Volume 24, Issue 3 | Winter 2024 Newsletter (December 2024)

Dear Friends and Fellow Oaklanders:

My service as your City Attorney since July 2011 is coming to a close. Precisely at 10:59 a.m. on January 6, 2025 my third term as Oakland’s elected City Attorney will end. My dedicated and excellent team and I are continuing our work protecting the rights of all Oaklanders as well as ensuring that the transition to our new City Attorney is seamless. As you know, on November 5th Oakland voters decisively elected Ryan Richardson, who has ably served as Chief Assistant City Attorney, second in command, in our office and will take the helm of the Office when I step down.

It has been the greatest honor and privilege of my legal career to serve as your City Attorney for nearly 14 years and as Chief Assistant City Attorney for more than ten years before the Council appointed me to complete the term of Oakland’s first elected City Attorney. I have served as a Senior Deputy City Attorney, Supervising Deputy City Attorney, Chief Assistant City Attorney and as your City Attorney over the course of more than 33 years – a third of a century! The law is a powerful tool, and I am proud to have been vested with the power to use the law to improve our community and to protect and advance the rights and interests and quality of life of all Oaklanders.

This newsletter (1) provides a few highlights from my nearly 14 years in office; (2) reminds multi-family property owners to file a claim for a recycling fee refund from CWS by the January 12th deadline; and (3) describes a few of our office’s recent legal successes. My last newsletter fittingly wraps up with a spotlight on Ryan. I know he will continue our office’s legacy of professionalism, integrity, and commitment to advance and protect the rights and the best interests of the residents of our great and progressive City of Oakland without fear or favor.

Also, please be sure to take a look at the just-released Oakland City Attorney’s Office annual report for Fiscal Year 2023-2024.

Although I am leaving the office, I will be cheering for Oakland and continuing my civic engagement as we navigate 2025 and beyond.

I wish you joy and a spiritually uplifting holiday season and new year.

Reflections on Oakland City Attorney Barbara J. Parker’s Career and Legacy in the City Attorney’s Office

Barbara J. Parker is stepping down on January 6, 2025, at the end of her third, four-year term as Oakland City Attorney. She served as acting City Attorney in May and June of 2011, and the Council appointed her to complete the term of Oakland’s first elected City Attorney in July of 2011. Oaklanders subsequently elected Ms. Parker to a full, four-year term in November 2012 and elected her to second and third, four-year terms in November 2016 and 2020. Ms. Parker is the first African American woman elected to citywide office in Oakland. She is heartened to see Oakland voters elect a second African American woman to citywide office in November 2024.

During nearly 14 years as Oakland’s City Attorney, Ms. Parker made great strides in advancing civil rights and legal protections for Oakland residents. The Office’s Affirmative Litigation, Enforcement and Innovation Division, which Ms. Parker launched in 2016, has engaged in litigation against chemical polluters, Big Oil, opioid manufacturers and distributors, predatory and racially discriminatory banks, lead paint manufacturers, and local landlords who violated tenant protection laws. She crafted and co-sponsored laws and policies to advance and protect the rights of Oakland residents. In the last six years the Office’s affirmative work brought $56.2 million dollars to the City. These legal victories provided funds for the City to clean up PCBs (“forever chemicals”) from Oakland’s waterways, to support opioid abatement efforts, and to remove lead paint from housing, among many other actions. Throughout her tenure, Ms. Parker stood up for the rights of tenants, as well as the rights of residents who are Black, Indigenous and other people of color. See the August 2023 press release for more information regarding Ms. Parker’s family, professional background and career, awards and honors, and successes in office.

January 12, 2025 is the Last Day for Property Owners to Claim Refunds for Recycling Service Overcharges

Many owners of multi-family rental properties in Oakland are eligible for a refund of recycling service overcharges, under the terms of the settlement of the City’s lawsuit against California Waste Solutions (CWS). The company dramatically and unfairly overcharged these property owners during the 2010s. The settlement requires CWS to reduce its charges for recycling services to the appropriate contract rate. It also requires the company to reimburse multi-family residential property owners for the excessive charges, but these property owners must file a claim to obtain their refund.

