Bay Area

Kaplan, Community Leaders Call for Police, City Accountability After Arrest of Wilson Riles

Published

6 years ago

October 31, 2019

This is not over, say local leaders — pledging not to let the city officials and Oakland Police Department (OPD) off the hook as they seek answers for the recent arrest of former City Councilmember and community elder Wilson Riles Jr., who was visiting the city zoning office when he was tripped to the ground by four police officers, handcuffed and taken in a paddy wagon to Santa Rita Jail.

“I’m very troubled with how Wilson Riles was treated and glad we were able to help advocate to get the charges dropped,” said Rebecca Kaplan, Oakland City Council presiden, in a statement to the Oakland Post.

“But the questions are not over, and we need to ensure that the heavy handed, over-policing of Black people is ended,” said Kaplan. “This incident also reinforces that it is important to have independent police oversight with the authority to provide real change —and why it is vital that the response to minor disagreements should not be to call the police.”

Riles, who is 73 years old and served on the Oakland City Council from 1979 to 1992, had gone to the city zoning office on the morning of Thursday, Oct. 17 to discuss an ongoing dispute he and his family have had with the Zoning Department.

A zoning office staff member called 911, and when Riles was leaving the office at about 9 a.m., he was blocked by the officers, not informed that he was being arrested, knocked down, injured and charged with battery on a police officer. He was released near midnight after posting a $20,000 bond.

Charges against Riles have been dropped. The city has announced that OPD will conduct an internal affairs investigation of the incident. Riles has filed a complaint with the Police Commission, which will also hold an investigation.

At a meeting last Thursday of the Police Commission, where Riles and some of his supporters spoke, Commission chair Regina Jackson called his arrest a “travesty.”

“No one should have that kind of treatment for an argument,” she said.

Rashidah Grinage, a leader of Oakland Coalition for Police Accountability, criticized the conduct of the police and held Mayor Libby Schaaf and City Administrator Sabrina Landreth for the attitude toward the public of people working in city departments.

“The police should not have called” by city staff simply because Riles was arguing with a city staffer,” she said.

“There (also) does not seem to be any justification for the use of the force by the officer. Considering his age and that he was unarmed, the officers did not have to throw him down on the floor with that use of force.”

City staff is not getting adequate direction from higher ups, she said. “Somebody needs to hold City Administrator Sabrina Landreth accountable for this. All these departments (including the police department) are under her supervision. She has failed to provide appropriate direction to her staff.”

Landreth does not hold an elective office but is hired by and reports to Mayor Schaaf, “who is ultimately responsible,” Grinage said.

The larger issue facing OPD is that federal oversight has been going on for approaching 17 years, but the department is still not able to function in a way that is “racially equitable” and “constitutional,” she said.

“This police chief, Anne Kirkpatrick, has not brought the department into compliance or closer to compliance,” Grinage said “She has brought it farther from compliance. That’s why, earlier this year, we urged the federal monitor to fire her.”

Cat Brooks, activist and journalist, said she views Riles as a “statesman who has dedicated his life, in office and out, to fighting for the people.”

“This is the kind of treatment that Black people face every day in this city, in every city, every day,” she said. “Nobody’s public safety was secured by this act.”

The letter that the city put out about the incident talked about protecting the safety of city employees, she said, but “The city employee was never in danger. They don’t like to be challenged. They want you to be compliant.”

“(City employees) know exactly what would happen when they pushed a button or called police in a city department,” she said. “When they say danger, they know it will elicit a particular response from law enforcement.

“They have to be held accountable for that. You don’t get to mobilize law enforcement because you’re irritated.”

Ken Epstein

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Oakland Post: Week of May 21 – 27, 2025

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

Published

5 days ago

May 25, 2025

Oakland Post

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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

2 weeks 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.

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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

2 weeks 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.