program improvement, capacity building, and efforts to scale alternative response programs.

Strategy 11 expands capacity for emergency response through staffing personnel and training enhancements.

It also supports partnership activities with Oakland youth and residents.

And finally, Strategy 12 funds equipment upgrades for OFD and OPD that improve the speed, quality, and equity of emergency response and protect the health and well-being of Oakland's first responders.

Thank you for listening to our very brief, very fast presentation on the C VRP.

Before we move into your questions, I will pass it to the Chiefs to share their thoughts on the plan.

Good evening, I'm Deputy Chief Anthony Tedesco.

I have been working with the commission over the course of, well, over a year now.

And as I was going through this process and looking at it and drafting an OPD strategic spending plan to supplement looking at the measure and the language of the measure, and what I believe is the intent, getting the Oakland police department to a minimum of 700 police officers is really instrumental in accomplishing many of the intertwined goals.

And so when I look at this, it's going to be about retaining our current staff.

There's a number of ways that we can do that.

And then recruiting and being competitive in the market.

And so when I look at this C VRP and working in it, it was important to OPD that this is that those were reflected in this plan.

And I can tell you from the police department's perspective, those are encompassed in the CVRP.

This does provide a framework to go forward that will need to be supplemented and reflected in budget that can allow the police department to grow back to 700 where it where it needs to continue beyond that.

And allow for improved working conditions and officer wellness that can improve retention.

So, from the police department's perspective, this CVRP reflects the goals of the measure and what is needed from the police department in order to be successful.

It is not static.

It has the ability because four years is quite some time.

The need to retain and recruit will be maintained.

We will need that.

And so the prioritization of funding to those issues, wellness, improved working conditions, the use of technology, things that will make it more appealing for people in our current staff to stay, and then recruiting top quality candidates in the Bay Area, well qualified people to continue to work for the city of Oakland.

I think that is reflected in the C VRP.

And I am happy I'll remain to answer questions.

And I'll pass it off to the next chief.

Good evening.

We worked with the Bright group as well as the commissioners for several months on creating lanes that identified OFD need and the objectives of the CVRP.

Every single spending item we had has a direct nexus to something that is in the CRP C VRP.

And we want to make sure that the public safety commissioners know that this plan is a two-year plan.

We have some definite needs in the fire department right now that specifically impact our first responders directly, whether that's emergency equipment, defibrillators, Lucas device, we've identified those.

As those come off of the spending plan, we can reallocate that money to different initiatives within the city that have not been identified right now.

But every single spending priority that we have is directly connected to the C VRP.

And we know that there's a lot of we don't we don't get a lot of the the measure money, but we want to be very efficient with the money that we do get and make sure that we're spending it in a way that stands up to an audit, the annual audit, as well as has input from the community to make sure that they're comfortable with how we're spending the money and that we're spending it wisely.

We uh have all different types of initiatives within our spending plan, whether that's community involvement from a core and CERT perspective, where we're having forward-facing um instruction for that, as well as mental health for our non-sworn uh responders.

So I we we are very uh pleased, we're very appreciative from the commission as well as the Bright Group for assisting us and giving us direction on how year over year we can make this uh three million dollars be impactful for the city, and I'll be here for questions.

Thank you.

Do we have oh great?

Thanks, Dr.

Joshi.

Good evening, Holly Joshi, Chief of the Department of Violence Prevention.

From our perspective at the Department of Violence Prevention, this was surprisingly uh collaborative and smooth process.

I have to be honest, we were very nervous about the process of creating a four-year strategic plan with a new body, a new oversight body, and this body took the time to number one really understand the city's priorities when it comes to public safety, and very specifically to understand the work that the DVP is currently carrying, the landscape nationally, and what has supported us in leading to the reductions in violence.

The plan was developed directly in collaboration with the Department of Violence Prevention staff after many iterations of meetings, listening sessions, and we are feeling very confident that the plan continues to allow us the permission to focus, and I think that is what's really important about this current iteration of the Department of Violence Prevention.

As a reminder, we were stood up in 2019, and we were absolutely not focused.

We were really trying to do a little bit of everything, including upstream prevention, intervention, etc.

And so over the past two and a half years, we've been given by council, the mayor's office, the city administration, the permission to focus, and that is what we wanted to clearly come through in the plan.

And it's in alignment with the charter mandates of the Department of Violence Prevention, which are to specifically focus on the reductions of homicides and shootings, the reduction of gender-based violence, and addressing community trauma associated with those things.

And so that is what the plan allows for us to do.

It's alignment with our spending plan and our priorities.

So thank you.

I'll be here for questions as well.

And just a quick clarification.

Earlier, Chief Covington mentioned a two-year plan.

This is the four-year violence reduction plan in alignment with their spending plan.

Okay, we're here for your questions, Councilmembers.

Yeah, and I I did want to make some commentary.

I know that we've been uh back and forth um all day, and actually before even today, that I first I want to appreciate you all for your hard work on this.

I know this is a lot, a significant amount of responsibility for a volunteer commission to take on.

So I want to thank you for what is your tireless work on behalf of the community.

Um I also want to recognize and acknowledge that uh you all have incorporated much of the feedback that I have given over the last uh couple of weeks leading up to this plan.

Um, and I know that perhaps some of the feedback I've given today has you know ruffled some feathers, mostly because I I think that you know I had some conversations recently, and most of it is just I think this is an enormous amount of money.

It is 47 million dollars a year, and I do think that it is the job of this body and city council to scrutinize the spending.

It's not to uh criticize.

I think there's a lot of great things in here, actually.

I had picked up that you all are recommending body worn cameras with like translation technology, right?

Um, mental health support for our dispatchers, who we know are incredibly uh like burned out, like they are at capacity, they are literally getting cancer from the job.

I just talked to uh Antoinette earlier today on uh what's going on in the dispatch center.

So I want to acknowledge that.

I just for me, I think we need to scrutinize how we're spending this, how we're spending this money, especially with another ballot measure related to uh public safety coming before us, and I think we need to just uh reflect on what we're hearing from our constituents and making sure that that is being reflected in this plan.

I will say that one thing that I don't think is uh just stressed enough in this plan is really on the 9-1-1 response.

I think it's embedded in some of the strategies, but it is not prioritized enough.

That it was one of the four things.

I go back to the ballot text, since I think that should always be the guiding document.

The ballot text is what the statute says and what the voters agreed on, and one of the top things they said was bringing down the 911 response time.

I actually spoke with the organizers who were responsible for actually ensuring that this money came before us.

They said the number one thing that they heard over and over and over again from constituents was the need to bring down the 911 response time.

I myself, this last week placed a call because I was I happened to be a block away from a traffic accident, an overturned car in my district call 911.

I first placed one call.

It took one minute, and I thought maybe it's my phone that there's the issue.

So I placed another call, and at the 30-second mark, I thought, let me actually time this to see how long it'll take for me to get through.

And I was on hold for five minutes, and albeit while somebody else was able to get through, who was another witness.

My concern is what if I wasn't the lone witness for this incident?

So I I that is one thing that I really want to see more of, and that's my my feedback on this plan is that I don't think it speaks to that.

I also have the pleasure of visiting the 911 dispatch center and and also talking to Antoinette about the specific situation, and it seems that one of the issues is that we are relying on some outdated technology.

There's something that California is moving to called next gen 911, where it actually allows you to have like embedded GPS.

So when someone calls in, they don't need to say, I'm at this and this intersection.

They're actually, you know, automatically identified, and also we're not routed through the CHP system.

So it's these things that I want to push uh just push the bar on.

That way we're really being responsive to what we're seeing from our constituents as not being good enough in our public safety response system.

Colleagues, Councilmember Brown.

Okay, I wasn't sure if you wanted uh them to engage your your comments.

I want them to be on the set of.

Okay, um, excellent.

Well, I will happily chime in.

Um, first off, I just want to, you know, thank you all for your amazing work and leadership.

I know that last year in um as we were trying to get the commission established, right?

Everything was moving so quickly, and so just really appreciate appreciative um of you all's leadership uh during that time.

Uh so I I had the opportunity of course to meet with um most of you, as well as the Bright group, and so um, and also just read the report, which is just so thorough, and so thank you uh to everyone that was involved in really um providing a roadmap, right?

Um to support um the various strategies, and also in answering um, you know, what the voters have approved for us to spin, right?

Um, and being so detailed about it.

Um, and so one question that um I have, and I guess maybe it's more of clarity, and it was in my notes from when I met with the Bright group.

Um, it says not all spending strategies will be the same every year.

Um, there will sometimes be like one-time expenses and different prioritizations.

Is that accurate?

Yes.

Yes, that is accurate.

Okay, absolutely.

So there's some, for example, some of the equipment that the Oakland fire department can purchase with this funds ones that it's bought, then it's replaced.

Then the next year that doesn't need to be purchased again.

This is why there's some flexibility in this plan.

And and to council member Wang's previous point, if you have a specific idea around next gen, for example, you can work with the department itself over the next years to make sure that that is funded through Measure and N funds.

Everything that's here is not uh is not the limit of what can be done, right?

Like what we are doing is setting goals and strategies that are high level, and then the activities themselves are determined by the departments each year, and the activities that we have listed in the plan are examples.

They're the kinds of things that departments can spend money on, they're not exhaustive.

So if you have an idea on something, you know, that is something that you can bring up to the department, and the department itself retains the discretion and authority to make programmatic decisions.

Excellent.

Uh, thank you.

Um, and then my second question, um, I guess it's just more around like community engagement on this plan.

I know that you all had a handful of community engagement sessions.

Um, what was it that the public was saying kind of in their feedback as it kind of compares to this finalized document that we have?

Yeah, thank you for that question.

Community engagement was really at the center of the work that uh we led.

Um we had a training with uh Darlene Flynn around how to equitably engage our community through this process, and so we held a total of five community engagement sessions uh throughout Oakland, DP Sokan all the way to the west.

Um, and some of the themes that came out of that, um, I'm really proud to share that uh in Fruitville, we held a session, and there were maybe about 20 folks that were there, and we were talking about the need to hire 700 police officers, um, and the community was really excited about partnering with the police department, inviting them to our work uh workforce fairs um to make sure that the community is part of this process and that community folks um are actually applying to the police department.

As we know, a lot of folks in the police department do not come directly from Oakland.

Um so that was one thing that I was really happy to hear about.

Um, the other thing was about youth workforce uh definitely wanting to uplift the need to provide more opportunity for young people to um have access to jobs.

Um, and so, you know, those are some of the priorities that we're gonna be working on with the departments on.

Um, and yeah, I'm really satisfied with the community engagement part of it.

Excellent.

Um, and so I was asking that question around community engagement, um, because I know that my office has received various varying community engagement around some of the needs that are top of mind to residents, and so I'm just going to state a couple just for awareness, especially as we are looking into some of the future years and how we're allocating the funding.

And of course, with this first one that I'm gonna uplift, I 100% agree that we need to prioritize staffing OPD, and that has to come first.

Um, but we all know that a lot of community members are also interested in community policing and really have a strong desire to uh bring that back as well.

Um, I was delighted to see um the of course the cadet program being outlined.

We also saw something similar with OFT as well.

Um, but um I can continue to ask this larger question around how we are indeed supporting uh young people in our city uh through all of our programming, um, and including some of the programs that may be offered through the DVP as well.

So just wanted to uplift those points.

Yes, and thank you for lifting that up.

Um actually that's one of the things that came up in the community listening session sessions, too.

Um community members feel like the CROs are just a critical part of the uh corridors within our neighborhoods, um, and so they really are adamant about bringing that particular piece back.

Um we're working with the police department and chief uh Tedesco to make sure that that's a priority as well.

But I think one of the first things that needs to happen is for us to fill those roles first.

Um, but it's definitely uh top of mind.

Thank you.

Councilmember Houston.

Yes, through the chair.

Um you know Oakland, you guys are doing a great job.

Everybody's doing a great job.

And I and I've of I've started to focus just more in district seven, district seven, because I was always all over the place in every district.

So I've just been honing in on D7.

And um, and and I wanted to find out that 10% for the CBOs, that um penalty if they don't um handle or you utilize the money for the result-based accountability for these tier ones.

This is for um director Yoshi, because she's been really good at keeping me um organized.

I'm sorry she had called me and I didn't, I called her and I didn't get her back.

But I wanted to find out is that mandated at 10% um if they don't bring back result-based accountability to address these um tier ones, because my my folks in D7 is tier ones, and they they're not being touched.

They're not being not it's not to you, it's not to you.

I'm just saying my tier ones, they out there it's rough.

And I want to know how can we mandate um a higher percentage?

Like, is can we do like a 25% if they don't?

Because if you give get somebody a million dollars and I don't have to bring back result-based accountability, I don't have to bring back data, and I've got to give you a hundred thousand dollars back, and I can keep $900,000, which you're gonna do.

I'm gonna give you back a hundred thousand, not me, I'm just saying, right?

So, is it any way we can mandate a higher percentage on that if they don't bring back that result-based accountability and look at the ones that were getting this money?

Because my folks in D7, my tier ones are not being touched.

Okay, council member Houston, thank you for the question.

I just want to make sure before I answer it that I'm understanding what you want.

It sounds like you're asking if the 10% that is is often utilized as um a punishment accountability measure in the CBO contracts by the city, but if the currently if the CDOs do not meet their deliverables, we are able to reduce their their income by about 10%.

So are you asking if that can be upped to 25%?

Yes, yes, ma'am.

Okay, that would have to be a conversation that we would have with contracts unit and the city attorney's office during the contract conversation, and that will be coming to you all in June.

The community-based organizations are not named in this strategic plan.

This is a very general, as as they indicated, high-level strategy conversation today about the things that we'd like to focus on and the types of activities that we will fund.

We just went through an RFP process, though, to your point, and now have a ranked list of community-based organizations that we will be coming back to the council to ask for approval on those funding levels for those community-based organizations.

And this is the first time since I've been at the Department of Violence Prevention that we've had a new list, a new ranked list of community-based organizations to choose from.

The other contracts have been inherited and we've been working with inherited contracts.

The other thing that I'll say is that I think because this strategic plan does have accountability specific measurements of results in the strategic plan, that we're all be held accountable to those results, including the Department of Violence Prevention internal staff.

I always say that I'm not gonna hold community-based partners to a standard that I'm not willing to hold my staff to, and so because over the past two and a half years, we've been able to get our data together, we've been able to get our implementation of a very strict intensive model of case management and life coaching together internally.

Now is the time that we can ask community-based organizations to do the same.

We were not in a position as a city before to ask community-based organizations to do anything or to be accountable to any specific uh outcomes or any specific model of implementation because we had not figured it out ourselves, and so as you'll see in the strategic plan, there are specific accountability measurements, but I think equally important, there is a budget and a strategy specifically for building the ecosystem of community-based organizations and making sure that we're not just a funder, but we're also coach and a convener, and that we're actually creating sustainability and a healthy ecosystem of community-based organizations that are able to rise to the level that you want them to rise to.

At that time, before there was a Department of Violence Prevention, and there was just a small unit called Oakland Unite, that unit focused on pushing out dollars to community-based organizations, and they very much focused on results and making sure that the community-based organizations had the training and support and coaching that we needed in order to deliver on those results.

When we pivoted to the DVP, the entire budget for supports around coaching and training for community-based organizations went away.

And so we've just recently brought that back.

So, to your point about accountability for community-based organizations, I think it's hugely important, and it also goes hand in hand with what's outlined in this strategic plan around making sure that we have the capacity through Measure N N dollars to support the training needs of the community-based organizations so that they can deliver services in alignment with all of our expectations.

Thank you.

Um, through the chair.

So if we keep this in in committee, will that mess anything up if we keep it until I find out they're gonna be doing 25% penalty?

I mean, will that mess anything up if we keep this in committee?

I think that maybe these ladies can answer that question.

I don't think that it's mutually exclusive.

I don't think that the two things are necessarily related in the way that I understand, and and I'm saying this.

It's like it's rough, and I want my people to get, you know, get some some support, you know.

So you we forced into the underground economy and to do um savage things because they they left out.

So, Council Member Houston, what I'll say just in response to that, that I think is really important about the plan and about our capacity to spend NN dollars, is it allows us to scale what we know is working, right?

We need to just scale what's working.

So when you're saying that some people aren't getting supports and services, I absolutely believe you hear you witness it and understand what you're saying, and I think you know I'm from D7 as well.

Yeah, I know.

So when you say your people, I feel like those are my people too.

Of course, I'm focused on all of Oakland, but D7, of course, has a special place in my heart as well because that's home, and I do think that there is probably a disparate number of people who need supports and services living in specific um areas of Oakland, and we want to make sure this this is an equity conversation always.

We want to make sure that those individuals that need services and supports the most are getting them.

The problem at this moment is scale and our capacity to serve the number of people that need services.

Um we are serving uh extremely high-risk population and we're serving them well.

It's just really increasing our capacity to do it, and we cannot do that alone internally at the DVP because we only have 12 life coaches, and as you know, those 12 life coaches can only serve 10 people at a time.

So we need the community-based organizations to be able to step into the gap.

So, last question to the chair, last question.

Um, this 10 to 14 million dollars is that only for our tier ones.

The vast majority of the strategic plan is focused on tier one.

