Make Oakland Better Now's Mayoral Candidates' Questionnaire 2014 - Peter Liu

1. Mayoral Candidate Questionnaire
Candidate: PETER Y. LIU
Note: Please limit your answers to 250 words except where the question
indicates a different word limit.
1. Please state your position on the following November ballot measures along with a brief
(No more than 30 word) statement supporting your position.
* Measure Z: Public Safety (Parcel tax for police, fire and violence prevention programs)
* Measure CC: Public Ethics (Restructuring of Public Ethics Commission and mandatory
funding for its staff)
* Measure DD: Redistricting (Citizens’ redistricting commission for City Council boundaries
)
ALL THESE MEASURES ARE OBSOLETE. MY COMMUNITY EMPOWERED SAFETY PLAN
IS SUPERIOR.
2. As of May 31st, the OPD had 649 sworn police personnel, and projected that it would
have 681 by July and 716 by December, 2014. 63 of these officers are funded by Measure Y,
which expires at the end of this year, and 35 by Federal grants, which, if not renewed, will expire
next year. If the voters elect you in November, how many police will Oakland have as of the end
of 2018? If you plan to either maintain current levels or increase them, describe how you will
fund police (a) if Measure Z succeeds and if it fails; (b) if current grants for police are renewed
or replaced and if they are not.
No need for more Police under my plan because I'll have armed civilians and neighborhood
watch members more than 4,000 of them (each police officer set up armed neighborhood
watches, 7~25 members each)
3. OPD’s difficulty in achieving the authorized sworn staffing level appears to be
exacerbated by high attrition and low morale, as shown by the department’s internal polling
(http://tiny.cc/OPDPoliceSurvey) and it’s loss of officers only months after they complete their
training. How will you solve OPD’s attrition and morale problems?
Police will have armed poplace and neighborhood watches as backups. As long as we have an
armed populace and neighborhood militias, we'll keep our city safe even if there low numbers of

2. officers.
4. OPD has been under Federal Court supervision for close to twelve years. While
Oaklanders have repeatedly been told that the end is in sight, in late July, Judge Henderson
stated that Oakland’s disciplinary processes have violated Court orders, and that continuing the
same practices will "undermine any confidence in the sustainability of the reforms that have
been and continue to be achieved." Then, on August 14, the Judge criticized the City’s recent
inability to sustain through arbitration an officer termination in connection with response to the
Occupy Oakland protests. (Source: http://tiny.cc/ArbOrder.) The Court opined that Oakland
could not be in compliance with two NSA tasks if internal investigations were inadequate and
“discipline is not consistently imposed.” Many people believe the Monitor has repeatedly
imposed requirements on Oakland that far exceed the literal requirements of the NSA, and that
as a result of the Monitor’s shifting standards, Oakland may never be able to extricate itself from
Court supervision. As Mayor, to what extent would you be prepared to oppose continued and
changing demands from the Monitor, and what is your plan to end the era of Court supervision?
Judge Henderson is an unconstitutional dictator. His failed oversight experiment cost a lot of
government waste. He needs to be arrested.
5. According to the Public Works Department, Oakland is on an 85-year repaving schedule,
meaning a street that is repaved today won’t be repaved again for 85 years. Further, according
to Public Works, maintaining the existing pavement condition on Oakland’s streets would require
an estimated $28 million annually, while the amount allocated annually has been less than $6
million in recent years. Sixty percent of the City’s curb ramps are non-compliant or non-existent.
The total needed to rehabilitate Oakland streets is over $435 million. How do you plan to
reverse the ongoing deterioration of our streets and sidewalks? If you are elected, when will
Oaklanders see a difference?
Deteriorated streets stay in poor neighborhoods. Streets in rich neighborhoods will be paved
with Gold every 15 years.
6. The extent to which the City faces unfunded liabilities and what should be done about
them has been a contentious issue in recent years. As recently as last December, the City
Administrator projected that for the three fiscal years beginning July 1, 2015, Oakland faces all-funds
budget structural shortfalls totaling $795 million if it addresses its deferred capital
expenses and deferred liabilities, and $342 million if it does not (Source: December 12, 2013
Update to Five-Year Financial Forecast, Attachment D, http://tiny.cc/5yrupdate.) Do you believe
Oakland faces a financial shortfall, and if so, how will you address it if elected in November?
File for bankruptcy, wipe the debt off. Those retirees are living like fat cats, no more pension
system. We need money to repave the streets with Silver every 85 years in middle class
neighborhoods.

