Dear Friend,
We have big news! Due to public
pressure, Oakland City Council President Rebecca Kaplan announced
she’ll introduce a motion to reconsider the budget amendments at the
city council meeting this Tuesday, June 30th!
This is our last chance to influence Oakland’s budget until
June 2021. We must act now if we want to defund Oakland
police!
How can you help?
What happened?
This past Tuesday, a group of
Oakland Council members, calling themselves the “Equity Caucus,”
undemocratically rushed
a vote on the 2021 budget. Though they claim to have defunded the
police by $12 million dollars, the truth is that they
only reduced the Oakland Police Department budget by $2.5 million
(less than 1%).
On Saturday June 27, we began a
social media campaign to hold Oakland City Council President and DSA
member, Rebecca Kaplan accountable for voting “yes” on the
rushed budget that continued excessive funding of OPD. On
Sunday June 28, after tireless work from many Black organizers and
community organizations, Kaplan joined the Anti-Police Terror Project and
Councilmember Nikki Fortunato-Bas (D2) at a press conference this
afternoon and announced she would seek to reopen amendments for the
Oakland budget. The budget must be finalized by June 30. This is
our last chance for an entire year to make real change and to
significantly defund OPD! We must put pressure on the remaining six
council members now!
Details for action
PHONEBANK CITY COUNCILMEMBERS
Join our phone bank on
Monday, June 29, from 6pm to 8pm. RSVP
here and we will send you the Zoom link. We will
provide training at the beginning of the phonebank.
MAKE A PUBLIC COMMENT AT THE NEXT CITY COUNCIL
MEETING
Attend the City
Council Meeting on June 30th, at 1:30 PM. Find the details here.
Ways to comment:
-
💻
E-comment: To
send your comment directly to your Councilmember BEFORE the meeting
starts please click on https://oakland.legistar.com/calendar.aspx and click on the “comment” link for the
corresponding meeting. Note that eComment submission closes five (5)
minutes before posted meeting time.
-
📸 Live
Video: Click on this link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83630639536. Click the “Raise Your Hand” button to
request to speak when public comment is being taken on the agenda item
at the beginning of the meeting. You will be permitted to speak during
your turn, allowed to comment, and after the allotted time,
re-muted.
-
☎️
Dial-in: To
listen to the meeting by phone, dial (for higher quality, dial a
number based on your current location): US: +1 669 900 6833 or +1 253
215 8782 or +1 346 248 7799 or +1 929 436 2866 or +1 301 715 8592 or
+1 312 626 6799 Webinar ID: 836 3063 9536. If asked for a participant
ID or code, press #. You will be prompted to “Raise Your Hand” by
pressing “*9” to speak when Public Comment is taken. You will be
permitted to speak during your turn, allowed to comment, and after the
allotted time, re-muted. Please unmute yourself by pressing *6.
Please take action as soon as possible! Together, we can defund OPD and
win.
Solidarity forever!
Chairs of EBDSA's Defund OPD
Campaign
Neha, Kara and
Ruwi