Now, the I know that a lot of people want us to be able to get to tier two, tier three prevention, upstream prevention, and we want to get there as well.

Once we are able to scale and serve the 240 to 350 highest risk individuals that you're speaking about, then the department will be in a really strong position to begin to serve tier two risk level, upstream prevention, etc.

We want to be in a situation like Richmond, right?

Richmond had an office of violence prevention for a long time.

Their office of violence prevention is now in a scenario where they don't have enough shootings, homicides, gang group violence to focus all of their resources on tier one.

So they're in a position that we want to be in where we are doing prevention and upstream uh intervention work.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, yeah, so I haven't got most tier ones.

We got the tier ones, all right.

So all right.

Councilmember Fife.

Were we going to have commentary by Celia?

If I may through the chair, now it's an appropriate.

Oh, sure, yeah, sure.

Celia Warren, Office of the City Attorney.

I just wanted to respond on two things from Council Member Houston on the question of uh whether holding this plan would um impact or or whether it would mess up this plan if you held back held it back to wait for the 25% um issue.

Those things are separate that would happen at the contract negotiation stage, so staff can bring that to us and we can help them modify the contracts to do whatever they want with them to set those accountability standards that you're asking for, and we can do that.

That's separate from the plan.

The council's role when it comes to this plan is actually very limited under the measure.

You do not modify this plan.

Your plan, your the role of the full council, is to approve or reject, but not modify.

And if council rejects the plan, it returns the plan to the commission with recommended changes, and then the commission submits a new plan to the council.

So the role of the committee here is different than normal legislation where you might submit recommended changes to the legislation as part of sending it to council.

Here you're really just deciding to let it go to council to review pursuant to the measure by the full council.

Um the committee could send comments with it, but you couldn't um you couldn't change the plan itself.

The plan is locked in in its current version as is.

I just wanted to note that.

I have a follow-up, so because I am interested in holding it in committee.

Is that one way to, if we hold it in committee?

Does the commission come back with modifications or we have to basically move it to full council?

Thank you.

That's a great question.

You have to move the plan to the full council for it to reject it in order to trigger the send the return to the commission with comments to have it change.

The commission cannot accept comments from the committee and then go make changes under the measure.

The measure is very clear.

It's the full council approve or reject and if reject reject with comments, and then it goes back to the commission for changes.

So there is no role for the committee to intercept the plan at this point to cause changes to be made before it gets to the full council.

Okay, gotcha.

And could we also just for the options ahead of us?

One option is to move it forward with that it's recommended by the committee or to move it forward, or it's just move it forward regardless.

I'm not sure I understand the question.

So moving it forward where the committee has recommended it, like advancing this with full committee backing, or do we advance it just, you know, like a standard piece of legislation?

I think I might defer to the parliamentarian on that one.

You could sub you could forward it with comments, which would be part of the record if there are comments that you want the full council to consider, including changes that you would like to see.

For example, if you're already thinking, I'm not I'm going to vote to reject this, you can talk about the things that you take issue with and still vote to send it to the council.

Okay, but you're you're in no way bound at the time that it's before the council to vote for it.

You can vote to reject the plan at the time it's before the council.

Okay, gotcha, understood.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Councilmember Fife.

I I think Councilmember Houston had a clarifying question for the initial question that he asked.

So okay.

Councilmember Houston.

President Jenkins through the Chair President Jenkins, it everything needs to be in committee and solved in committee before it goes to full council.

That's what he always tells me that every single time.

So do we do it here and then we do um would you would you say council member?

I mean, yeah, it sounds like we are required to advance it, but I I also think that given this is 47 million dollars a year, this is worthy of a full council discussion.

So, but it's also apparently the procedure we must follow.

I would soften that slightly.

You could choose technically to not forward it.

Practically speaking, at rules, somebody else could pull it and put it on the agenda anyway.

Um there is no practical impact from the committee's standpoint of actually holding it because it doesn't do anything to change the plan.

So to the extent that your goal is to cause the plan to be modified, the only avenue for that is to forward it to the full council, vote to reject it, hope that a majority does so, and then it will be returned to the commission for um with comments to modify.

Got it.

Understood, thank you.

Okay, council member five.

Yes, thank you.

I I just have a couple questions and I I want to share some concerns, but first I want to thank um thank the committee for all of the outreach that was done to get in contact with my office.

I know that you all are doing your work, because the amount of times and the ways you tried to get in contact with me.

I just really appreciate and for an all-volunteer group that says a lot about what you're trying to do.

Um, so I want to appreciate you for that.

And I also want to express publicly, because I don't know if it reached you, that I I trust the ability of all of you all to do this work for the best interests of Oakland's residents.

And I knew that this body, my committee, this um that we didn't have much impact over the actual report, but I do want to say that I I think it is moving in the right direction, particularly hearing from the department heads.

I appreciate that.

But one of the things I'm I'm a little confused by, and I hope you all can help me understand, is people's feelings of safety.

How is that monitored?

Because we are at record lows of you know, crime, and I hear different reasons about why that is.

Some people say it's we're, you know, showing lower incidents of crime in Oakland because people aren't reporting anymore.

But then I hear from some of our law enforcement agencies and other partners that no, it's lower because we are we have all of these different technologies and resources and relationships that are helping drive down crime, and crime is down is trending down nationally, it's not just Oakland, it's it's trending down nationally.

But I don't see in the plan where there's a way to even monitor people's feelings of safety, and that's particularly troubling for me because if we are experiencing lower numbers of violence and people still feel unsafe, how does that get measured?

If I could, yeah, I'm happy to kick that off and then I'll maybe pass on to others.

Thank you so much, Councilmember Fife, for that question, and it's very real, right?

I hear all the time, even for my own partner that he doesn't feel safe in his own home city.

Um this plan has is written some out outcome metrics that are listed there, and those outcome metrics are based on the goals.

So, as you noticed, um, one of the goals had to do about people's sense of safety and sense of resilience, etc.

The outcome metrics uh that we have written into those strategies are going to measure measure those things.

How exactly they're gonna be measured is gonna be determined by the evaluation process that we're gonna design, which comes as a step after this plan passes.

There's multiple, and this actually relates to Councilmember Houston's questions.

There's multiple um oversight or um multiple ways to measure the impact of this plan.

Um the goals that we have set include people's feelings but also include crime data, and also include specific outcomes that we want to see.

So that's one is the goals and the outcome metrics that are in the plan.

From there on, there's um the biannual reports that each of the departments gives to the commission to let us know how they're spending their money pursuant to their spending plans and what outcomes they are seeing.

From there on level number two is the evaluation which we which I mentioned, which is gonna have a lot more specific metrics like people's feelings that you're mentioning, Councilmember Five, that we would like to track, and we would work with independent outside evaluator in order to design ways to actually track that and to actually and to see and to track that not just as a whole, but by zip code as well, by race, by zip code, so you can see each of your districts with how people are feeling about safety in each of your districts.

The next level of oversight from there is that departments like Chief Joshi mentioned, they have their own evaluation metrics, and I can invite Chief Joshi to the podium also to share more about how DVP is measuring people's feelings of safety, and then lastly, uh again on the oversight part, there is an um an annual audit, and then there's an annual financial report.

Suppose the finance department and the auditor's office are gonna be evaluating whether the measure and then funds are being spent appropriately to further the objectives of measure of the measure.

So there are these multiple, you know, ways that we want to measure impact because we know that this is why we're all here.

We're not here because we want to write beautiful plans.

We're here because we want to see the actual impact of this work on our communities, and um thankfully the measure has written into it multiple ways of providing that evaluation, and when it comes to the evaluation plan itself, Councilmember Five, we're going to solicit input from all of you, all as city council members as well into that in that stage of the process to hear the kinds of metrics that you want us to see tracked, so that we can include that in the in our evaluation process.

But the first step is to pass this plan.

This is why it's a brand new commission.

We spent the last year just working on this plan so we can get that done, and then we can work on the details that come after with the evaluation.

Is that answer your question partially?

Partially.

It partially answers a question because we're talking about the difference between quantitative and qualitative data.

Yeah, and if we just saw, I I said this in other committee.

Um, with the text messages that everybody is talking about all over the city of Oakland, the former mayor stating that there was someone in the police department that was spreading misinformation about crime statistics, and the the officer above this officer said that it was being taken care of, it was being handled.

I just read the same text other people read.

And so I'm I can't do anything else but to be honest about what I'm seeing.

And I know my perspectives may differ from other folks, but if we have the same, and I I hope that there was some accountability in that instance.

But if we have the same folks that are working to keep the city safe, spreading information, misinformation about what's actually happening, we're fighting against ourselves.

And I don't see a place in the plan that addresses that because there's people are gonna feel safe or unsafe based on media reports, based on their personal experiences, and is if is the administrative budget that ops back has with the 1.4 million going to take on the costs of those surveys across the city because that sounds really expensive.

Yeah, and so I'm I would be interested, and we're not dealing with that right now, but I do think that should be factored into um the evaluation, yeah, because I I don't know how you get to an honest answer if crime is down, yeah, but people still don't feel like it is, but every organization, DVP, um, OFD, and OPD are doing what they're supposed to do according to this plan, but people still don't feel it.

That doesn't, it's not even logical for uh yeah.

Are we gonna invest in communications?

Is this part of the administrative budget as well?

It actually and I I think we've spent a lot of time on this agenda item, and I do want to make a motion um to to move this forward, but I I'm not clear on how that works.

To me, it's not it's not a logical argument, yeah.

So it's difficult for me to come up with a logical response to what I find to be a logical.

But I also have a deep concern that if Oakland doesn't get to the required number of officers, that this body has no control over outside of um a budget allocation, that there will also be repercussions because what I'm what it sounds like what I heard um from DC Tedesco is that if if Oakland doesn't get to that number of officers, the plan is almost irrelevant.

And if I'm incorrect, I would you know I would love to be corrected on that.

I I on that issue, um, because recruitment from what I understood from the commentary was recruitment and retention is key, and I want to be clear that that those funds are included here and not in our upcoming mid-cycle budget allocation.

So I need to understand that so I know how to um to be in those other spaces.

Yeah, absolutely.

Um, I'll let the PG to desk speak to the last point, but just to answer your questions around evaluation.

Yes, the evaluation budget is coming out of the three percent administrative funds, the the commission has at its discretion.

So we'll be going through an RFP process, hiring an evaluation team, etc.

Um, we actually did also want to use part of it for for communications for in including potentially having um some of the folks who have come to present to our meetings are young people who tell us everything you're doing here is really great and really important, but the people don't know about it, my people don't know about it, yeah.

And we want to be able to potentially hire them as fellows, like commission fellows, obviously, through a competitive process, obviously approved by the city council and the regular procurement processes of the city so that they can share what's happening and on this on our you know, our side of things on City Hall right here, and in TikTok, all the social media stuff, and so we can hear from them, right?

Like we want young people to become commissioners, we want young people to tell the story of the future of the city of Oakland.

So we have lots of ideas that we also would love to share with you, Councilmember Fife or anybody who's interested about how to involve young people in in the telling of the stories of the good work that's being done.

So as to help people, you know, experience uh their city a little bit differently.

Thank you.

Um Deputy Chief of that school.

Oh, um, you want to say add something, Julia?

Go ahead.

Yes.

Um I'll also just add that our we recognize that issue of like crime is going down, but people say they don't feel safer.

Um it's a it's an ongoing issue, and this is certainly a long-term investment, and that is why one of our strategies is focused on community accountability or community trust and accountability.

So that outlines uh several activities around improving communications, transparency within OPD, especially regarding crime statistic data, and um, in general, like we wish to have more communication with the public, like we will always be available to them for their questions, and uh it's our goal to have a very robust evaluation, and we'll we'll be partnering with the Department of Race and Equity in the design of that evaluation so as to ensure that it is both accurate and includes quantitative and qualitative data and standardized measures as well.

Um, uh, I think I think to desktop.

You can talk.

I like the desk.

Come on.

The question was through the chair, is that you um gave a lot of reasons why um there might be challenges to this, and particularly around retention and um recruitment.

Does this funding this 22 point nine million will that allow you to do that work?

And then what happens if there aren't say enough academies to yield oh maybe you can even help me do the math.

How many academies will we need to have in the next fiscal year to get to that number that would even allow us to operate efficiently under measure NN.

And does that because you you said recruitment and retention are factors, correct?

Yes.

So what if we don't get there?

Does that what happens to the plan or the roadmap?

Um through the chair.

A few pieces to this, and I first would address that the plan, if we the time spent without 700 officers does not make the plan irrelevant.

I think the plan is a pathway forward to reach and supports reaching 700 and and I hope beyond 700.

Uh I don't want to under sell though that we do need to reach 700 and continue on from there.

I think that many of the goals uh of the measure and the strategies are supported by staffing.

Now, within those strategies, there are things that I believe are intertwined, right?

We can improve working conditions, thus improv like and improve retention if we give officers the technology to be able to be successful at their job.

That is built into the C VRP.

If we improve wellness at the police department, we can increase retention, which will help us reach 700 more quickly.

That is built into the C VRP.

There definitely needs to be police academies in order to reach 700.

Um, and the math on that is dependent on retention.

If we continue to lose five and a half officers a month, we won't reach 700 in the next uh fiscal year.

It's not possible because we have a cap on the number of people that we can put and graduate through an academy.

So we're at 604 as of today.

We need to have 50 recruits into an academy, trainees into an academy, and we need to have three a minimum of three academies a year in order to build to this, um, and it's gonna take more than one fiscal year to get to 700 if attrition stays where it is.

If we can impact attrition through some of the strategies that I believe are contained in the C VRP, we can speed that up.

So I think that the police department has actually put out a chart on this, um, a couple of different graphs that can share those to show essentially with declining retention and increased recruitment.

How quickly we can get there and what's realistic and what isn't.

If we continue it at current pace, uh it's gonna be multiple years, and perhaps beyond.

So I think it is critical that we enact the strategies outlined in the C VRP, and that the budget allocations reflect those goals and strategies, so that we do have the police academy so that we do have the technology, we do have the positions to carry out those strategies.

So just to summarize the charts and the graphs that you have that will you send that to this body, or how where was it sent so far?

Where should we look for the that information?

I believe it's things that the police department has previously published.

I might have to go back and check where which committee.

As part of the ballot measure, there's actually mandatory language that says that OPD needs to come before this body with a detailed retention recruitment plan.

Um, and I I don't think it's actually achieved the level of detail that it needs, which as it's specified in the ballot text that discusses like being able to chart out the math, you know, all that to actually predict where we need to be or where we will be based off of academy levels, all of that.

So all that I'm just asking.

I will work to schedule that report so we have that before this body.

So and the charts and graphs that were responsive to the questions that I asked would be helpful for the public safety committee.

Um I don't know if it's inclusive of what you're speaking of, Chair Wong, but um whatever helps us understand.

Because I to summarize, I just want to understand if we're at 604 today, this funding starts this 22.9 million, 23 million, is does it impact the ability to deliver what's being required under this uh under measure N is really ultimately what I want to understand?

I do you want to take I will say that I agree, I share your concern, and that is why I'm scrutinizing this plan to the degree that I am, because um I'll I'll give an example.

In the plan it says, because the ballot measure text makes clear that 700 officers is the voter mandate, and yet when I look at this current plan and the retention and recruitment allocation, it's a three to seven percent, albeit in the appendix, it says five to twenty percent, but I assume it is three to seven percent, and I have concerns given that you know, one of the top things I hear is we need community resource officers, right?

People want to see community policing, but we're not able to get there when we don't have enough officers.

So that is something that I don't see yet enough in this plan.

It's actually the OPD spending that I'm scrutinizing the most that I have that take the most issue with if I'm being blunt in this current plan.

Um there's also, and don't get me wrong, I think the ceasefire program is fantastic.

It is a 30 to 34 percent allocation.

That's actually double compared to measure Z.

And I want to I want to just make sure, given that we're not gonna be able to have a ceasefire program if we don't have enough officers, right?

Or our or our 911 response time is gonna suffer because I keep on hearing we disbanded our traffic enforcement unit, we disbanded this unit all because we don't have enough officers, and so I I just, and I'll be honest, I have not been satisfied with the police department in terms of its recruitment um approach.

Um, I want to see more innovation given that measure and then actually allows for uh funding distribution to go to CBOs, like how can the police department partner with youth mentorship organizations to actually identify that young person who is least likely to enroll into the police department because that is probably the person that should consider a career in law enforcement?

Um, so these are the things, especially around recruitment, that I currently am challenged with when I look at the plan and I think about what did people and the voters approve of.

I I I'm not sure if I see this plan, it's almost there.

I don't think it's quite there yet.

Who's responsibility is that?

Are you saying that opspock chair should revise this plan?

Because that was my last question.

Yeah.

Are we, am I getting the feeling that this committee does not want to forward this to the full council or wants to have notes or amendments?

Because that's kind of what I'm hearing from at least two of the body.

But I still would like my question answered around us being way beneath the measure NN numbers.

And then having this plan move forward as if I I'm not clear, are we assuming that 700 are needed or that we can operate under the current operational strength that OPD has right now to um undertake this particular plan?

That's my overarching question that has you want to take that one.

I can okay, yeah.

