Oakland (Special to OaklandNewsOnline.com) – In all of the years I have been in Oakland, and going back to the April 8th, 1974 date my Mom and I moved from Chicago to Oakland in search of better schools (we found them), I can only think of a few other dates that had as much impact on Oakland as this 2024 Election and the Recall of Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao:
• The 1977 day Lionel Wilson was elected Oakland’s first Black Mayor
• The 1980 date the Raiders Moved from Oakland to Los Angeles,
• The October 17, 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake (I was at the Golden Bear for that),
• The October 19th, 1991 Oakland Hills Fire (I drove though that),
• The November 1998 Election that saw Jerry Brown picked to be Mayor of Oakland and the “Strong Mayor” form of government called “Measure X” approved,
• The October 2011 Occupy Oakland Demonstrations,
• The November 2014 Oakland Election that saw Libby Schaaf become Oakland’s first female mayor,
• The March 27th, 2017 day in Phoeniz, Arizona that the National Football League voted to allow the Oakland Raiders to move to Las Vegas, and that’s here:
And finishing the tally of most impactful dates, the days the Golden State Warriors and then the Oakland A’s left Oakland. But we have never had, in all of Oakland’s history, a mayoral recall. Sheng Thao is the first. And that’s due to the work of one man: Seneca Scott.
Let’s Not Forget Sheng Thao Triggered Seneca Scott To Action In Engineering A Recall
This text below is from a video I made denouncing then Oakland City Council D4 Member and Mayoral Candidate Sheng Thao’s action in taking to social media to blast Seneca Scott for his comments that she perceived as “anti-trans”. They were not.
Oakland District Four Councilmember Sheng Thao came out with a statement that should have been just expressing that she stands with the Jewish Community and is upset with fellow Oakland Mayoral Candidate Peter Liu for his many statements that have been Anti-Semitic. But Sheng did not stop there, and in going forward gave us a taste of the kind of person she would be as mayor: nasty toward political opponents for made-up reasons.
What happened was that Peter Liu was upset over not being included in a planned Oakland Mayoral Forum, and got triggered to the point of launching into a constant Anti-Semitic tirade. I advocated for him to be arrested for his bullying and harassing behavior. But Seneca Scott is not that person. He’s not Anti-Semitic or transphobic at all. If he were either, I would not talk to him, just as I have turned on Peter.
Seneca Scott wanted to protest the event too, but stopped and realized what Peter wrote, and backed off. Sheng Thao deliberately avoided that truth to go and attack Seneca. And in so doing, Sheng has shown that she has no problem trying to make a black man appear to be a criminal for political reasons.
Indeed, she scheduled a meeting with me for her to learn about Enhanced Infrastructure Financing District (EIFD) legislation and how it and tax increment financing revenue work, and toward the idea of a city-wide Enhanced Infrastructure Financing District, but she said she did not want anyone to know about her meeting with me, even though I’m the expert. WOW.
And while I am on that, Sheng’s view of the city-wide Enhanced Infrastructure Financing District did not include helping small businesses impacted by the Pandemic, even though I told her that was something allowed by the newest EIFD law, AB464 Mullen. It’s like she’s got something against helping small business owners, otherwise, why do that?
And then Sheng did not grant my many requests for an interview after that – an open platform. So, she has not a problem treating folks like me and Seneca badly for political reasons. And for me, that’s personal. I have also pointed out that Sheng’s initial videos had no black Oaklanders in them. And when she talked to me about that, she explained that her personal relations were represented by African Americans. But it begs the question: why hide black male relationships, be it with me, or someone else?
It’s just not a good look and it’s not the person Sheng should allow herself to be. Not at this time. Not at this moment. You don’t solve a problem by adding to the problem, but that’s what Sheng Thao has done.
Why Did Oakland Voters Overwhelmingly Outs Sheng Thao As Mayor of Oakland?
