Mayor's Office Responds

June 16, 2009—San Francisco Chronicle columnist Chip Johnson erroneously stated today that Mayor Dellums is unwilling to make budget reductions in his office.

In fact, Mayor Dellums made cuts to his office in response to the City’s budget crisis last fall, and he is proposing to make even more significant cuts in light of the unprecedented budget shortfall the City is currently addressing. In Mayor Dellums view, no one is immune from the impact of Oakland’s budget crisis and he is more than willing to share the City’s pain:

• He has proposed the same percentage budget cut to his office that he required of every City department (20%);

• He is foregoing $169,000 in accumulated, discretionary “pay go” funds, which he considers bad public policy, as well as any future allocation of pay go funds, and he is calling on the City Council to eliminate pay go going forward;

• He has volunteered to reduce his salary by the same percentage that is being asked of City employees (10%).

Johnson also incorrectly asserted that none of the recommendations put forward in a consultant’s report by former City Manager Robert Bobb have been implemented. A thorough review of Public Financial Management Group’s report would demonstrate the opposite to be true. Mayor Dellums has implemented many of the substantive recommendations made in this report. For example, during the first two months of this year, Mayor Dellums:

• Appointed a permanent City Administrator, Dan Lindheim.

• Established the Executive Office of the Mayor to coordinate the operations of the Mayor’s and City Administrator’s offices.

• Hired key new members of the Mayor’s leadership team, including the Assistant City Administrator, Director of the Office of Public Private Partnership, and the Community and Economic Development Agency (CEDA) Director. Members of the leadership team share the Mayor’s priorities--to realign city services public safety, economic development, workforce development, and collaborative partnerships. These efforts will improve the quality of life, leverage the resources necessary to sustain Oakland through the current economic downturn, and enable us to realize our vision of Oakland as the Model City.

• Hired a new Finance and Management Team, including Budget Director, Finance Director, Personnel Director and Parking Manager.

• Hired a Public Safety Coordinator to bring all City services together focused on a comprehensive and integrated crime reduction strategy. The Neighborhood Services Division, Oaklanders Assistance Center and Measure Y coordination are all proposed to be consolidated under the Public Safety Coordinator for greater efficiency and coordination, pending budget approval.

• Created leadership teams with structured meeting schedules.

• Created a multi-year financial and strategic plan. Although the current and unprecedented budget crisis has required the budget and finance team to focus on addressing the City’s immediate financial challenges, strategies have been identified to address Oakland’s long-term financial health.

• Established an Office of Public Private Partnerships to leverage grant funds and corporate sponsorships for public sector projects and facilitate intergovernmental collaboration necessary to take full advantage of the opportunities afforded by the economic stimulus and recovery efforts.