San Francisco Chronicle Covers the Oakland Charter Reform Project
A Big Week for Oakland Charter Reform
The Oakland Charter Reform Project had a great week, spectacularly capped off by the publication of this in-depth article in the San Francisco Chronicle by Senior Political Writer Joe Garofoli that spotlights our work.
High-Level Meetings with Key Stakeholders
Earlier in the week, we met with Mayor Barbara Lee, Councilmembers Kevin Jenkins and Janani Ramachandran, and other civic leaders, including Fred Blackwell of the San Francisco Foundation.
As a reminder, Mayor Lee identified charter reform as one of her top ten campaign priorities. In her "Plan for the First 100 Days in Office," she pledged to:
At Monday’s meeting, Mayor Lee reaffirmed that improving Oakland’s city charter remains a top priority. She emphasized the need for a broadly inclusive process that draws input from residents across the city—hence the formation of a task force that will hold public meetings to collect community feedback.
Next Steps: Launch the Task Force
In the Chronicle article, Councilmember Ramachandran announced her intent, within the next two weeks, to “introduce a resolution to create that task force, which will spend months gathering community input all over Oakland and creating a reform plan to put on the June 2026 ballot.”
We’re making progress!
+++
Posted Jun 23, 2025, 4:24 AM UTC