Good afternoon and welcome to
the City Council meeting of February 3rd, 2026.
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Honor roll.
Excuse me. We can't hear the debt.
Okay.
On honor roll.
Council member Brown.
Present. Council member five present.
Council member. Gaya. Present.
Remember, you don't have to get in the queue.
I will unmute you.
Council member. Houston.
Council member. Ramachandran. Present.
Council member. Unger.
Here.
Council member.
Wong. Present.
And chair. Jenkins. Present.
Showing eight members present at this time.
Going to item three.
Modifications to the agenda.
Before we send city staff home, is there any council member
that wants to put pull anything off of consent?
Yeah.
Council member Houston.
To the chair. I wanted to bring something up about, the fire station.
They had, was doing some construction.
I don't know what item it is. I talked to my chief of staff, and it was,
they gave me some data back, and I just wanted them to explain
the local participation on that item.
And, Trinity, what item was that?
It's just me. We.
So, Trinity, can you work with Monica
so that you can
ensure that the proper staff person will still be here?
If Monica from the city administrators office is here.
Trinity. Working with you to ensure those questions are answered on the consent calendar.
Thank you.
So you want to pull?
I speak to it.
I wanted to, but you got to speak to it
when it's on the consent calendar.
We're not on the consent calendar.
And what is it on? So right now we're on modifications to the agenda.
So if you want to pull something right now, you can pull it.
But if there's any staff that you would like to speak to.
And I think what's the agenda number?
Trinity.
Is this agenda item is 6.14.
Okay. So we'll make sure that
the appropriate staff members are here.
Thank you. Into the chat. I don't have a problem with that. I just want them to explain the local participation piece.
That's it. Okay. Thank you.
Any other modifications to the agenda?
Thank you. Going to item four. There are no public hearings at this meeting today.
Going to item five which is action on all non consent items.
We have one item which is item 5.1
an ordinance amending the municipal code section
9.008.260 to conform state law by repealing the offense
of loitering for the purpose of engaging in prostitution.
Adding loitering for the purpose of purchasing commercial sex as an offense.
Allowing the administrative assessment of fines against sex
purchasers,
sex traffickers, and properties used for prostitution,
and creating a human trafficking survivor support fund.
We have 13 speakers.
Please note as this item has been read into record,
no more speaker cards will be accepted.
Okay.
Hey, everyone.
I'm, proud to introduce this item to the full city
council today.
I wanted to start off by, playing a clip from,
a documentary that was produced in 2013 about this very topic
about human trafficking here in the city of Oakland.
The history of slavery in our world isn't over.
Prostitution, the world's oldest profession,
is actually a horrific trade of human flesh.
Over 80% of victims are women, and most of them are children.
Most people only think that this is happening in Asia.
In countries like India, Thailand
and Vietnam and Cambodia.
But in reality, hundreds of thousands of these children
are at risk every single day for being trafficked
into sex slavery here in the US, as well
as girls living in the Bay area,
where 40% of all of America sex trafficking takes place.
We wanted to find out where the fastest growing
criminal industry in the world all starts.
You're in our backyard. We.
On the average, some of these exploiters
have as many as ten girls that they are exploiting.
And it doesn't take very much
for an exploiter to lure a child
into his business
by just saying a few nice things to them.
There's this whole underground world
that OPD basically discovered in 1999,
of young girls being sold for sex in our own backyards.
Really, when you look at how it's happening
and the deprivation of liberty that that takes place in order
to accomplish the crime. It is modern day slavery.
These children are beaten and take their clothes away.
They take all their
their property, their phone, their identification.
Don't move them to places
where the child doesn't know where she is.
These kids are sexually assaulted by the exploiters.
They are raped and sodomized and children
being chained to the heater vents.
At the end of the workday, the kid's clothes
are taken away from them and they're left naked in rooms
so they can't escape.
She needed money
and she doesn't know any other way to get it.
She thinks about it, and especially
when times get tough at home,
because home is not a place where she likes being.
A woman's body is what is kind of what you barter on
and is what we trade on.
And that has is kind of cultured into, you know, part of our mentality.
What ends up happening is once you strip all the makeup
and you strip off the nails and you get back the layers,
they're just a kid. People always ask us, you know, how does a 12 year old
or 13 year old girl go from sitting in an eighth grade classroom to,
you know, selling her body to 20 men per night?
Most often times, the exploitation on the street
is not the first act of rape that they've ever had.
And so when you come from
section of blacks and you come from such risk,
and your uncle or a trusted family member
has been molesting USAg for five years old,
and you really, really believe that your body
is a sexual object and that what it is, therefore
what a 30 year old man, a pimp, comes along
and tells you
that you know he loves you and you're
the most beautiful thing that he's ever seen.
It's really easy for a grown man to talk to a 12
or 13 year old girl who's been through the things
that she's been through into doing that.
Pimps, exploiters of human beings,
take advantage of these girls and their histories of abuse
to use them as economic pawns.
Over 70% of all girls being trafficked for sex
have escaped abusive home lives as runaways,
and almost all of them have been sexually abused and raped before adolescence.
They take girls who have never known love
and trick them into selling their bodies.
Girls are also abducted off the streets by pimps.
They don't have any empathy for another human being.
That exploiter will get tired of the child,
so he'll sell her to another pimp or exploiter.
Her psychology ability to even evaluate
what's safe and what's not is completely diminished.
She does not understand her victimization,
and the only thing that we can really compare
it to is Stockholm syndrome or battered wife syndrome.
The fear and the guilt and the shame
and the physical and emotional pain
that comes along with having to be exploited
every day, you know, by
by grown adult males and
for really for no gain, for no gain for them whatsoever.
She stands there every day and takes all the risk.
The risk of being killed, the risk of being infected
with Aids, the risk of going to jail.
She takes all the risk and has absolutely
no power over her life or her decision.
We have to try to to engage them
and encourage them to get involved
so we can find out who the pimps are,
who are pandering them, who's
who's forcing them into child exploitation,
and try to find a reason why they're not in their homes
and what their parents are doing.
You know, when I first started over 20 years ago, you would see in the 20s and 30s
what I see now as young as 13 years old, seven days a week.
Human slavery isn't over today.
Women and girls everywhere are suffering.
They end up under the control of a pimp who promises
to take care of them. Soon.
However, the master and slave relationship is established
and maintained through even more abuse and violence.
And at that point,
they're completely at the mercy of these men.
The exploiters doing this need to be stopped.
Help us bring an end to the abuse, to the pain,
and to change society
so that it is no longer alright to buy sex from a child.
It all starts now.
We can stop it.
Thank you. And, clearly what we have is a human
rights abuse happening right in our streets here in Oakland.
The question, of course, is what we should do about it.
So this is the proposal
before Oakland City Council today.
What you see here is a set of amendments.
In summary, this is going to be a set of administrative fines.
And I'll explain later why this concept is important.
This is also about shifting the burden of responsibility,
for this, this marketplace, to what we call the demand side.
These are the buyers that ultimately drive and fuel this industry, while ultimately
creating a sustainable restitution model for survivors.
And this has to be key in order for this,
type of program to be successful.
The other thing that I want to note is that there is language that is within this ordinance.
That is not my preferred language.
It uses, you know, prostituted persons.
It's my preferred language to use exploited persons. But,
we have to conform to language per the California Penal Code.
Otherwise we risk the, we risk preemption.
And so I just want to acknowledge the language
that is being used within this ordinance.
Some context.
Oakland is consistently among the top three cities in California.
Is a hotspot for human trafficking.
This is noted, in by the FBI
and other national studies.
As it relates to our use here, a couple of things.
First.
As noted in the video, there's a clear connection
between a history of child abuse, including child
sexual abuse, as well as, being, foster youth.
You can see there that more than 55% of trafficking victims are
or were foster youth. And so ultimately, what we're talking about
is the exploitation of some of our young people
who have suffered, the most horrific, abuses.
And, this is why they're
particularly vulnerable to being exploited,
because all they've known is an abusive dynamic.
And that is why you see that the average age of entry into this industry is 12 to 14.
In Alameda County, there's been, screenings
that have done by, child providers.
So 15, 8% of screened youth show
clear signs of commercial sex exploitation.
That is actually double the California average.
It cannot not be stated that, this is an issue
that disproportionately impacts black girls and women.
Even though black residents are 20% of Oakland, black women
and girls represent 61% of the recovered victims.
And as you can see here
right now, because it's this is an underground market.
Whatever we're seeing in the OPD data,
we're seeing far more, if not,
just far more numbers in the
the youth that are screened by these child providers.
But that still does not capture it.
So, 900 youth in the county have been identified, but
that number still understates
how many youth that we have here in Oakland.
That are showing signs of exploitation.
I will note, too, that we hear all the time from whether it's
principals of schools that we see traffickers literally
circling our high schools and our middle schools
looking for, again, a vulnerable young person
that is disconnected from family,
in order to pick them up into this trade.
So I am, privileged to represent district two,
but within district two is the blade.
There are not just within district two, however,
commercial sex exploitation happening in our streets.
But in particular, this problem.
And it was discussed in the video is happening here on the blade.
And I want to discuss some of the characteristics.
This is a community that has high levels
of concentrated poverty.
It's also a community that is, predominantly
it's working class people, people of color.
You can see that,
in these maps that are shown that in the top left corner,
there is the purple
is where there's predominant Asian communities.
In the middle slide is, you see, black residents throughout.
And then you can see in the right slide
that there's a high concentration
of Latino communities on the right side of the blade.
And it's just it's these families are fed up
with this problem, frankly.
You can also see that
there are several elementary schools
and middle schools that are along this corridor.
And so these families regularly see this activity.
It is essentially grooming this next generation
of young people to normalize this.
And it is not normal.
The other thing I want to note is that
if you walk along this blade,
you can see
when you go to a convenience store now, 1 or 2 of the convenience stores
on each of these blocks is essentially selling lingerie.
It's it's catering to this market.
It's these convenience stores no longer sell grocery store,
you know, market chips, things like that, that you would often
find in a convenience store. It is. Absolutely.
Now, a part of the profit that you get as running
a convenience store.
Councilmember Wong, I apologize.
Your ten minutes has elapsed.
Would for four minutes be okay? Yes. Thank you.
I'll quicken this up.
Okay. So why this legislation?
First of all, as I mentioned, this is about one part of this is targeting demand.
Part of why we need to target demand
is because it is it is it
there are challenges with targeting,
the pimps as mentioned in the videos.
And ultimately we will be here every single year discussing
how do we provide services to victims
when we don't ultimately address the source.
The other thing is that this relies on administrative fines,
or the same way that we have fines for illegal dumping.
This is going to add another form of accountability
that is faster and more certain
than just relying on the criminal justice system alone.
The other thing I want to mention
is that this is also about conforming to,
recent state law updates.
So my colleagues, you might have some questions around,
some of the significant updates in this ordinance.
I'll tell you that sections A through D
are essentially just, conforming to that state law.
And in fact, if we, edit make edits to that,
that we run the risk of preemption again.
Okay. A little bit about, the expired demand.
As you can see here that studies show that these are predominantly upperclassmen.
Recent arrest data that comes from OPD.
70% of those sex buyers are actually residents
outside of Oakland commuting in from the suburbs.
And so clearly, Oakland has got a name
for basically serving this wider East Bay market.
And so, here's in some some of the amendments.
So again, this is mostly a page that explains, confirming
or conforming, excuse me, to the state penal code.
So and it also reflects some updates at the state level
that distinguishes between prostituted persons
and the victims, as well as the sex purchasers.
