City Council - meeting_joint

Good afternoon, and welcome to the city council meeting of 02/03/2026. Before our call roll, I will give speaker card instructions. You'd like to speak on any item on this agenda, please file the speaker's card before the item is called or two hours after the start of this meeting. The meeting was called at 03:31. The last opportunity to turn into speaker's card will be at 05:31 or before the item is called. Whichever comes first. You can fill out a speaker's card and return it to a clerk representative at the front of the chambers. If you were looking to turn in an online speaker card, that time has passed as they were due twenty four hours before the start of this meeting. On role are?

Excuse me. We can't hear it. Ledette?

On on the roll. Council member Brown. Present. Council member Fife. Present. Council member Gayle.

Present.

Remember, you don't have to get in the queue. I will unmute you. Council member Houston. Present. 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? Council member Houston.

Through 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'll talk 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?

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 administrator's office is here, Trinity will work with you to ensure those questions are answered on the consent calendar. Thank you. So you want to pull Speak to it. I wanted to But you got to speak to it when it's on the consent calendar. When not on the consent calendar.

And what is it on?

So right now we're on modifications to So the if you wanna 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?

It says agenda item s 6.14.

Okay. So we'll make sure that the appropriate staff members are here.

Thank you. Don't have a problem with it. 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 Oakland municipal code section nine point zero zero eight point two six zero 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, 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 eighty percent 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, 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's sex trafficking takes place, we wanted to find out where the fastest growing criminal industry in the world all starts, here in our backyard.

On the average, some of these exploiters have as many as 10 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, you look at how it's happening and the deprivation of liberty that's that takes place in order to accomplish the crime, it is modern day slavery.

These children are beaten. They take their clothes away. They take all their their property, their phone, their identification. They'll 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, children being chained to the heater vents. At the end of the workday, the kids' 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 get it. And 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 give 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 such neglect and you come from such risk and your uncle or trusted family member has been molesting you since you're five years old and you really believe that your body is a sexual object and that what it's there for when a 30 year old man 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 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 seventy percent 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 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 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 the reason why they're not in their homes and what their parents are doing. You know, when I first started over twenty years ago, you would see in the twenties and thirties 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.

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 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 as a hotspot for human trafficking.

This is noted by the FBI and other national studies. As it relates to our youth 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 fifty five percent 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 fifteen eight percent 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 sixty one percent 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 OPD data, we're seeing far more if not just far more numbers in these the youth that are screened by these child providers but that still does not capture it.

So nine hundred 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 2 but within District 2 is The Blade. There are not just within District 2, 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's 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, one or two of the convenience stores on each of these blocks is essentially selling lingerie.

It's catering to this market. These convenience stores no longer sell grocery store, 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 along

the Counsel Member Wong, I apologize. Your ten minutes has elapsed. Would five more minutes be okay?

Yes, thank you. I'll quicken this up. Okay, so why this legislation? First of all, as I mentioned this about one part of this is targeting demand. Part of why we need to target demand is because it is 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. So 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 wanna mention is that this is also about conforming to a recent state law update. 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 sex spire and the demand. As you can see here that studies show that these are predominantly upper class men. 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, you know, the behaviors indicated of purchasing, trying to purchase someone 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 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 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 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 know, say guilty of some of 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 score of the ordinance. A 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 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 Vaughan. Colleagues, questions and Councilmember Unger. Oh, Councilmember member Braun and Unger.

Excellent. Thank you so much council member Wong for your leadership on this item. Were you going to share out the amendments that we made as well

or did you Yeah.

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 in the package before you today. So first there's an amendment that includes also the business proprietors in that February 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 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 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. So 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. Yep, that's right.

And then also in the supplemental it states there will be a community impact and equity review as well just to ensure that as a result of this legislation there are no, know we're keeping an eye out on any unintended consequences as well. So thank you.

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. We'll 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 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 a $100,000 to generating to say $1,000,000 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 women and girls that are currently on the blade and to help them plan like exit planning similar to domestic violence or survivor who need over a months long process to figure out how to plan their life ahead.

Yeah, that's all fantastic. 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 spent? Does DVP decide? Does OPD decide?

Yeah, most likely. And again this is still in development. A DVP will be issuing an RFP or many RFPs especially since the funding is continuously appropriated instead of yeah over one one time.

Yes. Council member five then council member Gaia.

