Oakland City council candidate questionnaire 2014

1. City Council Candidate Questionnaire
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Candidate: Abel Guillen
District: Two
Note: Please limit your answers to 250 words except where the question
indicates a different word limit.
1. Please state your position on the following November ballot measures along with a brief
(No more than 30 word) statement supporting your position.
 Measure Z: Public Safety (Parcel tax for police, fire and violence prevention programs)
 Measure XX: Public Ethics (Restructuring of Public Ethics Commission and mandatory
funding for its staff)
 Measure XX: Redistricting (Redistricting commission for City Council boundaries )
I support both measures. Measure Z continues an important revenue stream for
our police department, and Measure XX allows the reforms previously approved
by voters in 1998 to be truly implemented.
2. MOBN!’s public safety plan calls for increasing Oakland’s police force to 900 sworn
officers within four years. To reach this goal, MOBN! advocates that the city should: 1) not layoff
any Oakland police officers under any circumstances; 2) schedule, fund, and conduct sufficient
police academies each year to increase that number, not simply replace officers who retire or
otherwise leave the force; and 3) make increasing the size of the police department its number
one priority. Do you agree or disagree?
Agree.
3. OPD’s difficulty in achieving the authorized sworn staffing level appears to
be exacerbated by high attrition and low morale, as shown by the department’s internal polling
(http://tiny.cc/OPDPoliceSurvey) and it’s loss of officers only months after they complete their
training. How should the City solve OPD’s attrition and morale problems?
The safety of our neighborhoods and communities is priority number one for me.
Part of the reason morale is low is that our police officers feel they are at the
political whims of the current administration. The OPD needs City Council
members who will support proven constitutional policing practices, make sure
police aren’t working excessively, and offer consistent support that will help to
increase moral. I am committed to ensuring police officers have the resources and
staff they need to keep our neighborhoods safe.

2. 4. OPD has been under Federal Court supervision for close to twelve years. While
Oaklanders have repeatedly been told that the end is in sight, in late July, Judge Henderson
stated that Oakland’s disciplinary processes have violated Court orders, and that continuing the
same practices will "undermine any confidence in the sustainability of the reforms that have
been and continue to be achieved." Then, on August 14, the Judge criticized the City’s recent
inability to sustain through arbitration an officer termination in connection with response to the
Occupy Oakland protests. (Source: http://tiny.cc/ArbOrder.) The Court opined that Oakland
could not be in compliance with two NSA tasks if internal investigations were inadequate and
“discipline is not consistently imposed.” Many people believe the Monitor has repeatedly
imposed requirements on Oakland that far exceed the literal requirements of the NSA, and that
as a result of the Monitor’s shifting standards, Oakland may never be able to extricate itself from
Court supervision. As a City Council member, to what extent would you be prepared to oppose
continued and changing demands from the Monitor, and what is your plan to end the era of
Court supervision?
While we need to continue to ensure the OPD is making progress toward reforms,
the requirements of the NSA cannot be a moving target. I would oppose all
demands of the Monitor that exceed the requirements of the NSA. We must give
our police the resources they need to protect our community. I believe given
adequate resources, the OPD can make rapid progress on reforms that will allow
for ending the Court supervision.
5. According to the Public Works Department, Oakland is on an 85-year repaving schedule,
meaning a street that is repaved today won’t be repaved again for 85 years. Further, according
to Public Works, maintaining the existing pavement condition on Oakland’s streets would
require an estimated $28 million annually, while the amount allocated annually has been less
than $6 million in recent years. Sixty percent of the City’s curb ramps are non-compliant or non-existent.
The total needed to rehabilitate Oakland streets is over $435 million. How do you plan
to reverse the ongoing deterioration of our streets and sidewalks? If you are elected, when will
Oaklanders see a difference?
Making sure Oakland residents get the services they need, including fixing streets
and potholes is one of the reasons I’m running. If we don’t fix our streets now,
they will only get more expensive to fix. And our deteriorating streets are a safety
issues for both cars and cyclists. I support Alameda County’s Measure BB to
bring funding to fix our street now so that residents see improvements quickly.
6. The extent to which the City faces unfunded liabilities and what should be done about
them has been a contentious issue in recent years. As recently as last December, the City
Administrator projected that for the three fiscal years beginning July 1, 2015, Oakland faces all-funds
budget structural shortfalls totaling $795 million if it addresses its deferred capital
expenses and deferred liabilities, and $342 million if it does not (Source: December 12, 2013
Update to Five-Year Financial Forecast, Attachment D, http://tiny.cc/5yrupdate.) Do you believe
Oakland faces a financial shortfall, and if so, how will you address it if elected in November?
We do need to address the City’s unfunded liabilities. With my
background as a Peralta Community Colleges Trustee and municipal
finance advisor, I have the necessary experience managing budgets
efficiently to ensure we are addressing our financial obligations. For
every one dollar we use today to pay down debt, this gives us a return of
an average of three dollars that could be used to fund services.
However, we cannot continue to accept that City revenues cannot
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3. support unfunded liabilities or local services. I will work to grow
Oakland’s economy to increase City revenues. Oakland’s sales tax
revenue is much lower than similar size cities because our retail base is
so small. We must attract more businesses to Oakland to increase our tax
base so that we have the revenue needed to address our financial
obligations.
7. Operation Ceasefire has been described as the centerpiece of Oakland’s violent crime
reduction effort. We understand that funding for its manager has been dependent on grant
funding and that there is an insufficient number of case managers to maximize Ceasefire’s
success. Do you support expanding Operation Ceasefire? Where specifically do you propose
allocating resources and staffing?
Yes, Public Safety is one of my top priorities. Operation Ceasefire has helped
lower Oakland’s rates of violent crime. Currently, Operation Ceasefire is mainly in
the area of East Oakland spanning to the border of San Leandro because of the
high instances of homicides in that region. Operation Ceasefire should be brought
to other high crime neighborhoods like West Oakland, after relationships have
been established between the community, police and other active non-profits that
are working to reduce murder and acts of violent crime in Oakland.
8. In 2012-2013, Oakland contracted with Strategic Policy Partners (Robert Wasserman et
al.) to present a comprehensive public safety plan. Strategic Policy Partners made alarge
number of recommendations, some of which have been implemented and some of which have
not. (The reports are here: http://tiny.cc/SPPReport, http://tiny.cc/Bratton1,
http://tiny.cc/SPPBest) If the voters elect you in November, please state whether you will
support implementing the following recommendations (We are looking for a “yes” or “no”
answer, with explanatory narrative not exceeding 25 words for each recommendation):
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Police staffing:
 Call for Service Reduction strategy;
Yes
 Expanded investigation capacity in each of the City’s 5 policing districts, so that each
district has an investigative sergeant, 3 investigators, and 3 to 5 police
officers.
No. Not every policing District has the same amount of crime.
 Increased sworn police personnel to a ratio of 2 officers for every 1,000 in the population
(i.e., 800).
Yes, however, a more comprehensive and realistic plan needs to be created
to effectively grow Oakland’s police personnel.
 Expansion of the Ceasefire initiative.
Yes
 Redesign of community policing, so that the entire Police Department, not just PSOs,
are focused on community relationship building.

