Mayor's Corner

Updated for the Week of August 24:

Stimulus Funding for Public Safety: With strong advocacy from Mayor Dellums, Oakland received the largest COPS grant award in the nation to fund 41 police officers.

New Police Chief: After an intensive national search, Mayor Dellums announced Anthony Batts as Oakland’s new police chief. As Long Beach’s Police Chief, Batts lowered the crime rate to its lowest levels since 1975 and the rate of officer-involved shootings dropped 70 percent.

Mayor Honored as Solar Champion: Environment California awarded Mayor Dellums and the City of Oakland with a “2009 Solar Champion” award for having one of the highest rankings for solar roofs and solar power installed in the state. According to Environment California, Oakland has more than 642 solar roofs and 7,007 kilowatts installed (or solar capacity). The installation of solar roofs is also an aspect of the Mayor’s Green Job Corps Initiative.

Mayor Welcomes New Youth Program at City Hall: Libre, a project which brought together Latino youth to learn algebra, have fun, and oppose gang warfare, held its summer graduation at City Hall. This remarkable program was created by youth organizer, Raquel Jimenez, and she is working with school district, Mayor’s Office, and Spanish Speaking Citizen’s Foundation to sustain and expand it.

Mayor’s Office Sponsors Back to School Rally in Collaboration with Oakland Natives Give Back, OUSD, Task Forces, Oakland Parks and Rec & Others: On August 23, hundreds of families gathered at City Hall to celebrate returning to school. Nine hundred young people received free books from Scholastic Books, free backpacks, free haircuts, free pizza, inspiring workshops, and messages of support from Gary Payton, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Dwayne Wiggins, Nyeshia Dewitt, and many other notables.