Um thank you, Councilmember Five.

So City Council passed a waiver uh last year of the 700 police officer floor minimum.

It was you all made a finding of an extreme financial um event, so emergency um that necessitated that waiver that was happened completely independently of the work of this commission.

Having done that, practically speaking, we all want to get to have a hundred officers and beyond.

And this is why recruitment and retention as a strategy is a key part of this plan.

So to your question, Councilmember Five, even though right now the department is at 604 officers, they can the whole point of this plan is to get them to more police officers, to get them to be able to recruit and retain and to build community trust, so that they can do other things other than just basically respond to 9100 calls.

So the two announcement if the 22 point nine is primarily for recruitment and retention.

22.9.

I don't think you mean the funding?

No.

No, the funding is not primarily for recruitment.

It's the documentation is a huge part of that.

Ceasefire is also ceasefire positions are funded through measure and end funds, and we all know ceasefire light lifeline is a critical strategy for violence prevention in the city.

Um, and then the last thing I'll just mention before I pass on to um the budget, uh, the director uh director Bradley, is that um to your point, Councilmember, around the language of the measure.

If we look at subsection E of section six, it does say that in each fiscal year, as the component of its two-year policy budget or mid-cycle budget adjustments, the city should adopt the sworn police personnel staffing plan, which indicates the estimated starting and ending number of police officers by month, and basically how staffing is going to be improved, right?

That section, you're correct that there is language in measure and then that requires the police department to present to you all a staffing plan.

That requirement is entirely separate of the C VRP requirement, and this is something that the police department has to do as part of your city council police budget or mid-cycle budget adjustments.

So the budgeting processes and the plan that the Oakland police department has to present to you around staffing, is separate from the need to approve the C VRP or not.

Um, and with that, I'm gonna I would like to pass it to the director of finance because I hear a lot of questions around budgeting.

Um, so if you if if I may through the chair, he would like to share a few words.

Yes, absolutely.

Good evening, committee Brad Johnson, director of finance.

Uh so the plan that's being outlined here does not supersede this body's ability as acting as the full council uh through your the budget process to allocate resources.

This plan is the framework by which we will uh go through that allocation process, but it is not the allocation itself.

In your budget process, you have the ability uh to do sort of that fine-tuning and determination work.

This doesn't have specific dollar amounts to it, those will vary uh as we go through the years and as the measure uh resources measures grow or shrink or whatever might happen with the economy.

Um, and also it's the space where we will ensure compliance of the specific spending plan elements of the measure in terms of its percentage allocation.

I want to note that NN is a continuation of measure Z and Measure Y.

Um, given the uh declaration of extreme fiscal necessity and unanticipated financial event made by council during the biennial process, the measure uh in in requirement of 700 was waived, and the budget kept the officer count at 678, which was the same number under measure Z.

The spending plan in front of you uh is consistent with the mayor's proposed budget and maintains through that spending plan the operation of those 678 budgeted positions.

So a com a component of those 678 that you are already budgeting and are planning on going forward with are actually included in measure in and spending.

So a lot of what the work done with ceasefire that is already being done is now being funded through NN.

So it's a continuation and a continue in support of some of the effort that's already occurring.

Not all of it is brand new because the general purpose fund was not paying for all of it in the beginning, it was coming from Z.

So most of what you see in NN is actually continuation of those ongoing programs.

Hope that is helpful for context.

It is council member Houston.

Um, through the chair, I'm not sure if um uh moving it or seconding it, but I would like to move it to the full council on the non-consent uh with no dis uh uh recommendations from the council.

If I if I don't know if I'm no, I I made the motion, but I just wanted to get that question answered first.

Okay, I'll second it then.

Can we do it on uh consent, Councilman?

Non-consent on uh uh with this with discussion, no recommendation for the committee.

Yeah, no discussion with recommendation, okay.

Yeah.

Um before we go to vote, since we have you here, Bradley.

One question I have is um because you had sent me the budget chart, which was helpful.

One thing I had noted is that in your the chart that you had sent over to myself and my team that OPD's allocation is 25.38 million.

In this plan it's around twenty-two or so one the million.

I will just note that in the measure E proposed plan, there includes a police academy.

Um if that doesn't pass, we don't have a guarantee like there is a gap right there in that OPD spending, and at least this body has stated that there's concerns around the police staffing levels, and that is something that um we're not gonna change it here, but I'll just stand on the record that I'd like for some uh for that gap.

That is my ask um as the public safety chair, because again, our our staffing levels, I think we have six oh four, the operational number is even lower, given the folks on uh leave.

So okay.

Madam Chair, if I may uh I can you articulate or if you could re-articulate from me, what is it that you're asking about staffing?

Because that is one of my concerns as well.

How do we since I've been here attrition has been five to six officers per month every single month with a spike in maybe 2021, I think, or around COVID.

Um where you know some folks wanted to get didn't want to get vaccinated.

I think some of those folks came back.

But how are we ever going to reach this with uh the number of people that are we're processing through our academies?

Well, I will say the last or the upcoming academy, and OPD can speak to it.

They have actually reached, I think it's 46 can candidates.

I think that came through in finance and management.

So uh I will say after a less than adequate first academy, we're seeing some progress, but um that is why my my feedback to this commission is the three to seven percent for recruitment and retention to me does not seem to reflect what we're hearing consistently from our constituents, which is like we want CROs, we want, you know, and what's the preventative from getting CROs?

It's not having enough officers.

And so I I would like to see.

I think that's fine.

But I my point is I I would rather be honest with the numbers that we actually can get versus having these astronomical idealistic numbers that we've never been able to reach.

So if we're gonna get 20 officers or 15 officers, let's be honest about that, because we all know that people wash out after a certain amount of time and um if if 50 is the cap, that's great, but where do we really honestly end up with and and what's the trend so we can kind of just be more honest with the public because what I'm hearing, even around measure E is that we the public has been lied to with all these ballot measures about what we promise, and I am tired of overpromising and underdelivering.

So I want to just be just straight up about the realities of what we can produce so that we're being honest with the public.

Um for sure.

That's it.

And uh the so if I could just complete my thoughts.

So my point too is at least my based off of the budget numbers I got from Bradley Johnson finance versus what I see in the plan.

There is actually a gap there for the OPD spending.

And what you know, you're all have my ask is we look at that retention and recruitment piece because I think we continue to be inadequate there with that gap.

To answer the chair's question, so the budget allocation is that specific metric for allocation that I mentioned where we actually have to allocate into the different buckets by the dollar amount.

So that's very specific, and again, it will vary year to year to year.

I will note that the spending plan that you are looking at right now does sort of constrain the level of strategies that we can look at using that those resources to do.

So the dollar amounts will vary as we go into budgeting, but the strategic objectives that you're looking at are constrained by the spending plan you adopt uh or as a full council you adopt through this process.

So that's maybe the way to see that as we're looking at that, and I'm happy to through the budget process, which is not germane to this particular conversation.

Talk you specifically about what the allocations and breakdown of both PD's budget are, both in general and in and the work that's being done around police officer retention and hiring, which are addressed in the budget.

I'm happy to have those conversations in a different space.

Okay, great.

Um before we find it.

I'm sorry, Chair, if I may.

Oh, yeah.

Um, just to address kind of some of the numbers that you threw out there.

So the one ninety-sixth currently has 17 in that graduating class, and then the one that you were speaking of.

I want to correct for the record.

Um it's not 46 in that particular class as of right now.

There's 80 38, excuse me, for the one, yeah.

So we lost six.

Uh there's, you know, some injuries and things of that nature, which we all can understand going through the academy.

So I just want to make sure for the record that that expectation is clear.

Okay, thank you.

Eight.

We lost eight.

But that's a lot, right?

Okay, chair.

I mean, if we're trying to get to 50 per.

Uh, what we put in the the um policy objectives with the budget process, it was 45 was what we told OPD has to reach with every academy.

So, all right.

Well, I yeah, I I hate starting class.

Belabor this point.

I made a uh motion to adopt this resolution of the uh C VRP and move it to the full city council on non-consent.

Okay, and we also have public comments, so let's move to that.

Calling in the names that signed up to speak on item number six in no particular order, you can come up to the podium.

Or if you're on Zoom, please raise your hand to be easily identified.

Colleen Brown, Gabrielle Garcia, and Rajani Mandal.

Good good evening.

My name is Colleen Brown, and I'm the current chair of the community policing advisory board.

I want to say counter to what was said about the listening speakers where they were uh support for community policing, problem solving, and SEPTED.

I just want to point out there has been a change in the language of the draft version of this plan to the current plan.

Uh, it removes language of the CPAB, and it also uh inserted a word may, and it may only be a single word, but it means a lot to the community, where basically it says that they may uh be involved with resident outreach.

They may be working with the neighborhood councils, etc.

Um I don't know with regards to what happens if you don't get the recruitment, we if you don't get the CROs, what's gonna happen to the neighborhood councils that are existing.

We want to make sure that there can is continued support for community policing and those that are active in our neighborhood.

I don't want to see community policing to die, but I I just want to voice my opinion and also just to point out I would like some of the language to be reinstated from the original report.

And also one thing to point out is it also had that they were supposed to work with the community policing advisory board on aspects related to community policing and all that has been removed.

Thank you.

Good evening, Council members.

My name is Gabriel Garcia, and I'm the policy and advocacy director for Youth Alive.

I'm a district one constituent, and our offices are in Jack London Square.

First of all, I want to commend everybody who's done work on this report.

It is an incredible undertaking that these folks have taken on again on a volunteer basis, and it is the most comprehensive overview of the spending that Oakland is doing related to our public safety.

That being said, there's a lot to build on here, and I appreciate that on page five 25 of the report, the uh commissioners noted one of the things that came out in listening sessions that Oakland can focus more on is youth prevention, these upstream solutions.

So the theory behind ceasefire and intervention is paying attention to the folks that are most likely to be involved in violence immediately.

But when we look at youth prevention services, there is no cohesive Oakland strategy.

So doing very similar work, but bringing together probation, bringing together OUSD, OFCY, and uh stakeholders across CBO organizations to talk about what can Oakland's combined cohesive youth strategy be, could be a next step to build off of what is already contained in this report.

Uh next, I want to highlight that in addition to the theories behind ceasefire that are highlighted.

There is a way for Oakland to be more bold about the way that we talk about our victim services that were created here.

Hospital-based violence or invention programs were created here in Oakland, are now an international model for addressing and reducing violence.

The Qaddafi Washington Project, a homicide response program, one of the first of its kind in this nation is lipped up lifted up as a model.

When we look at the data sources, recent data from the California Department of Justice showed that individuals who survive a gunshot wound are 60 times more likely to have a homicide or the homicide rate 60 percent 60 times more likely than those who have never been injured.

The California Violence Experiences survey shows that those who have been uh violently impacted in the last year are 28 times more likely to perpetrate violence.

Thank you for your comments.

Your time is up.

Switching to Zoom user Rajni.

You can unmute yourself and begin your comments.

Rajni Mandel District 4.

I wanted to start with a personal observation.

I'll admit that before this process, I had no idea that Measure N created this entirely new planning and oversight structure, and I knew very little about opspoc itself.

Measure N was a civilian-written measure that created a new governance model with significant planning and oversight responsibilities.

And as we saw over the past year, there were several areas that required clarification and interpretation to align with existing city charter requirements and city processes.

I want to commend Opspock, the Office of the City Attorney and Administration and staff for working through these questions and building a framework around this new structure.

And I also appreciate that the C VRP stayed focused on strategy rather than operational direction.

The plan sets goals, priorities, and metrics while recognizing that implementation decisions belong to the departments responsible for carrying out the work.

I think that distinction is important because clear roles and lines of accountability matter.

I support this plan as written, but I have one broader governance question for the future, and that is around councils' ongoing role after approval.

The plan appropriately discusses tracking outcomes, evaluating progress, and learning over time, but I hope future reporting also helps clarify how recommendations and lessons learned move back into the council process.

Accountability is not just measuring outcomes, it's creating a framework to learn, adapt, and improve.

This is Oakland's first attempt at a model like this, and I appreciate the effort that went into creating something that can evolve and improve over time.

Thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

Chair, that concludes all speakers on this item.

Uh we do need a motion to adjourn into a special council meeting due to the presence of uh Council President Jenkins.

Great.

For Council Member Jenkins, for the baby with the special the special session.

Yeah, we got the special session baby.

Look at that.

Beautiful.

Yes, I'll make that motion.

Thank you.

We have a motion made by Councilmember Houston, seconded by Council Member Brown to adjourn into a special uh sorry to adjourn the public safety committee meeting and reconvene into a special city council meeting due to the presence of council member Jenkins.

On roll council members brown, aye.

Aye, aye.

Houston.

Aye.

And Chair Wong.

Aye.

Thank you.

Motion passes with four ayes to adjourn to convene into a special meeting.

Yep.

Let's move to the motion on the floor for the vote.

Thank you.

We have a motion made by Council Member Five, seconded by Council Member Houston to approve the recommendations of staff and to forward this item to the June 2nd, City Council agenda on non-consent.

On roll, Council members Brown.

Aye.

Five?

Aye.

Houston?

Aye.

And Chair Wong.

Aye.

Thank you.

Item number six passes with four ayes to forward this item to the June 2nd City Council agenda on non-consent.

Now moving on to item number three.

Adopt a resolution authorizing the city administrator to enter into a professional services agreement with PMAM Corporation for the administration of the false alarm reduction program from July 1st, 2026 to June 30th, 2031, for a total contract amount not to exceed 1,127,115, and waiving the competitive multi-step solicitation process and the local small local business enterprise requirements, and there are no speakers on this item.

Okay, great.

OPD, you have the floor.

And what is your name?

Can you introduce yourself to us?

Yes.

Good evening.

Chair and members of the committee.

Laraja Marshall, the Fiscal Services Manager for the Oakland Police Department.

Before you is a request to waive the competitive bidding bidding process and authorize the department to enter into a five-year professional service agreement with Panam.

It's the false alarm reduction program totaling 225,423 per year.

Panam has managed this program for the city since 2013.

Currently, there are no small local businesses that provide the specialized service.

As confirmed today from department workforce standards, there was analysis done that 0% local small businesses can provide the service.

However, there are two other vendors that can provide a seminar service.

And so for these reasons, the department would like to move forward with enter into a contract and waiving the competitive bidding process.

Councilmember Fife.

I'll move approval.

Council Member Brown.

Excellent.

I did have a quick question on this item about where the revenue goes.

It's the fund for false alarm to 411.

And so ideally based like when you do the math on how many false alarms, etc.

It's basically a rev like a revenue.

Yeah, revenue generating fund.

Okay.

Awesome.

Thank you.

Is that a second?

Thank you.

We have a motion made by Councilmember Five, seconded by Councilmember Brown to approve the recommendations of stop and support this item to the June 2nd City Council agenda.

On rule council members Brown.

Aye.

Bye.

Aye.

Houston?

Aye.

Chair Wong?

Aye.

Thank you.

Item three passes with four I support this item to the June 2nd City Council agenda on consent.

There are none.

Reading in item four.

Adopt a resolution adopting the 2026 to 2031.

Oakland Local Hazard Mitigation Plan as an amendment to the safety element of the Oakland General Plan and adopting appropriate California Environmental Quality Act findings, and there are no speakers on this item.

Okay.

Hi, I have actually a presentation.

If you could load that.

Great.

Good evening, members of the public safety committee.

My name is Veronica Cole.

I'm an emergency planning coordinator with the Oakland Fire Department, Emergency Management Services Division.

I have members from our steering committee who are here to answer questions as well.

And I'm here to talk to you today about the 2026 local hazard mitigation plan.

To reduce risk and increase resilience equitably, the mission of the City of Oakland local hazard mitigation plan is to establish and promote a comprehensive mitigation strategy and efforts to protect the whole community and environments from identified natural and human-caused hazards.

The plan has been developed in collaboration with multiple departments.

It's been a very robust effort, neighboring jurisdictions, community members, and other stakeholders.

It includes profiles of the hazards that are likely to impact Oakland and then and as well as a mitigation strategy for what steps we would take to reduce the impact of those hazards.

And this updated plan is required to access certain types of pre- and post-disaster funding.

New in our 2026 to 2031 local hazard mitigation plan, and this is a partial list.

The mission goals, objectives, and actions have been revised with a stronger emphasis on equity.

We have updated hazard profiles and capabilities analysis with new equity analysis content.

Climate change considerations have been incorporated into the hazard profiles, and we also have an updated risk ranking methodology that accounts for resident displacement, impacts to the economy, environment, and transportation.

Using this hazard ranking, we found the following hazards ranked as you see on this slide.

At a high level, we have earthquake, severe weather, and wildfire.

At a medium level, we have drought, flood, landside, and sea level rise.

And at a low level, we have dam failure in tsunami seich.

And in case you were wondering, a size is the sloshing of water in an enclosed body such as Lake Merritt or the San Francisco Bay.

In addition, we have approximately 75 mitigation actions.

The final count is 72 that have been developed by city departments in the Port of Oakland, an annual maintenance plan that will track Oakland's progress in these actions, and we'll progress the city towards defined mitigation goals and objectives.

FEMA Calfire, USDA, and the state climate adaptation grants may supplement city resources for these projects.