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, the the discussion that we had about bringing the report back, I'm 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 I'm happy that you're working in partnership with her and continuing the work that council member Bass and 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 gonna be a key part of the implementation of this. He's going to be training furthermore the patrol officers in Area 3 and so it will essentially take the existing set of law enforcement resources in order to enforce this. They will be trained on how to issue these citations and so it should not add any it should not require additional staff in order to implement this.

Council member Giles and council member Houston.

Am I on? Thank you. You know, I appreciate you bringing up this item, but the the at the end of the day, it comes it's about enforcement. Alright? I've grew up here in Oakland and East Oakland and certainly have seen it all my lifetime. I still remember there was the prostitution used to be on Telegraph and Broadway, and but yet it got kicked out and moved to the Fruitvale. I kicked out of the Fruitvale through the FBI. Then I had the FBI come and push the the activity out of my area, and it wind up in your district, the other side of 23rd Avenue on International. So the bottom line, it has to do with enforcement. You know, I've been I've been on the ride 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 in their pickup trucks. Before they go to work, they pick up the young ladies. Five in the morning, six in the morning. We all see that. We all acknowledge that. But it's at end of the day is what does our police department do to enforce the law. One of the reasons we for historically, mister Hassard, we backed up is because 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 girl 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 nighttime. So but what happened there, as an example for the public, the FBI was gonna 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 wanna locate cameras to capture the activity. And therefore, the FBI says, well, unless I have something to document what's going on, and they the FBI pulled out. Alright?

So 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 and nightly, and I don't see our law enforcement, including the sheriff, enforcing it. We all

You see

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 a chain I I you know, I could take your car from you. And you can have a lot explaining to your wife what happened to your car. And so, therefore but it all comes down to enforcement.

And I don't disagree, council member Guy.

And you gotta get the FBI involved to be able to make a difference Yeah. When it comes to this issue. And so thank you for the information, but we gotta get our 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 I don't disagree,

council has gotta be included. Otherwise, we're doing more policy, more talking, and more feel sorry and making excuses

for it. I wanna clear up some things. So this is not intended to sort of downgrade the penalties on sex fires. 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. Two, three years ago, the girls were being flown into the Oakland Airport. They were flown in, come do your thing, then they fly back out. And that's why you see the sheriff 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 wanna talk about coordination with the FBI right now? Yes.

Good afternoon, everyone. Marcos Campos, lieutenant of police in charge of the special victim section, directly in charge of the human trafficking, vice narcotics sorry, vice child exploitation team who no longer have narcotics. I've been the sergeant slash lieutenant for the last ten years. We've been in partnership with agent Marty Parker for the last twenty six years. She has served in the FBI for twenty seven.

So during twenty six 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 twenty six has continued their partnership. Now it 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 six fifty three point two two that was authored by I think it's 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 01/01/2026, we have the new law six fifty three point two five which is loitering for the purposes of commercial sex. At the beginning of the year, we began lineup 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 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 arrestees for six fifty three two five 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. They'll be able to address these concerns. This model of us arresting the Johns 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 I wanna actually thank you council member Geiger because during the budget discussions, it it was actually in part your voice that led to the budget team that was chaired by council member Ramachandra and council member Brown and council member 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 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 successes actually in decreasing the level of open air sex trafficking.

Just one comment. Uh-huh. And again, for me, this is a real key. And I you know, this has been going on for hundreds of years. Alright? And it affects each one of us that's 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. Alright? And enforcement needs to increase. Alright? And pushback on the street needs to happen. So as an example, a week ago, I got a call from one of the mothers in San Diego, and her daughter has been over here doing prostitution. And she's, what, 18, 20 years old. But she got killed on our street.

Somebody shot her and killed her on the street. And she's so the mom's calling, crying to me, 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 paying that price, and yet we're not responding as a city in terms of trying to address the as an example, this mom that's in San Diego. But I'll share that with you so you can help with the follow-up.

Thank you.

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 I'm I'm a echo my council members here. This is embarrassing. I'm glad you brought this back up. It's embarrassing. It's been going on for fifty years as long as I know. Was on E 14 then it went to San Pablo then it in your district. My thing is this. I'm kind of saying similar to what council member Noel Gallo 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 where do we get that 70% of them from the outside and then 20 of those buyers that you said you got, were 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 January, the numbers have shifted to 6535% being from the city of Oakland.

Okay. And 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? Wanna address that? Because that's huge. I mean how do girls get in here, right? How are they getting here? How are they being transported? Are we addressing that on public transportation?

So there are obviously national campaigns to help educate everyone with human trafficking. There are the banners are in the airport. We do partner with 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 and I'll move it this time also.

