It was only a matter of time before Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf found herself in the hot seat. Now, with one scandal after another plaguing the city and its police department, some community activists are calling on her to resign.
Members of Black Lives Matter and the Oakland Alliance/Oakland Justice Coalition made their weariness of Schaaf known during a protest outside the police department last Tuesday, with some of them demanding she step down immediately.
"It looks like everyone's going to go up in flames," said activist Carroll Fife. "I'm really embarrassed right now for the city."
Like the rest of us, Fife said she’s always waiting for the next shoe to drop.
And drop they do.
A grand jury report released Tuesday has concluded that City Council Member Lynette Gibson McElhaney violated conflict of interest rules and misused city resources in order to prevent a townhouse project next to her home.
The grand jury report comes on the heels of two separate scandals involving racist text messages, statutory rape, and members of the city’s police department. OPD has seen three chiefs in the past month and Schaaf has had to apologize for not properly vetting two of them before placing them in the position.
Meanwhile, the city council has been divided on the mayor’s performance. McElhaney has expressed her support. But Rebecca Kaplan, who lost to Schaaf in the 2014 mayoral race, criticized her for pursuing important decisions unilaterally, including placing the Oakland Police Department under the purview of City Administrator Sabrina Landreth.
In a statement Tuesday, Schaaf said she respects the rights of people to speak out against their elected officials, but vowed to keep fighting for a safer and more transparent Oakland.
Read more about the criticism against Mayor Schaaf here.
Image Credit: Flickr User jimratliff, https://flic.kr/p/asp7ZW via (CC BY 2.0)