Bay Area

COMMENATY: Integrity Matters. Honesty Matters at Oakland City Hall

This election is for the heart and soul of Oakland. Do we want to continue electing political insiders who are beholden to special interests, or are we going to empower the people and our shared values to create an Oakland for everyone?

Published

3 years ago

September 29, 2022

Oakland Post

Treva Reid speaking at the Jewish Community Center Oakland Mayoral Candidate Forum on September 15. Photo courtesy of Treva Reid for Oakland Mayor campaign.

By Treva Reid

In my short tenure as a councilmember, I can tell you that integrity and honesty are missing at City Hall. As your next mayor, I will restore these basic yet powerful and core principles in the way our city is governed.

I am not a career politician, unlike some of my opponents. I say what I mean and vote for what I believe actual Oaklanders desire in our community. I have spent my first term in office listening to the residents of Oakland, bringing your ideas and values to City Hall, and I am committed to elevating this work as mayor.

As a councilmember, I have always been transparent with my constituents about the way I’ve voted — we may not agree on every issue, but you will know where I stand and why — without wavering. I have a proven track record of voting with the people and my conscience with wise, sound decisions. I am not a flip-flopper.

Last year, I was one of only two councilmembers who voted against the budget that did not deliver enough for Oaklanders on our public safety priorities. That budget stripped away and froze millions from the Police Department such as the Traffic Squad and Citywide 9-1-1 Surge Officers. They voted against a cost-neutral proposed budget amendment that I introduced to advance police academies to fill vacant officer positions, increase presence and reduce OPD response time to critical emergencies. It was not the people’s budget.

Unfortunately, the unprecedented rise in crime raged on unchecked, due to a host of factors, and with fewer resources to meet the increased emergency response or crisis response needed to support our city. The data, public safety updates, and our lived experience were clear. Soon thereafter, the Council adopted our proposal for additional police academies. Leaders must be held accountable to voters for their decisions that delay our critical response on issues that impact our communities. It’s a disservice to the people.

I believe integrity and honesty are not things you learn–you either have them and practice them–or not.

We have less than 50 days before we elect our new mayor. Keep asking hard questions at candidate forums, look at our voting records, and hold us accountable for our actions. As mayor, I commit that I will govern with integrity and honesty, and that my decisions will be in the best interest of the City of Oakland. I will hold myself and my administration to the highest standards because Oakland deserves nothing less. I hope you will join me and restore integrity and honesty to City Hall. We deserve better.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Up Next

We Will Not Incarcerate Our Way Out of This

Don't Miss

Training Youth on How-2 End Hostilities

Oakland Post

Click to comment

Activism

Oakland Post: Week of May 21 – 27, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of May 21 – 27, 2025

Published

6 hours ago

May 25, 2025

Oakland Post

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Bay Area

Chevron Richmond Installs Baker Hughes Flare.IQ, Real-time Flare Monitoring, Control and Reduction System

While the sight of flaring can cause concern in the community, flares are essential safety systems that burn pollutants to prevent them from being released directly into the atmosphere. They activate during startup and shut-down of facility units or during upsets or equipment malfunctions. The typical flare stack is about 200 feet high so that vapors are well above street levels.

Published

6 days ago

May 19, 2025

Oakland Post

Image courtesy The Richmond Standard.

The Richmond Standard

Chevron Richmond recently installed flare.IQ, a real-time, automated system that will improve the facility’s flaring performance.

The technology, developed by Panametrics, a Baker Hughes business, uses sensors to monitor, reduce and control flaring in real time. It collects and assesses data on refinery processes, such as temperature, pressure, gas flow and gas composition, and adjusts accordingly to ensure flares burn more efficiently and cleanly, leading to fewer emissions.

“The cleaner the flare, the brighter the flame can look,” said Duy Nguyen, a Chevron Richmond flaring specialist. “If you see a brighter flame than usual on a flare, that actually means flare.IQ is operating as intended.”

“A key element in Baker Hughes’ emissions abatement portfolio, flare.IQ has a proven track record in optimizing flare operations and significantly reducing emissions,” said Colin Hehir, vice president of Panametrics, a Baker Hughes business. “By partnering with Chevron Richmond, one of the first operators in North America to adopt flare.IQ, we are looking forward to enhancing the plant’s flaring operations.”

The installation of flare.IQ is part of a broader and ongoing effort by Chevron Richmond to improve flare performance, particularly in response to increased events after the new, more efficient hydrogen plant was brought online in 2019.

Since then, the company has invested $25 million — and counting — into flare minimization. As part of the effort, a multidisciplinary refinery team was formed to find and implement ways to improve operational reliability and ultimately reduce flaring. Operators and other employees involved in management of flares and flare gas recovery systems undergo new training.

“It is important to me that the community knows we are working hard to lower emissions and improve our flaring performance,” Nguyen said.

Also evolving is the process by which community members are notified of flaring incidents. The Community Warning System (CWS), operated by Contra Costa County is an “all-hazard” public warning system.

Residents can opt-in to receive alerts via text, e-mail and landline. The CWS was recently expanded to enable residents to receive notifications for “Level 1” incidents, which are considered informational as they do not require any community action.

For more information related to these topics, check out the resources included on the Chevron Richmond, CAER and Contra Costa Health websites. Residents are also encouraged to follow @chevronrichmond and @RFDCAOnline on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter), where additional information may be posted during an incident.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Activism

Oakland Hosts Town Hall Addressing Lead Hazards in City Housing

According to the city, there are 22,000 households in need of services for lead issues, most in predominantly low-income or Black and Latino neighborhoods, but only 550 to 600 homes are addressed every year. The city is hoping to use part of the multimillion-dollar settlement to increase the number of households served each year.

Published

7 days ago

May 18, 2025

Oakland Post

iStock.

By Magaly Muñoz

The City of Oakland’s Housing and Community Development Department hosted a town hall in the Fruitvale to discuss the efforts being undertaken to remove lead primarily found in housing in East and West Oakland.

In 2021, the city was awarded $14 million out of a $24 million legal settlement from a lawsuit against paint distributors for selling lead-based paint that has affected hundreds of families in Oakland and Alameda County. The funding is intended to be used for lead poisoning reduction and prevention services in paint only, not water or other sources as has been found recently in schools across the city.

The settlement can be used for developing or enhancing programs that abate lead-based paint, providing services to individuals, particularly exposed children, educating the public about hazards caused by lead paint, and covering attorney’s fees incurred in pursuing litigation.

Most of the homes affected were built prior to 1978, and 12,000 of these homes are considered to be at high risk for lead poisoning.

City councilmember Noel Gallo, who represents a few of the lead-affected Census tracts, said the majority of the poisoned kids and families are coming directly from neighborhoods like the Fruitvale.

“When you look at the [kids being admitted] at the children’s hospital, they’re coming from this community,” Gallo said at the town hall.

In order to eventually rid the highest impacted homes of lead poisoning, the city intends to create programs and activities such as lead-based paint inspections and assessments, full abatement designed to permanently eliminate lead-based paint, or partial abatement for repairs, painting, and specialized cleaning meant for temporary reduction of hazards.

In feedback for what the city could implement in their programming, residents in attendance of the event said they want more accessibility to resources, like blood testing, and information from officials about lead poisoning symptoms, hotlines for assistance, and updates on the reduction of lead in their communities.

Attendees also asked how they’d know where they are on the prioritization list and what would be done to address lead in the water found at several school sites in Oakland last year.

City staff said there will be a follow-up event to gather more community input for programming in August, with finalizations happening in the fall and a pilot launch in early 2026.