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 and Miley left we were talking about this transportation piece because a piece I'll work with you on that that had already started and 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 existing criminal investigation because these are civil fines. But you referenced you referenced a point that I am 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 and 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 DA declines to pursue that then the city will find but Right. 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 the 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 goal is not to downgrade the penalties, the extent of the penalties on the sex fires 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 how might that intersect with this?

You wanna comment

on that? State and federal enforcement, both of those sides.

We have one federal agent assigned to us our MOU. As far as the state enforcement, CHP has conducted high visibility enforcement but they have not been part of the vice operations or the strategic plan on enforcing against the demand.

Thank you. 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 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 council member Houston brought up around like the transportation piece. I just really emphasize that you know this is kind of like one step of many more to come and I know Councilmember Long 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 and 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 council member Houston and if council member Wong wants to second that.

I will second that.

Okay. Council member five.

I have heard a number of comments made tonight from my colleagues and I fully agree with accountability. But something that council member Giles said really sat with me and that was the engagement of the Oakland Police Department in trafficking an 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 in 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 2535 and 2016 with 28 law enforcement officers involved in trafficking an 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 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 would 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 and what happened was abhorrent and no one should be abusing their power the way that that that happened.

Thank you. Councilor Mergaio.

Yes. Madam chairperson, I'm gonna have to excuse myself at 04:30. 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 the that meeting starts at 04:30. But I you have a my full support in moving forward with this action. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, council member Gayle. And we can move to public comment.

As I call your name, please oppose the podium in any 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 giving you two minutes for this item. Janet Jett, Ken Nolke, Vanessa Russell, Albert Bernal, Zach Thayer, Amber Johnson, Davina Karaloo Karolola, Megan Escoto, Miss Isata Olabala, Brianna Katrina Price, mister Hazard, Awale Makaba, Lynn Trung, Annabel Velasquez, Edwin, Tuan Nguyen, Vinny Nguyen, Lynn, that's a duplicate, also a duplicate, Jennifer Tai, Chen Nguyen, Jennifer Tran, Amardy Brar or AD, Yin Feng Tulapsi.

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 Jett. I grew up in Oakland and I am a longtime Oakland resident. I also work for Love Never Fells, which you guys already know of, Love Never Fells. Some of my colleagues are here today. In the late 1980s, I worked at Oakland Hospital on East 14th, now International And 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'm 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, 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 Ukay. I work with Love Narrifails 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 was only one charge, meaning they got off practically scotch 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 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 council members. My name is Albert Bernal and I'm here to advocate for the young girls we house at Love Never Fails and the young girls who are still being exploited right now as we speak. These girls we house 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 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 deepened that absence. Buyers deepened on that absence. Demand keeps the system alive. We must protect the vulnerable. We must protect the vulnerable. We must protect the vulnerable by holding buyers accountable.

Eliminating demand directly disrupts the supply of traffic 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 Amba 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, 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 internship opportunity in their after school program that very day. That moment mattered. When we identify risk early, before exploitation escalates, and when there are partners with a 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

Hello. My name is Annabelle 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 now see 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 a survivor standpoint, this ordinance builds on AB three seventy nine. 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 survive 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 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, it 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 pay 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.

It made me think about the fact that we've housed, I'm so grateful for the Department of Violence Prevention that has, we have a grant there, and we've been able to house 56 women and children for the, over the last three years, survivors. And what I want to say is, 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 2 and $50 250,000 to $400,000 is the average amount that it costs for restitution or for aftercare for every survivor in lifelong medical and mental health services. If we're only charging $4,000 for each incident and yet each individual has to bear 2 and 50,000 to $400,000 of cost on their own shoulders because remember CalVCB might give them 20 but that's not even gonna 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 Escoto. I'm a former foster youth. I'm a survivor of C Sec 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 a 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 women are facing in the sex trade. This is not adult entertainment, it is lethal exploitation.

No one 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 admit to pressuring women to go beyond the agreed acts. They boast when she's 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 driven 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 end. 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 cause does 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 pass 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, 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 Curilola and I'm here as a survivor and someone who was trafficked right here in these streets and I'm in support of this ordinance. I wanna 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 wanna 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 over policing 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. 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 just as who controls it. If survivors and impacted communities do not have real decision making power, then this becomes harm recycled into bureaucracy, Not healing. So yes, please pass this bill, but don't stop there. Build in a racial equity safeguard, limit discretionary enforcement, and guarantee survivor led governance. Thank you.

