2025 City of Oakland
Resident Budget Priorities Survey
Fielded and presented by the Budget Advisory Commission February 26, 2025
Key Takeaways 3
Context 4
● Motivation
● Methodology highlights
Results 7
● Overall 8
● By District 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 28
Contents
2 1. Oaklanders are frustrated
a. Satisfaction living in the community has declined
b. Satisfaction with local government is at a record low
2. The community has three broad priorities: safety, housing, and cleanliness. a. These priorities are consistent across almost all demographic groups b. For safety and cleanliness, people are asking for basic services: fire protection; emergency responders that arrive in a timely manner; cleanup of graffiti / dumping.
3. People want values-aligned solutions to improve basic services (e.g., not a ‘police state’)
4. There is a generational difference in what to preserve in the budget, with youth often having different first priorities
5. The proposed sales tax is not a sure pass. Across all districts except D1, a greater share of respondents indicating they would not vote for the sales tax. Undecideds could flip the ratio.
Key Takeaways
3 Context
Motivation & Methodology Highlights
● Background
○ Mandated by Oakland’s Consolidated Fiscal Policy (Section 3, Part 1) ○ Due to budget constraints, the City did not have funding available for an outside consultant.
BAC members created and fielded the survey as volunteers. ○ Given the budget crisis, this survey is particularly important as city leadership must make difficult decisions.
● Goal: Provide the Mayor and City Council with useful information on community satisfaction, concerns, and priorities to inform difficult decisions for the FY 25-27 budget ● Design Objectives
○ Prompt hard choices: the city cannot afford everything, so what is most important? ○ Ask questions with person-centric framing, rather than city department-centric ○ Assume minimal understanding of how Oakland’s budget works ○ Include longitudinal questions to understand some changes over time ○ Reach out to all parts of Oakland’s diverse community Context on Oakland’s Biennial Budget Priorities Survey
5 Methodology Highlights
● Connecting with the community
○ 6,748 community members responded to survey, 5x the 1,270 polled in 2023. ○ Survey primarily administered online, plus in-person collection with people living outside ○ Conducted in 3 languages: English, Spanish, and Chinese ○ Incorporated input from other cities on how to best structure budget surveys ○ Collaborated with City departments and over 75 community organizations to increase reach across the Oakland community
● Analyzing the data
○ Like in previous budget polls, we used industry-standard weighting techniques to account for data bias due to self-selection / disproportionate representation of some populations ○ Overall results have ± 2% margin of error with 99% confidence interval; segmented results have variable higher margin of error due to smaller sample sizes ○ Sometimes percents add up to a 101 or 99 due to rounding error ○ Not all graphs are included; scan QR code or use link to code repository for full analysis code and all graphs
6 Results
Overall and by-district
Survey Respondent Demographics
Survey results included in this presentation for Oakland overall use weighted responses. Results for specific districts use raw counts and percentages.
8 (250-2k respondents each) (100-2k respondents each)
Overall
City of Oakland
9 Community satisfaction with life in Oakland is declining Q2: Generally speaking, how would you rate Oakland as a place to live? 10 Historical data sourced from
2023-2025 biennial budget
priorities poll
Historical data sourced from 2023-2025 biennial
budget priorities poll
Note: 2000-2018 Survey Language was “How would
you rate the overall job being done by Oakland City
government in providing services to the people who
live here: excellent, good, only fair or poor?“ 11
Frustration with city government is at a record high
Q3: Do you approve or disapprove of the overall job being done by Oakland City government in providing services to the people who live here? Representative Quotes: Frustration with Leadership
12 “The Oakland administration seems
more focused on virtue signaling
than addressing real issues.”
“We are watching closely, and not
adverse to recalling city council
members if they fail to deliver on their
fiduciary responsibilities to all of
Oakland versus just the few.”
“City leadership could do a
better job of managing current
funds and actually listening to
residents about our needs. “
“I would like to see council members
EFFECTIVELY manage a budget from a city
that has significant wealth. There is no reason
Oakland should be bankrupt while no
improvements to quality of life are being made.
Where is the money going?”
Q4: In the next two years, what are
the two most important issues facing
the city?
Two key themes prevail
throughout
13 1. Anxiety about safety*
2. Concern for homelessness and
affordable housing
Both issues are often connected with
comments around ‘blight’
* The word ‘public’ is used almost exclusively in conjunction with the work ‘safety’
People want basics delivered with care and respect
14 “I would like to see the city of Oakland prioritize affordable housing and homelessness as well as public safety and
violence prevention measures. Addressing the housing
crisis is critical, with funding for affordable housing initiatives needed in the coming years, as well as for
services for the homeless, including shelters, transitional housing, and mental health support.”
“Safety for all residents and visitors (e.g.,
decreasing crime without violating people
or using excessive force, helping those
with mental health and drug issues attain
care and support); improvements to the
infrastructure and supports (e.g.,
supporting homeless people, fixing
streets).”