It also includes, updates on,
you know, what does it mean to, to,
you know, the behaviors indicated of purchasing,
trying to purchase someone for, for sex.
This is really the heart of what
the legislation is attempting to do.
So these are penalties for buyers and traffickers as well
as, property owners that help facilitate these sites.
As you can see, the penalties is for sex
purchasers, sex purchasers up to $4,000 for the first offense.
And then with every subsequent offense that goes up to $8,000.
For traffickers, this is up to $10,000
for the first offense, and then every subsequent offense goes up to $20,000.
And, each offense is noted as per victim per day.
And these fines are then tripled
for anything involving a minor.
And just some context in terms of how these fines were defined.
In short, they were designed to be,
to, to be maximized,
but in a way that would not be challenged in court.
And we also have fines for property owners as well as,
business proprietors that, facilitate this,
with a fine of $2,500 per day.
I also want to note that there's
an affirmative defense provision in here.
So anyone who was, you know,
say guilty of some of these, these crimes,
but they were a victim of sex trafficking at the time,
would have an affirmative defense provision.
This is really key here for the success of this.
This is the restorative justice core of the ordinance.
100% of the fines will be collected
and deposited into a restricted special funds.
This is how this differs from other fines
that we have that typically go into our general fund.
So really, because we've heard over and over again from the, local
service providers here in Oakland,
is that there is not enough funding.
They are so challenged with meeting
the extensive needs here in Oakland.
This will ensure that it is our local providers,
our local nonprofits, that can get the funding
to provide such important services
such as housing, mental health services, training,
a job training, legal support and street outreach.
Some notes on fiscal impact and enforcement.
The projected revenue here,
based off of current solicitation trends,
would be 250,000 to 450,000 annually.
I will say that in January, within two weeks, OPD
has done, 20 arrests of sex buyers.
Right now, since we don't have this in place,
we don't have a way to then, enforce that with a fine
that goes back to to survivors.
And in conclusion, I ask my colleagues
that we pass this with urgency because every day that,
we don't, pass this, that especially with the Super Bowl
and the World Cup coming up.
And these are events that are so associated with,
surges of human trafficking.
We also lose the opportunity
to implement this important enforcement model
that can, again, channel much needed funds back to
survivor services.
Okay. I'll take questions.
Thank you so much, Councilmember Bong.
Colleagues questions.
And Councilmember Unger.
Councilmember Brown and Unger.
Excellent.
Thank you so much, Councilmember
Hwang, for, your leadership on this item.
Where are you going? To share out the amendments that we made as well.
Or did you would you like me to highlight them?
Yeah, absolutely. So, very quickly, in public safety,
a couple of amendments were discussed,
and they're now included at the package before you today.
So first, there's an amendment that includes also
the business proprietors and that $2,500 per day fine.
The other thing
that I want to mention is
we do think that it's,
as discussed, it's really important to
do some tracking around the data
to make sure that this is a fine or a this is a,
this is a citation that is enforced equitably.
And so we can track, not only the enforcement side of things.
So, who is being arrested?
Who is being cited?
But on the other side of things,
how are we going to fund these services?
And are the services
making an impact, especially to help people exit?
I want to note that,
for example, in San Francisco study that 85 to 95%
of the sex workers
that were surveyed wanted to exit,
but they needed the support to do so.
And that is exactly what this is designed to do.
Excellent.
Thank you so much for sharing that.
I, I just know that, you know, during public safety,
we heard so many stories, from community members
that were impacted by this and just really,
you know, applauding your leadership on this.
I also want to thank you for that.
As well. And,
look forward to supporting and seeing the report
that will come back to the council in about six months.
I believe it is. Yeah. And that's right.
And then also in the supplemental, it states
there will be a community impact in equity review as well,
just to ensure that
as a result of this legislation, there are no, you know, we're
keeping an eye out on any unintended consequences as well.
So thank you. Content out there.
This is excellent.
Thank you. I want to make sure that the money is spent
in the most impactful way.
How do we decide how that money gets allocated?
Yeah, that's a great question.
So, this month,
I will be working with Doctor Joshi on two things.
Will actually be doing a focus group.
We have a partnership
also with the Oakland Fund for innovation.
So we're actually going to be doing a focus group with current
workers, on the blade to hear feedback from them.
And then we're also going to convene, many of the current
service providers to, to figure out what exactly is
the type of service that would that is most critically needed.
I will say that I am of the opinion, given that
the fines could be anywhere from, say,
you know, if a pessimistic estimate
would be $100,000 to generating to, say, $1 million,
that we need to plan for several scenarios.
And I think,
what would be really important in my opinion, is to fund out
like street outreach, especially for people
that are trusted by the
the women and girls that are currently on the blade.
And to help them plan
like exit planning, similar to domestic violence or,
survivors who need over a months long process to figure out
how to plan their life ahead.
Yeah, that that's all fantastic.
I just want to, like, know what the process is like.
Will we be doing an RFP for a provider?
Will, is there a board that decides how the money is spent?
Does DVP decide? Is OPD decide?
Yeah.
Most likely.
And again, this is still in development.
DVP will be issuing, an RFP or mini RFP, especially since
the funding is continuously appropriated instead of,
yeah, over one, one time.
Yes. Councilmember Firestone, Councilmember Gail.
Yeah, I want to also, applaud your leadership on this item.
I hate that I wasn't able to be at the Public Safety
Committee meeting, but in our public safety prep,
that the discussion that we had about bringing the report back,
I'm glad that you actually spent some time thinking about that.
So, happy that,
that is happening.
And I also just wanted to lift up
Doctor Joshi from that, documentary
that was shown and her continued work in this process.
She has many, many years in the field, lots of expertise,
and I'm happy that you're working in partnership with her
and continuing the work that council member bass
and many others were doing, and I just see this elevating
and moving us forward in terms of enforcement.
And so my question is,
will there need to be additional staff resources
in different departments
to ensure that enforcement actually happens? And,
what might that look like?
Yeah, it should not. So, and Lieutenant Campos, I would invite him to come up,
but, right now, how this will be enforced is,
Lieutenant Campos, who heads up the vice operations unit, is,
going to be a key part of the implementation of this.
He's going to be training further more,
the patrol officers in area three.
And so it will essentially take the existing set of law
enforcement resources in order to enforce this.
They will be trade on how to issue these citations.
And so, it should not add any it should not require
additional staff in order to implement this.
Councilmember Garcia, then Councilmember Houston.
Yes. Thank you.
Am I on?
Thank you.
You know, I appreciate you bringing up this item,
but at the end of the day, it comes up.
It's about enforcement, all right?
I grew up here in Oakland and East Oakland
and certainly have seen it all my lifetime.
I still remember there was prostitution.
Used to be on Telegraph and Broadway
and but yeah, they got kicked out or moved to the Fruitvale.
I kicked out of the Fruitvale through the FBI that I had.
The FBI came and pushed the the activity out of my area.
And then wound up in your district,
the other side of 23rd Avenue on the international.
So the bottom line it has to do with enforcement.
You know, I've been I've been on the right along at four in the morning,
five in the morning with the police.
Who do you see picking up the girls,
the guys going to work
and their pickup trucks before they go to work.
They picked up the young ladies.
Five in the morning, six in the morning.
We all see that.
We all acknowledge that.
But is that the end of the day is what does our police department
do to enforce the law?
One of the reasons we for historical Mister Hazard,
we backed up because goes to a couple of the officers
got involved with the girls on the street
and that stopped a lot of the backup.
Went to court, lost.
Well, we all know what happened.
So but the bottom line is
I was working before you came on board
with your district to push the prostitution
out of that district, because they were around Saint
Anthony's School, Saint Anthony's Church, which closed.
Right. So the girls so the mom and dad would come to drop off their children,
whether it be rubbers and needles
all in the parking lot and the activity at night time.
So but what happened there as an example for the public,
the FBI was going to join once again, the city of Oakland
to remove the prostitution, illegal trafficking.
But some of the neighbors and some of the and the church
did not want to locate cameras to capture the activity.
And therefore the FBI says, well, unless I have something
to document what's going on.
And the FBI pulled out,
arrest of the FBI is a key
law enforcement because they do this
federally, nationally, and not just in Oakland.
So I think we need to get them involved, because at the end of the day,
I mean, this has been going on daily,
nightly, and I don't see our law enforcement,
including the sheriff, enforcing it.
We all see it.
You see it, I see it.
Everyone here sees it.
But we have to enforce the laws
because I was there when we made arrest
and the individuals were not from Oakland.
Yeah, right. And the only thing that we
used to do that if I caught you on the street,
I get a check, chain.
I, you know, I could take your car from.
You can have a lot of explaining to your wife what happened
to your car.
And so therefore.
But it's all comes down to enforcement,
and I don't disagree.
Council member. Congressman.
And you got to get the FBI involved
to be able to make a difference when it comes to this issue.
And so thank you for the information.
But we got to get a law
enforcement's I as a taxpayer, I'm looking for
to enforce the laws that I have.
And that's what Oakland right now
is being challenged from one end of the city to the other.
Yeah. No, I don't disagree.
So that's why it's got to be included.
Otherwise we're doing more policy,
more talking, and more feel sorry and making excuses.
I want to clear up something.
So this is not intended to sort of
downgrade the penalties on sex buyers.
I will invite Lieutenant Campos to, talk on stage in terms
of how he currently coordinates with FBI.
I don't disagree at all.
I will say that what we're seeing, though, is that,
in the last two years, 51 people were charged
or were arrested actually for purchasing sex.
Only one was charged.
And so part of what's key about this legislation
is that it actually ensures accountability.
And so because that is so often what happens with victims
of sexual crimes, of sexual violence, is that
it's very black and white.
We rely on the criminal justice system alone,
and then people don't get any restitution whatsoever.
And so this is designed to fill that middle gap when,
the the DA's office does not have the resources,
what, for whatever reason, to make that charge.
I hope that makes sense.
Yeah,
absolutely. Simple.
Okay. 2 or 3 years ago, the girls were being flown into the Oakland airport.
There were flown in.
Come do your thing. Then they fly back out.
And that's why you see the sheriff's department
at the Oakland airport on a daily basis, day in, night out.
To stop that behavior at the Oakland airport,
the sheriff department stepped forward
through the district attorney
to make sure they had the contract
with the airport to stop that activity out of that area.
No problem. Thank you. Lieutenant Campos, you want to talk about the coordination with the FBI right now?
Just, good afternoon, everyone.
Marcos Campos, lieutenant of police, in charge of the Special Victims section,
directly in charge of the human trafficking device.
Narcotics. Sorry, vice child exploitation team.
We no longer have narcotics.
I've been the sergeant lieutenant for the last ten
years.
We've been in partnership with Agent Marty Parker,
for the last 26 years.
She has served in the FBI for 27.
So during 26 years, she was in partnership with OPD
as far back as when it was two officers in the vice unit.
She we currently have,
one sergeant and four investigators
assigned to the vice unit.
We currently have a project called the Blade Project, where,
with the FBI, we've coordinated our efforts
for some of the most violent, human trafficking suspects
in the city of Oakland, or people coming to Oakland,
where, we had two successful prosecutions federally,
last year.
So, to my knowledge, the FBI,
for the last 26, has continued their partnership.
Now, they may have changed,
some certain aspects may have changed,
but they've continued to have their partnership with us.
And if I could just touch briefly on the Senate bill.
653 .22
oh, that was authored by, I think is Senator Scott Wiener.
Several years ago, that took away the law of loitering,
for the purposes of prostitution, which included
sex workers.