Hi, everyone. This is my name is Lin Chung. I live at Dictate 2. I come here a second time to support to council member Wong to to have the fund and remove all the trafficking on the international. I am live here 62, and I have been there for thirty years.

But I saw this time my district too in Little Saigon store bath, no service. Like, anytime they stand at the front door, they bother me. I cannot call because nothing to do for the trafficking and the pill. And also, I have the problem for the home desk. They travel they get trouble for me every day. Can do the business. 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 sole advocate to support Wang and her movement, but also what I saw this morning was very amazing that the police department and the sheriff's department did stop workers and so called pimps or whatever you want to call themselves. But, they did make action today, And, by the time we left the area, there 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. Alright? God bless.

Good afternoon, council member. My name is Jennifer Tai and I'm here to strongly support this ordinance, Sex trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation costs profound harm to our vulnerable, our children, our young people, and those whose voice are often ignored. This is not an issue that happening somewhere else. It is 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, it's an important and necessary tool by holding by the trafficker and who profit from this exploitation accountable. Send a clear message that Oakland will not tolerate this abuse. It's also helped generate resource to support the organization and the advocate who work tirelessly with the victims and survivors. I respectfully ask you to please pass both 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 Yufantalati, and I am the program manager from Suji Foundation. We have served the East Oakland community for over twenty 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 Awele Makiba, and I teach in OUSD. I also am a producer of the MLK Oratorical. And I strongly vote a 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, feeling that they're being watched, having men slowly follow behind them, diverting their routes to different places or 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 DA when I was asked to come to the school board meeting to give a report on the MLK Oratorical. Because I arrived early, 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've not heard this? Why hadn't there been any curriculum? Where were the parent workshops? How come this is not on a website? Where are 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 could have teens, for teens by teens to create PSAs to educate each other. I also have heard kids talk about hotel parties and that there are drugs and alcohol there and I'm trying to like, what's a hotel party? Who's throwing this party?

Can I see the flyer? 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 wanna 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.

Hi. My my name is Vinny Manuen. I live in the, Little Saigon for over, almost forty years. I wanna support Charlene Wang on on the things that you wanted to do. Please pass.

And also Ken Houston, you were asking about how people traffic, and travel to the airport. A lot of these people, take private private jets. You could take guns, cocaine, you take prostitution through those those, private jet, they don't check anything. Then you travel to Vegas, you go different places, you go to Houston, and you and that's how people come through the the that that lane, go to Oakland. They come down, get picked up by chauffeur, and they do their stuff, and they they get back, and it's done.

As far as as myself, I grew up in in, the Tenderloin, San Francisco. It was a hellhole, and I was lucky to come to to Oakland in 1992. And heck, you know what? It's 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 are are primarily run by criminals, you know, drivers. Actually, now I'm a real estate agent, you know, I've been broker for almost twenty five years and I've seen people buying properties and they just staying away from so called the Blade District and real estate have have gone down a lot. I mean, I walked out, we drive clients down the street and they say, hey, you know, what's going on here? What's all these people are doing here?

So they signed away. Real quick, the the couple of things that we need is we need a stronger, interstate federal coordinate. We need enhanced penalty, to repeat offenders, mandatory, sentencing. Do you remember they they use a cease cars and properties for for for people that's come buy property, buy stuff? Do that again. Okay. Thanks.

Good afternoon, council members. My name is doctor Jennifer Tran. I'm the president of the Oakland Vietnamese Chamber of Commerce, Oakland native. I just want to start off by thanking you all for this really rigorous legislation led by Councilmember Wang and also the excellent questions that each of you pose just reflect your commitment and dedication to community driven processes, data driven processes and making sure that 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 10 year old version of my when I was 10 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 vandalized buildings, questions around illegal dumping. We're all wearing this shirt today, a refuge for all in Oakland Little Saigon, a commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War. And, each of you passed that.

We appreciate, you know, your commitment to continue to center communities, 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 2 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 Amrdi Broad. I will reset. My name is Amradi Broad, I also go by AD. First of all I want to thank Charlene Wang, council member, and everybody else in support of this oddiness. 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. Little Saigon community is suffering due to this pandemic of 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, broad daylight goes, it's not, they're not even hiding, 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 whichever kids are exposed to this issue.

Our police beat, 19 X has the highest crime rate of all the Oakland police beats for last few years. Thanks to Blade. This affect Little Saigon, San Antonio district, basically all District 2, and then it goes beyond. We live in it every day. There are multiple schools. And this district is basically, you have international airport, downtown, Coliseum. We are right there in the middle, exposed. You know I urge and wish you all to pass this with an urgency and put a stop to sex trafficking and prostitution.