“I would like to see basic city services, such as the fire departments and police, responsibly funded. Without establishing these basic services and imparting a sense of safety to the residents and business owners of Oakland, all other well meaning City Council agenda items are bound to waste precious funding and fail.”
The community is frustrated by a lack of response / enforcement, and feels powerless ● “We need to reduce crime. It's ridiculous how unsafe it feels to live in Oakland. I'm always worried about my safety and my property.” ● “The general feeling of a lack of safety that comes from prevalent evidence of property crime (broken glass everywhere) trash everywhere and just vibe of lawlessness. Keep our public spaces clean and functional.” ● “The crime is out of control! I am afraid to go anywhere in Oakland, and travel to Contra Costa County to shop and visit. I live in fear all the time I will be attacked.”
● “The two most important issues facing Oakland residents that I would like to see prioritized is our safety and Oakland police. Recently there has been some news of if crime doesn't involve any weapons then police won't come. And that is not making the Oakland residents feel safe at all…”
● Note: Over 50 specific mentions called for a reduction in response times. In contrast, phrases like ‘defund the police’ mentioned fewer than 10 times.
The community connects crime with a loss of business / public space vitality ● “Give me a place to shop, dine and spend my money in Oakland because I don't even feel safe going to my local favorite pizzeria (Diamond Slice) or drug store (CVS). My neighbors also feel the same- we drive out to Alameda to spend our money most of the time.” ● “The concept of crime should encompass littering and all associated forms of refuse, as well as the city's infrastructure like roads, sidewalks and beautification.”
● “Crime, specifically the crime that deters merchants: building smash ins, overt shoplifting. Homelessness and the blight it brings” ● “The message needs to be clear to criminals that crime will not be tolerated in Oakland. Then hopefully people will want to visit Oakland, live in Oakland and run businesses in Oakland.”
● “Aggressively pursue criminals that execute crimes that make Oakland unsafe, expensive to live in, or erode the basics of a decent quality of life. This includes not just violent crimes, but also personal (home, auto, etc) and business theft, even petty in magnitude…” Safety comments focus on two themes
15 Housing comments focus both on affordable housing and finding real solutions for people living outside
Affordable housing
● “We need to prioritize public housing and or funding land trusts that protect and provide affordable housing. The fear of houselessness, and the hours we work together survive are prohibitive to maintaining the balance we need to literally just live as long as we should.” ● “Support for the unhoused population and preventing people from losing housing, creative use of abandoned large construction projects and vacant or neglected commercial properties; e.g. 40th st @ Shafter.” ● “Affordable Housing and Homelessness: Oakland is facing a severe housing crisis, with a significant rise in homelessness and a lack of affordable housing options. Prioritizing funding to build more affordable housing, support homeless services, and provide resources for individuals experiencing homelessness is crucial to ensuring that all Oakland residents have access to safe and stable living conditions.” Treating people who are unhoused in a humane manner
● “Services for the poor, the homeless and immigrants. HUMAN SERVICES not criminalization.” ● “We need non-carceral Mental health services for unhoused residents, general non-carceral care services for unhoused residents.” ● “Stop the sweeps of homeless encampments, our unhoused residents deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.” Some connection between homelessness, crime, and blight, with a nod to ‘cleaning up the camps’ ● “The crime needs to be addressed and it needs to be a nice place to live. Not riddled with encampments and trash everywhere. It looks like a 3rd world country in some parts.”
● “The homelessness and addiction/ lack of rehab centers and how dirty the city is.” ● “1. regular ongoing clean up of trash and homeless/unhoused encampments; 2. increased police availability, presence, deterrence, and follow up.” 16
Safety and infrastructure maintenance are top concerns
Q5: Which of the following are most important to you to make Oakland a place you are happy to call home? Choose up to 3
17 Note: numbers add up to >100% because the percentages are of out of all respondents and respondents could choose up to 3 answers One level deeper…
● Feeling safe, clean streets, and effective emergency
responders were top 3 across most groups
● For some groups, affordable housing was more
important than emergency responders:
○ Youth under 18
○ Districts 3 and 5
○ Oaklanders without college degrees
18 Oaklanders see more blight and fewer safety resources Q6: In the last 5 years, how has Oakland’s budget most impacted your household and work? Choose up to 3
Note: numbers add up to >100% because the percentages are of out of all respondents and respondents could choose up to 3 answers One level deeper…
● Reduced maintenance and reduced public safety
were top-cited impacts across most groups
● Youth under 18 noticed affordable housing and food
access issues more
● D3 and D5 noticed reduced access to affordable
housing more
● D1 and D4 noticed reduced support for small
businesses more
Oaklanders support reduced police overtime and creative approaches to emergency response
Q7: For public safety, which of the following would you support reducing funding? 19 Themes from “Other” responses
● 70%+ reiterate the desire to use more civilian staff
● Some calls to ‘eliminate middle management’
● A few voiced not to cut funding at all given safety issues One level deeper…
● Prioritization was mostly aligned across groups
● Residents of D4 and respondents over 65 chose
increased use of civilian staff as #1 choice
20 Oaklanders prioritize keeping workforce training funds intact Q8: For economic growth...which of the following would you support reducing funding? One level deeper…
● Youth and residents of D1 and D3 would rather
reduce efforts to attract businesses than reduce
funding for cultural programs and art
organizations
Adults prioritize funding for good streets
Q9: For transportation...which of the following would you support reducing funding? 21 One level deeper…
● Prioritization largely the same across groups
with one notable exception
● Youth prioritize preserving accessibility and
safety of sidewalks more than preserving street
and traffic light improvements
Forced to make a choice, respondents would reduce
library funding
Q10: For youth and community investments... which of the following would you support reducing funding?
