Sheng Thao and her woke pals on the City Council are saying how proud they are of Oakland’s new budget. What they’re not talking about (because they’re ashamed of it) is how severely they’ve cut staffing at the Oakland Police Department.

Pamela Price, you might have heard, has instructed her deputy District Attorneys to avoid using so-called “enhancements” in charging criminals.

How dumb, you ask? Well, the state’s Democratic-controlled Legislature has put forth the Oregon Right to Rest Act [House Bill 3501], which discovers a Constitutional “right” to “use of and free movement within public spaces.” By this finding, the Legislature declares that anyone who lives in “a primary nighttime residence that is a public or private place not designed for or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings” is entitled to use that space. Moreover, “It is an unlawful practice for any person to deny, refuse, restrict or withhold from a person experiencing homelessness any of the rights listed in section 5 of this 2023 Act [House Bill 3501].” Any homeless person who feels “harassed” by anyone may sue for injunctive relief, including punitive damages, while any “aider or abettor” shall be “jointly and severally liable for all damages awarded…”.

Back in 2017, when Trump was running amok on social media, he was sued by seven people he had blocked on his Twitter account, who claimed Trump was in violation of the First Amendment. A series of lower courts agreed with the plaintiffs. The case eventually reached the U.S. Supreme Court, which Trump’s lawyers argued “should have the final word on where to draw the line between the President’s personal decisions and official conduct.” But the plaintiffs’ attorneys countered with the argument that “the president’s personal Twitter account ‘functions as an official source of news and information about the government, and as a forum for speech by, to, and about the President,’” and thus the public had a right to access that account.

Sheng Thao is out there cheerleading downtown’s nightlife: all those cool bars and clubs and restaurants. In her opinion, downtown is back, after the gloom of the COVID years. This rosy viewpoint is shared even by some members of our CBO family, who point to all the new buildings lining Broadway and adjacent streets as proof that downtown’s best days are ahead.