Hi, my name is Chin. I've been in the District 2 for about ten years. I had this nice speech written up, but Doctor. Tran and AD took most of that content already, so I'm a 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 7th 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 in of course, what do 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 just 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 wanna 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 a 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 blade. But, you know, I commend, you know, Charlene for bringing this issue and making it a priority to our community because it's been ignored for so long. And this is, I know it's not gonna solve all the issues, but it's a step in the right direction.

Good day. I'm here to address the issue of the human trafficking, also known as Fintur von Rindentropes. 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 Homer Romero, Yang, Baker, Godwin, and Kelly v. Matson at requirements against The United States and interpolate identification and based on human trafficking, same way you see voting, credit fraud, and mortgage fraud tied to land REITs. In the view of the state, I do believe that there's an issue.

I believe that this community needs to address that to narcotics. I believe narcotics is a bigger issue than it is to human trafficking. When you can prove that the police and the fire department are moving 10 kilos of cocaine and a half kilo of fentanyl, I did hack with a group of inter pool agents, not in nine languages, improve the movement and view of taxes. I do submit as a request that 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 related and not impaired is seen as a complimentary state in Kewan, muon, energy, energy n. 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 the bar that is there and view compliance and begin full enforcement. Thank you and have a great day.

You ready? Okay. This year makes eighteen years I have been sitting in this room. Eighteen years. You don't know how many times in eighteen years this subject matter has come before a city council for resolve numerous times.

In 2024, Chief Mitchell declared that he was gonna crack down on sex trafficking. It was a top priority. That's in 2024. And, so, looked at some data in 2014, 2010, 2015, 2017, there have been partnerships with Alameda County and Haywood, there's been FBI stings related to this subject matter. In 2003, the FBI dubbed Oakland a high intensity child prostitution area, and some effort was needed to end child trafficking, sex prostitution.

And, here we are today in 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 emergency ordinance on homelessness, nothing's happening. You have a department of race and equity, nothing is happening.

You have a NSA, twenty two 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 the support from the then district attorney and this body.

Why don't you start a fund for ambassadors? This is a commercial corridor. You got ambassadors in corridors around the city, in Chinatown, in certain areas around. Why don't you have ambassadors walk from 5th Avenue to 22nd Avenue? Day and night, rain or shine, they're out there with umbrellas.

Ambassadors, have them go in teams. That'll stop that. They walk down the street on International. You gotta slow up. I know. Because I drive up and down there. I could tell look what happened on Sonoma. Couple weeks ago, two shop owners got shot because they sell these string whatever, it's not clothing, that they use on the street. Ambassadors. And also, the penalty from a misdemeanor to a felony.

That's what you gotta do. You're gonna tell me that officer said they made 30 arrests. They get out on in bail. If you're gonna 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. It's traffic. Look how many times, I bet you out of those 30 arrests, how many times those folks been in and out until their hearing occurs. Ambassadors, let them walk up and down the street.

Thank you, mister Hazard. 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, it 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 johns 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 it was done, international was in the Fruitvale. And before that, Broadway, Telegraph, San Pablo, Alcatraz, it just gets shoved around. We 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 on our streets, 51 people arrested. Nobody charged. What's happening with the new DA? 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 true enforcement to make it a felony to buy young children.

Thank you, mister Tuan. Your time is up. All names have been called. If you if your name was called and you wish to speak, please approach the podium.

Okay. Thank you. Colleagues, any comments or questions? Council member Wong, I think you raised your hand. Council member 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 a through d of this ordinance change or to just reflect conformity. So if you have issues with the penal code, please make that advocacy at your state legislate legislature. Thank you.

Thank you. Council member Houston.

Through 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 it goes from misdemeanor to felony? What does it say about that?

It is my understanding for example that the for example right now as of January 1 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, called. So the basically, DA can charge as either a misdemeanor or as a felony for anyone who is above three three years of 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, got it. I like it. You're 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 15 and certain convictions can make it what was formerly a misdemeanor can make it a felony. And that's for that's for youth. That's for 18.

So 18 they can be charged as a felony? If the from the purchaser that purchased a kid or a 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 didn't 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, our young women, and also oftentimes our young men and other folks who are victims of this incredible human tragedy. Like author council member Wong said, you know, this and many of you all said, this alone is not going to end human trafficking, 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 DA 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 and the second on the floor.

