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Violence Prevention Department Bogged Down in Debate Over $300,000 No-bid Contract

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The City Council’s Life Enrichment Committee this week discussed a proposed resolution—sponsored by Councilmembers Lynette Gibson McElhaney and Larry Reid—to kick start the city’s new Department of Violence Prevention with a $300,000 no-bid contract to hire an outside consultant who would provide policy advice for setting up the department.

In the face of serious doubts about the proposal expressed by council members, Councilmember McElhaney, who chairs the committee, recommended the resolution be held in committee for further discussion and voted upon at a future time.

The City Council voted in June 2017 to create the department with a mission to work with victims of violent crime and those who are most likely to be future victims or perpetrators of violent crime – to end the cycle of violence and trauma.

McElhaney and community members with whom she is working are upset about the slow pace of progress in establishing the department. They also don’t want to see the department submerged in city administrative bureaucracy and methods of implementing violence prevention that are academic and do not work.

According to McElhaney, the city should be implementing programs based on the experience and wisdom of members of impacted communities.

Under the terms of the proposal at Life Enrichment, the city would spend $300,000 on a no-bid professional services contract “with a locally based and nationally recognized nonprofit organization…to provide policy analysis and advice on the establishment of the Department of Violence Prevention.”
In addition, the consultant would “report directly to the city council president and the chairperson of the Life Enrichment Committee,” rather than the city administrator.

“I have a lot of concerns [about the proposal],” said Councilmember Annie Campbell Washington, noting that the funding source for the $300,000 is not mentioned.

She questioned why the council should waive competitive bidding for choosing the consultant and the reason for “having the [consultant] report to the city council” rather than the city administration.

“All of those things give me a lot of pause because that does not sound usual at all,” said Campbell Washington.

“I just have to be honest about that,” she continued. “It feels like—and maybe I’m wrong—that we want to choose somebody, and we already have somebody in mind. [But] we are here to set policy, and the administrator is there to establish the department and hire a director to run the department.”

The draft resolution also called for the council president to set up a process to select the consultant. However, that wording was removed from the resolution that went to Life Enrichment on Tuesday.

One name that has been mentioned for the consultant position is David Muhammad, a criminal justice reformer who has worked at the National Council on Crime and Delinquency, according to the East Bay Express.

Muhammad resigned in 2012 from his job as Alameda County’s chief probation officer following unsubstantiated allegations of sexual assault and harassment.

Councilmember Dan Kalb said he had concerns about requiring the consultant to report to council members. “This is a department of the city, which means it is under the City Administrator, and it seems like [the consultant] should report to the City Administrator.”

In response, McElhaney said the city should utilize an outside independent consultant and listen to and rely on “authentic” community voices.

The city often spends as much as $400,000 to develop plans that do not shift the city from its past practices, she said. “Doing more of the same and amplifying more of the same doesn’t mean that we’re going to get to dramatically different results.”

“Why is it taking so long?” Audrey Cornish asked at the meeting, explaining that she is part of the community coalition that has attended city meetings to fight for the Department of Violence Prevention.

“I and other people have the answers, but you won’t listen,” said Cornish, whose son Torian Hughes was murdered in West Oakland in 2016.

Assata Olugbala challenged McElhaney for sending the resolution from the Rules Committee to the committee she chairs, rather than the Public Safety Committee, which Desley Brooks chairs.

“Why is violence prevention in the Life Enrichment Committee?” she asked. “Violence prevention should be in public safety. You want to have something on the agenda that you can control, and it won’t be controlled in public safety the way you want.”

McElhaney replied:

“To give equal weight to the non-policing side, it would be best to be in Life Enrichment where human services are, where arts and culture [are]. It needs to be in a space where those people who are triggered by the presence of police because of their history [do not] need to walk into committee meetings where they have armed officers.”

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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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