
Gregg Loos
347 posts


















Who would you rather have running the City of Oakland? Sheng Thao, a feckless, bumbling inexperienced elected official? Or Chief LeRonne Armstrong, a responsible Oakland native and leader who climbed to success in OPD to become Chief, respected and beloved by residents?


(un)Believable. Oakland loses out on millions in crime-prevention funding after missing grant deadline Rachel Swan , Sarah Ravani Sep. 14, 2023 Updated: Sep. 14, 2023 4:56 p.m. Comments Oakland officials missed out on potentially millions of dollars in state funding to confront retail crimes after failing to apply for a grant on time. Oakland officials missed out on potentially millions of dollars in state funding to confront retail crimes after failing to apply for a grant on time. Santiago Mejia/The Chronicle Oakland has missed out on an opportunity to collect millions in state funding to help police combat organized retail theft, a crime that has felled stores and restaurants and put business leaders on edge. When the Board of State Community Corrections approved awards for dozens of cities and counties Tuesday — divvying up $267 million that Gov. Gavin Newsom touted as “the largest-ever single investment” to combat retail theft — Oakland’s Police Department was conspicuously absent from the list of grantees. Merchants who had implored City Hall for help were left perplexed and frustrated as neighboring cities reaped millions for prevention measures, including extra patrols, squad cars and automated license plate readers to track down suspected perpetrators. San Francisco received $17.3 million from the state and the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office received $2 million. San Jose Police Department secured nearly $8.5 million. A spokesperson for the state board said Oakland officials failed to submit an application on time. “They have communicated with us about their issues, but their application was not timely (or) successfully submitted,” spokesperson Tracie Cone said. Sofia Navarro, the interim director of Oakland’s Economic and Workforce Development Department, said that city staff had worked with the Chamber of Commerce and other groups on a grant application. Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas was also “very actively involved in the process, and was participating in the meetings” along with members of the Police Department. “Unfortunately we weren’t able to successfully submit (it) in time,” she said in an interview Thursday at Latham Square. “We’ve taken measures internally to ensure that doesn’t happen again, and taken some corrective actions around that.” She acknowledged that Oakland’s proposal for the retail theft prevention grant was missing some documents when the deadline passed. The city administrator has launched an investigation — a standard protocol for such oversights and a decision that Mayor Sheng Thao supported, according to city spokespeople. Initially, staff in the Economic and Workforce Development Department blamed a glitch in the grant application system, saying they had uploaded attachments “a few days prior” to submission, which had then disappeared from the platform, according to an e-mail from deputy director Cristy Johnston Limón that was reviewed by the Chronicle. Limón asked to speak with a technician. She referred questions about the matter to city spokespeople. But the Board of State and Community Corrections' legal counsel ruled that Oakland “did not meet the necessary requirements for a successful application submission and will therefore not be eligible for funding consideration.” Now, the city is trying to hire a grant writer to streamline the process and prevent future errors, Navarro said. “At the end of the day I think that responsibility falls on me as director, making sure that staff is well-resourced, and that I check in ... making sure that if we are saying we are going to help support in writing this grant, that we are going to execute and accomplish that,” she said. “I take ownership in making sure that is done appropriately.” Promises to do better in the future meant little to public safety advocates who felt let down by City Hall. Among them is Carl Chan, a merchant leader in Oakland Chinatown who has long called for more law enforcement. He said Oakland has not made it a priority. “They are elected by the people, and the people are crying out and saying, ‘We need this,’” Chan said. “And I don’t think they are listening.” Savlan Hauser, the executive director of the Jack London Square Business Improvement District, said she sent the city a letter of support for the grant and took part in discussions with city staff as they prepared the application. She worked with them to address privacy concerns and suggest different programs that should be included in their request. “It was a really collaborative process and I really don’t know why, at the last minute, I was informed that somehow the application wasn’t uploaded and we had missed out,” Hauser said. “This is just so fundamental to Oakland’s economy, keeping Oakland safe,” she added. Representatives of the Oakland Police Department deferred requests for comment to the city administrator. Reach Rachel Swan: rswan@sfchronicle.com. Reach Sarah Ravani: sravani@sfchronicle.com; Twitter: @SarRavani Fifth & Mission The Chronicle’s flagship news podcast. Listen and subscribe on your favorite app. Click the player below for the latest episode. Photo of Rachel Swan Written By Rachel Swan Reach Rachel on Rachel Swan is a breaking news and enterprise reporter. She joined the Chronicle in 2015 after stints at several alt weekly newspapers. Born in Berkeley, she graduated from Cal with a degree in rhetoric and is now raising two daughters in El Cerrito. Photo of Sarah Ravani Written By Sarah Ravani Reach Sarah on Sarah Ravani covers Oakland and the East Bay at The San Francisco Chronicle. She joined The Chronicle in 2016 after graduating from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. Previously, she covered breaking news and crime for The Chronicle. She has provided coverage on wildfires, mass shootings, the fatal shooting of police officers and massive floods in the North Bay. sfchronicle.com/crime/article/…







