Stop the Money Grab! Vote No on Measure D!

The pain of Oakland's budget crisis hits widely:

Shuttle buses for seniors are not running.

City employees have taken pay reductions.

Libraries are open fewer hours.

Dozens of police will likely be laid off this Fall.

Parks are overgrown and accumulating trash.

Services at recreation centers and swimming pools are cut.

City fees and fines for parking, permits and more are up.

The taxes for Measure Y and Measure Q are going up.

While we all sacrifice, one group is holding up the City for more money: the operators of private programs who get grants under the so-called Kids First rule, which guarantees them a minimum percentage of City revenues.

Last November these "nonprofit" agencies pushed through Measure OO, doubling their current funding no matter what happens to everyone else. The greed was too obvious, and now Oakland voters are being asked to pass Measure D. It would still guarantee the poverty pimps an increase in their grants, about half the original amount.

Measure D is a phony "compromise" and an insult. The poverty pimps think they deserve a raise while everyone else negotiates how much they give up.

Even youth will suffer from termination of City programs at recreation centers and swimming pools. How's that for "Kids First"?!

Oakland voters are getting a mail-in ballot with four measures on it. There are no polling places. You must return the ballot in the mail by July 21. Failure to send in your vote means giving in to the greed of a few private program agencies.

Vote No on Measure D! Send a message to the city council: we want full repeal of the Measure OO increase!

Readers Comment

This is a perfect time to start the process to repeal Measure OO completely and its slightly less Destructive cousin D.

Opponents of D do have a radical goal: make our council implement timely, competent, independent performance reviews of expenditures to private organizations. Council could easily have done that at the same time they reduced the amount of the earmark. OO supporters would have appeared greedy if they opposed. Instead, Council chose to try to force the voters to choose the lesser of two weevils.

It won't bankrupt Oakland to go a few months with OO and run another mail-in ballot. It could bankrupt Oakland to continue spending money without oversight.

– Len in Temescal district

When more money is taken away with no new revenue stream, cuts are going to be made, or more taxes are going to be sought to fill that vacuum. Measure D is fiscally irresponsible. These ballot box budgeting initiatives are part of the reason this State and City are in the fiscal mess we see. It is high time the voters of Oakland say NO to such. Hopefully the voters of Oakland will exercise their power and quit settling for less. We have nothing to lose. Vote NO on Measure D. Let's force the city council to do the right thing and put an all-out repeal of Measure OO on the ballot.

– Hannah in mid-east Oakland

Thanks so much for the heads up! Wouldn't you know the powers-that-be would slip this little jewel into a summer slot, with no publicity? Have forwarded your article to all neighbors ...

– Abby in north Oakland

The Kids First money does not go to kids, but to various organizations who claim to be advocates for kids and with little to no oversight. It is an unfunded set-aside of the general budget. A municipality must remain in full control of its administration and budget. Allowing outside organizations to dictate how a percentage of the general fund is to be expended is contrary to the city charter and state statutes.

– David E. Mix in Oakland Tribune, June 30, 2009

Kids First Czar Exposes His Own Folly

One of the main bullies behind the Measure OO grab last November was David Kakishiba. He is executive director of the East Bay Asian Youth Center. In its 2006-07 fiscal year, the Center got more than 90 percent of its $3 million income from government grants and contracts. A third or more of that came directly from Kids First grants.

Now Kakishiba supports Measure D with the lame statement, "Nobody knew the nation's economic situation was going to go down so hard so fast." (Oakland Tribune, June 24, 2009)

That is exactly the problem. Measure D is a guaranteed increase in set-aside for favored agencies at the expense of all other programs and services. Now that Mr. Kakishiba knows how hard the economic situation went down, his position is ... I still deserve more money while everyone else accepts cuts.

On a mailer for Measure D, Kakishiba tries to please everyone with a false statement, claiming the measure will "still protect other crucial city services." No, senior programs, park maintenance, and other city services are all being cut. Only Mr. Kakishiba's band of privileged private agencies would get an increase.

Since 2003 Mr. Kakishiba has been on the Oakland school board – at the same time his agency gets grants to run after-school programs. Conflict of interest seems to be no problem for Kakishiba.

When Mr. Kakishiba speaks on public policy, on Measure D in particular, his mouth is directly wired to his bank account.

The Strategy Debate

Following are excerpts from an exchange on a neighborhood email list.

Don Link argued for Yes on D:

I have been late to submit a ballot because I have seen arguments against Measure D from smart engaged people who adamantly oppose D.

It has seemed to me that much of the animus for D is as much for Measure K, the original Kids First set-aside, as for OO, the vastly increased set-aside passed by the voters in Nov. 2008. Vote No on D is a strike back at the original Measure K, its replacement OO, and finally at the mitigation of OO, proposed by M-D. It is an angry hell no to the whole group and set-asides in general.

My analysis of the situation is that we cannot to afford to vote no on M-D. If Measure D fails, OO and its more expensive set-asides stay in place.

Charles Pine replied:

Don's highlighted argument is, "If Measure D fails, OO and its more expensive set-asides stay in place." To which one must reply:

1) If D passes, its giveaways stay in place.

and

2) No, Don, if D is defeated, the demand to repeal OO has great momentum.

Don, you were in favor of Measure Y, calling opponents' position "intellectually dishonest and a deliberate distortion designed to confuse the electorate. A trick learned from the Bush campaign?" (MeasureY_802quotesDL.htm) Don has not to my knowledge admitted that Measure Y was a mistake to pass.

Don opposed the 2006 "Enough Is Enough!" hugely successful petition and rally, a mass protest that marked a turning point in Oakland, forcing recognition of the fact that we have too few police. (Gaskill_petition_post1.htm)

It's always worth reading Don's remarks; you'll almost surely learn something. But when it comes down to taking a stand, that's a different critter. I freely admit that the fight to defeat Measure D is a long shot. Still, it is wrong to add to the Yes column for D. The right thing to do, on principle and as a matter of strategy, is vote NO on D.