Here you'll see a map that shows an overlay of equity priority communities and zones of liquefaction susceptibility.

It's one example of the map that we have, the mapping we have in the LHMP this time.

For our equity priority communities, we use the environmental justice communities that are defined in the general plan environmental justice element, and we have this mapping as a new feature.

We conducted robust community outreach for this effort, and it was expanded from our prior efforts that were conducted shortly after the pandemic.

So we were able to meet in person this time.

We conducted outreach to approximately 300 individuals through presentations and forums for public comment.

We held multilingual in-person public meetings, a trusted locations, and equity priority communities, including West Oakland, Chinatown, Downtown, Fruitville, and East Oakland.

We held online community forums for public comment during the public comment period.

We conducted a multilingual public survey that received 131 responses.

And we maintained a website and contacted and email the interest list to provide updates.

I want to talk a little bit about our AB 2140 compliance.

So as mentioned, um we can use the plan to be eligible for certain types of funding.

So AB 2140 compliance requires that the general plan safety element adopt the LHMP.

If we meet this compliance, then we may be able to access additional public post-disaster funding that's related to federal public assistance.

But this is not guaranteed, but it does allow us to potentially be eligible.

And as an example, after when public assistance is triggered, a typical local cost share is 25% through the California Disaster Assistance Act or CDAA.

The state can pay up to 18.75% of this cost share.

And if we are compliant with AB 2140 and the CFD element adopts the LHMP, that potentially brings our cost share down to zero percent.

So we have an exciting update.

So we do now have full approval from FEMA.

That was submitted on May 1st by Cal OES to FEMA, and the approval came today.

On an ongoing basis, we're going to be implementing these mitigation actions, and then the plan includes an annual update process that includes a progress report, and we'll begin that on in spring summer 2027.

If you'd like more information, here's our website www.oaklandca.gov slash oakland hazard plan.

And that concludes my presentation.

Okay.

What is liquefaction?

Susceptibility.

Thank you, yeah.

Those uh those are those areas in an earthquake that are more subject to ground movement because of the geology of the area.

So they are more likely to receive damage than say something that was spilled with on an area that has, you know, is not susceptible to liquid faction.

Okay.

Because I is that connected to the Hayward fault line since a good portion of Oakland falls along that, which is this major earthquake, it is your fault.

There are three major faults.

Each of them is mapped in scenarios in the local hazard mitigation plan.

So we have great information on that.

The earthquakes would be causing the shaking.

The liquefaction is how a piece of land responds to that shaking.

So it's kind of like the ground, doesn't say steady, it turns into you know more of a liquid state, maybe not literally a liquid state, but that's why they call it liquefaction.

So if you're on something that's say landfill or has mud, um yeah.

Did you have something to add to this?

Okay.

Then that would be more susceptible to an earthquake than um, you know, say something that's on rock or something more steady.

Great.

Thank you.

Thank you for all the hard work on this, by the way.

So it seems it'll allow us to access more funding.

Council Member Five.

Yes, through the chair.

I was wondering if the draft Calum Viral Screen, the reports that they uh put out earlier this year, or the tool that they're putting out this year that identifies disadvantaged communities or impacted communities has any relationship to what's happening here at all because I um in another commission that I sit on, found that they are changing the designations of a lot of these impacted areas, particularly in West Oakland, based on, you know, the climate's changing because we're doing better around our emissions and things like that, but it's still very much impacted by sea level rise and a host of other emergency potential emergency events.

I wonder if that definition or if the draft language is impacting what you're doing.

And I see Laura might want to answer that question.

I could talk a little bit about our choosing of the environmental justice element, and Laura, maybe you can add um Laura Kaminsky's here from planning as well.

Uh, but we chose the environmental justice element because it had a very comprehensive list of fields that were identified to identify the communities.

And so it was fairly robust.

We actually had a conversation with the Department of Race and Equity and other staff to decide which tool to use, and that's why we wound up with that tool.

And I'll pass the mic to Laura to expand on that.

Yes.

So when we did the environmental justice element, we actually started with a base, you know, of the looking at calamar screen as well, but we went much deeper and more comprehensively to have more local issues addressed.

And so we looked at a lot more different um disparity issues in the city to come up with a more broader look at a lot more criteria.

So I think what you're talking about really wouldn't affect what we've done, because we've looked a lot deeper than that already.

Thank you.

Please and thank you.

I don't know.

Thank you, thank you.

Squared, whatever.

I appreciate that because these communities are still highly impacted, and I don't know if the state of California understands just how much.

So thank you for using other tools in addition to Cal and BiroScreen.

And I will uh make a motion to adopt this resolution for the hazard mitigation plan and send it to the uh council meeting, the next council meeting on based on how we vote.

Are there speakers on this item?

Awesome.

Second.

Thank you.

We have a motion made by Council Member Five, seconded by Council Member Brown to approve the recommendations of staff and support this item to the June 2nd City Council agenda as a public hearing.

Thank you.

On roll council members Brown.

Aye.

Aye.

Alright.

Easton.

Aye.

And Chair Wong.

Aye.

Thank you.

Item four passes with four ayes to be forwarded to the June 2nd City Council agenda as a public hearing.

Now reading in item five, adopt a resolution authorizing the city administrator to enter into a professional services agreement with elite corporate service solutions LLC, previously known as Elite Public Safety Investigations LLC, to provide pre-employment background investigations for the period of June 1st, 2026 to May 31st, 2029 in an amount not to exceed $300,000 with an option to extend the agreement for two years up until May 30th, 31st, 2031, at a cost of up to 200,000 and without returning to counsel for a total amount not to exceed $500,000, and we have no speakers on this item.

Alright, Michael, go ahead.

Take it away.

Good evening.

Thank you for all for being here.

Michael Hunt, Oakland Fire Department.

The Oakland Fire Department is currently recruiting firefighter trainees and firefighter paramedic trainees to fill several academies in the coming years.

Non-sworn positions such as fire investigators and fire communications dispatchers will also need to be filled.

Adoption of this proposed resolution will authorize a city administrator to enter into a contract with elite corporate solutions LLC to provide background investigations as part of the pre-employment process to identify the most suitable candidates for this moment in Oakland for this department.

Conducting an effective pre-employment investigation is especially important when hiring first responders and public safety professionals.

It builds trust with the community by ensuring that individuals entrusted with the lives and safety of others are of high integrity and reliability.

In December of 2025, an RFP process was initiated to select a contractor who will conduct comprehensive background investigations for sworn and civilian personnel as part of the pre-employment process.

Proposals were received from three different vendors.

The RFP review process resulted in the recommendations to award the contract to elite corporate solutions LLC.

They will perform this uh the following services necessary for the completion of background investigations, including but not limited to completion of personal history statement by candidates, conduct an interview and detailed review of uh of the PHS with candidates, requests from candidate authorizations to release information to obtain an investigative consumer report and procure a consumer credit report under the investigative consumer reporting agencies act.

They will also review the candidates's personal history statement, DMD record, criminal court history, civil court record, sexual offender index, education verification, employment verification, and professional reference interviews.

This vendor will ensure each background investigation meets the standard OFD has set forth.

A complete and thorough written report on each candidate will be submitted.

Report submissions will remain and maintain a consistent standardized format and will include all documents collected during the investigation.

There's some key points on why we selected this vendor and why they uh basically were proven to be a better fit than the other uh candidates.

They showed better alignment with project requirements and scope, greater relevant experience and past performance, higher evaluation scores based on the RFP criteria, better understanding of OFD's general and very specific needs, superior implementation plan and timeline, strong project management approach, better long-term partnership potential.

Their proposal demonstrated the best overall value for the city of Oakland, which is currently managing an incredible budget process on its own.

Stronger technical alignment with project requirements.

Councilmember Brown.

Excellent.

Um thank you so much for the report.

Um I just had a quick question about the table.

Um I know that it says here the amount not to exceed 500,000, and then the table with the option to extend as well, but then the table shows like in year one 500,000, year two, five hundred thousand, and then in year three, four and five, it it's re reduced to a hundred thousand, um, even though the total amount of the contract is five hundred.

So just wanted to get some clarity around the specific allocation for the years.

Good evening, Damon Covenant, welcome fire chief.

Um so our goal to just give you a little context.

Uh we were using we had a contract with the vendor, it expired.

We used OPD last time for our backgrounds.

They did an incredibly thorough job, but it took several months because they were doing ours as well as they were doing their own for their own academies, and with their with OPD being, you know, attached to multiple academies coming up, we needed our own vendor because we also want to hire uh 50 firefighters a year, so uh in it include in addition to macro dispatch and civilian.

So we needed to have a contract.

Um, the reason we asked for up to 500,000 is to just so that we don't have to come back to council repeatedly.

Contracts is are hard to come by, as you may know.

Um, and so we just wanted to have an extension.

We don't plan to approach anywhere near 500,000 annually with 50 backgrounds, we would probably be less than 100,000 annually.

More like in the 50,000 to 60,000 range annually, I see.

So should the table reflect a hundred thousand per year?

The table should reflect a total of 500,000.

I would think over the entire entirety of the contract, including the extension.

Okay.

All right, thank you.

Yeah, yep.

Council member Pike.

Go ahead.

Do we need to make that amendment then, Chair?

Um, when it before it comes back to maybe that's a question to the parliamentarian.

Does that information need to change maybe in a supplemental so that the table is reflective of what the chief actually just said?

You hear that?

Canada.

Can you repeat the question for the parliamentary?

I it I'm just following up on a question that I also had around the table in the report.

Um, should it be reflective of what the chief just said about what's actually can you can can they bring the item when it goes?

Let me answer the first question first.

So to your point.

Um, they get the report is the report, but you can request that it be clarified.

You're right.

We can bring it back to clarify.

Yeah, I think that's important.

Was there a question?

I'm sorry.

Just changed the table.

Yeah.

I have a quick question.

I'm sorry.

Through the chair.

Um, or through the chair and through to the parliamentarian, can we forward since the resolution is fine, if that's what I'm understanding, and then we can correct the incorrect data on the table for uh prior to council.

Is that that that was something along with what I was thinking was good.

Thank you for that solution.

Great.

Councilmember Brown.

Okay, so okay.

Um I'll make the motion to move the item as long as we um with the amendments.

Um to be corrected prior to the publishing of the agenda.

I'll make a second.

Oh, you have a question.

Okay, council member.

Through the chair, I'm good with it.

Um, I think I didn't just across the board when it says do not return to council.

I like things to return to council just on the strength that that's what we're elected for.

Um is there a reason why we don't it doesn't return to council back to council?

Chief.

Yeah, yeah, through the chair.

Thank you for that.

Um with all of our contracts, we're trying to write them with extensions already built in, because again, contracts, we're we're we're struggling getting our contracts approved.

So if we if we give you the, you know, when we update this chart and we say the contract will be for uh a maximum of 500,000 over a three-year period, then it would there's no need to really come back to council to say we here's what we spent so far, unless that's what the the will of the council is.

We want to have it where we don't need to continue to come back for additional contracts when we could just extend the contracts that's we've that are already approved by council.

Yeah, and that's let's go through the chair.

I just like to know updates and know what's going on and if it's working, if it's not working, because that's what we're elected for, Chief, is is to see how things are going and how things are working.

It is this has nothing to do with the contract, it just triggers me when it says no return to council because I sit been saying that ever since I've been elected.

So I'd like to have some type of update if it's going good or it's not, you know.

Just like to know.

Yeah, and through the chair, um we can always re report out.

Um but I I think it matters on the contract too.

You know, backgrounds are backgrounds, and we're they're just gonna repeatedly be going through background, but things that that require, you know, council update.

We're happy to to come back to council or send a report.

Thank you, Chief.

All right, let's go to the vote.

Thank you.

We have a motion made by council member brown, seconded by Chair Wong to approve the recommendations of staff and to forward this item to the June 2nd City Council agenda with the request to staff to provide a supplemental report uh with updated information on the data um to sorry to reflect the correct numbers on the data chart in the staff report on roll council members Brown.

Aye, five, aye, Houston, aye, and Chair Wong.

Aye, thank you.

Good catch.

Oh, sorry.

Um thank you.

Motion passes with four eyes to forward this item to the June 2nd City Council agenda on consent.

Uh moving on to open forum.

We have one public speaker who signed up, Mr.

David Boatwright, but it looks like we don't have him anymore.

So Chair, that concludes all speakers.

All right, we are adjourned.

Dismissed or whatever.

We need services of traduction to the services of the government of the city.

The officer of accession of the city of Oakland is here to do it.

Hello, Oakland.

I'm Mayor Barbara Lee, and today I want you to hear one clear message.

Immigrants help make this city strong, and your city is here for you.

Now I know Oaklanders are concerned about the safety of our immigrant communities as federal enforcement activity is escalating across the country.

We stand firmly with our immigrant communities.

Oakland is a sanctuary city, and we will not be intimidated by federal operations designed to create fear and division.

No city employee will ever ask for your immigration status.

So regardless of your status, you should always feel safe to ask a police officer for help.

If your family is impacted, you have rights and support is available.

This resource is available for everyone, individuals, families, organizations, city workers, and even elected officials.

Thank you very much.

We heard you, Oakland.

You want more connected neighborhoods and better access to housing jobs and everyday essentials.

The draft lands use framework for Oakland's General Plan shows how we can make that vision real.

The framework focuses on achieving key community priorities like housing and services near transit and jobs, well-maintained open spaces, and transportation that gets people where they need to go.

Here are some of the ways that the city of Oakland can help you get more out of your city government.

At all city departments, language access posters are available, allowing you to simply point to the language you speak, and city staff can call an interpreter over the phone for the language assistance you need.

With our city website, information is available in multiple languages with the click of a button.

And like our bilingual service, over the phone interpreters, video interpreting, and in-person interpretations can be provided.

All you have to do is ask.

What if you're at a city facility with neat language services?

The public can request translation or interpretation just by talking to city staff.

They come in contact with.

Necessarily services de traduction para acceder a los services del gobierno de la ciudad.

La oficina de acceso igualitario de la ciudad de Oakland está aquí para ayudar.

The personal municipality needs to be to organization of the people to work on the reunion at time.

Hello, Oakland.

I'm Mayor Barbara Lee, and today I want you to hear one clear message.

Immigrants help make this city strong and your city is here for you.

Now I know Oaklanders are concerned about the safety of our immigrant communities as federal enforcement activity is escalating across the country.

If your family is impacted, you have rights and support is available.

Individuals, families, organizations, city workers, and even elected officials.

Y no vamos a permitir acciones que buscan causar miedo orden.

Ningún empleado de la ciudad de Open le va a preguntar sobre su status migratorio.

No importa su status.

Usted puede llamar a nove once in una emergencia.

Este mensage is para todas las personas y familias y organizations communitaries.

Oakland está con ustedes.

We will protect the town.

We heard you Oakland.

You want more connected neighborhoods and better access to housing jobs and everyday essentials.

The draft lands use framework for Oakland's general plan shows how we can make that vision real.

The framework focuses on achieving key community priorities like housing and services near transit and jobs.

From brochures and fact sheets that are in multiple languages to bilingual staff that can provide live translation services.

Here are some of the ways that the city of Oakland can help you get more out of your city government.

At all city departments, language access posters are available, allowing you to simply point to the language you speak, and city staff can call an interpreter over the phone for the language assistance you need.

With our city website, information is available in multiple languages with the click of a button.

And like our bilingual service, over the phone interpreters, video interpreting, and in-person interpretations can be provided.

All you have to do is ask.

What if you're a city facility but need language services?

The public can request translation or interpretation just by talking to city staff they come in contact with at the library or by reserving an OPRYD facility for a birthday party.

If you need assistance, just let a staff member know.

All you have to do is ask.

You can minimize wait times for interpreting by requesting language assistance in advance.

If you are planning on attending a public meeting, you may require the use of translation headsets.

Necessitive services of traduction for the services of the government of the city.

The officer of accessory of the city of Oakland is here to help you.

See if you say I assist a una reunion public, it's possible that necessity would still auricular the traduction.

Hello, Oakland.

I'm Mayor Barbara Lee, and today I want you to hear one clear message.

Immigrants help make this city strong, and your city is here for you.

Now I know Oaklanders are concerned about the safety of our immigrant communities as federal enforcement activity is escalating across the country.

So regardless of your status, you should always feel safe to ask a police officer for help.

If your family is impacted, you have rights and support is available.

Individuals, families, organizations, city workers, and even elected officials.

Well, we're all the way to the water.

Well, I'm not sure.

You go high wait to hoy use in Taiwan.

We heard you Oakland, you want more connected neighborhoods, and better access to housing jobs and everyday essentials.

Are you in need of translation services in order to access city government?

The City of Oakland's Equal Access Office is here to help.

There are many different ways that language access services can be used throughout the city from brochures and fact sheets that are in multiple languages to bilingual staff that can provide live translation services.

Here are some of the ways that the city of Oakland can help you get more out of your city government.

At all city departments, language access posters are available, allowing you to simply point to the language you speak.

And city staff can call an interpreter over the phone for the language assistance you need.

With our city website, information is available in multiple languages with the click of a button.

And like our bilingual service, over the phone interpreters, video interpreting, and in-person interpretations can be provided.

