Oakland residents will decide in November on strong-mayor government measure

On Tuesday, the Oakland City Council took a vote to send an initiative to the November ballot that would change the way the city's government works.  And while council members seemed willing to put it before the voters, many seemed opposed to what it would actually do.  

Two weeks ago, Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee made a rare appearance before the City Council to promote a ballot initiative that would give her a lot more power over the operation of the city.

"Oakland is at a turning point," she told the council. "and the status quo needs to change."

The proposal would convert Oakland to a so-called strong-mayor form of government, where the mayor becomes chief executive, with power over the City Administrator and virtually all aspects of the city's operations.

"This proposal is not about concentrating power in the hands of any one elected official," said Mayor Lee. "It's about structural change, clarifying responsibility so the public knows who is accountable when action is needed, and how government can more effectively deliver constituent services."

The function of council members would be to simply pass legislation, but even then, the mayor would have veto power that could be overridden only with a super majority.  Not surprisingly, some council members objected to the idea of having city services taken out of their hands.

"If council members lose primacy on budgeting, lose primacy on legislation, lose even more juice on constituent services, then what is a council member even for, than to act as a punching bag to absorb bad vibes?" said council member Zac Unger.  "And I'm pretty good at taking a punch, but I don't know why anybody would want that job."

"To further concentrate power in the hands of one individual, is the perception that a lot of Oaklanders have right now," said member Carroll Fife.  "So, we are once again fighting an uphill battle about trust in local government."

But council member Charlene Wang said she supported the idea simply as a way to break the city's current dysfunction.

"I have come to the conclusion that do need the strong-mayor form of government," she said. "We need to empower a mayor to be a real change maker. To break through red tape and the bureaucracy, and we need to empower them to make change."

Prof. Dan Lindheim teaches at the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley.  He served as Oakland City Administrator from 2008-2011 but said he has a hard time thinking the change in the charter would make much of a difference.

"Some of the debate, I think, is a little overwrought," he said.  "And I don't really think that Oakland will be better or worse because of it.  I don't think Oakland's problems are because of its bizarre charter."

The city's charter is a weird hybrid system, created when Mayor Jerry Brown decided he didn't want to attend council meetings anymore. Lindheim said he supports the idea of the proposal in concept, even if he doesn't think it would make a huge change. But with the defeat of Measure E earlier this month, he has his doubts the voters will be keen to give anyone too much power.

"My guess is the council is going to be respectful toward the Mayor to put it on the ballot," he said. "And then they're going to campaign against it."

The measure would do other things as well, such as paying council members more while prohibiting them from having other jobs, and creating a budget office at city hall.

At the city council meeting, Lee broke a tie to advance the reform measure.

"Earlier tonight, I exercised my authority to break a tie vote and place this charter reform measure on the November ballot — because I trust Oakland residents to decide what type of government they want. More than 750 Oaklanders participated in this process. On every issue residents care about—from illegal dumping to public safety to housing—our current system too often ensures the buck stops nowhere. That needs to change. I championed placing this measure on the November ballot as the best way to reform the status quo and increase accountability. At its core, this is about letting the people of Oakland decide whether they want more accountability and a clearer system of governance. Oakland voters deserve the opportunity to choose what type of government they prefer—our existing hybrid system or a strong mayor system with clear checks and balances. I trust the voters to make that decision. That is democracy at work," Lee said in a statement.