Several years ago, that was repealed.
And now January 1st, 2026, we have the new law, 653
.25, which is loitering for the purposes of commercial sex.
At the beginning of the year,
we began line up
training with all of the patrol officers.
We did a, a training portal,
training for all the patrol officers, and now the vice unit,
they're going out in the streets
in the uniform capacity with these officers to make sure
they're properly addressing and conducting,
constitutional policing
when it comes to this and to this enforcement action.
As of this year, we've had 37 arrests during vice operations.
24 of those subjects
were outside of the city of Oakland
from outside of the city of Oakland.
And it's showing dividends
because the patrol officers on their own,
accounted for an additional 15, arrests,
for six, 3 to 5,
and that had to do hand in hand with the training.
So we hope that's a multiplier of,
proper and constitutional policing for the correct
observations and training that we're providing them.
So they'll be able to make these arrests or be able to address,
these concerns.
This model of us arresting the jaunes, is not a new model.
It's just we haven't been able to do it in the past.
I think the new law and this new ordinance,
enables the police department to adjust, our strategies
and our plan to remove the demand.
And, I'd like to add that, actually.
And I want to actually thank you, Council member Geier,
because during the budget discussions,
it was actually in part your voice
that led to the budget team that was, chaired
by Councilmember Ramachandran and Councilmember
Brown and Councilmember Unger
and I sat on that, that we actually,
one of our amendments was $700,000 per year for,
Lieutenant Campos to carry out those OPD headed vice
unit operations. But this is really designed this ordinance is to ensure
that it maximizes that funding.
So that way, again, when only one out of 51 buyers
ultimately gets charged,
that there are still consequences and consequences
that ultimately fund the exit services that are so desperately needed.
And I will note this that in,
the Nordic model has shown actually great decreases.
This is the end demand model has shown great success, is
actually in decreasing the level of, open air sex trafficking.
Just one.
And again, for me, this is a real key.
And I you know, this has been going on for hundreds of years.
All right. And it affects each one of us is sitting around in this room.
So the other one is an example.
And I'm glad law enforcement is here.
It's not about what we say.
It's what we do.
All right. And enforcement is to increase
around pushback on the street needs to happen.
So is an example.
A week ago I got a call from one of the mothers in San Diego,
and her daughter was been over here doing prostitution.
And she she's what, 18, 20 years old.
But she got killed on our street.
Somebody shot and killed her on the street.
And she's. So the mom's calling, crying to me,
saying that the police never responded to her
in terms of who did the shooting and killing.
And so we're looking to, And she's asking for assistance.
And it's an example of mom and dad suffering pain, that price.
And yet we're not responding as a city
in terms of trying to address,
this as an example, this mom, this in San Diego.
But I'll share that with you
so you can help with the follow up.
Thank you. Thank you. Council member
through the chair.
Thank you. Council member Wang.
I moved it to city.
The public safety
and my concern is that, I'm echo mayor council members here.
This is embarrassing.
I'm glad you brought this back up. Is embarrassing.
Has been going on for 50 years.
As long as I know was only one pho.
Then it went to San Pablo.
Did it in your district? My thing is this.
I'm kind of saying similar, but.
Council member, I'm Noel guy said the rest.
We need to,
arrest and and prosecute to the full extent of the law
and where we have the shame, the shame campaign, you know,
these guys are coming. And where did they get the percentage of 70%
from outsiders? I like to find out, Officer Campos, where do we get that?
70% of them from the outside.
And then 20 of those buyers that you said you got
where they from?
Outside also,
so year to date, just through January,
the percentage prior to me coming to this meeting,
it was 30 arrests.
And that's when we had 70% of the arrests
were from outside of Oakland.
And then as of the end of January,
the numbers have shifted to, 65%
and 35% being from City of Oakland.
Okay. Thank you. And through the chair, how are we dealing with this
in this on transportation, on public transportation
when it comes to the airport, the bus, how is that being
transported here? How are we addressing that?
Do you want to.
Because that's huge.
I mean, how did girls get in here? Right.
How are they getting here? How are they being transported?
Are we addressing that on public?
Public transportation?
So there are obviously national campaigns,
to help educate everyone with human trafficking.
There are the the banners are in the airport.
We do partner with our,
the, our national crisis line.
And we, the Oakland Police Department does receive a lot of these,
national, hotline tips in which someone is being trafficked,
whether it's in public transportation settings,
whether it's in an airport.
We have received and follow up, on those calls in the past.
Thank you. So my last thing is this. These young ladies, these boys and girls are victims.
They are victims. We should go after those buyers. Period.
And I moved it. I'll move it this time off.
And I just wanted to mention that I have convened
a working group, actually with AC transit.
So we met just last month to discuss
exactly that coordination between public transit,
and the city of Oakland
in terms of addressing the human trafficking problem.
So the last thing before
Nancy O'Malley left, we were talking about this
transportation piece as a piece.
I'll work with you on that. That had already started.
We could kick it back up. Yes. That's right. But thank you.
Thank you. Because you're you are also on the AC transit.
You're one of the liaisons.
Thank you, thank you.
Just a couple of comments.
Firstly, I very much appreciate the effort that you're taking.
And I don't think there's anyone around here
that will deny the importance of doing what we can to pursue.
Addressing that demand side.
My question is about
how this legislation interacts with and intersects with an
existing criminal investigation because these are civil fines.
But you referenced
you referenced a point that I, I'm curious about that.
52 people were arrested last year, but only one was charged.
How do you think that these civil penalties might change that equation?
Yeah, absolutely.
And so I brought this up during public safety.
But it will work similar
to how our illegal dumping fines work
where there's actually a misdemeanor provision
and there's also municipal fines.
So it's it's really going to be an either or so.
Lieutenant Campos, if you'd like to comment,
he's free to do so. But essentially, after the Da makes a decision
not to charge the city,
then can take this up to then pursue essentially the fines.
So it's going to be an either or.
Thank you. So if the city pursues well
the misdemeanor aspect of it, if the D.A.
declines to pursue that, then the city will.
Fine. But. Right. Okay.
And what were the conversations with the DA's office
like around this? Yes.
So the DA's office is supportive of this,
and they've been part of this,
human trafficking task force that I chair.
So, they're supportive of this, and they'll be working with us
to ensure that, again, my my goal is not to downgrade the,
the the penalties, the extent of the penalties
on the sex buyers.
But the intent is, again,
to just ensure consistent accountability.
Thank you. And then the last thing is,
I'm, I figure you've been in touch with the state as well.
And civil enforcement from that side.
Do they currently do operations in the city of Oakland,
and how might that intersect with this?
You want to comment on the state and federal enforcement, but both of those sides,
we have one federal agent assigned to us in our MOU.
As far as state enforcement,
at CHP has conducted high visibility enforcement,
but they have not been part
of the base operations or the strategic plan on,
enforcing against, the demand.
Thank you all.
So I will welcome my colleagues
to help me advocate, because we I certainly reached out
to the FBI office in San Francisco and anyways,
I didn't find them to be as, helpful as I'd like them
to be to get more resources to support our city.
Definitely. Councilmember Brown. Excellent.
And I just wanted to make one last comment around,
what Councilmember Houston brought up around
like, the transportation piece and just really emphasized that,
you know, this is kind of like one step of many more to come.
And I know, Councilmember Wong, you've been,
working, alongside AC transit.
And I know one of the things potentially to come
is around like a letter of support
from the city to get access to the camera footage
that you've been working on as well.
And so potentially that could be one
of the next steps, because I know that
both of those things kind of go
hand in hand in really assuring, ensuring accountability,
and that we're also protecting the young women that,
unfortunately, are impacted by this.
Right. Yes. And that's exactly the topic that we discussed at the,
working group meeting last month.
Thank you.
We can move to public comments.
However, there is a motion from Councilmember Houston. And,
if Councilmember Wong wants to second that,
I will second that.
Okay. Councilmember five
I have heard a number of comments
made tonight from my colleagues,
and I fully agree with accountability,
but something that Council member Gail said
really sat with me.
And that was the engagement of the Oakland Police Department
and trafficking and underage girl,
that we all know happened between 2015 and 2016.
And with,
sex trafficking and abuse of minors happening
at the highest level of government
right now, and the Executive office,
it's not surprising to me that you're not
getting support from Trump's FBI in San Francisco.
That said, if we're talking about accountability
and people in positions of power, what does the city do
when or if, hopefully we won't experience
what we experienced in 20 2015 and 2016
with 28 law enforcement officers
involved in trafficking and underage girl.
But if we do.
How do we hold city staff accountable?
And who does that?
And maybe that's a question for our city attorney,
because if we're talking about civil penalties,
I know that out of the 28 law enforcement officers
that were involved in this sex scandal
that made national news, national news.
14 were from the city of Oakland.
From what I understand, 11
had some type of,
accountability internally to the city.
I don't know what happened to the other three, and maybe my numbers are off,
but that would mean that we as a body or perhaps,
the city attorney's office, the city administrator.
I want to understand with those individuals also
be liable for civil penalties under this, legislation.
They would be because they were sex buyers, in essence.
Right. And so no person,
regardless of their law enforcement
status, should be given special privileges.
And what happened was abhorrent.
And no one should be abusing their power the way that that that happened.
Thank you, Councilmember Gail. Yes, madam chairperson, I'm going to have to excuse myself.
At 430, the mayor, mayor Lee, had called a public safety
meeting at the Fruitvale Transit Village,
and I have to be there joining her.
And that that meeting starts at 430.
But you have, my full support and moving forward
with this action. Thank you. Thank you,
thank you, Councilmember Gail.
And we can move to public comment
as I carry name. Please approach the podium in the order.
Please state your name for the record before beginning.
If you are participating via
zoom, please raise your hand so I can easily identify you.
And the chair is.
Give me two minutes for this item.
Janet.
Jet king no.
Okay. Vanessa Russell,
Albert Bernal, Zach there.
Amber Johnson,
Davina.
Cara. Lou.
Carol. Lola.
Megan.
Scotto.
Mrs.. Ida.
Ola. Bala.
Brianna.
Katrina.
Price.
Mr.. Hazard.
Wesley. Merkaba.
Lynn. Truong,
Annabelle.
Velasquez,
Edwin.
Twan.
Wynn, Vinnie.
Nguyen.
Lynn.
That's a duplicate sponsor.
Ticket.
Jennifer. Tai.
Chin.
Wynn.
Jennifer.
Tran,
Amor de bras or adv
Yin Finn to latte.
In any order, please approach the podium in any order.
Please approach the podium
in any order.
Please approach the podium
and your time will be shown on the screen behind me.
Good afternoon, members of Safety Committee.
My name is Janet Jet. I grew up in Oakland and I am a long time Oakland resident.
I also work for Love Never Fails,
which you guys already know.
If love never fails, some of my colleagues are here
today. In the late 1980s, I worked at Oakland Hospital
on East 14th, now international on 27th Avenue.
I saw girls walk by the pharmacy.
When I arrived at work,
I was not aware they were victims.
It was unclear to me why they were out there.
They were fully clothed. The reality of trafficking was not widely understood,
at least not by me.
Today, because of my work with Love Never Fails,
I see the devastating impact
of commercial sexual exploitation of minors, children
whose lives are shattered by violence and demand.
Buyers come from other cities, other counties
and even other states. They come here to exploit our babies and then leave.
While Oakland bears the trauma.
That is why I am here to urge you to support
Council Member Charlene Wang and this ordinance.
This matters. You can send the message that Oakland will not be used
as a hunting ground for those who commit evil.