3. 7. Operation Ceasefire has been described as the centerpiece of Oakland’s violent crime
reduction effort. We understand that funding for its manager has been dependent on grant
funding and that there is an insufficient number of case managers to maximize Ceasefire’s
success. Do you plan to expand Operation Ceasefire? In what respect? Where specifically do
you intend to allocate resources and staffing?
Operation Ceasefire is a crappy program, whoever came up with this program needs to be shot.
8. What is your understanding of the relative responsibilities of the Mayor and City
Administrator as established in the Charter? What are the duties of each? What is the Council’s
responsibility in this regard?
The mayor tells the city administrator how to grow the weed. The city administrator then grows
the weed. Then the council members smokes the weed to see if it is good or not. If the weed is
good, the city admin continues to grow the weed, if it is bad, each city council member grow
their own weed to see if they can come up with something better. Once they are convinced they
have a better weed, they'll aim for the mayor's office next election.
9.. If the voters elect you in November, will Oaklanders see changes in the following from
City Government? If so, what changes and why?:
* Leadership - YES, MOST DEFINTELY, I AM WORLD'S SMARTEST LEADER
* Management - YES, IT WILL BE FUN
* Strategic Planning - YES, CESP WILL BE COOL
* Transparency - AS CLEAR AS GLASS CEILING
10. In 2012-2013, Oakland contracted with Strategic Policy Partners (Robert Wasserman et
al) to present a comprehensive public safety plan. Strategic Policy Partners made a large
number of recommendations, some of which have been implemented and some of which have
not. (The reports are here: http://tiny.cc/SPPReport, http://tiny.cc/Bratton1,
http://tiny.cc/SPPBest) If the voters elect you in November, please state whether Oakland will
implement the following recommendations (We are looking for a “yes” or “no” answer as to each
recommendation, with explanatory narrative not exceeding 25 words for each recommendation):
* Call for Service Reduction strategy;
* Expanded investigation capacity in each of the City’s 5 policing districts, so that each
district has an investigative sergeant, 3 investigators, and 3 to 5 police
officers.
* Increased sworn police personnel to a ratio of 2 officers for every 1,000 in the population
(i.e., 800).
* Expansion of the Ceasefire initiative.
* Redesign of community policing, so that the entire Police Department, not just PSOs,
are focused on community relationship building.
* Measurement of the state of community / police relations.

4. * Moving restorative justice practices into the community, to address neighborhood
disorder and minor crimes in a manner that brings community into the process and
prevents future crime and disorder occurrences.
* Appointing a Director of Community Improvement who will be responsible for
coordinating collaborative action by city agencies, community groups and state and
federal partners, to address both quality of life issues and crime.
* Appointing a team of representatives from the community to work with the Director of
Community Improvement, the Police Department and other government agencies to
insure community coordination.
* Bringing Security Ambassadors into the crime reduction strategic plan and require
advanced training to those who patrol downtown areas, so they are active and have the
ability to intervene in minor situations that impact public security.
zZZzzz......ALL THIS IS OBSOLETE, JUST USE MY COMMUNITY EMPOWERED SAFETY
PLAN.
11. In early 2010, Oakland’s Finance and Management Committee received a presentation
from staff and visiting personnel from the City of Baltimore concerning CitiStat, a leadership
strategy a mayor can employ to mobilize city agencies to produce specific results. (More
information is at http://tiny.cc/q00ojx ). CitiStat involves use of a round-the-clock 311 reporting
system for any request for city services other than policing. It uses data in a manner similar to
ComStat. High level city management uses the 311-generated data and benchmarks and
regular meetings to hold departments accountable, judge successes and failure, reveal what
agencies are doing and not doing to achieve benchmarks and provide the best possible
services to residents. Explain your familiarity with CitiStat and whether you believe such a
program can and should be implemented in Oakland. If you do not believe it should be
implemented in the near future, explain why. If you think it should, explain what you will do to
implement it and when this will be accomplished.
ZZZZzzZz.....Whatever CitiStat or ComStat is, it is CRAP. Just use my CESP.
12. Oakland has room to improve its policies in the areas of crime reduction, budget
processes, street maintenance, and economic maintenance. What cities can Oakland learn
from, and adopt or emulate policies from with respect to these subjects? What policies from
other cities would benefit Oakland?
LEARN FROM ME, THE WORLD'S SMARTEST LEADER. NO NEED TO LOOK ELSEWHERE
FOR 2ND RATE IDEAS, THAT'S JUST CRAZY.
13. Do you support the following policies and, briefly, why or why not?
A. Creation by Charter amendment of a Rainy day fund as recommended by MOBN! and
the Budget Advisory Committee (BAC)?
B. Annual polling of city residents on their satisfaction with city services? What would
you do with that information?
C. Conducting a police resource deployment study to determine the number of officers

5. actually need by OPD and how they should be deployed?
D. Will you support the preparation of a comprehensive public safety plan?
A. NO NEED FOR A RAINY DAY FUND B. IF RESIDENTS AREN'T SATISFED WITH ME
RUNNING THE CITY UNDER CESP, THEY CAN JUST LEAVE. THERE IS NO NEED TO
STUDY, JUST USE MY CESP. I ALREADY HAVE THE BEST COMPREHENSIVE PUBLIC
SAFETY PLAN, ITS CESP.

6. actually need by OPD and how they should be deployed?
D. Will you support the preparation of a comprehensive public safety plan?
A. NO NEED FOR A RAINY DAY FUND B. IF RESIDENTS AREN'T SATISFED WITH ME
RUNNING THE CITY UNDER CESP, THEY CAN JUST LEAVE. THERE IS NO NEED TO
STUDY, JUST USE MY CESP. I ALREADY HAVE THE BEST COMPREHENSIVE PUBLIC
SAFETY PLAN, ITS CESP.