If one has to ask why Mayor Thao was voted out, one quick answer might be to just look around town. At the time, less so now, parts of Oakland (including parks) were used as new homes by the homeless – tent cities here and there, and enough to cause alarm. Take this video of Leet Drive near the Oakland Coliseum, created and narrated by my longtime friend Charlie Santana, Jr.:
The staggering number of unsheltered people in Oakland was a statement that the City had become too expensive to live in and Oakland Government was doing nothing about it. And then there was Sheng’s habit of thinking in terms of “I” rather than “you”.
From the day the ink dried on her documents swearing her in as the 51st Mayor of Oakland, Sheng Thao made her short executive career about her and not the needs of the people of Oakland. Sheng crafted a reason to fire Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong solely because she reportedly wanted her own hand-picked COP (some told me she wanted an Asian top cop), and invested a reason to terminate him because the Chief was popular.
Then Mayor Thao openly sought a raise of $75,000 and not even a year into her job – try six months. During that time Sheng failed to listen to calls for her to establish an emergency in Oakland so we could get much needing funding aide.
And just before she was sworn in, Sheng’s once-trusted Chief of Staff Reina Webb resigned in a fit, threw a ton of shade at Sheng’s partner Andre Jones, and tossed out an email that she intended for a handful of large, white-owned media outlets, but instead went to all of the employees of the City of Oakland, and was quickly passed to me by a fan.
That led to this post at Oakland News Now Blog, where I add this excerpt from it, here:
Renia Webb Chief Of Staff To Oakland Mayor-Elect Sheng Thao Resigns; Verbally, Physically Abused
Well, less than a week from the inauguration of Sheng Thao as the 51st Mayor of Oakland, we have a brand new scandal on top of the three Oakland Public Ethics Commission open cases (one at the investigation stage involving former Staffer LeAna Powell) and the lawsuit involving Oakland City Clerk allegedly changing Sheng Thao’s time stamp so she would be able to look like she filed her Oakland Mayoral Election Paperwork on time. Not to mention the new rumor that one of Sheng Thao’s aides was accused of trying to drug staffers with valium during the campaign.
This brand new one involves Renia Webb, the African American Chief of Staff, and once Oakland District Four City Council candidate. I will let the email that Renia Webb wrote and that was passed to me do the talking:
Greetings All,
Hope this email finds you well.
Not sure what kind of games are being played – the fake letter you attached supposedly drafted on the 30th 1 Referencing the 27th.
I email Mayor a few days prior after she wanted me attend an event with her Partner Andre Jones after knowing he has physically & verbally cursed me on more than one occasion.
The afternoon of her swearing in Andre cursed her out in front of our City Clerks office for at least 15mins.
The environment I was working in became abusive, radical, threatening among other things. I will be filing an official complaint as well as suing for damages, pain & suffering etc etc.
I resigned from Mayor Shengs office due to unfair practices in her office. I sent my resignation on the 31st of December at 2:50pm via email.
Please find below:
Greetings Mayor Sheng,
I hope this email finds you & yours well.
For various reasons, I will be resigning effective immediately 1231, 2022 at 2:50pm.
I will submit information to collect my last paycheck along with any unused vacation time and will request that it be mailed to a post office box when that number is determined.
Thank you very much for the opportunity, and all we’ve learned from each other.
Wishing you the best in 2023!
I will continue to serve Oakland as I have my entire life, and the generations before me.Blessings, Peace, Joy & Faith!
Oh, Renia Webb is mentioned in the livestream interview I conducted with LeAna Powell.
This one:
Stay tuned, folks. With Oakland Mayor-Elect Sheng Thao, we’re entering what I will call “The Borgias Era” in Oakland. And if you don’t know what that means, let me just explain that the Borgias were an Italian family in the fifteenth century, known for producing two Popes, Alfons de Borja and Rodrigo Lanzol Borgia (or Pope Callixtus III and Pope Alexander VI, respectively). They were famous for using sex, lies, and even murder to get to the top rung of society.
Tell me Sheng Thao’s not on that path, already. I’m happy to be wrong because Oakland deserves better leadership. She’s not even in the saddle and we’ve got a mess.
