I’m the opposite of a doom-looper. I believe that Oakland has the unparalleled talent, creativity and grit that can make us a spectacularly vibrant city.
But if we’re going to unlock that potential, Oakland first needs to crawl out its $140 million annual structural shortfall so we can fund basic city services like public safety, street paving and parks.
I believe the solution requires a change of culture. A culture of civil enforcement.
Oaklanders are often quick to reject the idea of enforcement, as it conjures painful memories of criminal enforcement practices that destroyed the lives of countless Black and Brown residents. But the enforcement of civil laws achieves the opposite — it protects the health and safety of our residents, while substantially growing our city’s revenue by recouping money owed to the city.
A prime example is parking and traffic enforcement. You know that moment when you’re parked on College Avenue and run back to feed the meter because you realize you’re on the Berkeley side of the city limit rather than in Oakland and are almost certain to be ticketed? Or when you contemplate zooming through a yellow light when there’s no traffic, but stop yourself because you remember you’re in San Francisco, where red-light cameras will promptly send a ticket to your door?
I’m tired of constantly hearing, “Well, that’s just Oakland,” at the sight of cars callously running red lights, parking in red zones, blocking pedestrian rights of way and illegally camping in disabled parking spaces. And I’m equally tired of leaving money on the table by failing to enforce these laws.
Last year, Oakland only collected $18 million in parking revenue. Within the last two decades, those numbers were substantially higher, but budget cuts over the years removed many of these revenue-generating jobs. For every $1 million spent on funding parking enforcement personnel and technology, the city generates $2 million in revenue.
Oakland’s Department of Transportation’s new director, Josh Rowan, has begun to hire more parking control technicians and maintenance staff (for context, we currently have 1,100 broken meters), expand hours of enforcement and encourage staff to proactively issue tickets, which wasn’t the case during the pandemic. These changes are already starting to produce more parking revenue.
The more we can enforce our civil laws, the more revenue we will be able to recover. There’s no doubt that fines for things like parking enforcement, unpermitted construction and littering are politically unpopular and straight up annoying. As a former public interest attorney representing indigent clients, I fully recognize that, despite the existence of payment plan options, parking tickets are not insignificant for our residents living paycheck to paycheck. But it’s a painful, temporary necessity to get our city out of our financial mess, and in turn fund the very programs that support our most vulnerable — like free food programs, senior centers and rental assistance.
The uptick of fines will be temporary if Oakland starts to cultivate a culture of respecting civil laws. Even when this source of revenue eventually declines, the benefits will continue, because that culture shift will lead to an environment that’s more conducive for both commerce and the mental health of our community members.
Oakland can’t afford to be lazy in our enforcement any longer if we want to thrive as a city. It’s time to do the work and send a clear signal to our communities that The Town is no longer a haven for rule-breakers.
Janani Ramachandran is an Oakland city councilmember and chair of the Oakland City Council Finance Committee.
