Mayor-Elect Perata got 35 percent of the first choice votes; the full results will be by Friday, but his lead's large enough to pull the top Oakland politicians, from Councilmember Larry Reid to AC Transit Executive Director (and former Alameda County Supervisor) Mary King to his party at Z-Cafe on 27th and Broadway.
But in apparent victory, Perata set up what will be his first political battle of his mayoral term: the reinstatement of 80 Oakland Police Officers.
Laying off 80 Oakland Police Officers this year was a controversial move to cut the City of Oakland's budget, and caused a packed City Council meeting where police officers listened to a community that didn't seem to like them very much. Not so Don Perata.
Asked on video to come by this video-blogger what his first move will be as Mayor, Perata, in a horse voice, said "I'm going to reinstate the 80 police officers."
But newcoming District 4 Oakland City Councilmember-Elect Libby Schaaf wasn't so fast to rubber stamp Perata's desire. At her celebration party at Monahan's in the Oakland Hills, Schaaf said that Oakland Police and public safety are very important, but she's not ready to do it "without the money." Schaaf's very concerned to know where the money will come from to take that action.
And that frames the politics of money for Oakland. In an environment of scarce resources, paying for service ideas is much harder, and the Oakland City Council much more skeptical of any idea, even the reinstatement of 80 police officers, without a plan for paying for it.
Stay tuned.
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