1. The City made an extremely poor hiring decision with our current Director of Oakland Animal Services. The new Director is creating harmful policies, turning community members away, and re-abandoning unowned, adoptable animals back on city streets, with no regard for their welfare. Longtime dedicated shelter volunteers are leaving and employee morale is low. We need a reversal of this hire and a community process implemented to hire a Director who is connected to and respectful of our communities. Please reinstate the Commission which use to offer guidance toward Shelter policies. The shelter is also chronically severely underfunded, which leads to high burnout rates and staff turnover. We need to do better.
2. Please crack down on speculative real estate investors / house-flippers. The City is hemorrhaging revenue and being exploited by out of town investors who displace residents, buy up our last affordable housing, perform superficial remodels using unlicensed contractors and without pulling permits, and expose us to toxic lead paint and asbestos with unsafe work practices. They also contribute to illegal dumping. Code enforcement is woefully inadequate. These investors profit and our City loses.
3. The Vacant Parcel Tax needs better implementation. The system in place is only capturing a small fraction of the empty housing, commercial buildings, and vacant lots in our City. Consider hiring someone from the community to drive around and take a thorough inventory.
1. The City made an extremely poor hiring decision with our current Director of Oakland Animal Services. The new Director is creating harmful policies, turning community members away, and re-abandoning unowned, adoptable animals back on city streets, with no regard for their welfare. Longtime dedicated shelter volunteers are leaving and employee morale is low. We need a reversal of this hire and a community process implemented to hire a Director who is connected to and respectful of our communities. Please reinstate the Commission which use to offer guidance toward Shelter policies. The shelter is also chronically severely underfunded, which leads to high burnout rates and staff turnover. We need to do better.
2. Please crack down on speculative real estate investors / house-flippers. The City is hemorrhaging revenue and being exploited by out of town investors who displace residents, buy up our last affordable housing, perform superficial remodels using unlicensed contractors and without pulling permits, and expose us to toxic lead paint and asbestos with unsafe work practices. They also contribute to illegal dumping. Code enforcement is woefully inadequate. These investors profit and our City loses.
3. The Vacant Parcel Tax needs better implementation. The system in place is only capturing a small fraction of the empty housing, commercial buildings, and vacant lots in our City. Consider hiring someone from the community to drive around and take a thorough inventory.