This council can be courageous to stand and protect
the children, victims and families.
Oakland is my beloved city.
Oakland is resilient and worth defending.
Oakland is home for my.
For many years, I have believed and prayed that God would open
heaven over Oakland and bring change
and people from everywhere
will ask how it happened and God will receive the glory.
By supporting this ordinance, you have the opportunity
to be part of a meaningful change.
Thank you.
My name is Ken Nook.
I work with Love Never Fails.
As the outreach coordinator,
I go on the blade every week with our team,
loving on these women that are being trafficked.
I wanted to say that this is not going to change
or solve the trafficking on the blade,
but this is going to add a hindrance.
Out of two years, 53 arrests, there is only one charge,
meaning they got off practically scot free,
he said.
The lieutenant said there's already been 37 arrests in the month of January.
So with this
for them to be charged,
the hope is for the people coming out of Oakland
knowing that our laws aren't
complete, that they can get away with this.
If they are even go up to the car,
they will be charged that $4,000 fine.
Again, I say it's not going to change or it's
not going to solve this problem, but it will add a hindrance.
What will help even more is to not to make it a misdemeanor.
To buy sex.
It will help when it's a felony.
And so I say that today, not just for you,
but in hopes of California changing that to make
it a felony to buy sex.
Thank you.
Good afternoon councilmembers.
My name is Albert Brunel, and I'm here to advocate
for the young girls we love never fails.
And the young girls who are still
being exploited right now as we speak.
These girls,
we have come directly from International Boulevard.
They are survivors of human trafficking.
I know their names. I know their stories.
I know their trauma.
They are not statistics.
They are deeply traumatized, among the most vulnerable
in our community.
Some of these girls were literally chained up for seven months or more.
They were groomed by trafficker traffickers who exploited
their vulnerability.
Many are still children.
Many are fatherless.
Many, many had no one to protect them when the abuse began.
These girls are our daughters,
our sisters and our granddaughters.
And for many of them, no one came to pick them up or stand in the gap.
Buyers deep in that absence,
buyers deepened on that absence.
Demand keeps the system alive.
We must protect the vulnerable.
We must protect the vulnerable by holding buyers accountable.
Eliminating demand
directly disrupts the supply of trafficked youth.
Protecting the vulnerable is not optional.
It is our moral responsibility.
As a community, I'm asking you to stand in the gap
and protect the vulnerable by going after the man.
Thank you.
Good afternoon. My name is Amber Johnson, and I'm the grant manager
for the Human Trafficking prevention
Grant for Oakland Unified School District.
Our grant is dedicated to prevention,
training all secondary staff,
providing age appropriate prevention education
for students, and equipping youth
serving staff to recognize and respond to trafficking
and exploitation. Human
trafficking touches students in every secondary school.
I'm not aware of a single school that hasn't been touched.
To give you a concrete example of what effective prevention
could look like,
earlier last year, I was asked to consult
with a school concerning a 13 year old girl
showing early signs of grooming that were recognized
because of the training.
Her family was in the middle of medical crisis, and adult
supervision, understandably, had been reduced
because the school was trained
to recognize signs they acted early,
but identification alone is not enough.
We were able to reach out to a community partner
with expertise and capacity to respond.
A trained staff member met with the student on campus
alongside her trusted adult and a school social worker.
Rather than interrogating
or alarming her, the nonprofit engaged her
in a conversation about her interests,
her talents, and a paid ensure internship opportunity
in their afterschool program.
That very day the met.
That moment mattered.
When we identify risk early before exploitation escalates,
and when there are partners
with the bandwidth and expertise to step in,
we change trajectories and we change lives.
Schools are ground zero for identification,
but schools are mandated to teach.
Even with all we do to support student health and safety,
we cannot provide the specialized, long term, trauma informed services
these young people need.
This bill matters because it strengthens
the systems around our children, directing funds into survivor
services and prevention ensures that when a school identifies
a young person at risk, there's an effect.
Hello, my name is Anabel Velasquez.
I am a survivor of human trafficking,
sexual assault, and domestic violence.
Thank you to everyone who voted to move this ordinance forward.
That vote mattered
not just on paper, but in real life,
because these current laws have been
deciding who gets protected and who keeps getting ignored.
I'm not here speaking in theory.
I'm here because I was once the same age as the victims.
As I as I now seen being exploited on these streets,
I survived exploitation, I survived violence,
and I survived a system that statistically,
I was never supposed to make it out of.
So when I look at these victims minors, vulnerable adults, kids
in foster care, people without homes,
I don't see choices.
I see myself
and I see exactly what happens when demand is left unchecked.
And let me be clear, this ordinance is a game changer
for Oakland.
The way I see this from survivor standpoint,
this ordinance builds on AB 379.
It disrupts the demand, it holds buyers accountable,
and it creates real funding for survivor services
without arresting the people being exploited.
I know that there's opposition,
but some people will say victims chose this life.
I didn't choose violence.
I didn't choose coercion, addiction,
homelessness or survival. I chose survival.
But some will say this will also increase crime.
But criminalizing victims has never made us safer.
It's only made traffickers richer and survivors quieter.
This matters for public safety.
It's in the name.
It matters for vulnerable youth.
And every day that there is a delay, another victim becomes is just
a statistic.
Can Oakland continue to afford that?
This moment is historic.
No other city has this exact ordinance.
If Oakland passes this, other cities and counties will follow.
Oakland doesn't have a victim problem
and has a demand problem.
So don't just say you support survivors.
Prove it with your vote.
This ordinance does something powerful.
It makes people creating the harm,
paying for the healing, not the taxpayers.
Thank you.
Hello, my name is Vanessa Russell.
I'm the founding executive director of Love
Never Fails and I'm so grateful for this ordinance.
Thank you so much. Council Member
Wang, for your courage in bringing this forward.
I was just astonished by the 51 number
51 arrests, but only one was actually charged.
And it made me think about the fact that we've housed.
And I'm so grateful for the Department of Violence Prevention that has,
we have a grant there, and, and we've been able to house 56
women and children for the lack over
the last three years, survivors and what I want to say is the,
you know, it is our joy and our pleasure to house
those women and children, but think about the cost
to house those 56 women and children.
100% of those individuals needed
care, yet only one out of 51
buyers were held accountable for their behavior.
There's something wrong with those numbers.
If I have to pay for 56 survivors
to rebuild their lives, then 51 buyers
need to be held accountable for their actions.
There is $250,000.
250 to $400,000 is the average amount
that it costs for restitution or for aftercare
for every survivor in life
long medical and mental health services.
If we're only charging $4,000 for each incident,
and yet each individual has to bear 250
to $400,000 of cost on their own shoulders.
Because remember, Cal v CB might give them 20 K,
but that's not even going to get them
anywhere near what they need in restitution.
It just doesn't make sense.
And I'm so grateful that you all are doing something about this
so that survivors are prioritized. Thank you.
Megan Escobedo I'm a former foster youth.
I'm a survivor of domestic violence and labor trafficking.
After my escape in 2015,
I went on to work as a first responder.
I have lived it, I have seen it,
and I have responded to the aftermath of it.
The exploitation of women
and children does not exist in theory.
It devastates real lives in this city and across the country.
Every time a woman or girl gets into a car with a buyer,
it could be the last decision she ever makes.
Women in the sex trade are estimated
to be 60 to 100 times more likely to be killed
than women in the general population.
We cannot say that sex work is work,
or that there's no harm in it
when no other form of labor carries
the same likelihood of rape, disease, assault or other harms
that women are facing in the sex trade.
This is not adult entertainment.
It is lethal exploitation.
No one under 18 can consent, and anyone who pays to access
a minor's body is not a customer that is a rapist,
and he should be prosecuted as one.
This ordinance addresses loitering with intent
to solicit sex from anyone of any age.
So let's talk about consent.
Consent requires a conscious, self-directed decision.
It requires full understanding of what's being agreed to.
It requires real, accessible alternatives
and the ability to say no or change your mind at any time.
And if the only choices are sex or homelessness and starvation,
that's not consent.
It is coercion dressed up as commerce
across the country, advocates monitoring online buyer forums,
are watching men openly brag about how young the girls look.
They fetishize them.
They complain if she doesn't act enthusiastic enough,
they mid to pressuring women to go beyond the agreed acts
and they boast when she is drunk or high, which is also,
the crime of rape in California to have sex with somebody
under the influence.
These are not confused lonely men.
They are not harmless.
And what they're purchasing is not consent.
It's access to someone's desperation.
Stop giving these men a pass and start
holding them accountable.
Stand with the women and girls who are being bought,
pressured, threatened, and discarded.
And if we refuse to call this what it is.
Good afternoon.
My name is Brianna Price, and I'm a survivor of human trafficking.
I have given over two hours each time to be here
because Oakland is where I was trafficked as a child.
I am not here believing that trafficking will suddenly, in
this violence has existed since the beginning of time,
and it will likely exist until the end of time.
But what we can change, and what we must change
is who we hold accountable.
When I was being sold, I was broken, hurt and abused.
I was treated as a commodity, not as a human being.
At 31 years old.
My feet still hurt
when I stand too long because I was forced
to walk miles every day so buyers could purchase me.
I had to jump out of moving cars to survive.
The harm buyers caused did not end when the money is
exchanged. It lives on in the survivor long after.
But I am standing here today
because of organizations like Love Never Fails.
A local Bay area
anti-trafficking organization that believed in me
when I could not believe in myself.
They helped me get back on my feet.
They helped me get back into school and to graduate.
They gave me opportunities to speak, to share my story, and to let my voice be heard.
They stood beside me alongside survivors, senators and advocates to help past
several anti-trafficking bills over the last several years.
Because of that support, I am now a mom, a wife, a homeowner.
I have several businesses.
Without anti-trafficking
organizations, I would not be the woman I am.
Standing here before you today.
After being sold, I was broken.
But I am not beyond.
But I was not beyond restoration.
Holding buyers accountable matters.
It does not stop trafficking entirely,
but it curbs the demand.
It begins to cost the right people.
And when increased fines are imposed on buyers,
those funds are directed to anti-trafficking organizations that help restore lives
that were once broken, like mine.
Trafficking may not disappear, but today we can choose
who bears the cause. It should not be the victim.
It should not be the child. Thank you.
My name is Davina Curry, Lola.
And I'm here as a survivor
and someone who has trafficked right here in these streets.
And I'm in support of this ordinance.
I want to acknowledge what this bill gets right.
It recognizes that sex trafficking is real,
that black women and girls are disproportionately harmed,
and that buyers and traffickers must be held accountable.
Repealing loitering
for the purpose of prostitution is necessary.
Creating a survivor support fund is meaningful,
and shifting the focus towards the demand is an important step.
At the same time, I want to speak
honestly because honest honesty is a part of equity.
Oakland has a long history of laws
that were intended to protect communities,
but ended up overpolicing
the same communities they claim to help.
That history matters when we talk about enforcement,
because intention is not the impact.
Terms like loitering with the intent,
even when aimed at buyers, still rely on police discretion.
And we know that discretion is not neutral.
It has racial bias.
It has gender bias,
and it lands on the same communities every time.
I am also deeply concerned that survivors are expected
to prove that they were trafficked in order to avoid punishment.
I am I that is not survivor centered.
That is state centered.
Survivors should not have to perform their trauma or produce
documentation, or interact with systems that they may have
already been harmed by, just to be protected.
The Survivor Support Fund is
only as as just as who controls it.
If survivors and impacted communities do not have
real decision making power, then this becomes harm.
