Oakland Focus News | Oakland News Online Blog

Yes 59933 54.95 No 49145 45.05

The question here is where should we put our tax dollars?? Do we put our money into reacting to a crime? Or making sure that crime doesn't happen in the first place? I think we should put our money into preventing crime from happening in the first place. For example, Oakland's new program; Green Jobs Corps. has the right idea. The aim is to offer these training programs in the inner city and in forgotten rural and once-industrial towns where idleness and crime have replaced factory work. There are many programs, not to mention our broken education system, where money is needed to stablize our community which in turn will reduce crime for the long hall. Yes, we need to tax and invest into Oakland but measure NN funnels our money into treatment and not a cure. So Vote 'NO' on Measure NN.

Will this be the first time in Oakland's modern political history that all bond measures fail at the election booth? Given the rocky road of Measure NN, which doesn't seem to excite the same electorate that wants more police on the street, it seems that we may see a window to such a future. On Tuesday, a proposal by Councilmember Pat Kernighan met its Waterloo, with opposition. Here's what happened according to the Trib: No deal on Oakland landlord, renter tax split By Kelly Rayburn Oakland Tribune Article Last Updated: 10/17/2008 04:55:22 AM PDT OAKLAND — City renters will help decide Nov. 4 whether Oakland will create a parcel tax to give the police department a personnel boost — but, for now, those same renters won't be asked to share in paying if the new tax is approved. A proposal from Councilmember Patricia Kernighan (Grand Lake-Chinatown) to amend the city's rental laws so landlords would have been allowed to split their portion of the proposed...

This League of Women Voters video gives two views on the proposed parcel tax for the City of Oakland Called Measure NN. The basic argument is that this pays for much needed more police officers. The measure on the ballot reads: To provide more police services to neighborhoods and businesses for the purpose of preventing crime and enhancing resources for investigation of crimes, shall the City of Oakland authorize a parcel tax to fund the cost of (1) adding a total of 105 police officers and 75 police services technicians; (2) a crime data management system for crime analysis; and (3) mandatory independent annual audits and evaluations with performance standards?

I agree that we need more police, but will people vote for a new tax in this economic climate?  I guess is "yes."   Here's the Tribune  ... Oakland chamber backs tax to boost city police force By Kelly Rayburn Oakland Tribune Article Last Updated: 10/02/2008 11:00:57 PM PDT OAKLAND — Measure NN, the city's ballot measure to impose a parcel tax in exchange for more police officers, will have the support this fall of the Oakland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, whose CEO called it key to attracting business and changing the perception of Oakland as an unsafe city. The ballot measure would add 105 police officers and 75 police services technicians over a three-year period. It would also mandate use of a new crime-data management system. "The chamber has been a vocal and consistent advocate for improving public safety," chamber Chief Executive Officer Joe Haraburda said in a statement. "Getting more cops on the street will help reduce crime, increase inc...