And all of that happened and we had not even entered February of 2023, let alone the inauguration! Which means…
Sheng Thao Was Already In Trouble Before She Was Sworn In To Office As Oakland Mayor
Yes. You would have to be a complete dolt not to see that Oakland was already on the wrong path. Governed by a person, then District Four Councilmember Sheng Thao, who some believe used a time-stamp-altered Oakland City Clerk application to enter the Mayoral Election to start with. Listen to lawyer Marleen Sacks, who filed a lawsuit on the matter and brought her story to Zennie62 YouTube:
To expect better was simply not logical.
Essentially, because of Mayor Thao’s actions and behavior, Oakland was already divided between those who could see she wasn’t ready for the job, and others who wanted to support her, regardless. Rather than try to bring both sides together, Mayor Thao was eager to push them further apart. All the better, in her mind, to get what she wanted. Like ousting LaRonne Armstrong as Oakland Police Chief. A move that started with Sheng putting him on paid leave, much to the disagreement of famed criminal defense lawyer John Burris:
The Mayor of Oakland’s $77,000 Raise Controversy
Not even a year into her job as Mayor of Oakland, and Sheng Thao determined that she needed a $77,000 raise.
That was in the middle of budget cuts due to a deficit, a giantically-high crime rate, businesses closing because of technological change or rampant robberies, or both (and Oakland Economic Development doing nothing about it), and super-low morale among the ranks of Oakland Employees. The hue and cry over her request, as well as the look that Mayor Thao was actually going to get it, was so loud that she eventually backed off and lowered it to $13,000. But the reputation damage was done.
Sheng Thao’s Ill-Fated And Ridiculous Attempt To Stop The Oakland A’s Move To Las Vegas
There’s a lot to unpack here, but the simplest route is to just re-present what I vlogged on July 12th, 2023:
Mayor Sheng Thao Doubles-Down On Oakland Howard Terminal Errors In MLB Commish All Star Game Meeting
Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao doubles-down on the errors she made (and inherited from Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf), in her presentation to Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred on the Sunday before this week’s MLB All Star Game.
According to information posted on Twitter by ABC-7 Reporter Casey Pratt, Mayor Thao took a small group of Oakland Mayor’s Office City Staffers (Chief of Staff Leigh Hanson, Communications Rep Pati Navaltaand) and Howard Terminal Project Manager Molly Maybrun to Seattle to meet with MLB Commissioner Manfred and Deputy Commissioner Dan Halem. During the meeting, the Oakland group gave Commissioner Manfred 30 copies of a document that Mayor Thao said shows the plan for Howard Terminal. Here’s what the Mayor’s Letter to the Commissioner said, in part (with the full document at this link: ):
OAKLAND ATHLETICS & CITY OF OAKLAND
MLB STADIUM DEVELOPMENT
PRESENTATION OF TERMS
MAYOR SHENG THAO
51ST MAYOR OF THE CITY OF OAKLAND
JULY 9, 2023 THE HONORABLE SHENG THAO • MAYOR OF OAKLAND
July 9, 2023
Dear Commissioner Manfred,
I want to begin by expressing my sincerest appreciation for your willingness to meet with me in
person to discuss next steps in the relationship between the City of Oakland, Major League
Baseball (MLB) and the Oakland Athletics (A’s).
Although it is my understanding that the A’s and MLB are currently focused on relocating the team from its longtime Oakland home to Las Vegas, I thought it best to reach out to you directly to share my perspective on where things stand in Oakland.
As MLB and the relocation committee approach the very consequential vote that will determine the future of the A’s in Oakland, I wanted to personally ensure that we have an open line of communication and that you have direct access to all of the relevant information that you will need to make an informed decision.
Based on your recent comments, I fear that there may be certain misperceptions about the status of the A’s proposed project at Howard Terminal. By way of this letter and its attachments, I want to make it clear to you, MLB, the relocation committee, and the owners of the other 29 teams that Oakland very much had a specific and concrete proposal on the table, we had a detailed and mutually agreed upon plan and schedule, and after two years of negotiations, we were, I believe, extremely close to finalizing a deal with the current ownership of the A’s.