Eligible property owners should have received a notice in the mail earlier this year, but many eligible claimants have not yet filed a claim. Some property owners are due refunds up to $125,000. Accordingly, please take the time to file a claim. The process is straightforward. Property owners who believe they may be eligible for a refund can call 1-833-493-1547 for more information or to request another claims form. See our October press release for more details and note that the deadline to file a claim, January 12, 2025, is fast approaching.

Recent Legal Successes: New Affordable Housing and an End to Nuisance Evictions

With the advice and legal counsel of the City Attorney’s Office team, two significant affordable housing projects are now moving forward in Oakland.

12th Street Remainder Housing Project

East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation, The Unity Council and Jordan Real Estate Investments are co-developing a six-story, mixed-use project with 91 units of affordable housing on a portion of the City-owned 12th Street Remainder property pursuant to a Lease Disposition and Development Agreement and a Ground Lease. The financing closed on March 19th, 2024. The property, previously a public right-of-way, was created in 2011 as a result of the reconfiguration of 12th Street as part of the City’s Lake Merritt Park Improvement/12th Street Reconstruction Project funded by Measure DD. The affordable housing project is one of the first awarded Oakland Measure U projects to commence construction. The affordable units in the building will range from 20% to 60% Area Median Income, with 25% of the units set aside as permanent supportive housing for formerly homeless households.

3050 International Mixed-Use Project

Satellite Affordable Housing Associates and Native American Health Center (NAHC) through affiliates are developing a five-story, mixed-use project with 76 units of affordable housing and a health center and cultural space on City-owned land located at 3050 International Boulevard pursuant to a Lease Disposition and Development Agreement and two separate Ground Leases. The financing closed on March 1st, 2024. The ground floor space will be used for the expansion of existing NAHC facilities and will include a medical/integrated behavioral health and dental clinic; women, infants and children services; and a community/cultural center. A portion of the ground floor and floors two to five will consist of affordable housing ranging from 20% to 80% Area Median Income for families, and will include a community room for residents.

Oakland Ends Nuisance Evictions

In December, the Oakland City Council repealed a twenty-year-old ordinance that empowered city officials to require landlords to evict tenants who were involved in illegal activity on or near their homes. In a memo from the City Attorney to the City Council, City Attorney Parker recommended that the City Council repeal The Eviction for Nuisance and Illegal Activity Ordinance in its entirety. The recommendation aligns with a state law that prohibits cities from enforcing such policies, but also noted concerns that Oakland’s law – like similar ordinances that were in place throughout the state – had a discriminatory impact on Oaklanders of color. The City Council approved the recommendation and repealed the ordinance at its December 3rd, 2024 meeting.

City Attorney Team Spotlight:

Ryan Richardson, Chief Assistant City Attorney and Incoming City Attorney

Ryan Richardson currently serves Oakland as our Chief Assistant City Attorney and is part of our Executive Management Team. He will be sworn in as Oakland’s newly elected City Attorney on January 6th, 2025.

“Ryan has been an extraordinary partner in advancing the work of our office. I am proud of Ryan’s leadership and accomplishments, and I am confident that he will build upon the progressive legacy of our office, the integrity of our office, the diversity of our office, and also chart his own course. I am excited to pass the baton to Ryan because he will continue to work diligently to serve all Oaklanders as our new City Attorney, just as he has for the past ten years in his roles as Chief Assistant City Attorney, Special Counsel and Supervising Deputy City Attorney of the Labor and Employment Unit.” – City Attorney Barbara J. Parker

Ryan received his undergraduate degree from Howard University, one of our country’s most renowned Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), and earned his law degree from University of Southern California (USC) Law School. He began his legal career at the Jones Day law firm, then founded his own law firm, where he represented employees against Fortune 500 employers in harassment, discrimination, wrongful termination, retaliation and wage-hour litigation. He also taught as an adjunct professor at USC Law School.

Ryan has been working for the City of Oakland for more than a decade. He initially was an analyst in the City’s equal employment office, working on labor negotiations, police accountability efforts, and other matters. Ryan’s work helped to strengthen the Police Commission, Community Police Review Agency, and Office of the Inspector General. As the head of our Office’s Advisory Division, Ryan now oversees all Oakland City Attorney advisory teams and serves as the primary parliamentarian at City Council meetings.

Congratulations on your electoral victory, Ryan! We look forward to seeing you in action in your new capacity as Oakland’s elected City Attorney.