Oakland mayor race: Where Loren Taylor and Barbara Lee differ on big policies

There are nine candidates running for Oakland mayor, but two have garnered the most financial support and media attention: former Councilmember Loren Taylor and former Congresswoman Barbara Lee. Oaklanders will have a chance to vote for multiple candidates on April 15, but these two stand the greatest chance of winning.

Taylor and Lee have presented different visions of how they would approach the job of being mayor. While they agree on many things, at a recent debate, Lee emphasized her desire to unite people while Taylor talked about needing to fix a broken city. Taylor said the city needs to be self-sufficient while Lee said Oakland should demand its fair share of resources from the state and the feds. 

Those are the broad-stroke differences. On a more granular level, the candidates also diverge in key areas on the policies they’d like to pursue.

To get a clearer picture of what distinguishes the candidates from each other, we looked at their campaign websites, public statements, and media interviews. Here’s what we found.

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• Public Safety
• Oakland’s budget crisis and the local economy
• Homelessness and housing
• Government ethics, accountability, and transparency

Public Safety

Lee and Taylor share some similar ideas for how to make Oakland safer. They both want to fully staff the city’s 911 call center and continue funding the anti-gun violence program Ceasefire. They each embrace a public safety strategy that includes traditional police services along with violence intervention and prevention programs. 

However, their plans do have some noteworthy differences.   

Taylor and Lee both want to hire more police officers but disagree on the right number, and they’ve outlined different paths to increase staffing.

• Lee believes Oakland should hire up to 850 officers. But she said in an interview this would take a long time to implement. In questionnaires, Lee has said the city should rely on Measure NN to increase the force up to 700.  On her website, Lee said she wants to start a partnership with Merritt College to attract qualified candidates to OPD. She also wants Oakland to have housing options so first responders can live in the city.
• Taylor plans to bring OPD’s sworn staff to 800 officers. He wrote that he would do this by adequately budgeting for more police academies and by improving graduation rates and recruitment strategies. Taylor said he would also increase lateral hires from other departments and create a pathway for retired officers to return to work for OPD. At a forum, Taylor said the city needs to also focus on retention. 

Both candidates believe OPD’s policy on vehicle pursuits may need to change, although they haven’t shared many details.

• At a recent debate, Lee said, “maybe that policy needs to be revised,” adding, “We know people do get killed and hurt behind police chases, so I’m not saying get rid of it, but I think we need to come up with a framework that allows those who are coming into Oakland to know there’s a consequence for doing what they’re doing.”
• In a questionnaire, Taylor said he would advocate for “modifications of OPD’s pursuit policy to lessen restrictions on holding officers accountable.” In February, Taylor announced his “Smart Pursuit Plan,” which envisions the use of drones and other technology to aid police in vehicle pursuits. “Whether it be by an officer or drone, all crimes must be pursued,” Taylor said in a press statement.  

Lee and Taylor both say they support programs that provide a non-police response to some kinds of crisis situations, but they disagree about what to prioritize.

• In a recent social media post Taylor wrote “Either (MACRO) delivers on its mandate, we establish a new mandate it delivers to, or we cancel future investments.” In a questionnaire, Taylor said he wants to “refocus MACRO on its original purpose of offloading 911 calls from the OPD queue.” 
• In questionnaires and on her website, Lee has said she wants to expand “successful programs like MACRO” and mental health crisis response services. Lee also wrote that she’d like to explore shifting traffic enforcement away from armed officers in cases like minor infractions and continue pedestrian safety programs and street design improvements.

Oakland’s budget crisis and the local economy

Lee and Taylor share some views about Oakland’s finances and local economy. They agree it was a bad idea to tie the sale of the Oakland Coliseum to the city’s budget, and they both believe an expert should take a closer look at Oakland’s finances. They want to help small businesses by improving security in commercial corridors. They’re both firmly behind Measure A, the proposal to increase the rate of Oakland’s sales tax from 10.25% to 10.75%.

They both want to cut waste, rein in spending, and avoid relying on one-time funding. But they don’t agree on how to deal with the city’s employees, who have already borne dozens of layoffs.

• Taylor wants to restructure the city’s debt and refinance all of its loans to secure lower interest rates to free up funding. Taylor hasn’t specifically addressed layoffs, but said as mayor he is prepared to make “hard, necessary, and potentially unpopular choices” to help the city. At a recent forum, he said the city needs to have an “honest” conversation with its labor partners about personnel costs. 
• Lee said the city needs to manage its unfunded liabilities by “negotiating sustainable pension agreements” with the unions. She’s emphasized that “everything is on the table” in terms of potential cuts, but believes layoffs should be a last resort.  

Police overtime spending is one of the larger factors driving the budget deficit. Both candidates have talked about addressing it, but it’s unclear if they agree on a plan.

• At a recent debate, Lee vaguely said the city needs to “look at efficiencies within the police department, and where the overtime is not accounted for or transparent, we need to make sure we know exactly where those dollars are” and use technology to find more efficiencies. 
• Taylor said at the same event that if the city takes “the overtime that exists, if we apply that overtime to actual full-time employees, we will be able to compensate for a significant portion of the FTEs that we require.” That would require hiring more officers, which is hard to do.

Both candidates plan to drum up more revenue for Oakland. They also believe the city needs to chase philanthropic dollars and cut waste. But they differ on some other strategies.

