City Council Votes to Delay OPD Recruitment Funding

According to the San Diego Tribune, and San Mateo Times, our City Council voted Tuesday night (2/19) to defer this program:

Subject: Measure Y: Police Recruitment Program
From: Oakland Police Department
Recommendation: Adopt A Resolution Authorizing A Transfer Of Existing Appropriations Of Measure Y Funds In An Amount Not To Exceed Seven Million Seven Hundred Twenty-Two Three Hundred And Thirty Nine ($7,722,339) To Implement The 2008 Augmented Measure Y Police Recruitment Program, Waiving Advertising And Bidding For The Purchase Of Ammunition, Firearms, Advertising Services And Travel Services, And Waiving The Requests For Proposal/Qualifications Process For The Purchase Of Recruitment Services And Other Professional Services Needed To Expedite The Hiring And Training Of Police Recruits, And Authorizing The City Administrator To Purchase: Firearms In An Estimated Amount Of One Hundred And Fifty Six Thousand ($156,000), Advertising Services For Recruitment In An Estimated Amount Of One Million Five Hundred Thousand ($1,500,000), Travel Services In An Estimated Amount Of One Hundred Thirty Eight Thousand Four Hundred Sixty Four Dollars ($138,464), Recruitment Services In An Estimated Amount Of Sixty Two Thousand Three Hundred Thirteen ($62,313), And Other Professional Services Needed To Expedite The Hiring And Training Of Police Recruits In An Estimated Amount Of Five Million Six Hundred Forty Two Thousand Five Hundred Sixty Two Dollars ($5,642,562), Without Return To Council
(07-1009)

Minutes are not posted yet, only the Agenda is available (PDF) from city's website.

Why would council block this immediate, focused use of funds to recruit more qualified police and buy equipment? Are they crazy? Or is something really wrong with the proposal?

Comments, please.

Detroit Girl Hero vs Oaklanders' Crime Response

If only our Mayor, Council, and the rest of us would put ourselves on the front line, like this seven year old girl from Detroit, who was shot six times defending her mother from an exboyfriend/ excon.

'Hero' Girl Recovering After Shooting

Where are the firm, positive father figures our black communities desperately need? Surely there are more out there than the media tells us. We could use more. I don't think it's out of people's capacity to do so, given the right circumstances and "village" support.

And if not?

Should richer families in this country be required to adopt poor black children before going to Africa, Asia, South America and Eastern Europe to find adoptees? What if some of those children were born to crack-addicted prostitutes?

One related issue to why blacks remain poor is the fact that black students are all racing for the academic bottom, to be the cream of the crud (gangsta), instead of studying and making their way out of the ghetto. They all pull each other down. If you try to study in school, you are "just tryin to be white." No, that's called trying to get ahead!! Beat whitey at his own game! I suppose it's merely kids being kids in a shitty situation, trying to come out of top. Problem is, they're playing the wrong game.

Our black kids need Cream of Wheat and button down shirts, not Coco Puffs, tshirts and Xbox360.

Heart Disease Kills more West Oaklanders than Violence

The number one cause of death in West Oakland is not violence, but heart disease - accounting for 29% of all deaths from 1996-1998.
Source: Alameda County Public Health Department of Vital Statistics


So are you surprised? Really? And what could be causing this epidemic?

* low quality diets with too much meat, fat, sugar, and processed fast food

* too much driving

* living too close to major freeways and the port of oakland's 20,000 car-tailpipe-equivalent tanker ships

It's easy to change #1 and #2. #3 not so easy.

Dellums and Newsom's bullshit request

Dellums, Newsom call for help fighting crime, Daily Review Online - Feb 07, 2008

OAKLAND — Calling violence on the streets of America "a national health crisis" that the federal government has ignored, Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom chastised the Bush administration on Wednesday for abandoning cities and called on all levels of government to respond to crime.

"Sixteen thousand people were murdered in the streets of America" in 2006, Dellums said, and even more were murdered in 2007.

"If 16,000 people died of AIDS we would have a national strategy to deal with the epidemic," he continued. "If 16,000 people died of bird flu we would have a national strategy. We have 16,000 people die of murder and yet each mayor is left to deal with it alone."


Great! Why don't they ask for help from the Feds for _42,000 people killed by CARS_ each year? That's 250,000 DEAD AMERICANS SINCE 9-11.

Oh wait, Ford, GM, Toyota, Honda, and Mercedes--not to mention Exxon Mobil, Shell, CHevron, BP don't want anything done about THAT. Nope! Keep filling up at the gas station, losers!

The guy getting shot is Viet Cong and just killed 2-3 American soldiers. Did he deserve to die?Do Oaklanders deserve to die for killing other Oaklanders?