First, there most certainly is a site for a stadium in Oakland – and detailed plans for that site. At
Howard Terminal, the A’s proposed a total of approximately six million square feet of new development on approximately 55 acres of public land located on Oakland’s waterfront, with sweeping views of the San Francisco skyline. In addition to a privately-owned and operated ballpark with capacity for 35,000 fans, the A’s proposed project would including 3,000 residential units and more than 1.5 million square feet of commercial space.
Plans for this new “Waterfront Ballpark District” were developed by the A’s and their design team over several years and submitted to the City for review. In fact, the plans have gone through multiple rounds of review (as is typical for any large development project) and are ready
to proceed to public hearings. The City maintains a robust webpage for the Project, where the A’s most recent plan submittals are available to you and the public on an ongoing basis. For your convenience, the plans are also attached for your review.
Second, it is not an accurate statement that there was no offer from Oakland. Oakland has made the A’s multiple offers over the last several years, at both the Coliseum and Howard
Terminal. All have been rejected, despite the fact that Oakland’s current offer includes more money for both onsite and offsite infrastructure than the A’s themselves requested.
Mayor Thao Is Just Re-Presenting What The City of Oakland Has Done And Nothing New
The sad fact is that Mayor Thao, by taking her female Chief of Staff and female Communications Rep, to join female Molly Maybrun, (rather than inviting her African American male City Administrator Jenkins and Economic Development Director Sofia Navarro) and in a stylish document. That masks the fact that there’s no development agreement or tax increment financing zone created and approved.
It’s all just a show.
What Mayor Thao should have done is take a large group of the heaviest hitters in Oakland Business she could gather – people who can green-light a ballpark in nothing flat – and take them to meet the MLB Commissioner. But Sheng did not do that; she took eye candy. One has to ask what was she thinking?
Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao Statement On Recall Election Outcome
On November 8th, 2024, Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao released this statement on the outcome of the 2024 Election and more specifically the effort to recall her:
Statement from Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao on Election Results
Statement from Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao:
Oaklanders, Thank you for choosing me to serve as your Mayor. As the first Hmong American woman to become the mayor of a major American City, it has been the honor of my lifetime.
It was my goal to make Oakland safer, cleaner, and more vibrant. And I am proud of what we accomplished together. We brought crime down dramatically across the board with a historic 35% reduction in homicides. For the first time in over a decade, Oakland went over a month without a single murder. Our work literally saved lives.
We also resolved hundreds of encampments, have over 1,500 units of affordable housing in development this year alone, delivered the largest IT investment in our 9-1-1 infrastructure in two decades, installed 290 Flock Cameras, brought 100,000 happy and spending baseball fans to West Oakland and paved an Oakland record amount of miles.
I am deeply proud of the progress we created together and I am committed to ensuring we stay on track by supporting a smooth transition. It isn’t about me. It never has been. It has always been about Oakland. And the changes we have enacted in these two short years will be felt for generations to come.
An Overall Failure To Grasp What A Mayor Of Oakland Does
Basically, Mayor Thao did not have an understanding of what a Mayor of Oakland does. It’s being a leader – not an activist or a rabble-rouser, but a can do person able to move the City of Oakland to action – and in accordance with not just what they want, but the process of city-building – for its people in lightening fast time.
To Sheng it was her bestowing the very gift of her presence and attention upon the brethren. It had nothing to do with such problems as property crime and robberies of small retail businesses and carjackings (one happened Monday of this week and it was horrible). And when people complained, and they did, Mayor Thao not only did not listen, but she got mad and reminded them of what she did for the City and by extension them.
Even her statement, while showing some evidence that she gets what she had to do, left out a giant part of the mayoral to-do list: businesses. Notice she did not mention anything about small business or big business, or business activity. Business is the backbone of our economy. She obviously does not think about that first, and the City of Oakland shows it. She did not catalyze Oakland to activation to grow and at the same time be a safer city.
Mayor Thao forgot that there is no “I” in team.
Stay tuned.