All you have to do is ask.

What if you're at a city facility with neat language services?

The public can request translation or interpretation just by talking to city staff they come in contact with at the library or by reserving an OPRYD facility for a birthday party.

If you need assistance, just let a staff member know.

All you have to do is ask.

You can minimize wait times for interpreting by requesting language assistance in advance.

If you are planning on attending a public meeting, you may require the use of translation headsets.

City staff will need time to arrange for equipment to arrive at the meeting venue on time.

So requesting them in advance is advisable.

Here at the Equal Access Office of the City of Oakland, we want you to be able to access city government on your terms, in your language, and provide you with the best possible experience the city has to offer.

Everyone deserves access to their city government.

This is not a new issue.

The U.S.

attacked Southern Iran Sunday, sinking two Iranian ships, claiming they were laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran, meanwhile, shot down a U.S.

Reaper drone.

This comes as negotiations over a potential deal to end the war are ongoing.

We'll get the latest.

Then an estimated 300 immigrants detained at the for-profit immigration jail, Delaney Hall in Newark, New Jersey, are on hunger strike.

Outside the jail over the weekend, protesters were tear gassed by ice as they tried to block a van, transferring Martin Soto, the husband of one of the organizers outside.

Everybody in there, they're not eating.

They're not eating until they get hurt.

Until we do something too freedom, which is why we started this protest to harm them to help their poison be heard.

We'll speak to Gabriela Soto and formerly undocumented organizer Leo Dorno.

Then more than a dozen U.S.

activists from the global Sumo flotilla, released from Israeli custody, returned to the United States Sunday.

They're describing what they experienced while in jail.

People said there was at least 12 sexual assaults that took place.

People were tased.

Um personally, I was kept in uh cuffs where I can't feel my hands anymore.

I was kicked in the ribs multiple times.

We'll be joined by Zateo reporter Alex Colston.

He just returned to New York on Sunday.

And in DC, Haytham Arafa, Palestinian American activist who's lost a hundred members of his family in Gaza.

All that and more coming up.

Welcome to Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org.

The War and Peace Report.

I'm Amy Goodman.

The U.S.

attacked Southern Iran on Sunday in what the Pentagon called self-defense strikes.

The U.S.

sank two Iranian ships, claiming they were attempting to lay mines in the Strait of Hormuz.

Meanwhile, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says it shot down a U.S.

Reaper drone that entered Iranian airspace.

This comes as Iranian negotiators travel to Qatar to discuss a potential ceasefire to end the U.S.

Israel war on Iran.

This is Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson speaking Monday.

It is true that we have reached a conclusion regarding a large part of the topics under discussion.

But to say that this means a signing of an agreement is imminent.

No one can make such a claim.

For the same reasons you mentioned yourself, because policymaking and decision making in America have become caught in a kind of institutionalized instability.

This comes as President Trump warned Iran to hand over its stockpile of enriched uranium, hosting on social media Monday night, quote, the enriched uranium nuclear dust will either be immediately turned over to the United States to be brought home and destroyed, or preferably in conjunction and coordination with the Islamic Republic of Iran, destroyed in place, or at another acceptable location with the Atomic Energy Commission, unquote.

Over the weekend, President Trump also urged countries in the region, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, and Pakistan, to normalize relations with Israel by joining the Abraham Accords as part of U.S.

negotiations to reach a deal with Iran.

On Friday, Tulsi Gabbard, the Director of national Intelligence, announced she's resigning from the Trump administration.

In a statement, Gabbard said she's stepping down after her husband was diagnosed with bone cancer.

An Israeli air strike in Lebanon's Baca Valley killed 12 people Monday, according to Lebanese state media.

The strike came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu authorized intensive military operations against Hezbollah, and as Israel called up additional troops to deploy to Lebanon.

Despite last month's ceasefire, Israel and Hezbollah have continued to exchange fire on a near-daily basis.

Since March 2nd, well over a million Lebanese have been forced to flee their homes as Israeli attacks have killed more than 3100 people.

In Gaza, Israeli strikes killed at least five Palestinians at a refugee camp in central Gaza Tuesday, according to Palestinian health officials.

The strike hit a group of residents who had left their homes to confront an Israeli-backed Palestinian militia attempting to move into an area east of Makazi camp, according to medics and witnesses.

It follows another Israeli strike on a tent encampment Monday in the Mawassi area of Kanunis, which killed two people and wounded 17 others, including children.

A 16, a six-year-old girl, Manatala Abu Libda, was among the dead.

This is the girl's grandmother.

God intended that instead, like children of the world should be celebrating ED, preparing for Eid.

This is what happens to her.

An innocent child who has done nothing wrong.

In Spain, activists from the global Samood flotilla were beaten by police officers at Bilbao Airport on Saturday.

After they returned home from being intercepted at sea, abducted, and abused by Israeli forces while attempting to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza.

At least four people were arrested after members of the autonomous police force for Spain's Basque country, known as Erchancha, used batons to attack activists, family members, and supporters who gathered to pose for pictures.

The police violence drew attention to the more than 1.66 million euros, about 1.9 million dollars worth of security contracts between Basque police forces and an Israeli firm run by a former Mossad agent to provide body armor, surveillance technology, and tactical training courses.

Meanwhile, 15 U.S.

Samood flotilla activists held a news conference at JFK Airport on Sunday morning.

We'll speak to Alex Colston, a U.S.

citizen and flotilla participant who writes for Zateo and was part of that news conference.

This comes as Israeli National Security Minister Itmar Ben Gavir has been barred from entering France.

France's foreign ministry cited Ben Gavir's quote, incitement of hatred and violence against Palestinians, unquote, as well as video he shared last week showing him taunting dozens of activists from the global Samood flotilla who've been abducted by Israeli forces and pushed to the ground face first with their hands bound behind their backs.

We'll have more on this story later in the broadcast.

In New Jersey, police arrested 10 activists at a port in the city of Elizabeth on Friday morning as they attempted to stop a shipment of weapons components and ammunition bound for Israel.

Officers used power tools to separate protesters who chained themselves together to halt truck traffic along a main road for several hours.

In a statement, one of the activists said, quote, we blockaded the terminal to stop the U.S.

government from violating its own laws by sending weapons to Israel to commit war crimes and genocide, unquote.

In Newark, New Jersey, about 300 detainees at the ICE jail known as Delaney Hall, have been on hunger strike since Friday to protest inhumane conditions and due process violations.

Delaney Hall is operated by the private prison company Geo Group.

Tensions escalated on Sunday when ICE removed a hunger strike organizer, Martin Soto, prompting protesters outside the ICE jail to block a van being used to take him away.

Masked ICE agents responded by firing tear gas and pushing people to the ground.

New Jersey's Democratic Governor Mikey Sherrill joined federal lawmakers outside Delaney Hall, but was denied entry.

Democratic Senator Andy Kim and New Jersey Congress member Rob Menendez, who toured the facility, described the filthy bathrooms, abusive guards, inadequate medical care, spoiled food, and said prisoners were being threatened with deportation to Ebola stricken countries.

We'll have more on this story later in the broadcast.

After Obrego Garcia won his deportation case, the Justice Department attempted to bring human smuggling charges against him, stemming from a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee.

But on Friday, U.S.

District Judge Waverly Crenshaw ruled, actions taken by then Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, now Attorney General had tainted the investigation with a quote, vindictive motive, unquote.

Judge Crenshaw added, quote, the evidence before this court sadly reflects an abuse of prosecuting power, unquote.

To see our coverage of Kilmar Brago Garcia's case, go to Democracy Now.org.

The Trump administration announced Friday that most immigrants seeking green cards must return to their home countries to apply.

U.S.

citizenship and immigration services said it would only grant green cards to people already inside the United States, only in quote extraordinary circumstances, unquote.

Green card applicants will now have to go through consular processing abroad rather than adjusting their status from within the United States.

At the White House, a gunman was killed after opening fire on a U.S.

Secret Service checkpoint Saturday evening.

An NBC news team reported hearing between 20 and 30 shots as Secret Service agents directed reporters to take cover inside the press briefing room.

Secret Service officers returned fire, hitting the suspect who later died at a hospital.

A bystander was also wounded.

According to police, the suspect was identified as 21-year-old Nasir Best of Maryland.

President Trump was at the White House during the incident, but wasn't impacted, according to the Secret Service.

Russia's foreign ministry has warned foreigners to leave Ukraine's capital as soon as possible, as the Kremlin threatens a new wave of attacks following weekend strikes on Kyiv that killed at least four people and injured more than 90 others.

Russia used a powerful hypersonic ballistic missile in the attacks, which struck high-rise apartment buildings, schools, a marketplace, and a water supply facility.

Among those warned by Russia to leave were diplomatic staff from foreign embassies, including the United States.

The head of the European Union mission in Kiev said diplomats from all 27 EU nations would remain, adding, quote, Russia wants fear, panic, isolation of Ukraine.

It will not work, unquote.

The World Health Organization warns cases of Ebola are spreading faster in the Democratic Republic of the Congo than public health workers can respond.

WHO chief Tedros Abnon Gebriasis called on neighboring countries to take immediate action, warning the number of suspected deaths from the Ebola outbreak has reached 220.

On Sunday, police in the eastern Congolese town of Mongwalu fired shots into the air to disperse a crowd that attempted to reclaim the bodies of loved ones at an Ebola treatment center.

It's the same city where last week people set fire to an isolation tent run by doctors without borders, Medicine Sans Frontier.

This man survived.

Apart from God, it is the doctors because they are the ones who understand the human body.

So if you argue with the doctor, well, you will see for yourself.

I'm very grateful to the doctors because they have helped me a lot.

When I arrived, I was even wondering whether I would be buried today or tomorrow.

And Pope Leo issued a sweeping declaration Monday on the risks of artificial intelligence in the form of a papal encyclical that runs more than 42,000 words.

Pope Leo presented it alongside Christopher Ola, a co-founder of the AI company Anthropic.

The encyclical calls for government regulation, retraining workers, better education for students, protections for children, and safeguards to ensure that humans and not AI models will make decisions on the use of weapons.

This is Pope Leo.

And those are some of the headlines.

This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org, the War and Peace Report.

I'm Amy Goodman back in New York with Democracy Now's Juan Gonzalez in Chicago.

Hi, Juan.

Hi, Amy, and welcome to all of our listeners and viewers across the country and around the world.

The U.S.

attacked Southern Iran Sunday, and what the Pentagon called self-defense strikes.

The U.S.

sank two Iranian ships, claiming they were attempting to lay mines in the Strait of Hormuz.

Meanwhile, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says it shot down a US Reaper drone that entered Iranian airspace.

It comes as Iranian negotiators traveled to Qatar to discuss a potential ceasefire deal to end the U.S.

Israel war on Iran.

This is Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson speaking Monday.

It is true that we have reached the conclusion regarding a large part of the topics under discussion, but to say that this means a signing of an agreement is eminent.

No one can make such a claim.

This comes as President Trump warned Iran to hand over its stockpile of enriched uranium, posting on social media Monday night, quote, the enriched uranium, nuclear dust exclamation point, will either be immediately turned over to the United States to be brought home and destroyed, or preferably in conjunction and coordination with the Islamic Republic of Iran, destroyed in place, or at another acceptable location with the Atomic Energy Commission, unquote.

Over the weekend, President Trump also urged countries in the region, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, and Pakistan, to normalize relations with Israel by joining the Abraham Accords as part of U.S.

negotiations to reach a deal with Iran.

On Friday, Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, announced she's resigning in a statement.

Gabbard said she's stepping down after her husband was diagnosed with bone cancer.

We're joined now by Nagar Murtazabi, Iranian American journalist, host of the Iran Podcast, senior fellow at the Center for International Policy.

Nagar, thanks so much for being with us.

Can you talk about these latest developments?

Can you talk about the U.S.

bombing southern Iran?

And yet they're all both saying Iran and the United States that they're in the middle of negotiations.

What's happening?

Good morning, Amy and Juan.

Thanks for having me back.

It's great to be with you.

So, yes, I mean, the US and Iran are in the middle of ongoing talks for a peace deal, which seems to be as close as it ever was throughout this war.

I mean, I'm hearing from sources on both sides that they're very close to the finish line, in fact, as far as trying to be flexible and making concessions on both sides.

And there is also a ceasefire, an ongoing ceasefire.

It's been ongoing for weeks.

It has been murky, it has been chaotic, it has been violated from the day one, Israel violated the ceasefire attacking Lebanon, and there have been other sort of back and forts.

And now Iran is accusing the US of violating the ceasefire again.

I mean, we have to remember Iran.

When we talk about the Strait of Hormuz, this is right off the coast of Iran in the Persian Gulf, and the US has a blockade on top of uh that strait, very close to the Iranian coast, trying to block Iranian ports, trying to block Iranian ships.

So the US presence there from the viewpoint of the Iranians in itself is hostile, is seen as part of sort of this act of war, and the conflict Iranians are definitely seeing it as a violation of sort of that ceasefire and more escalation from the US side.

I don't think it will necessarily unravel that peace process or completely uh destroy the ceasefire, but you know, every step of escalation is definitely going to harm uh the final outcome and narrow the path uh to a final agreement.

And Nagar, what do uh from what you can tell, what do government leaders in Iran make of this alternating uh, as they say, institutionalized instability on the US part with Trump making constant bombastic threats at the same time than alternating to say that an agreement is imminent?

Well, first of all, confusion, Juan, and then also a lack of trust.

I mean, this is a recurring line I keep hearing from sources in Tehran over and over and over that they have no trust in this administration.

I mean, take a step back.

Iran started nuclear negotiations with this very administration a year ago, and then in the middle of those talks came the first war in June of last year.

Again, they engaged in nuclear negotiations this year in the middle of negotiations, as they offered what seemed like a good deal by the admission of the mediators, Omani mediators in the middle of those negotiations again came an even bigger war, this time a regime change war.

So what Tehran is saying is that we have no trust in this administration, and that has made the process even more complicated.

It's not just the president's rhetoric that changes by the day in the middle of this process, but it's also trusting that if the US commits to something that they would abide by it, that they won't uh come and sign something or agree on something and then go and change it uh the day after.

So this will also impact that final sort of agreement, and it's one of the reasons that uh Tehran is not only skeptical but also wants to do this in stages to make sure they give something, they take something.

They give something, they take something with some form of guarantee.

That's also why they're looking east to powers like Russia, China.

There seems to be something serious happening in China, maybe China stepping in to help the peace process because there's just no trust in Tehran for Washington for this administration.

Now, if you can talk about a little further about the connection between um Israel bombing Southern Lebanon, you know, you had this uh back and forth last week where President Trump said uh when he's done with the presidency, he could be prime minister of Israel, that um uh that uh Netanyahu does what he wants him to.

Um, clearly Netanyahu doesn't want this war with Iran to end, but can't control what the US does, but can continue to attack Southern Lebanon.

That exacerbating Iran's response because they're saying um what happens in Lebanon also affects whether they reach an agreement with the United States.

Can you talk more about that with this intensification of the Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon?

Do you think that Netanyahu's doing this to uh force Trump's hand on Iran?

Absolutely, Amy, and it's not the first time.

I mean, Natalia has done this before.

First of all, look at the big picture.

Benjamin Nataniel has wanted a war, an ongoing war on Iran by the US for decades.

I mean, he has put this war plan on in front of various US presidents from Bush to Obama to Biden, and then finally the quote unquote president of peace took the plan and did it.

And he wants the war to continue to expand.

He has only expanded the war since the day after October 7th in Gaza, in Lebanon, now in Iran, even in Syria and other countries.

He just wants it expanded.

Now, Iran's proposal, what they are looking after is a regional end to the war.

So the way they call it is a non-aggression pact, meaning Iran and its allies in a pact versus US and its allies, which very much includes Israel.

And I mean, frankly, I think this is better for regional peace and stability if you have sort of everyone on board on one side and the other side.

So Iran is very much trying to fold Hezbollah into this process.

This is Lebanon, militias in Iraq that are allied with Iran.

This is more than just within Iran's borders, especially on Hezbollah, because Hezbollah entered this war with Iran.

They worked with in coordination for the first time as close allies, and Tehran doesn't want to drop them.

And so for Benjamin Netanyahu, this has really been a tactic from the first day the ceasefire was announced, just hours later, he did that massive attack with a massacre of over 350 people in Beirut to try to torpedo the process.

And now I think I'm expecting to see more and more of this.

Like you said, he can't control what the US does as far as the US trying to make a deal with Iran.

And it seems like President Trump is not very much including him in every little step and detail.

Um but he can he definitely has means and others also in the region have means to torpedo the process and try to unravel it.

And from the Iranian perspective, they want Lebanon very much as part of this.

And if that's not included, then this, you know, final deal will not stand for them.

So they want a permanent end to the war, not just for themselves, but also for their allies, and they want to commit that this will be a non-aggression pact between them and their allies and the U.S.

and its allies, meaning Iran's allies will also not attack the US or Israel after this pact.

And Nagaro, talking about a regional agreement, uh, what are you seeing in terms of the other Gulf states of Qatar, UAE.

Wait in Oman in terms of whether they've gotten closer or further away from their alliance with the United States as a result of all of this uh of this war.

