The San Francisco Chronicle | Joe Garofoli | Dec. 19, 2024
Some of Oakland’s top elected officials and community leaders are urging Rep. Barbara Lee, who is ending her House career, to run for mayor.
The self-described group of “business, labor, community, government, and faith leaders who rarely agree on things” is coming together because of the “extraordinary times” and because Oakland “is facing a crisis of leadership,” in the wake of the recall of former Mayor Sheng Thao last month and the city’s $130 million budget deficit that may portend cuts to basic city services — including public safety, they say in an open letter to Lee released Thursday.
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The list also includes outgoing Oakland City Council Members Nikki Fortunato Bas, who was just sworn in as interim mayor until she is sworn in next month to her new job as an Alameda County supervisor, Dan Kalb and Treva Reid, plus former Council Member Lynette Gibson McElhaney.
And it includes Isaac Kos-Read, a Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission member who told Oaklandside he was interested in running for mayor. Community leaders who signed the letter include Irene Kao, executive director of Courage California, and George Galvis, the executive director of Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice & Dream Beyond Bars Action Fund.