Recycled into bureaucracy.
We are busy,
not healing.
So yes, please pass this bill.
But don't stop there.
Building a racial equity. Safeguard.
Limit discretionary enforcement and guarantee survival
and governance.
Thank you.
Hi, everyone.
This is us.
My name is Lin Chong.
I live with two.
I came here second time to support the
council member Wong to.
To have the fang in the
to remove all the topics under it.
It's national.
I am deep here.
The 62 and I have been there for 30 years.
But I saw this time my my district two in Little Saigon.
Still bass know still a bit like any time
they stand at that front door, they bother me.
I can not call because nothing to do for the trafficking
and the pimp.
And also I have the problem for the homeless.
They travel, they get trouble for me every day.
Can do the basic.
Thank you for everyone to let me come in today
to talk about that. Thank you very much.
Good afternoon. My name is Edwin Hagler, community brothers. I'm,
so advocate to support wing and her movement.
But also, what I saw this morning was very amazing
that the police department in the sheriff's department
did stop workers and so-called pimps or whatever
we want to call themselves, but they did make action today.
And by the time we left the area, it was no pimps.
And there were no sex workers out there today.
So I kind of support you on that.
And I appreciate, you know, you guys
making efforts to make changes in Oakland
because Oakland needs big changes.
All right.
God bless.
Good afternoon, Council member.
My name is Jennifer Thai and I'm here to strongly support
this ordinance. Sex trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation
cause profound harm to our vulnerable,
our children, our young people and those who voice are often
ignored. This is not an issue that's happening somewhere else.
Is it happening here in Oakland affecting our neighborhood,
our family and our community, and it demands
our collective action?
I understand that this ordinance may not end sex trafficking,
however, is an important and necessary tool.
By holding by the traffickers and who profit from this
exploitation accountable, send a clear message
that Oakland will not tolerate this abuse.
It's also helped generate resources
to support the organization and the advocate
who work tirelessly with the victims and survivors.
I respectfully ask you to please just vote yes on this
ordinance and continue prioritize the safety,
the dignity and the future of our community.
Thank you very much for your leadership
and for your commitment to this important issue. Thank you.
Hi, my name is Youth and Fatality
and I am the program manager, Fund City Foundation.
We have served the East Oakland, community for over 20 years.
We've been, providing free mass tutoring to the Franklin
Elementary School students
and our tutors are high school and college students
who came here to serve with kindness and good intention.
However, we are deeply concerned about the presence of the sex
trafficking in this area
and the impact to our community safety.
Not only we worry about
their physical safety, our youth volunteers,
their mental and emotional well-being as well.
And we wish, you guys will pass this ordinance.
Thank you.
Good afternoon.
I'm a William Akiba and I teach in OSD.
I also am a producer of the MLK oratorical,
and I strongly vote 100% votes of. Yes.
I think that you can save lives, change lives, and also send a strong message.
Not in our town.
As a teacher, I teach drama.
I have had many students give testimony,
stories and try to problem solve
when the light is dark,
when they come to school, or when it's dark
when they return home of seeing cars parked
filling up their being watched.
Having men slowly follow behind them,
diverting their routes to different places,
are trying to go to a corner store for help
or trying to text.
Their parents to let them know what's happening.
I have,
heard data presented by the DEA.
When I was asked to come to the school board
meeting to give a report on the MLK oratorical,
because I arrived earlier.
I got privilege of this.
I was shocked to hear that in every middle school
and high school, we've had children snatched.
And how come, as an educator, I have not heard this?
Why hasn't there been any curriculum?
Where were the parent workshops?
How come this is not on a website
where the posters with QR codes?
How do we inform our community,
our churches, our youth development centers?
And so that's why I'm here.
I'm also wondering if we can have teens for teens
by teens to create PSR ways to educate each other.
I also have heard kids talk about hotel parties
and that there drugs and alcohol there.
And I'm trying to like what's a hotel party?
Who's throwing this party? Can I see the flier?
And so of course, it has to be some adult
involving inviting young people there with the intention not
to harm our kids.
What else do I want to say?
I was happy to see, for the first
time, a big billboard at the airport.
I would love to see more of those in our community,
not in our town.
How to get.
High.
My name is Vinnie Nguyen.
I live in the,
Little Saigon for over, almost 40 years.
I want to support,
Charlene Wang on on the things that you want to do.
Please pass.
And also, Ken Houston, you were asking about how people traffic, and travel.
Do the airport. A lot of these people, take private private jets.
You can take guns, cocaine, you take prostitution.
Do those those, private jet.
They don't check anything.
Then you travel to your Vegas, you go to different places,
you go to Houston and you.
And that's how people come
to the the that that lane go to Oakland.
They come down and get picked up by chauffeur.
And they do that stuff and they get back, and it's done.
As far as myself, I grew up in, the tenderloin.
Sam. Cisco. It was a hellhole.
And I was lucky to come to, to to Oakland in 1992.
And, heck, you know what?
It's almost the same.
But here I've been living in the,
you know, you call it the Blade District.
People are being sold here.
You know, the streets and, primarily, run by criminals.
No, drivers.
Actually, now I'm a real estate agent.
You know, I've been broker for almost 25 years,
and I've seen people
buying properties, and they staying away from,
so-called, the Blade district and real estate.
Have we have gone down a lot.
I mean, I walked, we drive a car down the street and I said, hey, you know what?
What's going on here? What's all this people doing here?
So this sign away real quick.
The a couple of things that we need is
we need a stronger, in a state federal coordinate.
We need to enhance parity.
To repeat offenders, a mandatory sentencing.
Do you remember the the use of seize cars and properties for
for poor people that come by property, buy stuff, do that again.
Okay. Thanks.
Good afternoon.
Councilmembers.
My name is Doctor Jennifer Tran and the president of the Oakland
Vietnamese Chamber of Commerce, Oakland native.
I just want to start off by. Thank you all for this.
This really rigorous legislation led by, Councilmember Wang
and also the excellent questions that each of you posed
just reflects your commitment and dedication
to community driven processes, data driven processes,
and making sure our most vulnerable communities continue
to not just inform the policy, but drive the work.
And as I listen to our community members, our neighbors
speak, I'm just reminded of the ten year
old version of my when I was ten years old,
being solicited for sex, walking home from school in the blade.
So it has been going on for decades,
and it breaks my heart to this day to think that the victims of human trafficking
is not just the folks who are being exploited
against their will.
It's also the children who are walking to school
every single day, asking their parents questions
that no eight year old should be asking questions around human trafficking.
Questions around homeless encampments.
Questions around vandalize buildings.
Questions around illegal dumping.
We're all wearing this shirt today.
A refuge for all in Oakland, Little Saigon
a commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War.
And each of you passed that we we appreciate,
you know, your commitment to continue to center community,
to continue to contribute every single day,
to ensure that Oakland continues to be that light
for the Bay area, for the state, for the country.
And so this ordinance will continue to send a message
to not just folks outside of Oakland
who are coming in
to do their dirty business,
but when we say that Oakland is open for business,
we're not open for that kind of business.
We're here to make sure that not just Little Saigon
or District two is free from violence,
but Oakland is free from violence, free from fear,
and free from exploitation. Thank you very much.
Hello. My name is Amadi Broad.
I would, I would reset.
My name is Amadi Broad.
I also go by Adi.
First of all, I want to thank,
Charlene Wang, council member and everybody else
in support of this ordinance.
This is need of the hour.
I'm here to represent Little Saigon,
also called the Red Light District.
Basically.
And I'm here to represent small businesses
and residents in Little Saigon.
We need the relief now.
It was supposed to be yesterday. Yesterday.
Little Saigon community is suffering due
to this pandemic of sapphic sex trafficking and prostitution.
I've been working there for about ten years now.
You know, up and down International Boulevard,
we see every day what we used to see in the night
hours is up there in broad daylight.
Girls.
It's not they're not even hiding the.
You see the pimps, you see drugs,
prostitution, homelessness, you name it.
It's all there.
A recipe for crime.
This doesn't affect just one group.
It affects us all.
There are multiple, schools with which
our kids are exposed to this issue.
Our police beat 19
has the highest crime rate of all the Oakland police beats.
For the last few years.
Thanks to blade disinfect, little Saigon,
San Antonio district, basically all district two.
And then it goes beyond.
We live in it every day.
There are multiple schools.
And this this district is basically
you have international airport, downtown Coliseum.
We are we are right there in the middle exposed.
You know, I wish you all to I urge and wish you all to pass this,
with an urgency and to put a stop to, sex
trafficking and prostitution.
Hi, my name is Chan.
I've been in, district two, and for about ten years.
I had this nice speech written up, but, Doctor Tran and AD took
most of that content already. So I'll just tell you what I go through on a regular basis.
Every Tuesday, I walk a group of kids
from Franklin all the way to, Clinton Park.
It's about three, four blocks, and we purposely ignore,
international just so we don't have to answer
those difficult questions that Doctor Tran alluded to.
But there are some cases, you know, we have to go
past international
just because we're located on some of the international.
And, you know, a group of kids,
they see ladies on the corner wearing little to no clothing.
They are saying, oh, don't look to the left,
don't look to the left.
But and of course, what are the kids
do they look to the left and,
you know, those are the types of things
that we have to go through.
And we have to try to explain on
why they're doing what they're doing.
You know, why do I have to, you know,
come up with those solutions?
That's is one incidence. I have another incidence where a young lady is hiding
in our community center because she's scared to death
from her exploiter.
Two hours ago, I had another sex worker
call me by my first name asking to use the bathroom.
Of course, you could use the bathroom.
You know what I mean? I'm.
This is a human basic, right?
And really, I want to be able to,
to help you in any manner
as any way I can, whether it's clothing, food,
you know, resources. I was able to help a sex worker get connected
back to her family.
Like, those are the types of issues
that we are dealing with just because
we're located on the plate.
But, you know, I, I commend, you know, Charlene, to
for bringing this issue
and making it a priority to our community because it's been ignored for so
long and, you know, this is I know it's not going to solve
all the issues, but it's a step in the right direction. And,
Good day.
I'm here to address the issue of the human
trafficking, also known as sphincter bone ridden troops.
I have been a male that is also.
Before you begin, what's your name? My name is Zach.
I also go by the name Patrick Anderson as a pen name
and Anderson v Trump as the impeachment agent.
I'd like the city to validate home.
Romero, Yang, Baker, Godwin and Kelly v Mattson
and requirements against the United States
and in her pool and and vacation and based on human
trafficking the same way you see voting credit fraud and,
mortgage fraud tied to lien rates
and the view of the state.
I do believe that there is an issue.
I believe that this community needs to address that narcotics.
I believe narcotics is a bigger issue than it is to human trafficking.
When you can prove that the police
and fire department are moving
ten kilos of cocaine and a half kilo of fentanyl,
I did heck with a group of inter pulling agents.
Not, in nine languages and
prove a movement and view of Texas.
I do submit as an a request the FBI director, John
Kevin Anderson, and, deputy FBI Director Jeffrey Ames
be put against the record for against the community.
I have an issue.
The carriage of the castle over 18.
Are you related and not impaired?
Is seen as a complementary state.
And Q on muon energy. Energy.
And when that is wondered the same way and say, hi,
I'm a man, I'm willing to prostitute myself,
no one picks it up.
I ask that this community take an honest vote
and view against the state,
that the building that is right across from,
the distribution of PepsiCo be looked at as a deja vu
and that two blocks down
be used as a parking and take out and bars that
is there and view compliance and begin full enforcement.
Thank you and have a great day.
