Oakland's Leaders Keep Failing Upward — Now They Want a 125% Raise

After losing the Raiders, Warriors, and A’s over 13 years, Oakland can’t even offload the empty Coliseum. The Oakland Acquisition Company agreed to buy the county’s 50% stake for $125 million but has blown past every payment deadline. Council President Kevin Jenkins is now calling for an emergency joint meeting with county supervisors — echoing a 2013 session that was supposed to launch ‘Coliseum City.’ Back then they had three teams. Now they have zero and a deal falling apart.

Oakland’s property crime rate is the worst in America — double San Francisco’s, triple San Jose’s — and OPD solves just 0.5% of cases, one-fourteenth the peer city average. The department is down to 509 sworn officers, the fewest per crime of any major U.S. city. Flock cameras helped cut carjackings 66%, but no amount of technology fixes a staffing crisis this deep.