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Oakland City Council Will Vote April 5 on Temporary Freeze of Rents and Evictions

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Residents from a number of community groups attended the City Council’s Rules and Legislation Committee, calling on the committee to support a temporary “moratorium on evictions and on rent increases until the City has developed and implemented strategies that protect and expand access for Oakland residents to affordable housing.”

 

 

After listening to community speakers, the committee agreed to put the “state of emergency” on the agenda for the April 5 City Council meeting.

 

 

Backers of the resolution include a coalition of organizations and residents that came together as a result of a resolution first passed by the John George Democratic Club last Saturday and unanimously endorsed by participants at last Sunday’s Post Salon at Geoffrey’s Inner Circle.

 

 

Qilombo Community Center of the McClymonds neighborhood is supporting the resolution, along with the Oakland Alliance, the Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club and the Block By Block Organizing Network.

 

 

One of the speakers at Thursday’s council committee meeting was Janet Hall, who told council members that the community would hold them accountable for their actions.

 

 

“We should expect you to (call) the meeting to make this happen,” said Hall. “If you don’t do that, why in the world are you sitting here?”

 

 

“If there were an earthquake and we lost homes in the Oakland Hills, you can know for sure there would be a state of emergency.”

 

 

Timothy Killings of Qilombo said he hoped for unanimous council support in calling the state of emergency. “I hope we can get a ‘yes’ vote from every single one of you,” he said. “As a college student, I have been displaced six times – every single place I have lived in has been sold.”

 

 

Anita “Needa Bee” MiralleDeAsis, who – along with friends – delivers food and other supplies to those who live on the streets of Oakland, shared her experiences as well.

 

 

She said she has visited at least 25 Oakland homeless encampments where many families and infants live. Many of the homeless have full time jobs, and there are at least 59 encampments between Lake Merritt and the San Leandro border, she said.

 

 

At first, the council members resisted scheduling the community-written resolution, using technical objections. Councilmember Brooks, not a member of that committee, went up to speak at the meeting. “You should be facilitating the community’s request.” To use technical objections to avoid putting a state of emergency resolution on the agenda would be “disingenuous,” said Brooks.

 

 

Gay Plair Cobb talked about the urgency of what she sees in the streets of her West Oakland community. “I observe more and more people living in their cars or living in the parks,” she said.

 

 

Cobb said that displacement of Oakland residents is directly tied to lack of decent jobs – unemployment and low-skilled, low-paying jobs.

 

 

At Sunday’s Post Salon, speakers outlined the importance of the resolution and talked about a recent city report that shows the median rent for a 2-bedroom apartment is now $2,950 per month, an increase of 40 percent in the last year.

 

 

A renter working at Oakland’s minimum wage would have to work 185 hours a week to pay for the median priced 2-bedroom apartment.

 

 

The average Oakland renter can only afford to pay about $700 a month, according to the report.

 

 

“The situation is dire,” said Carroll Fife, who chaired the Post Salon meeting, titled “Fight to Stay in Our City – Oaklanders Fight Displacement.”

 

 

Some people may say a housing state of emergency is not possible, but it was passed in the city of Alameda a few months ago, said another speaker.

 

 

Post publisher Paul Cobb called for stepping up pressure on council members, especially those representing Districts 1, 3, 5, 7, the at-large position and the City Attorney, which are all up for reelection in November of this year.

 

 

“We as the citizens ought to serve eviction papers on the City Council,” said Paul Cobb. “We ought to notify all elected officials that their rent is due – the rent of doing what the people who elected them want.”

 

 

“Your ballot cast towards those running for City Council who support a housing state of emergency is your ticket to staying in Oakland,” said Cobb.

 

 

The next Post Salon planning meeting to discuss actions to stop displacement will take place Sunday, March 13, at 2 p.m. at Geoffrey’s Inner Circle, 410 14th St. in Oakland.

 

 

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Oakland Post: Week of June 4 – 10, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of June 4-10, 2025

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Remembering George Floyd

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — Minnesota State Attorney General Keith Ellison acknowledges that the Floyd case five years ago involved a situation in which due process was denied, and five years later, the president is currently dismissing “due process. “The Minnesota Atty General also says, “Trump is trying to attack constitutional rule, attacking congressional authority and judicial decision-making.” George Floyd was an African American man killed by police who knocked on his neck and on his back, preventing him from breathing.

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Mural showing the portrait of George Floyd in Mauerpark in Berlin. To the left of the portrait the lettering "I can't Breathe" was added, on the right side the three hashtags #GeorgeFloyd, #Icantbreathe and #Sayhisname. The mural was completed by Eme Street Art (facebook name) / Eme Free Thinker (signature) on 29 May 2020. (Wikimedia Commons)
Mural showing the portrait of George Floyd in Mauerpark in Berlin. To the left of the portrait the lettering "I can't Breathe" was added, on the right side the three hashtags #GeorgeFloyd, #Icantbreathe and #Sayhisname. The mural was completed by Eme Street Art (facebook name) / Eme Free Thinker (signature) on 29 May 2020. (Wikimedia Commons)

By April Ryan
BlackPressUSA Newswire

“The president’s been very clear he has no intentions of pardoning Derek Chauvin, and it’s not a request that we’re looking at,” confirms a senior staffer at the Trump White House. That White House response results from public hope, including from a close Trump ally, Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. The timing of Greene’s hopes coincides with the Justice Department’s recent decision to end oversight of local police accused of abuse. It also falls on the fifth anniversary of the police-involved death of George Floyd on May 25th. The death sparked national and worldwide outrage and became a transitional moment politically and culturally, although the outcry for laws on police accountability failed.

The death forced then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden to focus on deadly police force and accountability. His efforts while president to pass the George Floyd Justice in policing act failed. The death of George Floyd also put a spotlight on the Black community, forcing then-candidate Biden to choose a Black woman running mate. Kamala Harris ultimately became vice president of the United States alongside Joe Biden. Minnesota State Attorney General Keith Ellison prosecuted the cases against the officers involved in the death of Floyd. He remembers,” Trump was in office when George Floyd was killed, and I would blame Trump for creating a negative environment for police-community relations. Remember, it was him who said when the looting starts, the shooting starts, it was him who got rid of all the consent decrees that were in place by the Obama administration.”

In 2025, Police-involved civilian deaths are up by “about 100 to about 11 hundred,” according to Ellison. Ellison acknowledges that the Floyd case five years ago involved a situation in which due process was denied, and five years later, the president is currently dismissing “due process. “The Minnesota Atty General also says, “Trump is trying to attack constitutional rule, attacking congressional authority and judicial decision-making.” George Floyd was an African-American man killed by police who knocked on his neck and on his back, preventing him from breathing. During those minutes on the ground, Floyd cried out for his late mother several times. Police subdued Floyd for an alleged counterfeit $20 bill.

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Oakland Post: Week of May 28 – June 30, 2025

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