• On his website, Taylor said he wants to partner with businesses to “define new investment opportunities and incentives,” apply for a bunch of grants, and “require every city department to contribute to revenue generation.” He also wants to “activate revenue potential of stagnant City of Oakland assets.” In a questionnaire, he referred to vacant buildings, under-utilized land, and “naming rights for some assets.” Taylor also said he would tell Oakland’s contractors and vendors to reduce their contract pricing by 10-15% if they want to continue working with the city. (On Taylor’s website he said he would renegotiate contracts greater than $5 million to generate a 6-8% reduction in spending). 
• In questionnaires, Lee has said she wants to use the state and national networks she built as a member of Congress to “drive investment” and secure additional state and federal funding. At a recent forum, Lee said the city needs to leverage funding from the Department of Veteran Affairs to support homeless vets. How this would work with the Trump administration and GOP cutting federal spending isn’t clear.

They both agree small businesses are important, and have promised to cut red tape and streamline permitting. But they have different strategies to help that part of Oakland’s economy. Taylor’s plans are more detailed.

• Taylor wants to create a dedicated OPD unit for retail and property crime and expand Oakland’s use of surveillance technology to address crime. Taylor has also proposed creating a “Business Concierge Service” to help business owners navigate city departments and permitting. He wants to end the business tax for businesses earning less than $1.5 million per year and create an “Economic Development Corporation,” which would try to bring new industries and companies to the city. Taylor has also said he would conduct an “aggressive campaign” to register unregistered small businesses and make sure the city is monitoring and communicating with companies about their needs.  
• In a questionnaire, Lee said she would “support small businesses, and attract responsible investment to develop Oakland’s economy.” Lee plans to leverage state and federal resources and “aggressively pursue grants, infrastructure funding, and emergency financial support.” Lee has also proposed creating an office of public and private partnerships to secure funding from the philanthropy and business sector. In another questionnaire, Lee said she would expand job training and apprenticeship programs.

Homelessness and housing

While both support services to help homeless people find housing and mental health care, Taylor plans to take a more aggressive approach than Lee when it comes to sweeping encampments.

• At a recent forum and in a questionnaire, Taylor said he plans to fully implement the city’s Encampment Management Policy, saying that “many” existing encampments need to be moved away from schools and businesses. Taylor plans to also publish a monthly report documenting progress. In a questionnaire for The Oaklandside, Taylor said he intends to establish “a legal and administrative solution” to stop encampments from appearing in highly sensitive areas.
• Lee has raised concerns about using enforcement efforts that displace homeless residents without ensuring there are places to house people. She has stressed that improvements should focus on faster access to shelters, more transitional housing, and better outreach on mental health issues. At a recent forum, Lee said she’s interested in exploring universal basic income and paying unhoused people to clean up blight. She also would like to make sure the city gets its “fair share” of dollars from Alameda County through Measure W, which is a county-wide sales tax approved by voters in 2020 to fund programs for unhoused people.

Lee and Taylor each have plans to build more housing in Oakland. They share an interest in streamlining permitting for new housing . But their strategies differ sharply in other areas.

• Lee says on her website that she wants to build 10,000 units of affordable housing in Oakland by 2030. She plans to raise money for housing by working with the Alameda County Board of Supervisors on a county-wide housing bond measure. Lee also wants to advance an “equitable capital investment framework” to prioritize housing development for extremely low-income people. And Lee plans to leverage her federal connections to help pass pending legislation, including the Family Stability and Opportunity Vouchers Act. This bill would offer more housing vouchers to low-income families with young kids. She also advocates for tenant protections. Lee has also promised to enforce Oakland’s rental control policies and ensure “landlords are held accountable for illegal evictions and rent gouging.” 
• On his website, Taylor said he wants to establish an investment fund that Oakland residents can pool money in to invest in affordable housing development projects. He has proposed reducing fees on affordable housing projects with deed restrictions for at least 55 years. Taylor also wants to end exclusionary zoning, establish a program to support emerging developers, and develop a fund for acquiring and preserving land. Taylor wrote that he will adequately fund and enforce tenant protections and fully support the Rental Assistance Program to help landlords. 

Government ethics, accountability, and transparency

The candidates have both promised to create mechanisms for holding elected officials and special interests more accountable. But they’re focusing on different areas and tools.

• In a questionnaire, Taylor said he would also “reinstate funding” for Oakland’s Public Ethics Commission, which has been hit with big budget cuts in recent years that have prevented the commission from investigating cases and implementing new programs like the “Democracy Dollars” initiative. Taylor wants to crack down on illegal lobbying by nonprofits and have them held to the same transparency standards as other organizations..This would force nonprofits to register and publicly report their interactions with politicians and city employees. Taylor also wants to publish “department-level performance management dashboards within 90 days” of taking office. 
• On her campaign site, Lee wrote that she wants to create a user-friendly portal to let the public examine city contracts. “Creating a portal so any Oaklander can view City contracts and key budget items would expand transparency.” In a questionnaire, Lee said the current ban on gifts to elected officials is “too loosely worded and should be strengthened to ensure no one is prone to influence.”

Both candidates support reviewing the City Charter to potentially make big changes to the powers and authorities of city government, but not for the same reasons.

• On her website, Lee said the current charter was first adopted in 1968 and that many people don’t know the mayor is not actually a member of the City Council who can only vote in the event of a tie. She said Oakland’s current “hybrid” form of government means that “lines of accountability to the public are not clear, and this needs to change.” Lee is also interested in clarifying the “lines of accountability between the City Administrator and elected Mayor.”
• In a questionnaire, Taylor said that as mayor he will “push forward a charter amendment to create an office of the controller” which would monitor Oakland’s finances.