OAKLAND — For what could be the final time, Mayor Sheng Thao took stock of the city she’s led for two years, describing a place that looks markedly different from how her harshest critics describe it.
“I said this last year and I’ll say it again: Oakland, our challenges are great, but our people are greater,” Thao said Tuesday in her annual State of the City address, just three weeks before voters will decide whether to recall her in the Nov. 5 election.
With her back against the wall politically, Thao took the podium at City Hall, where she started as an aide to Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan before being elected to the council in 2018.
Now, she’s halfway into a term as mayor that has been fraught with challenges and controversies, including the city’s presently bleak financial outlook.
But on the subject where her critics have attacked her most fiercely, Thao was adamant Tuesday that Oakland has made progress.
“I can tell you today that crime is down,” she said.
Oakland Police Department data supports this claim, indicating that through Oct. 6, homicides this year had fallen by 28%, aggravated assaults by 13%, robberies by 24%, burglaries by 54% and motor vehicle thefts by 25% from the same period of time in 2023. Overall, crime has dropped 35%.
Other publications, including the recently formed Oakland Report, have argued that reductions have been inflated over the years because OPD often backfills its weekly data as its records catch up to reports of crimes.
Thao’s critics have also claimed that crime reports are down because victims have given up believing that the short-staffed police department will respond to their calls or investigate crimes.
But it’s difficult for homicides to go unnoticed by authorities — and Thao said Tuesday that the marked drop in this category means there are fewer families “reeling from tragedy” this year than last.
Thao credited renewed focus on a city anti-violence program, known as the Ceasefire strategy, mentioning that Oakland’s Department of Violence Chief Holly Joshi had recently visited the White House to discuss the city’s approach to public safety.
“There is a difference between crime going down and that feeling of feeling safer,” she added, “and I recognize that and feel it very deeply.”
The mayor noted large investments of funds into improving its 911 system; last year, California officials warned Oakland that response times under 15 seconds had fallen to just 46%.
Thao said Tuesday that several rounds of new investments in hiring had raised that mark to 51%, “while also handling more call volume.”
Based on those numbers, though, the city still has a long way to go: Agencies receiving state funding must respond to over 90% of calls within 15 seconds.
Thao also announced Tuesday the formation of the East Bay Sports Committee, composed of business leaders and sports figures, including, just recently, retired NBA legend and Oakland native Gary Payton, who now coaches basketball at the College of Alameda.
The city has lost its three major professional teams in the span of a few years, but the successes of an independent minor-league baseball franchise, the Oakland Ballers, and a popular second-division soccer team, the Roots, are respectively keeping some pro sports rooted in west and east Oakland.
With a recall looming just weeks away, Thao ventured into a mention of the city’s finances — an area where a gaping deficit and risky bet on a sale of the Coliseum have worried analysts about the near future.
Ever an ally to unions, Thao pointed to her budget proposals successfully avoiding layoffs, though the city has kept budgeted positions unfilled. She announced that a sped-up permitting process for businesses had increased downtown foot traffic by 20%.
“I will always look for a better path and solutions that will invest in every police officer and every firefighter that we have in our city,” she said, “to keep them on our streets and responding to your calls when you need them.”
Shomik Mukherjee is a reporter covering Oakland. Call or text him at 510-905-5495 or email him at shomik@bayareanewsgroup.com.