And through the chair to the mover and the seconder of the motion we're clarifying that we are you all are adopting or the motion is to adopt the supplemental legislation. Is that correct? Thank you. On the motion to approve the recommendation of the supplemental in the packet council member Brown.

Aye.

Council member Fife. Aye. Council member Gaia was excused. Council member Houston. Aye. Council member Hunger? Aye. Council member Wong? Aye. Council member Jenkins is also excused and chair Ramachandran?

Aye. Motion passes with a vote of six ayes. This item is approved on introduction. Final passage will be February 17. 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 quorum for the February meeting of the cannabis regulatory commission.

Council member Brown.

Yes. I'll 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 council member Brown seconded by council member Ramachandran. Excuse me. Council member Brown. Aye. Council member Fife. Aye. Council member Gaillos excused. Council member Houston. Aye. Council member Unger. Aye. Council member Wong. Exposed. It's excused. Council member Jenkins is also excused.

Council member Ramachandran. Aye. Motion passes with a vote of five ayes, three excused. Now going to the consent calendar in its entirety starting with item 6.1 which is approval of the draft minutes from the meeting of 01/20/2026. Item 6.2 a resolution regards to 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 a love 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, is resolution for the settlement of Tiffany Nault versus the city of Oakland. Item 6.9 a resolution for a settlement for State Farm general insurance company versus city of Oakland. Item 6.1.

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 can I say something to you, chair? Oh, on 06/2002 I had something to say about the cannabis regulations. So when we come back can I speak to that? 6.2 is about the the cannabis, you know. It's 6.3, cannabis 6.3. Okay.

I think. Alright. We have quorum again. If council member Wong, 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 regards to the State Farm General Insurance Company versus the city of Oakland. Item 6.1, a resolution for Gosvami Marquez, Miriam Hernandez versus the city of Oakland, officer Tommy Nguyen. Item 6.11, a resolution in support of a b one five three seven. Item 6.12, a resolution for the mayor's appointment to the cannabis regulatory commission. Item 6.13, an information report for fiscal year twenty five through twenty eight citywide strategic plan six month up update.

Item 6.14, a resolution for a consultant contract amendment for the Fire Station 4 project. Item 6.15, a resolution honoring Michael Ford. Item 6.16, a resolution for the SAMHSA Oakland recast program for fiscal years '25 through '26. And that concludes your consent calendar and you do have eight speakers on this item.

Thank you. Council member Houston then council member Brown.

Just had a general question about 6.3 on the marijuana. Why do we still have that and I don't know if I'm out order by sentence, 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 care of in in their in with the documents that they signed. So I'm just trying to figure out why do we continuously have marijuana on this as a emergency?

I do not know the answer to that question council member 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 wanted just to read something. Is it out of order if I read something from that with a regulation that they were supposed to follow on '17? Okay. Go It says cannabis operators must implement a community beautification plan to reduce illegal dumping, littering, graffiti blight and promote beautification of the adjacent community within 50 feet of the cannabis facilities.

And the 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 address this this being an emergency.

Thank you Councilmember 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 six eleven and item six twelve. So first off colleagues, I'm bringing this resolution in support of AB fifteen thirty seven which is from assembly member Isaac Bryan. 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 Renee Good in Minnesota as well as Alex 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've a 100% made this fight very local given that last week mayor Lee passed those two executives 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 fifteen thirty seven.

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 offer or or attempt of said employment. It also creates accountability by defining violations and also promotes transparency by making records related to peace officers, actually of second of secondary employment under the Public Records Act. And so really wanna 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 CEO of Oakland would be in support right from the beginning.

So we wanna 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 Ashutay Millhouse to the cannabis commission. And we know that this commission plays an essential role in advocating for equity and 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 Tay 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 of I believe it's you can either reach out to Preston or DEN 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, Miss Asada Olabala, Vanessa Wong, Ashanti Milhouse, Derek Barnes, mister Hazard, Mavis Carter Griffin, Maven Ladette a.

Thank you, mister 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 are dying on the street for human trafficking.

And y'all don't say a damn thing except for what mister Houston Houston. Why are you keeping cannabis as a public health crisis? Let me tell you what the governor just noted yesterday. Newsom appeared before reporters at a Montgomery Gibbs Executive Airport in San Diego. Some 50,600,000 pills with an estimate total street value of $506,000,000 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 trafficking and children are dying.