But. You ready?
Okay.
This year makes 18 years.
I have been sitting in this room
18 years?
You don't know how many time
in 18 years this subject matter has come
before a city council for resolve
numerous times.
In 2024, Chief Mitchell declared
that he was going to crack down on sex trafficking.
It was a top priority
in 2024.
And so I looked at some data in 2014,
2010, 2015, 2017.
There have been partnerships with Alameda County and Hayward.
There has been FBI stings related to this subject matter.
In 2003, the FBI doubled Oakland,
a high intensity child prostitution area,
and some effort was needed to end
child trafficking, sex, prostitution.
And here we are today and 2026
with an ordinance.
At the same time,
when I see 61% African-Americans being the the victims,
I begin to question, because I come here
all the time talking about African-Americans,
and that's always dismissed no matter what level.
So you have an ordinance on racism that you put in place.
Nothing's happened. You have an all on an emergency ordinance on homelessness.
Nothing's happening.
You have a department race and equity.
Nothing is happening.
You have a N.S.A.
22 years
in place.
Nothing is happening.
Sideshows. Nothing is happening.
So tell me, why is this going to be an issue
where something is going to happen
of significance?
Clare House came here
with a support from the then district attorney,
and this body.
Wanted to start a fund for ambassadors.
This is a commercial corridor.
You got ambassadors and corridors around the city
in Chinatown and certain areas around.
Why don't you have, ambassadors walk from Fifth
Avenue to 22nd Avenue
De in light
rain or shine, they're out there
with umbrellas.
Ambassadors have them go in.
Teams
that have stopped that
they walk down the street
on international.
You gotta slow up.
I know, because I drive up and down there,
I can tell you, look what happened on Sonoma
a couple of weeks ago.
Two shop owners got shot cans.
They sell these string,
whatever. It's not clothing that they use on the street
ambassadors
and also changed the penalty
from a misdemeanor to a felony.
That's what you gotta do.
You're going to tell me that,
officers said they made 30 arrests.
They get out on and bail.
If you're going to charge them $3,000, then
you should have about $90,000 in the kitty.
You don't have that.
They bail out
and they continue to do what they do best.
Yeah, it's traffic.
Look how many times I bet you out of those 30 arrest.
How many times those folks being in and out
until their hearing occurs.
Ambassadors let them walk up and down the street.
That.
Thank you, Mr. Hazzard.
Your time is up.
For way, way too long we have watched
modern servitude
and children being bought off the streets of Oakland.
This is not a new problem.
Before was an international boulevard in Little Saigon.
I've heard about this for years.
Being in the community,
kids walking
naked, broad daylight, being sold.
And there are no consequences in Oakland
for Johnson and buyers and pimps
to do whatever they want to kids and to exploit them.
And the council and the mayor watched and really did nothing.
How is this different?
You have to ask yourself, will you provide
dedicated resources to make a difference here?
Because before that, an international
was in the Fruitvale and before that Broadway, Telegraph, San Pablo, Alcatraz.
It just gets shoved around
where we want community ambassadors.
Well, I'm sorry we don't have police officers because what do we do?
We have a severe staffing police shortage.
There's no code, there's no traffic enforcement.
We cut that. There is no community resource officers.
We cut that.
There's no crime prevention.
We cut that.
There's no homicide investigations
for cold murder cases. No.
We are severely understaffed.
We need to bulk up
OPD and police academies.
In the meantime, girls are walking our streets.
51 people arrested, nobody charged.
What's happening with the new D.A.?
Pamela Price didn't charge them. What?
What did she do? Who supported them?
Who supported Pamela Price?
So I ask you to do a different
to do something different and have two enforcement
to make it a felony to buy young children.
Like.
No, ma'am.
Thank you, Mr. Twan.
Your time is up.
Our names have been called.
If you
if your name was Connie, you wish to speak, please approach the podium
as part.
Okay. Thank you.
Colleagues, any comments or questions?
Councilmember Wong, I think you raised your hand.
Councilmember Wong, did you raise your hand?
Oh, yeah, I did.
I just wanted to respond to some of the public comments
around, adjusting things to, you know, felony level charges.
We, as the city council do not have the power to change
penal code. I really want to make that clear to the public.
That is why I also made
clarifying remarks that sections eight through,
d of this ordinance change or just reflect conformity.
So if you have issues with,
the penal code, please make that advocacy at your state legislature.
Legislature. Thank you.
Thank you, Councilmember Houston.
Thank you.
To the chair.
To Council Member Charlene.
What about repeat offenders?
Do they have anything about if it's a repeat offender?
On how the charge goes for misdemeanor felony?
What does it say about that?
It is my understanding, for example,
that the, for example, right now, as of January
1st of this year, there's, there's a few things.
So it is a it is a felony
to purchase a minor under the age of 15.
And then now through the ages of 16
and 17 year olds, it is a felony to purchase, them.
It's a wobbler, so-called.
So the basically the Da can charge it as either
a misdemeanor or as a felony for anyone who is above,
three, three years of, that the the trafficked child.
So but
and perhaps Lieutenant Campos, who also has more familiarity
with the penal code than I do, can comment on this.
But again, this is these are things that must be
legislated at the state level.
And through the chair, I got it I like it.
You saying that a felony can be charged.
So I need to know those ages again.
And, captain, Officer Campos, can you answer my question?
Yes, sir. So some of the provisions did change on the purchasing,
which is ordinarily a misdemeanor.
So there are enhancements that make it a felony.
As council member, Wong brought up the under 15,
and certain convictions can make it.
What was formerly a misdemeanor can make it a felony.
And that's for theft for youth.
That's for under 18.
So under 18 they can be charged as a felony.
Is that from the purchaser that purchase, say a kid
or child male female from 15 to 18.
Yes, sir. If it reaches some of those elements that were added in law.
Okay.
I'll just note that in my review of some of the state laws
that North Carolina did make it a felony to purchase anyone, regardless of age.
A couple years ago.
Okay, there is a motion and a second on the floor.
Just,
wanted to say thank you to all of
the the very courageous public speakers who came out today
to speak in support of an issue that is very close to my heart.
Thank you for the work that you do for our communities
on the street, for young women, and also oftentimes our young men and other folks
who are victims of this incredible human tragedy.
Like author Councilmember Wong said, you know this alone.
And many of you all said, this alone is not going to end
human trafficking, but it is a very important step
to get to where we start to need to be.
I hope that
because human trafficking is clearly a regional issue,
that other cities continue to do what they can,
that we can see changes at every level of government and
that we can, as a city,
start to make real progress on every front.
Yes, we have to address enforcement.
Yes, we have to address changing, changing penalties.
Yes, we have to see what the DEA can do,
evidence collection, all of these things.
But I hope that this is one of many actions
that this council can take on this issue moving forward
and be able to garner the resources to and tailor
them to the individual needs of survivors.
So again, thank you for everyone who have come and spoken
today. I know this is an issue close to many of our hearts.
I worked very closely with domestic violence and human
trafficking survivors for over a decade as a case manager
and specifically pregnant human trafficking survivors.
And there are so, so, so many pregnant trafficking
survivors on the streets today and through the ages.
And my utmost gratitude to those doing
powerful work on the ground,
as well as our Department of Violence Prevention,
who takes a nuanced approach to these very complex issues?
We have a motion on the second, on the floor
and through the chair to the mover in the second
row of the motion. We're clarifying that we are you all are adopting.
Well, the motion is to adopt the supplemental legislation.
Is that correct? Yes.
Thank you.
On the motion to approve the recommendation
of the supplemental in the packet, Councilmember Brown I Councilmember five,
Councilmember Guy, I was excuse Councilmember Houston,
I Councilmember Ungar I Councilmember Wang
I Councilmember Jenkins is also excuse and chair
Ramachandran a motion passes with a vote of six eyes.
This item is approved on introduction.
Final passage will be February 17th.
And through the chair. Before I call in the consent calendar,
I'd like to draw your attention to item 6.12,
which was added to this agenda
at the three day portion of this agenda.
That being the supplemental, and you do need an urgency
finding and vote to hear the item.
This item was added to the agenda.
Because action is necessary to ensure
a quorum for the February meeting
of the Cannabis Regulatory Commission.
Councilmember Brown. Yes.
I will happily make that motion,
and then I'll hold on my comments on on this item.
Thank you. And I'll second that.
Thank you for the urgency motion for this item moved
by Councilmember Brown, seconded by Councilmember Ramachandran.
Excuse me. Councilmember Brown I Councilmember five
I Councilmember Guy I was excused.
Councilmember Houston I Councilmember Ungar
I Councilmember Wang.
Excused is excused.
Councilmember Jenkins is also excused.
Councilmember Ramachandran I.
Motion passes with a vote of five eyes.
Three. Excuse me.
Now going to the consent calendar in its entirety,
starting with item 6.1, which is approval of the draft,
is from the meeting of January 20th, 2026.
6.2 A resolution regarding the declaration
of a local emergency due to Aids.
Item 6.3 A resolution regarding the declaration
for Medical Cannabis Health.
Emergency item 6.4 A resolution
for the declaration of Emergency on Homelessness.
Item 6.5, a resolution for the mayor's appointment
to the Commission on Homelessness.
Item 6.6 a resolution for the mayor's appointment
to the Cultural Affairs Commission.
Item 6.7 a
resolution for appointments to the Commission on Aging.
Item 6.8 a resolution
for the Settlement of Tiffany Not versus the City of Oakland.
And 6.9 A resolution for a settlement for a State
Farm general Insurance Company versus City of Oakland.
Item 6.10.
Apologies, Madam Clerk.
We've lost quorum.
If any council members can hear me.
If you can, please return to the dais.
If there are staff members present.
Yeah. She said she needed five minutes.
So. But can I say something to you?
Chair?
On 6.2, I had something to say about the, cannabis regulations.
So when we come back, can I speak to that?
6.2 is about the cannabis.
You know,
it's 6.3 cannabis, 6.3.
You know, he's saying,
okay, I think.
All right. We have quorum again. If,
Council Member Wang, I request you to come back to your seat.
We've lost quorum without you.
Thank you.
Okay. Continuing
on with the consent calendar going back to 6.9,
a resolution in regard to the State Farm
General Insurance Company versus the city of Oakland.
Item 6.10 A resolution for Goswami,
Marquez, Miriam Hernandez versus the City of Oakland.
Officer Tommy Winn, item 6.11
A resolution in support of AB 1537.
Item 6.12
a resolution for the mayor's appointment
to the Cannabis Regulatory Commission.
Item 6.13
and Information Reports for Fiscal year 25 through 28.
Citywide Strategic Plan six month Update
item 6.14 A resolution for a consultant contract
amendment for the Fire Station four project
item 6.15
a resolution honoring Michael Ford.
Item 6.16 a resolution for the SAMHSa Oakland
Recast Program for Fiscal Year 25 through 26.
And that concludes your consent calendar.
And you do have eight speakers on this item.
Thank you, Councilmember Houston
Just had a general question about,
6.30 and, marijuana.
Why do we still have that?
And I don't know if I'll, order by saying, why do we still have
that on as an emergency?
And the lack of,
regulations on these marijuana facilities,
they don't even take care of the obligations that they're supposed to take,
take care of in their in the documents that they signed.
So I'm just trying to figure out why do we continue to have marijuana on this?
As an emergency?
I do not know the answer to that question, Councilmember,
but I do know that any that any council has the power
to remove declarations of emergencies.
But these have been going on for a long time.
And council members can pass resolutions to no longer
have something as a declaration of emergency.
