Special to The Post

On Monday, District Attorney Pamela Price announced Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Kassan as the new director of the Community Support Bureau.

Kassan has over 25 years of experience as an attorney and advisor for mission-driven enterprises including benefit corporations, low-profit limited liability companies, nonprofits, cooperatives, hybrid organizations, investment funds, and purpose trusts.

Working in the DA’s new administration since 2023, Kassan was most recently assigned to the Organized Retail Theft Prosecution team.

Kassan has a master’s degree in City Planning from the University of California, Berkeley. She received a National Science Foundation Fellowship from Yale Law School, and graduated from Yale Law School in 1995. She earned her B.A. in Psychology with a minor emphasis in Ethnic Studies from UC Berkeley.

Kassan’s education, extensive legal background, list of notable accomplishments and impressive resume includes helping to found and lead multiple organizations to support community wealth building including:

• Community Ventures, a nonprofit organization that promotes locally-based community economic development,
• the Sustainable Economies Law Center, a nonprofit that provides legal information, training, and representation to support sustainable economies
• the Force for Good Fund, a nonprofit impact investment fund
• Crowdfund Main Street, a licensed portal for regulation crowdfunding
• Opportunity Main Street, a place-based ecosystem building organization that supports under-represented entrepreneurs and provides education about community-based investing.

In addition, Kassan served as an elected member of the City Council of Fremont, California from 2018 to 2024, and on the Securities and Exchange Commission Advisory Committee on Small and Emerging Companies.

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In 2020 she was named to the list of World-Changing Women in Conscious Business by SOCAP Global.

“We are excited to see Jenny accept the role as the new leader for the Community Support Bureau,” said Price. “She brings a wealth of talent, experience, and a vision to expand our office’s engagement with community groups and residents, that will level-up our

outreach programs and partnerships with local organizations with the aim of promoting crime prevention.

“We thank Interim CSB Director Esther Lemus, who is now assigned to our office’s

Restitution Unit, for her hard work and a great job fostering positive relationships between the DAO and the community.”

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Special to The Post

Publishers note: Oaklanders Defending Democracy, a group opposing the recall of Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, shared an open letter she wrote to Philip Dreyfuss of Farallon Capital, a coal hedge fund. 

According to Thao’s supporters, “Dreyfuss is the primary funder of the recall effort to remove her from office. He has not explained his motivations or answered one question about why he’s funding the recall or what his agenda is for Oakland.

“All we know about him is his firm has invested over $2 billion in coal since 2022. Farallon Capital is a global hedge fund with $39 billion capital under management, headquartered in San Francisco, the supporters say.

The effort to recall Mayor Sheng Thao was built on top of an argument about a crime wave, pinning the blame for it on a newly elected Mayor. Now that crime has dropped massively, recall proponents are left with no compelling argument.

Oct. 30

Dear Philip Dreyfuss,

We haven’t met. As you know, I’m the Mayor of Oakland, elected in 2022 to serve and protect this city. Since stepping into office, I’ve tackled rising crime, homelessness, and budget challenges head-on, working tirelessly for Oakland’s future.

You are a hedge-fund manager and coal investor who doesn’t live in Oakland who is trying to buy our city government. But the people didn’t elect you, they elected me to protect them from people like you.

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Shortly after my term began, you launched a campaign to remove me from office, pouring in nearly $500,000 of your own wealth. We’ll know the outcome of your campaign on Nov. 6, but let’s be clear about what’s at stake.

Since I took office, crime has dropped over 30%—we’re on track for less than 100 homicides for the first time since 2019, with 15,000 fewer crimes overall.

We’ve invested hundreds of millions into affordable housing, modernized our 911 system, streamlined construction permitting, and are fighting to make Oakland a safer and cleaner city.

If your recall succeeds, Oakland will see four mayors in just five years, another election for mayor the following year and a whopping $10 million cost to taxpayers. In other words, chaos. None of this will impact you because you don’t live here.

Oaklanders deserve to know who you are. I looked into your record and found that the hedge fund you help manage, Farallon Capital, has invested over $2 billion in coal since 2022.

For years, Oakland has stood tall against coal money threatening the health of West Oakland, Chinatown, Jack London and downtown.

Did you know that life expectancy in West Oakland is 7.5 years lower than the County average? Or that our children suffer from asthma at a rate twice as high as the rest of the County?

Philip, instead of trying to use your wealth to hijack our democracy and create chaos in our city you could have put your money where your mouth is.

Instead of investing in coal you could have invested in our young people—created scholarships for our college-bound kids, funded apprenticeships for those who want to learn a trade or helped rid our schools of lead.

Instead, you chose to divide us while you try to buy us. But I’m here to tell you, Philip, on behalf of the 450,000 residents of my city that Oakland is not for sale. NO to coal. NO to chaos. And NO to your selfish and self-serving recall.

Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, City Hall, Oakland

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By Bo Tefu, California Black Media

A recent poll showed that a majority of California voters back Proposition 36, which aims to increase penalties for certain theft and drug-related crimes, according to a survey by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC).

The poll came out last week as opponents of the proposition began a last-ditch push against the initiative in major metropolitan areas across California.

“As the 2024 campaign heads into its final days, The No on 36 Campaign is targeting voters in Los Angeles and the Bay Area with a series of new billboards urging voters to reject the cynical, misleading measure on the November ballot,” read a press release from a coalition of opponents to the measure.

The PPIC survey showed that 73% of likely voters support the measure, up from 71% in September, with only 25% opposing the ballot measure.

This makes Prop 36 the most popular of the ten statewide issues on the ballot this fall, with 28% of voters indicating it is their top priority.

The emphasis on crime as a key campaign issue is partially driven by the pandemic-related rise in certain offenses. However, prominent Democrats, including Gov. Gavin Newsom, have expressed concerns about reverting to harsher crime policies.

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Other ballot measures are also performing well according to the PPIC poll. Proposition 3, which seeks to remove outdated language banning same-sex marriage from the state constitution, has garnered 67% support. Proposition 35, aimed at making a tax on specific healthcare plans permanent to fund Medi-Cal, has over 60% approval.

Among the two $10 billion bond measures, Proposition 4, focused on climate and water projects, has strong backing at 60%, while Proposition 2, for school construction, has a narrower margin of support at 52%.

Several other measures, including Proposition 33 on rent control, are trailing, with only 42% supporting the initiative. Proposition 6, which seeks to ban forced prison labor, is currently the least favored, with just 41 percent in favor.

In the presidential race, more than half of survey participants stated that they plan to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris in comparison to Donald Trump.

The PPIC poll surveyed 1,137 likely voters from October 7 to 15, with a margin of error of less than 4%.

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