22 One level deeper…
● Mostly consistent prioritization order across
groups
● Residents of Districts 2 and 5 prioritize
maintaining parks more than youth
programming
Funding for encampment sweeps is not popular
Q11: For housing and homelessness investments...which of the following would you support reducing funding?
23 One level deeper…
● Residents of Districts 3 and 7 prioritize reducing
homeless sweeps as first choice
● Adults over 65 and residents of Districts 1, 2, 4,
and 6 opted to reduce funding for first-time
homebuyers as first choice
The sales tax proposal does not receive strong support
24 Q12: On the April 15 special election, you will be asked to vote on an increase on sales tax in Oakland from 10.25% to 10.75%. That's an extra 50 cents on a $100 purchase. This sales tax increase is expected to raise $20-$30M/year for the City of Oakland. Would you vote in support of this sales tax increase?
“City Council needs to make sure
that taxes are collected and that
departments that function to
collect revenue and taxes are
actually doing that before asking
residents for more money.”
Oaklanders want new
approaches to policing
and balancing the
budget
Q13: What are other ways that the City
could reduce expenses or increase
revenues?
25 Respondent themes for balancing revenue and expenses Q13: What are other ways that the City could reduce expenses or increase revenues? 26 Theme Themes / Sample Quotes
Reduce Police
Overtime & Find
Creative Ideas
● Themes: almost 100 comments about reducing police overtime ● “Safety (Police and Fire Departments, including Violence Prevention/Ceasefire etc) All of this while ideally reducing overtime, staying on budget: in other words an innovative approach to obtaining old-school goals. Safety for all.” ● “Transfer more OPD duties (and budget) that don't require a badge/gun to non-sworn staff allowing the city to hire up faster regardless of academies and at lower cost per employee.”
Consider
Progressive
Taxes
● Themes: over 60 comments about adding progressive tax structures ● “Make business tax rates progressive, progressive property transfer tax rates for high-value properties, introduce progressive-rate city income tax for those working in Oakland.”
Responsible
Budget
Management
● “Improve parking law enforcement. Increase police enforcement of traffic laws, fix it tickets, permit and street cleaning enforcement. The city does a poor job of enforcing existing revenue screens. I have never gotten a parking ticket in Oakland.” ● “Pass a balanced budget. The Budget management (including the prospective sale of the Coliseum) was so poorly thought through.” Leverage
Businesses to
Help
● “Get out of the way of business - make it easier to open businesses or build housing by streamlining and reducing permits…for health and safety. Listen to businesses and make reforms that will help them stay in business and generate tax revenue for the city.” ● “Many businesses have left due to crime. People are afraid to come spend money in Oakland because of crime. Oakland offers so much but it needs to be safe before people and businesses will spend money here.” Other Cut
Suggestions
● Themes: MACRO, city management numbers / salaries, unions, police as mentioned above. ● “Cut out all spending increases that came from federal COVID funds. Reverse all salary increases going back to 2020. Restructure pension programs so that it is defined contribution.”
● “Flatten / eliminate administration levels. Freeze pay increases for 3 years, after that pay can't go up more than cost of living average.” ● “Cut non-profit funding, cut payroll and union benefits. Cut all discretionary spending for pet programs and focus on BASIC SERVICES!” City/BAC Collaboration Opportunities and Next Steps
27 Continued community engagement
● The BAC will share survey results with the community through in-person and online forums ● It’s important for the City to increase community outreach to: youth (<18), sub-baccalaureate residents, and Districts 5 and 7
Finding solutions together
● The BAC has committees researching creative solutions for public safety, housing, and long-term liabilities
● The BAC is actively recruiting members with experience in community listening, labor, legal, finance.
We have 8 openings and there are at least 17 applications in the pipeline for Council recommendations and Mayoral appointees.