Okay, I want to just to read something.
Is it out of order if I read something from,
that what a regulation
that they were supposed to follow on 17 can I okay.
It says cannabis operate operators must implement
a community beautification plan to reduce illegal dumping,
littering, graffiti blight and promote beautification
of the adjacent community within 50ft of the cannabis
facilities and cannabis facilities in my district.
Do not do it right, and we have one right now
being built in my district, near a school near,
some houses that don't even have the permits
for the remodeling and the permit to build it.
So I'm on that right now.
So I'm addressed this, this, this being an emergency.
Thank you. Council member Brown.
Excellent. Thank you so much.
If you wanted to add time on the clock,
so that I don't go over, I wanted to speak to two items.
Item 611 and item 612.
So first off, colleagues, I'm bringing this resolution
in support of AB 1537, which,
is from Assembly member Isaac Brian.
And as you all are aware, there has been, you know,
many troubling, incidences, both here,
in the state of California as well as nationally
as it relates to ice enforcement,
specifically with the killing of Keith Porter,
by a off duty Ice agent
in Los in LA, as well as,
Rene good in Minnesota as well as Alex Preti.
And so I think I believe that right now is a pivotal moment
to stand up for our immigrant communities,
especially here in California.
And so we've made we 100% made this fight very local.
Given that last week, mayor Lee passed those two executive
orders, one, creating a task force as well
as ensuring public property isn't used,
to aid in immigration enforcement.
And then we also saw leadership
at the Board of Supervisors with the ice free zones.
And so, today, I'm encouraging my colleagues to,
continue to take action in supporting,
this critical piece of legislation.
And so we know that officers,
so I was disappointed to learn that law enforcement officers
in California can also work as immigration enforcement
when they're off duty.
And we know that officers are entrusted with,
sensitive personal information about members of our community.
And so it is of utmost importance,
that we support AB 1537.
And if you read the, items in the packet,
but at a high level, what does it do?
It prohibits peace officers from engaging in secondary,
secondary employment, with the Department of Homeland Security.
It requires peace officers
to report any authorized or a temp of said employment.
It also creates accountability by defining violations
and also promotes transparency by making records related to peace officers.
Actually,
second day of secondary employment under the Public Records Act.
And so I really want to encourage my colleagues
to support this so that, this item
in the legislature right now is currently being scheduled to,
one of the committees. And so, in passing this, the city of Oakland
would be in support, right from the beginning.
So we want to encourage everyone to vote yes on that.
And then I wanted to also draw your attention to item, 6.2.
I think it was back in November.
The chair of the cannabis
Commission came to us and let us know that,
they have been unable to meet given a lack of quorum.
And so there was a handful of office offices
that were named with having vacancies.
And so, you know, I followed a process in ensuring
that, you know, applications, were received.
I'm really grateful for the support of the office of the mayor,
and so on that I'm really delighted to be appointing,
artist Hay Millhouse to the cannabis Commission.
And we know that this, commission
plays an essential role in advocating for equity,
in economic growth here in the city of Oakland.
And we need people on the commission
that, have experience and that are rooted in Oakland
in the community and bring a strong vision for the future of cannabis.
And so I'm really delighted to be appointing,
today, to this body, as she has,
an amazing nonprofit, focused on,
providing mental health support to community members.
She's an advocate.
She's curated multiple, community spaces.
Cultivated business partnerships in the cannabis
industry, throughout Oakland and beyond.
And so lastly, the last thing that I'll share
is that I do believe that there are more applications for consideration.
So if anyone else, actually has a vacancy on the Cannabis
Commission, please feel free to reach out to, the office.
I believe it's, you can either reach out to Preston or Dean.
And they have more applications that you can also review.
Thank you,
thank you.
We can move to public speakers,
as I call your name. Please approach the podium in any order.
Please state your name for the record before beginning.
Zachary John Thayer, Mrs.
Ida Ola Bhalla, Vanessa Wang,
Ashanti millhouse,
Derrick Barnes, Mr..
Hazard, Mavis Carter, Griffin,
Marvin ledet, a.
Thank you, Mr.
Houston, for bringing this issue up around cannabis
use the same intensity about dealing with fentanyl.
We went through this whole thing about
human trafficking.
Children are dying on fentanyl.
A lot more than they're
dying on this street for human trafficking.
And y'all don't say a damn thing.
Except for what Mr. Use.
Houston, why are you keeping cannabis
as a public health crisis?
Let me tell you what the governor just noted yesterday.
Newsome appeared before reporters
at the Montgomery Gibs Executive Airport in San Diego,
some 50.6
million pills with an estimated total street
value of $506 million have been seized.
11,000 arrests.
And y'all don't say anything about children dying
here in Oakland because of fentanyl.
And you, Madam Chair,
couldn't even ask answer the question
that Council Member Houston said, I don't know.
That's all you have to say.
Why don't you, Council Member Wong, use the same intensity
about fentanyl as you'd use with street traffic,
and children are dying.
Way younger than 13 on fentanyl.
You had an arrest here two months ago.
Right here in Oakland for drug trafficker fentanyl.
And y'all say a damn thing.
I gave you this copy
of my Notice of motion
regarding the raid I found on May 19th last year.
Because that ballot measure is illegal.
That was on April 15.
The city attorney altered
the text of the ballot measure to say it was a sales tax
that went into effect on October 1st.
But now I think I may get my day in court to be heard
on the 19th of this month to overturn
that special election ballot measure that
you articulated that was going to raise
$29 million annually for ten years,
if I'm correct,
and they nullify that ballot measure cast
in that ballot measure.
Provision. 4.26.130.
You can't have a provision there that enjoins the voter from,
seeking grievance.
Cast off.
Thank you, Mr. Hazzard.
Your time is up.
Hello, everyone.
My name is Lee, that I am the district director to Councilmember Houston
and of Oakland.
And I wanted to just share
a few things regarding the cannabis issue.
District seven and having,
Councilmember Houston touched on the beautification obligation, these industry,
these individuals have or these businesses.
But I wanted to share specifically on a business that's currently,
doing a buildout, a girl house in district seven.
I contacted the cannabis department.
They're currently going through a permitting process with cannabis, the cannabis side of it.
But when it comes to the actual building process,
they're not going through any proper permitting.
They got there.
They got one part of the permitting process done,
but the other parts they just have abandoned and they're going
they're building out their infrastructure.
So I brought this up just to say, we need enforcement.
We need attention because, these businesses are popping up
with no proper permitting process.
Thank you.
Sir, can I ask you a question?
Do the chair.
Is that to the parliamentarian?
Can we ask questions, too?
Because she's. She works for me and I had her to come up.
I didn't want her to sign up. I was just going to bring her up to speak to this,
because it's a serious issue
that's happening in my district, and I hope maybe across
the city.
I just want to know if my breaking any rules,
if I believe we can go through all the public
speakers, then I can bring her up. Okay. All right.
I'll bring you back up. Yes.
I want to break no rules.
I be breaking rules on this.
Hello, I'm Ashton millhouse.
I would first and foremost like to thank the council
for appointing me to be on the Cannabis Commission.
Thank you to both Councilwoman Brown and Mayor Lee.
I'm really excited, as I have been an advocate
within the cannabis industry for some years now.
I have multiple affiliates within the industry as well.
I am happy to be a part
of the official conversation conversation
as I plan to help with moving
the Cannabis Commission forward to its greatest potential.
I'm looking forward to what this year has to come for myself
and the city of Oakland.
And I thank you all.
Thank you, Brown. Hi.
I'm going to speak on behalf of the unhoused community of,
Well, now we're on Willow Street,
but the Wood Street People's Collective,
in regards to cannabis,
clubs and growers,
we have a particular grower
in our area that drives erratically.
All of the people that work there, putting us in danger.
We are, of course, on the street,
but we have no other place to go.
And I like what, Mr.
Houston said in regards to having the cannabis clubs
be contributing to the beautification
in the neighborhood, not to eradicate us,
but to help us with a better looking frontage,
a better looking, better present presenting image of who we are
because we're not taken seriously
as citizens of the city, and we have very valid concerns.
We might work, we want recognition,
we want equalization, which is very important
because we're not equal
or there's no equitable anything for the unhoused.
We are not able to, live in the same
zones, do the same things.
It's nothing. I mean, we don't get trash pickup.
I mean, there's so many things right now.
We have cannabis clubs and I'll call them that, driving
erratically, doing 35, 45, 55, 60 miles an hour
over one block just so they can turn left
into their cannabis club with annoying recordings
every time you walk by how you're currently being recorded.
I got to hear that six times
between my spot and the end of the block. Why?
Okay, I'm not doing anything to them.
If you stop for any second, alarms are going off like you're
you're public enemy number one and you're breaching like
the wall.
And it's it's aggravating.
It's very unnerving
being unhoused as it is and overcoming hate
and, and you know, people's preconceptions and stereotypes.
Now we have to deal with being bombarded
with recordings and erratic driving that might kill the cats
that I've gotten to kill rats in the neighborhood
and that I care about. And that'
Good day again, Council.
I'm here to address, not just the cannabis.
I believe you guys grouped
all of the things together under the 6.0.
I wish to validate Simon property
of the city of Oakland and comply it and Kelly.
The Mattson and ask that in us we Carrington mortgage services
us we orient insurance and us with, travelers insurance.
That would be a valid application against the property land rights
under Oregon, USDA, be the United States
based on credit line, based on application.
The same issue is wondered and parcel
of certain tools for the United States
as the property lease and deed holder and view of our location.
This is what is wondered and Alto v the United States based on compliance
and is being asked in view of the right
to counsel under a Cardoza v the United States
in this compliance, I ask that the state be held
malice and negligent and fir v Preston
and the wonderment to what is wondered in
the county for is the right to seek counsel,
and you have implied designation with this being identified.
I believe that there is issues in the tri regional community,
tied to land rights, a land rights as the depreciation
or application of income generation based on Kub to Chime and Zell.
I believe this is covered in the view of
Frost. Manhattan and First Republic v SVP.
This is tied directly to the Bank of Marin v
the United States and the real estate holdings
and bond ETFs of a tri regional county,
including the AC transit and the Bart board.
Based on the request
and Smith v Castle, I did not move the fruit
and after the town of five to re the United States or,
what is known as the freedom of speech of Alameda County.
Viewers, society, I ask that the state be held
grossly, maliciously and intentionally negligent
in the view of the city tied to chapter 13 bankruptcy
and the view to the expression to view, pay for play,
and under chapter 11, validating chapter seven to consulting
and the view a day to day management under l to D holding
enterprises and VR performance based
pensions and view of land rights.
I I agree
I solely believe that this, tries directly
with the legalization of marijuana and justifies it
as the view to spill your kids compared to the view of what,
is the on balance of,
of your,
of your enterprise as that is identified,
I wish that there be a full audit
and request that there be a Sunshine
Act request in view of that.
Thank you.
You ready, Madam Clerk?
Thank you.
I do not understand why item 4.1 was remove
the tree permit issue is three years
it took to be brought to council.
The experience of this being dealt with
needs to happen soon.
The declaration of a local emergency of homelessness.
Obviously, you're not doing what you need to be doing.
You should have been included in the $419 million
that the governor allocated for homeless housing assistance.
That money went to San Francisco, San Diego and,
Los US, I think,
San Diego, San.
Do you
appointment to the Commission of homelessness?
That commission has not met since last September.
And is the schedule that they have, boards and commission?
They are not schedule.
And it scheduling goes all the way up to November
30th of 2026.
No schedule of meeting.
