Schaaf rallies city on homelessness as workers strike
As homelessness shows no sign of shrinking in Oakland, Mayor Libby Schaaf asked homeowners Thursday to open their doors to the unsheltered if they have the space to spare.
Schaaf’s appeal came during her annual State of the City address at which she discussed Oakland’s housing crisis, deadly fires, youth programs, civic arts, road repairs and police reforms. The call to action on homelessness was a new signal of just how entrenched encampments have become in the city as rents continue to climb.
“Give up that Airbnb. Fix up that back unit,” she said, encouraging property owners to lease apartments at rates affordable to recently homeless individuals.
The event Thursday was held at the Islamic Cultural Center of Northern California in downtown Oakland; the first- term mayor delivered her previous two speeches at City Hall.
Schaaf said the location choice, along with music and dance performances by Middle Eastern and Latino groups, was intentional — a response to policies put forth by President Trump seen as harmful to Muslims and immigrants.
On Madison Street outside the carefully planned festivities, hundreds of workers represented by the city’s largest union formed a picket in opposition to the mayor. The librarians, street cleaners, parking enforcement officers and other city employees faulted Schaaf and her administration for their handling of Oakland’s biggest problems, including homelessness. They said their objective was to draw attention to “the real state of Oakland.”
They booed and shouted at city leaders, audience members, reporters and worshipers who entered the center. All eight City Council members said they chose not to attend to because of the demonstration.
The protest followed a halfday strike that began at 2: 30 p. m. by members of the union, SEIU Local 1021, amid a dispute over work conditions and pay. City and union officials have been trying to hammer out a new contract for the past six months. Another union in contract negotiations, the local chapter of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, joined the demonstration.
In response to the walkout, which city spokeswoman Karen Boyd said came Wednesday on “unusually short notice,” Oakland libraries, senior centers and child care programs closed early Thursday.
Frankie Izzo, a family advocate at Head Start, a city program for preschool- age children, said the move was overkill.
“We chose this time so the least amount of people would be affected,” she said. “We didn’t want to have this big shutdown.”
Izzo said her annual caseload has nearly doubled — from 34 when she started two decades ago to 56 — and her work responsibilities have grown to include tasks such as data entry. Like city employees in other departments, including the 911 dispatch center, Izzo said there was too much work to do and not enough staff to get it done.
Their message has been shaped into an advertising campaign across downtown city bus stops. The posters decry “a crisis made in Oakland” and point to issues such as illegal dumping, which has long plagued city leaders.
In her speech, Schaaf said she had great respect for the protesters who were “expressing Oakland values” and speaking “truth to power.”