Lenore Anderson Is Mayor Dellums New Public Safety Director - East Bay Express' Anneli Rufus Hates Her For Some Reason

According to the Newsletter of Ron Dellums, Lenore Anderson's the Mayor's newest public safety diretor. This is what the Mayor's Office reported on November 16th 2007:

Per the recommendations of the Public Safety Task Force, Mayor Dellums appointed Lenore Anderson as public safety director. Lenore job will be to implement the mayor's public safety vision - a vision that incorporates Prevention, Intervention, Enforcement and Sustainability strategies to bring peace to Oakland communities. Since joining the mayor's office, she has been working to expand the number of officers on the street to the current city-mandated ceiling, while partnering with community organizations to provide intensive intervention and prevention options for Oakland.

"Public safety is my Administration's top priority," said Mayor Dellums. "Lenore Anderson is an Oakland resident who understands what our city is facing and knows how to get things done."

Anderson lives in West Oakland, one of the city's most crime-impacted neighborhoods. She most recently served as the director of the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice, under San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. In this position, she worked to support law enforcement agencies, strengthen community policing, develop a citywide violence prevention plan, create a gun buy-back program, improve the juvenile justice system, and develop partnerships between city agencies and community agencies.

But for some strange reason Anderson's appointment was met with a salty reponse by East Bay Express writer Anneli Rufus , who wrote:

Anderson seems to prioritize quelling punishment over quelling crime, as if the former might spawn the latter. She formerly headed the prison-reform nonprofit Books not Bars, which according to its mission statement "fights to redirect California's resources away from youth incarceration and towards youth opportunities.

But Rufus didn't stop there; check this out:

BNB is one of three projects run by Oakland's Ella Baker Center for Human Rights. Another is Bay Area Police Watch, devoted to "supporting victims and survivors." What, of crime? No, silly: of police abuse. Photos on its home page depict protesters whose placards read "Stop Killer Cops." Who better to occupy a post devoted to liaising among City Hall, neighborhood watch groups, and the OPD? By the way, OPD lost another nine officers this month. Oaklander Anderson claims to have been a teen troublemaker, but told one reporter that "being white and middle class" kept her out of jail. Unsurprisingly, Infoshop, Indybay, and anarchist groups link to Anderson's BNB memos, as does PrisonActivist.com, which also links helpfully to BoycottIsraeliGoods.com, Mumia.org, and IraqIntifada.com. (Indybay files an Anderson piece under "California: Police State.")

Granted, prison conditions are draconian, but we wouldn't want a crime victims' advocate coordinating community-policing efforts in a violence-besieged city, would we?

To me, this made no sense at all. My take is the idea of appointing Anderson was to have someone who knew the ropes of who to talk to. Rufus failed to mention Anderson came over from San Francisco as director of the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice. Sloppy work.

If Rufus was trying to do a hit piece, the mark was missed.

Mayor Dellums Appoints Margaret Gordon and Victor Uno As Port Commissioners

This news comes from the same Newsletter by Mayor Ron Dellums as the other post below. I don't know anything of value about either appointee. Margaret Gordon' a long time player in West Oakland, so I guess that's some information of value, eh?

Mayor Dellums' two Port Commission appointments were overwhelmingly approved by the Oakland City Council this month.

"Both Margaret Gordon and Victor Uno embody my sincere interest in addressing the critical and wide-ranging issues facing our City's port," said Mayor Dellums.

Over the last decade, Gordon, a West Oakland resident, has become a strong public health and environmental advocate for her community, meanwhile gaining regional and statewide respect for her knowledge of the issues. Victor Uno, brings to the Port Commission an extensive labor background, as he is currently a National Board Member for the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, AFL-CIO, and the Business Manager for the International Brotherhood Electrical Workers Local 595.

Mayor Dellums Saves Affordable Housing Units In Chinatown

I got this note from the Newsletter of Ron Dellums via email. This is part of the Mayor's Office' push to get it's message and work properly communicated to Oaklanders.

OAKLAND - Mayor Dellums joined city leadership, community groups, and tenant families to announce a major victory when a settlement was reached to preserve 50 affordable housing units at the Pacific Renaissance development in Chinatown, as well as facilitating the development of at least 50 new low-income housing units in the same community.

"The affordable housing need of the Chinatown community greatly outstrips the current housing stock. With the growing numbers of families and seniors overburdened by rent, it was imperative for me to resolve the Pacific Renaissance litigation in a way that would optimize the number of new affordable housing units in Chinatown to provide stable, quality, and affordable housing," he stated.