And they are obligated to do an annual report
on the encampment policy that hasn't happened.
Item 610.
You're looking at a lawsuit that includes the Oakland
Police Department. Y'all gotta find some kind of way to sue somebody.
This Oakland police officer who has owned over
$493,000 salary.
And overtime.
Y'all need to address that.
Some.
Now, this thing on, s 11, it is insulting
that you people keep talking about your sanctuary
city status and protecting illegal immigrants.
You need to do like the city of Oroville.
If you're going to have a sanctuary city,
at least have it
saying that you don't protect violent criminals
who are here illegally.
At least do that.
And how is it that you are so focused
on protecting people from Ice
who are racially profiling, using excessive force?
What you think the hell is the NSA?
Is your Oakland Police Department
engaging in excessive force and racial profiling,
and you can't fix it for over 22 years,
but you can fix Ice doing the exact same thing
to illegal immigrants.
The hypocrisy of what you do.
But of course, that illegal activity by your police
department is targeting African-Americans as a group.
Then you need to have
an update related to 613 Yo strategic plan.
You need an update on gentrification,
which you have never done
your sanctuary city status.
You keep talking about you a sanctuary city, but you have never dealt with it
in terms of how it impacts the city economically and housing.
That's.
Nice. Thank you, Miss Ola Barlow.
Your time is up.
If your name was gone, if you're on the zoom
or on the room, please approach the podium or raise your hand.
This time. I do not see any speakers in this.
Thank you, Mr. Barnes.
Please unmute yourself and begin your comments.
Thank you, Madam Clerk.
And greetings,
Council members, Derek Barnes with the
Experimental Housing Association
as it relates to housing and homelessness priorities.
I wanted to briefly share a reflection
from this past weekend's annual Housing
Collaborative, produced by Abra,
but certainly powered by the community.
The event brought together renters, homeowners,
small housing providers, nonprofit service
organizations, lenders and public agencies
from across Alameda and Contra Costa counties under one roof
with one goal to better understand
who the housing stakeholders really are,
how our housing system actually works,
and what real support and resources
are available to people in our community.
We engage vibrant, loud table discussions
that focused on clarity over conflict,
demystifying some of the housing challenges
that we have like eliminating barriers
to homeownership, thriving through funding reductions,
and improving housing policy while reducing complexity.
The second year collaborative connected residents
to about 30 community organizations offering renter
assistance and support, home repair grants, energy
rebates, fair housing, education and other things.
I want to thank Emily Weinstein and Michelle Starr at our HCD
leaders in the city and County,
Patricia Wells and Joseph Villareal,
our Housing Authority folks, for engaging in productive panel
discussions that day.
I also want to acknowledge, District Supervisor Leonor Lena
Tan and her staff,
as well as Council members Brown, Gail Unger, and Wong,
as well as staff from Councilmember
Ramachandran s office for attending and engaging
directly with constituents and exhibiting organizations.
I mean, your presence really matters,
and it sent a signal that crucial housing
conversations don't happen just in chambers.
They happen in community.
And we need more events like this.
We know we can't solve our housing challenges overnight,
but events like this helped to build
understanding, trust, and engagement.
And that's where equitable and durable solutions begin.
Thank you so much for all your support in the event.
And look forward to working with you more in 2026.
Thank you.
At this time, our names have been called.
Thank you. Council member Houston.
And, as I've been,
advised by the city attorney, any questions?
And back and forth that you ask will be counted
part of your time
because typically we all have two minutes on consent.
But because Councilmember Brown
had six minutes, everyone is going to have six minutes today.
So that's all.
That's fine, thank you.
Chair, I just wanted to ask some direct questions to have it on the record so everyone knows what's happening.
And through the chair, the dead.
Who did you report?
That building?
Their building,
putting new units
on top of the roof. They don't even know
the structural soundness of the unit.
Without a permit.
Who did you contact? So I originally went across the street to permitting.
They shared with me what, has been issued, what has not been issued,
and what they should not be working on.
And I escalated to enforcement.
They will be paying a visit tomorrow to put a stop order,
as it was not permitted.
And then, who did you report to to find out
if they had the proper licenses to sell or grow cannabis?
So I reached out to our cannabis department,
who has a list of, who works on the permitting process.
And they gave me the information
that they are going through the process.
And once they are done with construction,
they should be able to get their permit.
But what makes it challenging
is that they're not meeting the building permit,
but they're going to be issued a cannabis permit
without meeting the minimum on the other side.
So I just wanted to say, since we have this committee
for cannabis, if it is, is somewhere that their scope of work
could be regulating and making sure that they follow
what they signed about beautification efforts
and doing it the proper way, because they just feel that they can do whatever they
want to do in district seven.
And that's not going to happen any longer.
So thank you for that.
Yeah. You have four and a half more minutes
if you wanted to say anything.
See my time to council member, I'm brown.
She knows she had a lot to say. No, just say it.
I I'm good. I appreciate that
she is good.
Thank you. Councilmember. Thank,
thanks to the chair.
I just wanted to comment that
in, you know, related to the human trafficking problem.
That's something that I have been looking at
is like a lot of these nuisance businesses that they're not licensed.
It's the smoke shops I went to, like a youth led town
hall by Doctor Aisha mays through the Dream Youth Clinic.
And like, five of the young people
there brought up that it was smoke shops,
likely unlicensed, that have been the vehicles
of human trafficking. So I think this is not just limited to cannabis shops,
but this is more of a broader
question that we should tackle with, administrator,
Assistant City Administrator Chuck Baker on that.
The wrong type of economic development
that we have in some of our corridors,
you know, as, as was said, I think, by Doctor
Tran, Oakland is open for business,
but this is not these are not the type
of businesses that we want here, here with that,
Thank you.
If there are no other comments,
I will entertain a motion.
For so moved.
Second council.
On the motion by Council member Brown.
Seconded by Council member Ungar to approve this
consent calendar, Council member Brown I,
Council member five and Guy or excuse.
Council member, Houston.
Council member.
Ungar I.
Council member. Wong I chair Jenkins is excused.
Council member. Ramachandran I motion passes with a vote of five eyes.
Three excused. Five for and Jenkins.
Now we're and Council member.
Excuse me. Acknowledgments and announcements.
Colleagues. Any announcements?
Councilmember Wong
yeah, I just have an announcement related to,
I'm joining council member five tomorrow in district two.
There's going to be a forum on the Costco effort
in West Oakland at the East Bay Asian Youth Center,
that the address is two 2025 East 12th Street.
And representatives from Costco are there.
And I think this is an exciting opportunity and folks
should come and ask their their pointed questions.
So, just invite my colleagues as well as members of the public
who are watching this.
It's at 5:30 p.m.
tomorrow. Thank you.
Thank you, Councilmember Houston.
I like to, to the chair.
I like to adjourn this meeting in the memory of Bridget Cook.
I'm not sure.
Who knew her? But Bridget Cook was a beautiful. So,
She kept me in control.
She always guided me to call me Councilmember Houston.
You can't be doing that.
So, just just I wish.
Want to adjourn this in the memory of her?
Because she has been a force, for Oakland.
And she loved our city so much.
She loved it so much.
Thank you, Councilmember Hughes.
And we will adjourn in her memory.
Other council members.
Okay.
And, Madam Clerk, that is all.
Moving to open forum, as I call your name.
Please approach the podium in any order.
Please state your name for the record.
You will be given one minute to address the council.
Miss Assad, Alabama.
Mr. hazard, Tim Allen Ferreira, Annabelle.
Velasquez, Mave. Carter. Griffin.
I think maybe Benjamin Smith.
Brother Ted or Dominique.
We're okay.
Go ahead. Mr.. Has
you could go to clean oakland.com
and look at my website.
These are four case laws that will
support my allegation that the September April
15th special election ballot measure A was illegal.
Rossi v Brown nine California
courts retain exclusive
authority to determine the validity
the enforcement of ballot measures.
A ballot measure cannot pre decide
or foreclose do judicial review.
And that's what 4.26.130
people versus Vaughn Bond 27 count.
The legislator may not impair
the core functions of the judiciary
and joining lawsuits impairing judicial function.
Mendocino County versus Superior Court 13
cal for access to the court
says fundamental constitutional rights.
Any restriction is subject
to strict scrutiny and almost always fail.
Housing authority versus superior court statutes made.
Thank you, Mr.
Hazzard. Your time is up.
You. In 1994, Barbara
Jordan led the US Commission on Immigration Reform.
The report was supposed to look at the impact of immigration
on the average worker in the future.
The recommendations were to reduce immigration
by one third, because immigration was hurting
the low skilled workers, specifically black men
without college degrees, she said immigration
should be about the interests of the American worker.
First, she called for a crackdown on illegal labor.
Bill Clinton buried the report.
So now what you have today is a report
that was purposely buried by the Democratic Party,
and now you have 9% of unemployment in Oakland.
Black workers, low skilled workers impacted.
Barbara Jordan called for this not to happen.
The Democrats allowed it.
And you are allowing it.
We are impacted by illegal.
Okay.
Good afternoon, Megan Carter.
Griffin, I'm speaking upon for my behalf
as an unhoused person, and I'm asking for, support.
Last month, Ivan Satterfield,
who is running the DPW, came into the sweep of Willow Street
and I had purchased finally, after a year
from previous, where he he towed one of my trailers
that I was living in. I've been living outside, completely outside, in a shack
built out of cardboard and and foam, trying to do my best.
I almost died of pneumonia this following year.
I've been saving with Social Security being $900 for me
a month, and it's very hard to do that with
having to pay for food, etc.
and I purchased a trailer in 1947, Spartan Trailer,
and it was parked on Wood Street,
which is not part of his plan.
He saw me buy that, and he gave me an offer
that I could choose between the city
that I live in with my cats
and had been using
have all of my life support systems
that I've recovered over the past year,
and he was ready to tear down and put in the dumpster
along with the cat that he just.
Apologized for.
Your time is up.
So you are with us.
And stuff like that.
So, Before you came, is it there?
I do not have a card for you for this item.
If your name was called, please step to the podium.
Podium? Excuse me.
As I said, mister, they are. You did not sign up for this particular item.
Moving to the zoom speakers.
I do not have a card for you.
I have a card for you. For all the other items
you signed up for, not for open forum.
Yeah.
A little.
Moving to the zoom speaker.
I think Dwayne.
Yeah. Dominic.
Yes? Please begin your comment.
Yeah. So my name is Dominic.
Where coming from? Brookfield village, the champion of community green schools.
And I'm speaking as a member of the 40
by 40 People's Advisory Council.
In with the pet brings residents together each month
a focus on community safety, public health, youth development
and overall quality of life in Deep East Oakland.
We serve as a space where residents can share
concerns, offer solutions and stay informed
about what's impacted our neighborhood.
The pet is a resident led body that meets monthly,
and was instrumental in supporting efforts
that led to the establishment
of the Office of Violence Prevention.
IBP support supporting the launch of Peace committees.
What I'm on a community based conflict resolution model
and aligned in our work with the virus is $100 million
investment strategy
of Learn and grow, working well, and health and well-being.
Our members also regularly attend
and contribute to the bi monthly meeting
and it keeps safe keeping meetings.
Thank you. D6 Council Member for agreeing to attend future
pact means tonight we respectfully academic Council
members of seven.
Thank you for your comments.
Unfortunately, your time was up this time.
Our names have been called.
Thank you.
Tonight,
Think I can, I can sorry.
Today we adjourn in the memory
of Bridget Cook.
Thank you. Everyone. The meeting is adjourned.