Well, it's a very dynamic situation.

First of all, I want to say the GCC countries, these Arab monarchies of the Persian Gulf are not very similar.

I mean, you have a country like Oman who has kept itself as far away from the war, almost outside the war as possible, and didn't get a lot of attacks or engagements from Iran.

And then you have a country like UAE, who chose from day one to be part of the war and is it very much in publicly part of the war and is also getting attacked and is uh engaged with Iran.

And then you have countries sort of in between, like you mentioned, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and others.

I think Qatar, Oman and Saudi, if I put them sort of in the same basket, have been trying very hard before the war to push against the war, really warning the administration that um this will be catastrophic, this will become regional, and this will not stay inside Iran's borders.

And this also came from Turkey, Egypt, you know, other countries in the region, but all of them together didn't have the same weight as Benjamin Netanyahu, who pushed and convinced President Trump that Iran is a paper tiger and they can attack and finish it, which didn't happen.

But now throughout the course, I mean it's very dynamic.

These countries are sort of stuck between a powerful ally, which is the United States.

They obviously can end this alliance.

And a powerful neighbor, Iran, who has been there for thousands of years and will continue to be there.

So I think there is a rethinking happening in the GCC, each country in a different way of how to manage these two relationships.

You can't rely on one side or the other.

You can't pretend like you're hosting US bases that are being used in a war against your neighbor and you have no role in this war and get surprised if you get retaliation from that said neighbor.

And so that dynamic, I think, is something that will play out in the short term and also long term, and for some of these states to rethink how peace in the region would not only be for them, but also has to involve their neighbor.

Basically, the Iranian message is if war comes to us, it will not stay inside our borders.

And if it comes back, they will make sure that they'll do it again and again.

That's the Iranian messaging and the new doctrine.

Iranian American journalist, host of the Iran Podcast, senior fellow at the Center for International Policy.

Coming up, more than a dozen U.S.

activists from the global Samood flotilla have been released from Israeli custody and returned to the United States on Sunday.

We'll speak with two of them.

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I'm Amy Goodman with Juan Gonzalez.

Israel's deported hundreds of activists who they abducted from the Global Samood Flotilla as the convoy of humanitarian aid ships sailed toward Gaza, attempting to break Israel's siege.

The activists were imprisoned for days, have described torture and sexual violence by Israeli soldiers during their time in custody.

Many reported broken ribs and other injuries.

This is Australian activist Juliet Lamont speaking from Sydney after being deported from Israel.

I was beaten, and that was just the beginning of four days of absolute hell.

I've looked into the eyes of the most soulless people in the universe, and nothing came back.

These people need to be stopped.

Meanwhile, in Spain, activists from the Global Samud flotilla were beaten by police officers, Basque police officers at Bilbao Airport Saturday after they returned home from being intercepted at sea and abducted by Israeli forces while attempting to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza.

At least four people were arrested after members of the autonomous police force for Spain's Basque country, known as the Erchancha, used batons to attack activists family members and supporters who gathered to pose for pictures.

The police violence drew attention to 1.66 million euros worth of security contracts.

That's about 1.9 million dollars between Basque police forces and Israeli firm run by a former Mossad agent to provide body armor surveillance technology and tactical training courses to the Basque police.

This comes as Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gavir, has been barred from entering France.

France's foreign ministry cited his incitement of hatred and violence against Palestinians, unquote.

As well as video he shared last week showing him taunting dozens of activists from the global Samood flotilla who've been abducted by the Israeli forces, pushed to the ground face first with their hands bound behind their backs.

For more, we're joined by two guests.

Here in New York, Alex Colston, U.S.

citizen, flotilla participant.

Just returned home Sunday after three days in Israeli custody.

He was covering the flotilla for Zateo.

This is his second time participating on a Gaza humanitarian flotilla.

In Washington, DC, we're joined by Haithamarafat, Palestinian American activist, flotilla participant, but his head slammed into the ground when Israeli forces detained him.

Uh Haithum was born in Gaza.

Over a hundred members of his family have been killed in Israeli strike since October 7th, 2023.

Alex, let's begin with you.

I just described um what Ben Gavir did, uh, and now he's been barred from entering s France.

Um you were there.

Um can you talk about first what happened to you on the high seas, and then uh what happened when you were brought to Israel.

Thanks for having me, Amy.

Um, on the high seas, I mean, we are we were intercepted about two hundred fifty nautical miles from the shores of Gaza.

It took them, I think about a day to get all the boats.

How many?

How many boats?

52 boats.

And around 400, 500 participants, all told.

And as we uh when we when when the Israelis board the ships, they typically do so in a violent fashion.

They they shoot immediately with rubber bullets if we do not stop the ships.

They tend to uh in my case, they tied my zip zip tied my hands behind my back.

Um and they put us in stress positions on the boat.

Um, a stress position as well.

Meaning that they make us sit on our knees with our heads on the ground, or foreheads on the ground, uh, can't move.

They can they often give these kinds of contradictory orders, but they'll say you sit sit up, go down, sit up, go down.

If we do either do the opposite of either, they'll beat you in some way or another.

Um but the way the way that they've they aboard the vessels is they typically board the hippie board, they they abduct us, they come near the ship, and they take us to um in this case a prison boat.

Um, and this this happened previously in the mission as well, west of Crete, but there are I think two prison boats this time.

And when when they're on the prison ships, there it's kind of like a shanty town or like a strange uh like containerized area to traffic us back to Israel.

Um and in and on those prison ships and then within um uh Kitsea prison in Ashtad port, they take uh they go out of their the Israelis have gone out of their way to to beat and abuse um the flotilla participants.

In the case of Ben Gavir's appearance, um this is he did this the previous time too, when we were in Ashtad.

Um one thing I find kind of ironic is that when uh the Israeli foreign minister ministry or or any of Israeli officials talk about us, they they call us provocateurs or they can say we're, you know, we're terrorists or you know, we were committed to provocation, and yet whenever Ben Gavir shows up to these things, he's the one provoking us.

He's there saying we're terrorists.

He's saying that you know we're um, you know, um challenging.

He brings a camera crew with him.

Yes, he br yes, he tends to bring a camera crew with him.

And in fact, the previous time I saw him do this, he there's one person sort of just shooting uh film of him, and he's talking to the camera.

And it it might as well be that we're not even there uh in some respects because he's doing it for Israeli consumption.

He's filming these antics and these uh these smears of the flotilla participants for the Israeli public.

And you know, in this time we were in this this tent, and I would say that it that um my experience in the tent was was quite harrowing.

So a person a foot away from me had clearly had broken ribs, was holding them was and was and was moaning.

And I would try to go I tried to go help him, and but every time I would move, they would kick me or they'd take me pull me back, and they would send me back down on my um knees and head.

And I could hear screaming the whole time we were in the um tent, you know.

They they indiscriminately brutalized people in that tent.

Meanwhile, as Ben Gavir shows up.

And the thing is that I could not see Ben Gavir, but I'm I'm sitting forward, and I can hear someone talking behind him.

I mean, with your head on the ground, yeah, so I can't.

And your hands behind you, zip tie.

Yes, and I couldn't turn around and s and and see, but you know, I'm I'm in a clump of bodies, a row of bodies, and I'm just hearing, like one by one saying, Ben Gavir's here, Ben Gavir's here, yada yada.

And, you know, I think I I think in that in that instant, I this time around I realized like they are just being way more severe this time.

And I didn't know what was in store when we went onwards to kids' head.

Uh and Alex, uh there was another boat that uh so some of the activists named the torture boat.

You were not on that one, but what have you heard about what happened there?

So the first people I talked to when I got um on the Turkish plane back to uh Istanbul or to Istanbul is uh I I I listened to accounts from people on the torture boat.

And I was told immediately that 35 up to 35 people's ribs were fractured.

Um I heard that at least 12, if not 15 people have been sexually assaulted.

Um there were people told me that they were being that some have been injected with uh syringes of unknown substances.

We don't know what those were.

Um we were told that people were were made to lie down into like puddles of water and told not to move, and they were afraid they might um suffocate in that in that position.

Um they s they dropped uh flashbangs, they shot rubber bullets, and and as I've described it in in previous interviews, these container ships, you know, we're in a courtyard, we can't go anywhere.

You can't run away from Israeli guards who are shooting at you.

You can take you can take refuge maybe in the containership, but then then the Israelis would call out the participants to go into the courtyard um with their guns drawn.

So they were there there was a certain kind of like um, yeah, just like not only sadism, but trying to like torture us with like not not being sure what they were gonna do to us, like drawing us out, giving us contradictory orders, like finding any pretense and pretext to brutalize us and to keep us fearful uh of what they might do to us.

We're we're also joined by Haytham Arafat, a Palestinian American who has lost over a hundred members of his family in Gaza since October 7th.

Haitham, welcome to democracy now.

You were on the flotilla.

What happened with you?

I mean, uh Alex pretty much uh explained a lot of the things that happened.

But I would like to add one thing is that when Benikvir came to our cell, I looked at him, I looked at him at the eyes, and you can tell that this guy has pleasure uh at us uh in these positions.

They put us in cages.

These cages were three meters by six meters, and I counted at one time one point we had more than eighty people.

They keep keep adding more people, and there were there was no place for us to sit.

At one point we decided to stand because there is no space, and they came and they stopped beating us, and we had to sit down.

There is no space, so we start sitting on each other on the top of each other.

Uh there was a guy behind me uh when we were uh uh after the uh tent uh they got us from the uh uh uh from the port.

And he was uh uh uh I mean he did not speak Arabic, I do speak Arabic, so I do know some of some of the words.

And they asked him where you're from, and he was from uh Southeast Asia.

And then they asked him to uh repeat uh I am a fag.

I am a fag.

And they made him repeat that so many times, and when he stops, they come and beat him and they tell him, continue.

And then they c he called his friends and they started actually taking pictures with that guy.

Uh uh This is a system that is not uh I mean it's built, it's uh it's a six system.

And when we talk about Benigvir, as if it's an isolated uh um uh incident, it's not.

This is uh the Palestinians have been slaughtered and killed for over 80 years, and each administration comes and increases.

They brag about killing Palestinians.

This is we are our blood is becoming an election uh uh material for them.

Who kills more Palestinians gets elected?

Uh so what we have seen there in the prison, uh, I'm not gonna repeat a lot of what Alex said, but I can add one thing is that this is a system that was carefully designed to not to humiliate, not to deter, not to uh insult.

This system, the process that they have there in the jail, was designed to break you as a human.

It's designed to make you a human animal.

And I think, and I think based on I've seen, and I've seen the reaction of some of the people who were with us in these cages in the concentration camps.

It's not a jail, it's a concentration camp.

Uh we are, I I think they uh I mean I've seen the reaction of some people.

I don't think people can go through that process for a long time.

And that was what they have there in place.

Now, what I'm the one one thing I'm disgusted at.

France banned Benik Veer.

Now, why?

Because there is a picture about him.

But we know about this.

He's been doing this for years.

Why now?

Why that guy is still free walking and and and nobody is he's not on the sanction list of the US.

Why the people who are defending the Palestinians are on the sanction list, and these terrorists, these war criminals, are walking free and protected.

Not only they are protected, they are protected by our tax dollars.

Can I ask one criminal?

Hey, then, you showed them your US passport.

Yes, I did.

They slammed your head against the ground.

Yes.

They do not care.

I mean, they were trying, my name is Middle Eastern.

So they were trying to find my background, and I did not volunteer any information, but they were trying to uh speak to me in some line in Arabic languages with insults and cussing words, and I would just ignore them as much as possible because I did not want to escalate the situation.

Uh, even though uh I tried to do that, but every time I have I have a ruptured disk, so I cannot be in these stress positions for a long time.

The minute I try to raise my head, they come and start hitting me.

Uh uh they do not care whether you are young, old woman.

Uh uh, we have grandfathers, grandmothers, women, mothers, you were born in Gaza and have lost over a hundred members of your family.

Can you talk about some of them?

I mean, it's I mean, the first time I remember that I was in Gaza one year before the uh October 7, and I was on my way to Gaza uh during October 7.

Uh the first incident, which was actually I was on my way to the airport in Egypt when my uncle called me and he said, Yeah, your aunt was killed.

Because I was with uh my aunt at that time.

I stayed with her, and we had beautiful time with her.

She was like a second mom to me.

Um they were uh she was with her daughter, and they bombed that house.

And I remember I was uh in Egypt and they called us, they said they just bombed our house, but it was I think a a tank shell.

So the second floor was destroyed, and they decided to move to the second house, and they called us and said, What shall we do?

We told them, hey guys, it's the best place is to find a good uh shelter and just stay there, do not move.

But that house was bombed, so they had to move to my aunt's house, waited for the morning.

While they waited, it was my uh it was a grandmother, daughters, grandkids, babies.

They walked together to the second house, which is about 15 minutes.

There was a tank at the end of the road.

This tank, once they saw them, they saw a family walking of innocent civilians, they just turned at them, and what they did, they pressed the button and they bombed them.

Three of them killed immediately, few of them bled to death for two weeks because they were unable to go to the hospital and ambulances were unable to come to them.

They had the mother of the babies were killed at that time and she was breastfeeding.

They didn't have milk for the babies.

It's I mean, this is this is what we are going through.

And now you are putting Benikvir uh uh banned from France and he still can come to the US.

How many more Palestinians need to be killed before we do something?

I wanted to ask Alex Colston, the news out of Spain, uh when some of the flotilla uh participants arrived in Bilbao Airport.

Uh the riot police in the uh the in the Basque area uh of the country attacked the supporters that were at the airport.

Your response, especially given the fact that Spain, the national government has been so outspoken in its criticism of what Israel is doing.

Well, as was mentioned at the top of the segment, the Basque police trains with the IDF, the trains with the trains, the train with Israeli forces.

Um, so maybe perhaps on one level I'm not all that surprised.

And yet, of course, these are um activists who had just been detained and tortured in Israeli custody, and then the moment they're coming back home to see their friends and their family, they are again brutalized by the police.

Um the way this incident apparently started, as far as I understand it, is that one of the families, one of the family members and friends were trying to go to the activists, and the police stood in their way, and so the activists walked up to try to to see the family member and to get the police to move away, and then there was an altercation.

You know, the thing is that that many, many police forces across the world trained with Israeli forces, the same forces that tortured us uh in Kit in Kitsia Prison and on the prison boat, including the NYPD.

There has been well documented uh cooperative mutual collaboration between the NYPD and Israeli forces.

So isn't there's a global police force that is in many ways trained by the Israelis, and the Israelis use the tactics that they um have uh invented on the Palestinians, and yet then they train uh police forces across the world uh to inflict the same kinds of violence at uh on other civilians.

And so when I saw this video, I thought to myself, well, this is actually the same kinds of police violence that you would, same kinds of tactics then used uh in the Bosque region.

So well, we're gonna link to your work, it's a Teo, uh Alex Colston, Zateo reporter, U.S.

citizen and flotilla participant who just returned home to the United States on Sunday, and we thank Haitha Marafat, a Palestinian American activist, also flotilla participant born in Gaza, who's lost a hundred members of his family since October 7th, 2023.

To see all our coverage of the flotilla, you can go to Democracy Now.org.

Up next, we go to Tennessee, where the execution of Tony Carruthers was called out called off after prison officials struggled to kill him with a lethal injection, but it didn't work.

We'll talk to Stephen Hale, criminal justice reporter at the Nashville banner, author of Death Row welcomes you, visiting hours in the shadow of the execution chamber.

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This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org.

I'm Amy Goodman with Juan Gonzales.

We end today's show in Tennessee, where the execution of Tony Carruthers was called off after prison officials struggled to find a vein to administer lethal injection drugs.

Last week, the Republican governor Bill Lee issued a one year reprieve to Carruthers over the botched execution, which came despite Carruthers' claims of innocence and demands for a new trial.

We're joined now by Stephen Hale, criminal justice reporter at the Nashville Banner, author of the book, Death Row Welcomes You, Visiting Hours in the Shadow of the Execution Chamber.

Stephen, thanks so much for being with us.

You were a media witness for this botched execution.

If you can tell us what happened and tell us the story of Tony Carruthers.

That's right, thanks for having me, Amy.

So last week I was one of several of the uh media witnesses for this planned execution.

Um one of the frustrating things is it's I can't tell you what we saw because we didn't end up uh seeing anything in Tennessee, the as of right now, the process where the uh person who's being executed is prepared for the execution in this case where the IV lines are placed for a lethal injection happens um behind the curtain.

And so me and the other media witnesses were literally in the dark uh in a dark viewing room with the curtain that looks into the execution chamber drawn, and that curtain would have opened if they had successfully placed these IV lines in Mr.

Carruthers, but that never happened.

So uh what we ended up doing was sitting in the dark for more than an hour and trying to listen to what was happening in the execution chamber.

Um, not all of which we we understood at the time.

A lot of a lot of it we found out later.

Um, but that turned out to be the sound of them struggling to place the IV lines in Mr.

Cruthers.

We were told later by his attorney that they tried to, after getting a primary line in his uh in one of his arms, they tried the other arm, they tried a hand, his feet, uh ultimately tried his jugular vein in his neck, uh, and before trying uh a place a central line in his chest.