Way younger than 13 on fentanyl. You had an arrest here two months ago, right here in Oakland for drug factory, fentanyl. And you don't share a damn thing. I gave you this copy of my notice of motion regarding the writ I filed on May 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 1. But now I think I may get my day in court to be heard on the nineteenth of this month, to overturn that special election ballot measure that you articulated that was gonna raise $29,000,000 annually for ten years. If I'm correct and they nullify that ballot measure, because in that ballot measure provision four point two six point one three o, you can't have a provision there that enjoys the voter from seeking grieve

Thank you, mister Hazard. Your time is up.

Hello everyone. My name is Ledette. I am the district director to council member Houston, son of Oakland. And I wanted to just share a few things regarding the cannabis issue District 7 is having. Council member 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 build out, a girl house in District 7.

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 their 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.

I'm sorry.

Can I ask her a question through the chair? Is that?

The parliamentarian can we ask questions to

Because she's she works for me and 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 wanna know am I breaking any rules?

If I believe we can go through all the public speakers.

Then I can bring her up.

Alright. Cool. After.

I'll bring you

back up. Yes.

I don't wanna break no rules. I'll be breaking rules all the time.

Hello. I'm Ashitae Milhouse. 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 Peoples 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 presenting image of who we are because we're not taken seriously as citizens of the city.

And we have very valid concerns, we want work, we want recognition, we want equalization, which is very important because we're not equal. There's no equitable anything for the unhoused. We're not able to live in the same zones, do the same things, 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. Hi, 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 know, 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, 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 that I care about. And that's all I have to say. Thank you.

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 six point o. I wish to validate Simon Property v the city of Oakland and comply in Kelly v Matt Mattson, and ask that in US v Carrington Mortgage Services, US v Orion Insurance, and US v Travelers Insurance that it'd be a valid application against property land REITs under Oregon USDA v The United States based on credit line rates based on application. The same issue is wondered in Paso Robles and Toth v The United States as the property lease and deed holder and view of allocation.

This is what is wondered in Alto, v The United States based on compliance, and is being asked in view of the right to counsel under court of Cardoso v The United States. In this compliance, I ask that the state be held malice and negligent in FUR v Preston and the wonderment to what is wondered in the county. FUR is the right to seek counsel in view of implied designation. With this being identified, I believe that there is issues in the tri regional community tied to land REITs. Land REITs is the depreciational application of income generation based on Cube, Chime, and Zelle.

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 REIT holdings and bond ETFs of a tri regional county, including the AC Transit and the BART board. Based on the request met in Smith v Casa, I did not move the free in Pfeifter v the town of Pfeifter v The United States, or what is known as the freedom of speech via Alameda County, via society. I ask that the state be held grossly, malicely, and intentionally negligent in the view of the city tied to chapter 13 bankruptcy, and the view to the expression to view the pay for play under chapters 11, validating chapter seven to consulting, and the view of day to day management under LTD holding enterprises, and view of performance based pensions and view of land REITs. 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 your, of your enterprise.

As that is, identified, I wish that there'd be a full audit and request that there'd 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 removed. The tree permit issue is three years it took to be brought to counsel. The expedience 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 $419,000,000 that the governor allocated for homeless housing assistance. That money went to San Francisco, San Diego, and Los I think San Diego. Appointment for the Commission of Homelessness. That commission has not met since last September.

And, the schedule that they have for boards and commission, they are not scheduled, and its scheduling goes all the way up to 11/30/2026. No schedule of meeting. And they are obligated to do an annual report on the encampment policy. That hasn't happened. Item six ten, you're looking at a lawsuit that includes the Oakland Police Department.

You all got to find some kind of way to sue somebody, this Oakland police officer who has earned over $493,000 salary and overtime? Y'all need to address that soon. Now, this thing on S-eleven, 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? It's your Oakland police department engaging in excessive force and racial profiling, and you can't fix it for over twenty two 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 six thirteen, your strategic plan. You need an update on gentrification, which you have never done. Your sanctuary city status, you keep talking about your Sanctuary City, but you have never dealt with it in terms of how it impacts the city economically and housing. Thank

you, miss Olavallo. Your time is up. If your name was called, if

you're in 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. Mister Barnes, please unmute yourself and begin your comments.

Thank you, madam clerk, and greetings, council members. Derek Barnes with East Bay Rental 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 EBRU, 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 engaged 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 Starratt, our HCD leaders in the city and county, Patricia Wells and Joseph Villareal, our, housing authority folks, engaging in productive panel discussions that day. I also want to acknowledge, district supervisor Lina Tam and her staff, as well as council members Brown, Gayo, Unger, and Wong, as well as staff from council member Ramachanjan'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 help 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, all 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 council member Brown had six minutes everyone is can have six minutes today. So that's all.