4. Yes. A larger emphasis and effort needs to be made to build relationships
between the police and city residents.
 Measurement of the state of community / police relations.
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Yes
 Moving restorative justice practices into the community, to address neighborhood
disorder and minor crimes in a manner that brings community into the process and
prevents future crime and disorder occurrences.
Yes
 Appointing a Director of Community Improvement who will be responsible for
coordinating collaborative action by city agencies, community groups and state and
federal partners, to address both quality of life issues and crime.
Yes, there needs to be some central organizing of public safety efforts
however, it needs to be effective and not simply another committee.
 Appointing a team of representatives from the community to work with the Director of
Community Improvement, the Police Department and other government agencies to
insure community coordination.
Yes. We need to work to ensure we have the capacity to have adequate
involvement with the community, particularly our influential faith-based
communities.
 Bringing Security Ambassadors into the crime reduction strategic plan and require
advanced training to those who patrol downtown areas, so they are active and have the
ability to intervene in minor situations that impact public security.
Yes, this allows us to use pre-established programs more effectively.
9. In early 2010, Oakland’s Finance and Management Committee received a presentation
from staff and visiting personnel from the City of Baltimore concerning CitiStat, a leadership
strategy a mayor can employ to mobilize city agencies to produce specific results. (More
information is at http://tiny.cc/q00ojx ). CitiStat involves use of a round-the-clock 311 reporting
system for any request for city services other than policing. It uses data in a manner similar to
ComStat. High level city management uses the 311-generated data and benchmarks and
regular meetings to hold departments accountable, judge successes and failure, reveal what
agencies are doing and not doing to achieve benchmarks and provide the best possible
services to residents. Explain your familiarity with CitiStat and whether you believe such a
program can and should be implemented in Oakland. If you do not believe it should be
implemented in the near future, explain why. If you think it should, explain what you will do to
support implementation.
Citistat is a program cities have begun to use to hold cities more accountable. It is
a leadership strategy that promotes better communication among city officials
and staff. Implementing Citistat would allow our city to run more efficiently and
effectively.

5. 10. Oakland has room to improve its policies in the areas of crime reduction, budget
processes, street maintenance, and economic maintenance. What cities can Oakland learn
from, and adopt or emulate policies from with respect to these subjects? What policies from
other cities would benefit Oakland?
The City of Richmond has been able to reduce its crime rate dramatically –reducing
homicides to the lowest in over 30 years. This can be attributed to infusion of young
officers, a focus on data-driven resource deployment and an emphasis on
building community trust. I t’s neighbor, the City of San Pablo has also
experienced a drop in crime. They require their police officers to have at least
6 positive interactions with youth before they leave middle school.
11. Do you support the following policies and, briefly, why or why not?
A. Creation by Charter amendment of a Rainy day fund as recommended by MOBN! and the
Budget Advisory Committee (BAC)?
Maybe. Generally, I support this but we would be better off in the long run by paying off
more costly debt.
B. Annual polling of city residents on their satisfaction with city services? What would you do
with that information?
No. We can get private funding for these efforts. We can use Survey Money or other
tools that may not be as costly.
C. Conducting a police resource deployment study to determine the number of officers actually
need by OPD and how they should be deployed?
Yes.
D. Will you support the preparation of a comprehensive public safety plan?
Yes. But it would be useless if we don’t have the ability to implement the plan.
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