By Christopher Heredia
The San Francisco Chronicle
OAKLAND, Calif. — A defensive Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums trumpeted his record of good deeds and promised during his first State of the City address on Monday to put more police officers on the streets to battle violence and street crime.
He has been under increasing criticism from residents and business leaders for not acting more aggressively to address violence in the city. Oakland finished 2007 with 127 homicides, down from 148 killings in 2006 but the second-highest total in 12 years.
Dellums urged the standing-room-only crowd of about 800, including San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, to read the 22 pages of accomplishments outlined in a booklet prepared for his address.
He said he wanted people to look at his accomplishments “without third-party filtering,” a not-so-subtle slam at the media, which he maintains does not report positive news about the city.
“Every time you see a pothole filled, that’s what we’re doing,” he said. “Every time you see a tree planted, that’s what we’re doing. Every time you see a fire put out, or a police officer patrolling, that’s what we’re doing. I’m not Superman. I have 5,000 employees at our disposal.
“We’re prepared to stand and be held accountable based on the facts, not based on the interpretation of those facts.”
Still, the mayor called the fatal shooting of journalist Chauncey Bailey and last week’s gunfire that paralyzed a 10-year-old piano student - two incidents that received wide news coverage - senseless acts that diminish the community.
“Fundamental to any civilized society is the right of people to go about their lives with a sense of peace, security and safety,” he said.
The 72-year-old mayor said he will convene a public safety summit in response to the city’s high crime rate.
He called on the City Council and Police Chief Wayne Tucker to increase the number of recruits in the city’s police academy, to establish incentives to keep older officers on the force beyond retirement - some of them to train new recruits — and to better prepare Oakland residents and others interested in law enforcement for jobs with the city’s Police Department.
The city is about 70 officers short of its authorized force of 803. Like many other cities across the nation, Oakland has had difficulty recruiting qualified candidates for the police academy. Also, five officers retire from the force each month.
Dellums promised that by year’s end, the police department will be fully staffed at 803 officers. That together with the new community policing program will make the city safer, he said.
The community policing program begins Saturday. The city will be divided into three geographic areas - central, east and north-west, each overseen by a police captain who will be held accountable for getting to know residents and neighborhood issues and reducing crime in his or her district.
Other plans to reduce violence include training at-risk youth and ex-offenders for jobs, and intensifying police efforts to get weapons off the streets by cracking down on illegal gun dealers and establishing a city program to buy back guns.
The mayor also spoke about his office’s strategies for improving the economic climate in Oakland, including updating the city’s zoning, so developers know what areas are best suited for housing, jobs and retail, as well as the city’s efforts to work with businesses to bring 10,000 jobs to Oakland in the next five years.
He said the city will expand job training so Oakland residents are prepared when employers come to town. And he called for “inclusionary” zoning that requires developers to include affordable housing — or to pay to help build affordable housing - as a prerequisite for future projects.
Dellums also called for the city to expand residents’ access to health care by working with Kaiser Permanente, Alameda County and the Oakland Unified School District to provide health clinics at middle schools and high schools.
Tony Batarse, president of the Port of Oakland Board of Commissioners, said he appreciated that Dellums focused on public safety.
“Economic development was set during the Jerry Brown era and is taking care of itself,” Batarse said. “The real issue is crime.”
Others who attended the mayor’s speech said they had wanted him to talk about what the city will do to improve public schools.
Greg Hodge, an Oakland school board member, said the mayor did a good job of outlining modest accomplishments of his first year.
“But he skipped over the biggest piece — education,” Hodge said. “Underlying everything, the health of the community, crime ... is the lack of a quality education. Until the mayor and other city leaders grapple with this issue, we’re not going to be able to fix these other problems.”
Shirnell Smith, a city parking enforcement officer, found Dellums’ speech very encouraging. Smith, who lives in West Oakland, was pleased to see the mayor call for more city resources toward getting ex-offenders into training and jobs. She also praised his emphasis on rezoning the city so future industry isn’t situated next to residential neighborhoods.
“Still, we need to fill those potholes faster,” said Smith, who has had to replace the axle on her car due to poorly maintained streets in her neighborhood. “I know it’s not a job that can be done overnight. I’m seeing progress. I see more police on the streets. But it’s still not enough. There needs to be more.”
Copyright 2008 The San Francisco Chronicle