No, 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 debt, what who did you report that building, they're building putting 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 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 list of who works on the permitting process and they gave me the information that they are going through the process and once they're 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 gonna 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, is somewhere that their scope of work could be regulating if 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 can wanna do in District 7 and that's not gonna happen any longer. So thank you Ledette.

You have four and a half more minutes if you wanted to say anything else.

I'll cede my time to council member Brown. She knows she she got a lot to say. No I'm just saying. Alright. I'm good. I appreciate

that. Thank

you. Council member Wong. Thanks to

the chair. I just wanted to comment that in, you know, related to the human trafficking problem that 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 the wrong type of economic development that we have in some of our corridors.

You know 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. Thank

you. If there are no other comments I will entertain a motion.

So moved.

Second. On

the motion by council member Brown, seconded by council member Unger to approve this consent calendar. Council member Brown? Aye. Council member Fife and Gayle are excused. Council member Houston? Aye. Council member Unger? Aye. Council member Wong? Aye. Chair Jenkins is excused. Council member Ramachandran. Aye. Motion passes with a vote of five ayes, three excused. Five for Gayo and Jenkins.

Now we're at council member me, acknowledgments and announcements.

Colleagues, any announcements? Council member Wong.

Announcement related to I'm I'm joining council member Fife tomorrow in District 2. 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 22025 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 05:30PM tomorrow. Thank you. Thank you. Council member Houston.

I'd like to, through the chair I'd like to adjourn this meeting in the memory of Bridget Cook. I'm not sure who knew her but Bridget Cook was a beautiful soul. She kept me in control. She always guided me through calling me council member Houston. You can't be doing that. So just just I always wanna 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 council member Houston. We will adjourn in her memory. Other council members with okay. Madam clerk, that is it.

Moving to open forum. As I call your name, please approach the podium in any order. Please state your name for the records you will be given. One minute to address the council, miss Asada Olabala, mister Hazard, Tim Allen Ferreira, Annabel Velasquez, Maeve Carter Griffin, I think maybe Benjamin Smith, brother Tutt, or Dominique Ware. Go ahead, mister Hassard.

You could go to cleanoakland.com and look at my website. These are four case laws that will support my allegation that the September special election ballot measure a was illegal. Rossi v Brown, nine cal four. Courts retain exclusive authority to determine the validity, the enforcement of ballot measures. A ballot measure cannot pre decide or foreclose due judicial review.

And that's what four point two six point one three o. People versus Vaughn. Vaughn, 27 count. The legislature may not impair the core functions of the judiciary, and joining lawsuits impairing judicial function. Mendocino County versus superior court 13 cal four, access to the courses fundamental constitutional rights. Any restriction is subject to strict scrutiny and almost always failed. Housing Authority versus Superior Court, statutes made

Thank you, mister Hazard. Your time is up.

In 1994, Barbara Jordan led the U. S. 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

Okay. Good afternoon. Nevin Carter Griffin. I'm speaking upon, for my behalf as an in house person, and I'm asking for support. Last month, Ivan Satterfeld, who was running DPW, came and did a sweep of Willow Street and I had purchased finally after a year from previous where 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 foam, trying to do my best and 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, etcetera. And, I purchased a trailer, a 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 shitty shack that I live in with my cats and and have 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

I apologize, miss Griffin. Your time is up. Before you again mister Thayer, 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 Thayer, 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. Moving to the Zoom speaker. I think Dwayne.

Yeah. Dominic?

Yes. Please begin your comment.

Yes. So my name is Dominic Ware coming from Brookfield Village, the champion of community green schools. And I'm speaking as a member of the forty by forty people's advisory council in Deep East Oakland. The pack brings residents together each month to 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 impacting our neighborhoods.

The PAC 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, OVP, supporting the launch of peace committees, what I'm on, and community based conflict resolution model and aligned in our work with the RISE East $100,000,000 investment strategy of learn and grow, work and wealth, and health and well-being. Our members also regularly attend and contribute to the bimonthly meeting and the keeps safekeeping meetings. Thank you d six council member for agreeing to attend future PAC meetings tonight. We respectfully ask in the council members of seven.

Thank you for your comments. Unfortunately, your time was up. This time, all names have been called.

Thank you. Tonight Oh, I can oh, he I can say it. Sorry. Today, we adjourn in the memory of Bridget Clark. Thank you everyone.

The meeting is adjourned.