A group of Oakland residents is getting ready to submit a notice of intention to begin the recall effort of Mayor Sheng Thao. It’s the first step to try to get the mayor out of office.
Residents say they’re fed up with not only crime in the city of Oakland, but the lack of a police chief, the recent shooting of Officer Tuan Le, and the city dropping the ball on the grant to combat retail theft.
Organizers and volunteers who are pushing for the recall were in the city’s Montclair neighborhood Thursday night, the area that Thao used to represent as a council member. They need a few hundred signatures to submit the notice of intention, and people showed up.
“I feel that Mayor Thao is derelict in her duties as a leader,” said Oakland resident Sean Parkin.
Parkin says he has lived in Oakland for 15 years and also owns a commercial property near Jack London Square.
“Our commercial building has been burglarized I think five times in 2023, and it cost us a really significant amount of money each time,” he said.
Parkin volunteered to collect signatures. He posted on sites, including Nextdoor and X, that he would be in the Montclair neighborhood, and one by one residents showed up, including Loretta San Souci.
“I think people have just about had it," she said. "They can’t tolerate this anymore. We’ve got our small businesses that are suffering. They keep getting attacked over and over again. Different communities are getting attacked over and over again, the most vulnerable."
NBC Bay Area looked at some of the statistics in Oakland in recent years.
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According to the recent stats, robberies increased by 38% from 2022 to 2023, while burglaries increased by 23% and motor vehicle thefts increased by 45%.
NBC Bay Area reached out to Thao’s office Thursday for comment but did not hear back.
Organizers said they need 250 signatures to submit the notice of intention. They said they have more than enough.
The notice of intention is just the first step in the long process, but it seems like that process is underway. Organizers plan on submitting it on Friday.