And when that was unsuccessful, after more than an hour, they called off the execution.

So uh yeah, it was it was quite an ordeal, and obviously um his his attorney later would tell us that he was in agony, um, and we could hear him groaning in pain from the viewing room, but like I said, we didn't end up ever seeing him or what was going on.

Uh Carruthers' attorney, Maria Deliberado of the ACLU.

Ivy line in his shoulder was filled with blood, like backfilled um towards the towards his chest area, and he said that his chest really hurt.

This was a tortured botched execution.

I mean, there's no question about it.

I mean, I guess it's not an execution because thankfully, by the grace of God, he's still alive.

Um, but they tortured him trying to find a vein.

I am so grateful that we are gonna have a chance to prove what we've been saying and what Tony has been saying for 30 years that he didn't commit this crime.

I know that he believes that this happened, that this botched attempt to take his life, happened for a reason, and it will strengthen his resolve to fight even more.

And Steve, could you talk about the case that was fil originally filed by the ACLU seeking DNA testing on about crucial uh physical evidence?

Why hasn't this DNA testing happened in over 30 years?

Yeah, well, that's a good question.

Um, but you're you're right.

The ACLU filed earlier this year um asking for crime scene evidence to to be tested, both for DNA analysis and fingerprint analysis.

Um the Mr.

Carruthers was convicted along with a co-defendant in 1996 for a trivial murder in Shelby County, Memphis, here in Tennessee.

And he's always maintained his innocence, but his case has uh, you know, I was saying someone the other day, is pretty much every issue that you see come up in death penalty cases is present in this case in one way or another.

Um, he Mr.

Carruthers has maintained his innocence.

He his attorneys have long said that he's profoundly mentally ill.

Um he was forced to represent himself at his trial.

Uh six defense attorneys uh were appointed to be his attorney and then ended up leaving the case, and the judge eventually refused to appoint a seventh.

And so he represented himself at this capital murder trial.

And so his his uh his representation, you know, we often see in capital cases that people later will talk about how they had poor representation.

He basically had none.

He represented himself.

He did not have an attorney.

And so his he's always maintained that he was innocent and there was no physical evidence in this case um brought by prosecutors.

What there was was the testimony of a man who later turned out to be a paid informant and who later recanted his testimony.

And so there's there's basically just questionable circumstantial evidence against Mr.

Carruthers.

Um, and so all these years later, his attorneys at the ACLU have been pushing for that crime scene evidence to be tested.

They said that this evidence, if it were tested, it could potentially exonerate him.

We don't know because um the courts so far um had blocked those efforts, and the governor right before this failed execution had uh announced that he was not going to intervene to to hold off um the execution so that testing could take place.

Um so I can't answer really for you why uh why it hasn't been, but now that Mr.

Cruthers has a one year reprieve, I imagine his attorneys will be will be trying to get that done uh in whatever way they can.

And and what does this case raise about uh mental illness issues in relation to death row prisoners as well?

Yeah, I mean, so Mr.

Carruthers, according to his attorneys and in court filings for years now, um, they say that he has had uh d delusions about his case, basically that he he didn't even believe he was going to be executed, that he thought he would be released any time.

And because he was, as I said, convinced of it of his innocence, and had started to believe that his attorneys and other people involved in his case were actually plotting against him.

And, you know, sadly this is not unusual.

Uh every of all the death penalty cases I've covered and all the ones that I uh have read about, some of ones I've watched uh you all cover on democracy now.

Mental illness is often a factor in one way or another, and uh whether that's affecting a person's ability to kind of help their attorneys represent them at trial, whether it's a factor in the crime that they committed if they were indeed guilty, or in their understanding of the case later.

And so his attorneys did go to court and argue that he was not mentally competent to be executed, that he was too mentally ill to be constitutionally executed.

The courts rejected that argument.

But this is a situation in one form or another that we see in lots of death plenty cases around the country and certainly in Tennessee.

Uh Stephen Hale, as we wrap up, um, you have been covering this case and other death penalty cases.

You're not only criminal justice reporter at the Nashville banner, you wrote death row welcomes you.

You decided not to be a witness to these executions after being a witness to them a number of times.

Why did you decide to witness Carruthers' execution that didn't actually happen?

Yeah, that's a good question.

I mean, I did, as you said, I I witnessed three executions uh a few years back in 2018 and 2019.

And I uh it, you know, it's it's not a pleasant assignment.

Um, and my other colleagues and reporters who have done done so as well, I think would agree, but and so I I was I was pretty well burnt out on that and exhausted and not um not in a good place to do it again.

I decided to do it again now, um, you know, years later, because uh a colleague of mine at the banner has done a couple of these.

Um my editor Steve Cavendish has witnessed the a couple that have happened recently.

Other reporters that I work with here in Tennessee have been witnessing them.

And I think it's vitally important that if if the state is gonna execute its citizens, that someone um who can, you know, I guess you'd say represent the citizens can be there in the room to watch them do it and report what happens.

And so I did think it was important that I volunteer to do it again.

I don't, you know, I I certainly don't want to uh go to everyone, and I'm not eager to watch any of them, but I do think it's really important that people be able to see clearly or as clearly as we can tell them what an execution looks like, and you know, that's part of uh part of a lawsuit that uh we at the banner and some other media outlets here in Tennessee are part of is to expand the transparency of this process so that uh media witnesses could see the IV lines being placed, could see more of this process because I think if people are gonna um live in a state that has a death penalty, they just they deserve to see as much of it as is possible so that they can judge it for what it is.

Stephen Hale, we thank you so much for being with us.

We'll link to your articles and the Nashville banner, author of Death Row Welcomes You, visiting hours in the shadow of the Execution Chamber.

Speaking to us from Nashville, Tennessee.

That does it for our show on Wednesday night.

I'll be at the IFC Center, the theater here in New York City, with Johnny Nicholas and steal the Story, please, Director Tia Lesson.

I'm Amy Goodman with Juan Gonzalez for another edition of Democracy Now.

Financial literacy and the human condition.

Welcome to Financial Fitness with the Money Doctor, Dr.

Francis Raham.

I don't start my diet because I'm not sure which diet I want to start.

Any diet would help you get to your goal, right?

It's the same with debt, just start to do something, anything, uh, toward changing the direction that you're going in.

And I want to ask about the the having a partner in this process, a spouse or or a living arrangement, someone that you have that you share debt with that you have to get on board, and what if they're the procrastinator?

How do you overcome that?

Welcome to Financial Fitness with the Money Doctor.

I'm Denise Fazella, along with Dr.

Francis Ryan.

This show is made possible by Greenfield Community College, increasing access to higher education at a fraction of the cost, and by People's United Bank of Amherst, Home of Tea with Tresh.

And this morning we're talking with Dr.

Francis Ram about something that is uh that all of us do at some point, and that is procrastination.

Good morning.

Good morning.

How are you, Denise?

I'm good, how are you?

Good.

It sounds uh it sounds a little negative, I guess, but um I'm looking at it actually in a positive way.

And believe it or not, some of the things that we have, uh some of the reasons that cause us to procrastinate can have a positive effect on us as well as a negative effect.

A surprise to me a bit.

It's a surprise, but I'm willing to play along with that.

Fair enough.

I like, you know, I like everything to be positive if it's possible.

But I am fascinated by this topic because of all the things that can get in our way about getting out of debt.

It seems that procrastination is at the top of the list, and none of us um nobody comes into my office and and says, I know the reason I'm in debt is because I procrastinate.

They'll list it as one of many topics.

You know, well, we had these things that happened to us financially, and then there was this problem, and then this other stuff happened, and I just kept putting it on.

So I wanted to know, and I've been asking for years, what caused you to put it off.

Um, and so you know, people sometimes will tell us that they heard heard me on the radio or they heard saw us on TV for years before they came in.

And they'll say things like, oh, I wish I did this sooner, right?

And I'll ask, well, why?

Why didn't you do it sooner?

What are some of the answers that you get?

Well, I was hoping to find one or two things that I could just point and say, if I can solve this problem, I can help people not to procrastinate.

But it turns out that there are, you know, there's just a litany of reasons uh that people procrastinate.

And so one of the things is uh that the goal might seem to be too abstract, right?

That makes sense.

Yeah, and it's just it's just too vague.

I want to get out of debt.

Yeah.

I want to be a millionaire, you know.

It's it's just um, well, I want to be a millionaire, I guess it's a little more specific, but still not enough, right?

So when we say I want to get out of debt, it just seems like, yeah, does who doesn't, right?

But if we can be very specific and say, I want to pay my credit cards off in two years, I want to pay my mortgage off in six.

Um, I want to have a budget I can live with.

I want to do these specific things, and we do help people with that with coaching, but in the beginning, they don't know that.

All they know is somebody's offering to help them get out of debt.

And so I think this is in part why people fall prey to some of those programs that all you have to do is, you know, call up and sign a piece of paper and they're gonna take care of everything and get you out of debt because it's it's unthinkable about how you will manage that one piece at a time when it seems like an an overwhelming goal.

So it's hard to connect with that goal because it's so abstract and then it might be difficult to even comprehend the amount of debt that we have.

Yeah, to face the goal.

Facing the goal is tough sometimes.

Um it's it's why we ask people to put in their information in the website and then they will see how much debt they actually have on paper, not just a sense of it, uh, and not just saying, Well, this is what I have in credit card debt, right?

When they see what they're paying out in mortgages and student loans and car payments and all of that, then they can see it, and once we can see it with a click of a button, they can see what their current timelines are and what our timelines are individually, so they can we can get very specific, and instead of being abstract, we can say, Oh, look, there's your credit card paid off in three months, there's your car paid off in twenty months, whatever it happens to be.

There's your mortgage in, you know, six years, and so then it's easier to uh move forward with the plan.

But initially, just getting people to uh go and and put information in the system, we all know, okay, we've got debt, otherwise we wouldn't be thinking about this.

And that form seems really scary, right?

There's there's a thing called form fear.

We don't want to put information into a form.

Um, so there's about a million reasons why people could procrastinate.

So many fears, uh fear really sounds like it's at the root of procrastination and uh avoidance is is one of those ways that that fear gets manifested.

I I remember and I'm not gonna say who, I don't want to throw this person under the bus, but I remember as a child seeing somebody's mail piled up on the table of bills unopened, did not even open them to see what they were.

And if the phone rang, it was not answered because it was a bill collector.

Yes.

So I'm going to take a stab in the dark and say that that person also suffered from some anxiety.

And there's something called a feedback loop.

Um when anxiety is present and it's a task that they really don't want to look at and they procrastinate, the procrastination causes them to feel more anxious, and there's this awful feedback loop, and the longer it goes on, the more the the stronger the aversion is.

Um and and stacked up bills is a perfect example of that.

Yeah.

You know, um, now on the other side you could say is there's that lottery idea, right?

As long as I don't open the envelope, I'm a wealthy person, right?

As long as I don't open the envelope, I don't know what that bill is.

And so believe it or not, there's also a thing about procrastination that people put it off for a sense of excitement if you can imagine that.

Mm-hmm.

Um, so think of a student who will not cram for a test until the night before.

Oh right.

Because they see that process as being tedious or boring or they don't think they're going to do it well, and somehow waiting until the last minute causes the excitement to grow and very often can cause a positive result as well as a negative result, depending on the person and how they how they process that.

Brings about an adrenaline rush in a way.

I I guess so.

I I you know it's not it's not something I do.

I personally I like to get my ducks in a row and have them done, but you know, we all have these reasons we procrastinate.

Um one of the most interesting things I thought was optimism.

Optimism can cause people to procrastinate and well you think uh okay, this is a problem now, but I'm gonna get a raise soon, or my business is going to do better, or after I graduate, I'm gonna make all this money.

So I'm optimistic toward the future, and that means I don't have to look at getting out of debt now because it's all gonna be okay someday.

So I tend to be an optimist.

Um I tend to have, you know, lots of I fresh ideas, and I always want to put off whatever I'm working on now to get to the next fresh idea.

So the whole underlying issue here is our behavioral patterns, right?

Our sense of self-control and willpower.

And I think most people would say, Oh, if you procrastinate, you don't have good self-control or you don't have good willpower.

But I would say that that might only be true in a certain area.

You might have great self-control or great willpower in other areas of your life.

Um maybe you're terrific at at your job or with your parenting skills or uh, you know, helping other people, but when it comes to your own stuff, your own finances, it's just too icky to want to look at.

And so we put it off.

And I certainly did that as well.

You're listening to Financial Fitness with the Money Doctor, Dr.

Francis Ryan of Hug Your Student Debt, and I am her co-host, Denise Vosella, the news director here at WHMP.

And it took me at least a few months of hearing your commercials on our radio station before I called you, and then I had to go home and have that conversation with my husband before we called you.

Uh that I told him explain to him what I heard in the commercials and what I thought this might be able to do for us.

I I bring up brought it up before that lifeline that that we were looking for.

And um, so even I procrastinated in calling you.

And and think about that, because you were really very close to the situation.

You knew I it was there was credibility because I was here at your station, right?

And even with that, there's still that obstacle, there's still whatever reason it is, and I think it's different for everybody.

I mean, there's there's lots and lots of reasons.

Um one of the things that that I thought was very interesting is that we might see the problem as happening to a future self, and we don't we don't have a real connection to that.

So an example would be my doctor says I have diabetes, and if I don't change the way I eat now, two to three years from now, I could have a real medical problem.

Okay, so I might perceive that if I'm good at procrastination and denial, I might perceive that as something that doesn't need it, doesn't have a sense of urgency, it doesn't need action right now, it's going to happen to me two, three years in the future, and I almost see that as happening to a future self.

Mm-hmm.

Whereas if somebody said you have a medical problem that requires you to change your diet, this is what you need to eat now, very specifically, and you need to do it now or a week from now, you're not going to be here to tell us about it, then that might cause me to take action immediately and not procrastinate so much.

Unfortunately, with debt, it's less um I think it's still life-threatening, but it's less medically life-threatening, and so even though people know, okay, this is really coming to get you, and there's a problem, until people reach what they perceive as the bottom, the rock bottom, they don't they don't move to get out of debt.

Now, for some people, rock bottom is just that they just can't send any extra to their debt this month and that disturbs them, and other people have to have you know a letter telling them they're coming going to court.

Um but that's what happens when people, you know, don't have a connection with our future self about the debt.

So what do you do about that?

Other than picking up the phone and calling you or going to your website and filling out the form.

Sure.

Well, what one thing you can do is is you can um take something like that that might seem overwhelming, for instance, or seem abstract, and break it into very specific pieces and begin to make a plan.

Now, you don't have to make the whole plan, right?

That's another thing we procrastinate about, believe it or not, is this this idea of perfectionism.

Okay, we're gonna get out of debt.

Let's sit down and make the plan, and it must be right from the start, and let's make sure we read all the books and we do all the stuff.

Just take one step, one tiny little step.

Whatever it is for you is okay.

If it happens to be calling us, great.

If it happens to be just sitting down and saying, Today I'm going to track all the expenses I I spend and I'm gonna start to get a handle on what I'm spending.

Tomorrow I'm going to go and fill out a form online.

On Wednesday, I'm gonna call a coach.

On Friday, I'm going to call an attorney.

Whatever it happens to be, be very specific about it and make it make it immediate.

Make it so that you're doing it right now.

Because after you just make the very first step, the rest of the stuff gets easier, it falls into place.

Once you take that first step, I've heard that that can create motivation to keep going, right?

It gives you that inspiration.

Oh, yeah, I've done this, now I can do more.

That's absolutely true.

Um, you know, we're talking about self-control and willpower and those are the things that can get in our way, right?

There can be demotivating factors.

Um things like I'm just exhausted when I come home at the end of the day, and I I keep telling myself I'm going to fill out the form or get out of debt or do whatever, but I'm I just don't have it.

I'm done, I'm depleted, right?

So every time you make decisions like this, you're depleting your mental reserves a bit.

And when you're trying to make a lot of decisions, you're exhausting your mind to some extent.

And so until you recharge your batteries, you're not going to be able to really get, you know, get out of debt the right way, right?

So one thing you can do is figure out when you're best.

If you're best in the morning, don't put it off until the end of the night.

Take a morning on a weekend or sometime when you can and start working on it right away, but only do little bits at a time.

Great advice from the money doctor, Dr.

Francis Ryan of hug your student debt.

And we are going to take this quick break.

We'll be right back with part two of our conversation about why do we procrastinate so long about getting out of debt.

Welcome back to Financial Fitness with the Money Doctor, Dr.

Francis Rayam of Hug Your Student Debt.

I'm your co-host Denise Fozella, and we thank the people who make this show possible.

People's United Bank of Amherst, Home of Tea with Trish, and Greenfield Community College, increasing access to higher education at a fraction of the cost.

This morning we're talking about why we procrastinate so long about getting out of debt.

And it's something a lot of us do.

It's almost universal, isn't it, Francis?

I well, I think procrastination in general, you know, is just an interesting topic.

Because we all do it.

I mean, I do it.

Nobody's immune to it, right?

And sometimes it has a positive effect and sometimes it has a negative effect.

Some people, you know, if they're afraid of being judged, which is one of the reasons we might procrastinate, that can drive them toward solving a problem.

I don't want my relatives to see my name in the paper that I couldn't pay my bills one day and I had to file a bankruptcy, so I better get on this and get out of debt.

But most of the time I think the fear of being judged or you know, any of the fears that we have uh get in our way, and it's just very difficult to overcome those until there's some catalyst, there's some reason that um you suddenly feel, okay, today is the day I have to do this, right?

Um, you know, I would prefer to have people not feel that way, not be pressed into it and start to see this as a positive approach to money management.

I think that would be great.

But there's also in s in some cases a fear of deprivation that if I take this step, then I'm not going to be able to do the things that I want to be able to do.

And I don't want someone else telling me what I can and can't do with my money.

Right.

So there might be that kind of fear of uh of control, a lack of control.

So that's why I'm the money doctor and not the money monster.

Okay.

Because I had this problem.

I was in a lot of debt.

A lot of debt.

And I had to be able to get out of it, and I didn't want to sacrifice my lifestyle.

So what we did was create a system that could get you out using the same money you're already spending, and sometimes less, right?

Sometimes I look at people's numbers and I just say, you know, no wonder you're taking on credit card debt.

You simply have been loaded up with too much debt.

Your payments are too high.

And so we have to adjust that.

So I I think ironically, people expect that I will the first thing we will say is, okay, don't use your credit cards, freeze your debt, um, you're now on the ramen noodle diet for the rest of your life, and by the way, no vacations, you're not gonna buy a car, and this is what you're doing for the next eight years.

If you want to get out of debt, you must live in privation.

And the truth is we know that won't work.

That's a foolish way to go at it.

In order for someone to have a successful debt plan, they have to be able to live a decent lifestyle.

They have to feel better about their money.

Um, it's the same as a diet.

You cannot lose weight long term on some diet that is unrealistic.

Um, and you know there will be a birthday party or the holiday where you're going to want to eat that food and has to be allowable.

So it isn't that we tell people you can just spend willy-nilly and still get out of debt.

That would be ridiculous, right?

But they don't have to worry that we're going to um cramp their lifestyle because we're really working with what exactly what they have now.

I think uh also there's a lot of anxiety around this whole thought of of getting out of debt.

I mean, what does that even mean?

We we spoke earlier about wrapping your mind around that, um, but it it creates a lot of that kind of anxious feeling.

Money in general, I think I find creates that for people.

Even if they think they're very good at investing, uh, there might be a part of the financial picture that they're not happy about, like the debt, or speaking to their partner about it, um, and that really elevates our emotions.

And so whenever, you know, it's sort of a fight or flight thing, right?

Whenever we're faced with something that's very dangerous like that, or we perceive it as being very dangerous, um, it all seems larger.

Everything seems magnified.

So, um, you were talking earlier about you had a conversation with your your husband about you know getting out of debt.

Um, and I know we're gonna get in your full story someday because you've offered it to us.

Yes.

Um, but you know, just leading up to that.

The conversation itself is almost never as scary as we think it will be.

Um when you know, we're thinking about getting out of debt, just seems overwhelming, and really it can be done very methodically.

Uh and the the odd part is staying in debt is the what should be really, really overwhelming, but because we're already there and the payments go out every month, uh, you know, we just let it go on and taking action to get out requires a little courage.

You're reminding me of some of the things that I've gone through with regard to money in my lifetime, and one of my fears has been in the past that I can't face it.

I don't have it in me to face everything, so it's just too overwhelming.

Yeah, and that can be true not only in a general sense, but in a very specific sense, like we call it task aversion.

Um the best example I can think of in terms of money is usually building a budget.

Most people, when you say the word budget will just about run screaming, you know, because it conjures up this image of you know, I use this analogy, trying to cram a size twelve foot into a size nine shoe, right?

And so the task seems so awful, we don't want to do it.

Who wants to have that terrible medical exam that you didn't really want to have?

But yeah, sometimes you're forced into that medically, but with debt, you're not so much forced into it.

And it can be really scary, and and one of the reasons for that I think is that the perceived reward is so far out in the future.

Sure, I'd love to get out of debt, but gee, ten years seems like a long time, or five years seems like a long time, and they and they don't really we don't really see it as um, okay, I want to get out today, I pick up the phone and make a phone call and I'm out of debt, problem solved, check the box, move on, right?

It takes some my mother used to say moxy, right?

It takes a little moxie, that's a really old word, um, to face it, right?

But what are your alternatives really?

I mean, you can stay in debt for a long time, and you can continue to try to get out of it, um, trying different things, and maybe you'll be successful and maybe you won't.

Um, but even that compounds it, Denise.

What I have found in every single case that I've ever faced something that I was afraid of, the fear was much worse than the reality, and it actually facing the issue and money has been definitely right up there.

Um facing it has eliminated a lot of the anxiety.

Yeah, facing it and g and having a solution.

Yes.

So just facing it is a little bit like but it's a little bit like hitting your head on that brick wall.

You know, most people who have debt have faced it many times.

And the reason they might have a fear of failure is because that's the reinforcement they've gotten.

I tried this, it didn't work, I ended up back in debt.

I tried that, it didn't work.

Here I am again back in debt.

Every time you do that, your resources are are worn down a little bit more and a little bit more, and you become more suspect about whether you will ever be able to accomplish that or not.

Your emotional resources.

Sure.

And when you when you think that you might you think that you might fail, that fear of failure is enough to procrastinate.

I don't want to look at that.

Okay, here's a great example.

A student might procrastinate about taking the exam and might fail the exam rather than studying for the exam, because they would almost rather that the procrastination, the fear of of taking the exam, the procrastination was the reason to blame instead of they didn't understand the material.

People will um perceive all of these things as, you know, a series of huge hurdles.

Um, you know, I'm afraid to face this, I feel really anxious about it.

Uh so there's the anxiety.

Overwhelming.

There's the task right, it's overwhelming.

There's a task aversion, I really hate to look at money.

Um, there's the form fear, I don't want to fill out a form because I'm afraid somebody will have my information.

Uh I might fail.

Uh so I'm not sure I want to do that.

Um, oh, I'm gonna have to call that person and I'm going to be judged.

They're gonna tell me that I didn't make good decisions or you know, so we try to remove all those obstacles.

The thing that makes it work for people is if they can just get over the hurdle and begin to take the steps to get out of debt, you can fill out the form or call us or whatever, then you're gonna get a coach who who is experienced who went through what you're going through right now, because I don't hire anybody that well that hasn't been a client, right?

So, um they've been through what you've been through and they understand it, and they'll listen and help you with whatever it is that might be happening for you in procrastination because we're all different.

So motivation can start to happen.

Uh motivation to stop procrastinating can start to happen when you just take one step.

Yeah, I think so.

Um, you know, we there's no doubt about that that any one step is progress.

It doesn't have to be the whole plan.

Um, one of the things that we say in the investment world, and it's true in debt as well, is that people suffer from analysis paralysis.

Um I want to get out of debt.

It seems like such a big uh project that that must mean it requires a lot of effort, a lot of research, a lot of planning, a lot of time, and so I go out there and I want to make the perfect decision.

I want to make sure I'm not getting ripped off, and I want to make sure that I have the best debt plan possible.

And so I read and I read and I read and I send away and I talk to people and I fill out forms, but I never quite pull the trigger because I'm not sure which one's the right one.

And that's like saying I don't start my diet because I'm not sure which diet I want to start.

Any diet would help you get to your goal, right?

And it's the same with debt.

Just start to do something.

Anything, uh, toward changing the direction that you're going in.

And I want to ask about the the having a partner in this process, a spouse or a s a living arrangement, someone that you have that you share debt with that you have to get on board.

And what if they're the procrastinator?

How do you overcome that?

Well, there's always divorce.

You know, no, so what can you do?

Well, uh you know, you can do a few things, I think.

And I don't profess to have all the answers to this.

I just want to help people.

And you've you have helped a lot of people, you've seen a lot of cases.

Yes, yeah, yeah, thousands of people for sure.

Um, so what can you do?

Well, it depends on the spouse and it depends on your relationship.

If you have a good, solid relationship and you can have this discussion, make it a pleasant discussion.

You know, it's not it's not drudgery, you know.

Make a nice dinner, uh, it's not a surprise attack.

Tell them in the beginning, uh, I've got a problem, I'm managing the household finances, and you know, I don't want to be I don't want it to be scary, but you know, we've had a conversation several times about doing something and we can't quite get there.

And in order to get there, I think we have to agree on what direction we're going to take.

So can we talk about it after dinner?

And uh, you know, and even say, look, I'll handle the bulk of this because I'm the one doing it, but I need you on board with me and see what they'll say.

Usually people are pretty happy to help.

Um rather than be in the doghouse, yeah.

Yeah.

So we are talking about procrastination um with regard to getting out of debt with the money doctor this morning, and how can people contact you, Dr.

Francis Ram, and what can they expect when they when they get someone else on the either on your website or in the phone?

Sure, they can reach us at 413 774 5555 or 773 3333, or on the web at hug your student debt.org or powerdown debt.com.

And what they can expect when they get someone on the phone is uh that there will be a live person.

You won't be stuck in a phone tree.

Uh if we're not available right at the moment because we're in session, we'll we'll get back to you as quickly as we can, but you'll get a real person to talk to who will be firsthand knowledgeable about what is going on for you and can answer any questions and schedule a consultation for you or a webinar or whatever is appropriate and whatever works with your schedule.

Thank you.

Dr.

Francis Raymond of Hug Your Student Debt.

This has been Financial Fitness with the Money Doctor, made possible by Greenfield Community College, increasing access to higher education at a fraction of the cost.

And by People's United Bank of Amherst, home of tea with Trish.

If you missed any portion of this program or want to hear any of the programs in this series, you can hear the podcast all at WHMP.com.

I'm Disney Spozzella.

Thanks so much for joining us this morning.

We'll be back again next week.

Underwritten by Pug Your Money.

Will you help us spread the word about financial fitness?

Please like, subscribe, and choose all.

Thank you.

I learned about the problems of the Bripum Bridge.

And how there, yeah, there was about a problem.

There was during construction and reconstruction.

And I learned how the community solved it.

The engineer was John Augustin.

There was about a lot of laborers working on this.

I built the Golden Gate Bridge.

I learned all the different parts of the bridge.

The main cables, cables, the roadway, and the towers.

The Wallace Edinburgh Wildlife Crossing on the 101 freeway in LA.

It's only for wildlife and no humans can go on it.

It has plants on the top so the animals can find like stuff for their family.

With with larger projects, sometimes it can be hard for students to see that end goal because it can feel so far away, and there's all of these tedious steps that they feel like they're doing to get to this like long-term thing.

So this was like our humilitative project, our ELA module.

They say that still is one of the best materials to build with because it's useful and strong.

But Brown Bridge was the first dual suspension bridge in the world.

And one of the longest dual suspension bridges at the time, standing at 6,016 feet.

It was like kind of scary, but since I did it with like my tea, it's like wasn't that scary.

They're nervous, it feels hard, but it's something special about doing a hard thing.

It connecting to their competence and realizing that they could do it.

I learned that raiders like take a long time to do they help the community a lot, and they help people cross over to their destinations.

I never knew that inside inside of the Brooklyn Bridge.

There's like, I think so, a room, a museum, I'm pretty sure.

It was like the most shock shop things of me.

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But I think what is the most special time is was this week.

Because it was really like the grind time.

I think when they started to realize, okay, we're super close to our our finish line, and now we're gonna really like lock in, as the kids would say.

How I built the bricks, it was like at first my dad was like kind of like building the stakes wrong, kinda.

But we fixed it up.

I use uh little pocketable sticks and cardboard for the street.

I think it when you accomplish anything big in life, it makes it like when you come across other challenges, those challenges don't seem as hard.

At least I can take one step to accomplishing that.

5.8 billion dollars has been lost to fraud, and that was more than a 707-0.

Percent increase from 2020 because the systems are designed to catch you off guard.

It's not a failure of intelligence, it's an engineered moment.

Hi, it's Francis.

I just wanted to take a minute to thank you for watching this video.

If you're catching us on YouTube, please help us help others by clicking like, subscribe, and all notifications so you don't miss any videos.

And check back for the next video.

I think you're gonna love it.

Thanks again.

For more information, you can visit us at hugyourmoney.com.

Hey it's Jess, and it's time for financial fitness with the money doctor, Dr.

Francis Ram.

Hello.

Hello, Jess.

How are you?

I am doing good.

And today we're talking about a topic very near and dear to me because I think I get, I don't know, three or four of these a day.

Talking basically scams or scam emails, right?

All kinds of scams, uh, actually.

And the reason we're talking about it, and believe me, I don't want to come on the air and talk about scams anymore.

I would love to talk about something more interesting.

But uh well, let me put it this way.

Here's how bad they've gotten, okay?

First of all, they are slicker than ever, and they're using real uh email addresses, all the things I've told you about in the past.

Like, hey, don't click the link, watch the email, you know right.

It might be one letter up, all that.

Oh my gosh.

Now they're legit.

They're getting harder and harder to tell apart.

Even in voice.

And so I'm going to give you a three-step process that you can use every time to protect yourself from this as we go through it.

And I'll repeat it a couple of times so that you folks will get it.

Uh, but just to just to put this into perspective.

Um, I've always said, you know, after you discover one of these scams, you should report it to the Federal Trade Commission.

You should still do that.

But you should not expect a response because they are so overloaded that in fact the data we're getting is so old.

It is 2026 when we're filming this, right?

Yeah.

From 2021 that says 5.8 billion dollars has been lost to fraud.

And that was more than a 70, 70, Jess, percent increase from 2020.

So when I come on the air and I'm saying, you know, we're talking about scams.

I am not talking to people who are um technologically unsavvy or people who are undisciplined or people who are sloppy or people who panic easily.

I'm talking to everybody.

Just this morning, I got a serious message from my assistant saying, Hey, Francis, there's an email in your inbox from Microsoft.

Uh there's been an attempt.

You need to you need to go and check on it.

But now they're legitimate email addresses.

So you can't even say, hey, uh, is this address real?

If you stop watching the show at this point, I want you to walk away with one thing.

Okay.

Do not click the link.

Can I just do a little sidebar here for a second?

Yes.

This to me, anyway, is so frustrating because we're all doing a million things.

When I get an email, the fact that you've got to turn into Nancy Drew.

Yeah.

Figure out whether it's real or not.

And and the other thing is, then if there really was an important email coming through, we're so prone to not believe it that and that just gets so frustrating.

Because they these folks all do the same thing.

They send something that if you don't act on it, could cause you a problem.

So they are designed for you, uh, to react to them, not to make a decision, to react.

That's their job is to get you to react.

And if they can, to get you to react under pressure, right?

Yeah.

So that irritates me to begin with.

And then I worry from a business standpoint that we are sending legitimate emails to people who have asked us questions or to people who are in our system who need to know about something important.

And I'm afraid that they won't open it.

Right.

I mean, it's really, this is really bad.

And everybody is walking around saying, geez, with AI now we don't know what is real and what is not real.

We're gonna go into that more.

Uh, but that's getting scarier too.

I'll tell you that I've had two scam attempts come to me in the last two days, and it's why I'm on on top of this.

One of them came inbound from a friend of mine.

He's somebody who comes to hear our band often, and he feels friendly, and so he reached out to me and said, Francis, I discovered this great financial thing you should know about.

Oh boy.

Yeah.

Parts of pennies.

Now remember the m movie um office space.

I don't know if you ever saw it.

Yeah, okay.

I did, yeah.

This is always shows up in movies.

Parts of pennies have been have been scaled off the top, scraped off the top, and they're being stored somewhere, and they add up to lots of money.

Okay.

So of course it's he's got a video on this that seems seems government related.

And you know, you all you have to do to get your parts of pennies is go to this website, put in your information, and see how much money is being held for you.

In his case, he came back to me and he said it's two thousand dollars.

Oh, it sounds exciting.

Wouldn't you like that?

Yeah.

So let me just say that everything is not a scam.

If you're listening to this show or watching the show right now, there is a legitimate site in every state that you can go to and find missing money that is actually yours.

Oh, right, yes.

It doesn't come from parts of a penny that the government set off to the side somewhere waiting for you to claim it.

That does not happen.

It's usually some account you've forgotten about or some interest in something, right?

That's somebody left you money, they couldn't find you.

You move too often, they can't find your address.

Those are legitimate things.

I have found money for people like that many times, uh, relatives and and whatnot.

So you can always do that.

No, just look in your state, but make sure it's a dot gov address.

Uh, I think it's in Massachusetts.

Uh don't quote me on this, but I think it's find mass money.gov, I think.

Okay.

Uh, but just Google it to know double check.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So it's not always a scam, but when you combine hope with urgency, oh boy, you got a magic combination there.

So the two scam attempts.

So this guy sends me the thing and it's got a video, and it says he's got two thousand dollars, and he's already put in his social security number.

Oh, trying to get the stuff.

Well, keep watching, because I will tell you that that's not the end of the world.

There are things you can do to protect yourself, even if you've clicked the link or given up your information.

Okay, okay.

But for right now, let's just talk about the scams for a moment.

So he gets this, and I send him back a message with all the little red flags that I think this might be a scam because, and thankfully it stops him in his track before he gives anybody any money to get his money back.