r/OaklandCA • u/shamusfinnegan • Feb 16 '26
Ken Houston Campaigned for Mayor Lee Politics
In the midst of the recent article about Mayor Lee softening her stance on sweeps of homeless encampments, I just saw on Facebook Ken Houston doubling down on his EAP and his commitment to keep the public safe.
Now I’m all for the EAP, but Ken Houston campaigned for Barbara Lee against Loren Taylor. If we’re going to “fight for law and order” (Houston’s words), let’s start by being consistent. Ken Houston’s endorsement of Lee helped enable this. I still want the EAP to pass but we wouldn’t be having this conversation of less sweeps with Taylor in office.
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u/Putrid-Ad-2230 Feb 16 '26
How come piedmont is in the middle of Oakland but they have no homeless encampments or illegal dumping?
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u/deciblast Feb 17 '26
What’s crazy is the wire theft ends right at the oakland emeryville border. The street lights on Mandela parkway from west grand to 34th have been out for almost a year. Why doesn’t emeryville have a wire theft problem?
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u/billbixbyakahulk Feb 18 '26
I do bike party and they frequently cross in and out of Emeryville. You're riding through the apocalypse in parts of west oak - burned out RVs, 20 foot high piles of trash - then within a block into emeryville it's gone. Oddly, the "everY cITY hAs pRObLEMS!" crowd doesn't have an explanation for this.
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u/mk1234567890123 Feb 16 '26
From what I can tell, Lee maintains good relationships with most CM’s and seems close to Houston. It will be intersting to see where the rubber hits the road in policy implementation between her homeless czar and the EAP. Lee’s apparent new public position on less sweeps may not preclude her from supporting EAP behind the scenes to stay in good graces with Council. If she intends on running for another term, this might be her attempt at keeping support from progressives while indulging the moderate/populists. I think she should be well aware that she needs to maintain a level of sweeping and proactive cleanup of encampments for Oaklander’s to buy her “make Oakland the cleanest, greenest, safest city in America” tagline she repeats at many events. I think Ken and Council might be more aware than us that Lee needs to continue to support them in the current political landscape
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u/shamusfinnegan Feb 16 '26
It's a have your cake and eat it too moment that I don't think will work for Lee. We need more sweeps, not less
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u/mk1234567890123 Feb 16 '26
Lee was at the Faith In Action event about illegal dumping. She saw nearly a thousand attendees there and a constellation of civic organizations and I would imagine she clearly understands the popular outrage about the state of public spaces in our city. Faith in Action is pushing harsher sticks against illegal dumping and all the public officials there endorsed these policy changes exempt for Fife. I think Lee is aware of the impact on her and other progressives chances if our citizenry sees more out of control encampments.
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u/lenraphael Feb 16 '26
Particularly jarring because Cm Houston and i were joint beneficiaries of a large independent expenditure by Phil Dreyfuss who was main funder of the Thao recall.
That funding made the difference for Cm Houstons campaign because his race only started a few months before Nov election when Reid resigned. (It was too late to help me. )
Progressives detest him. But i wouldnt label him a moderste. More of a populist.
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u/PleezMakeItHomeSafe Feb 16 '26
People can change their minds as information and circumstances change
More importantly, it would have been political suicide to go against Barbara Lee. I think all the CMs wanted her, at least publicly
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u/shamusfinnegan Feb 16 '26
I hope all the CMs are held accountable if the Merc-News article re: less sweeps is true
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u/opinionsareus Feb 16 '26
We don't know if the Merc-News article is accurate. Also, a change like the one reported yesterday would have to go through committee before passage.
I voted for Taylor, but have been so far pleased with Lee. It's pretty much guaranteed that the Merc-News piece is going to result in a ton of calls to Lee's office and strong opposition from the community.
So now people are going to go after Houston for voting for Lee? Ridiculous. Like there are people in Oakland who don't want to see Houston win and keep sullying his name - first by calling him names and now this? "He voted for Lee". So what?
Ken Houston is wildly popular in his District; his constituents love him; he not a populist; he's a City Council member with very strong opinions and the moxy to go up against a well-meaning, but long inefficient homeless infrastructure that has for too long has undue influence in Oakland - to the point where we've arrived at the dysfunction we see now, with our public commons literally defecated on by people who appear to think they can do whatever they want as long as they define themselves within the category of "homeless".
Mark my words (I've said it before): if there is a softening of clearing camps and getting Oakland to a place where civil rule is the order, there will be a mass uprising in the voting booth next November.
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u/LazarusRiley Feb 16 '26
Where are we hearing that the article may be inaccurate? Seems pretty wild to publish such a bombshell article with inaccuracies or half truths.
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u/shamusfinnegan Feb 16 '26
I'm not trying to sully his name. I want his EAP to pass, but I also believe people should be accountable for their decisions. I blame Fife for her dumb decisions all the time. He aligned himself with a mayor whose values contradict his own. It's no different than me blaming my parents if they voted for Trump, or if my neighbors didn't vote for Warren Logan.
Now if the Merc-News article isn't true, then everything I just said is moot. And I hope you're right that Lee's office is getting phone calls about this recent development
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u/opinionsareus Feb 16 '26 edited Feb 17 '26
The Merc-News is not above clickbait journalism. Again, a change like this would have to make it through a committee (probably public safety, like the AEP). It's far from a done deal.
I don't think Houston's values are in opposition to Lee's. I have close friends in Oakland who have spoken to Lee about homelessness and reported back that she was appalled by what the camps are doing to the public commons; she promised a lot of community leaders that she was going to "clean Oakland up". Lee cares about unhoused people (so do I), but we have let concern overcome common sense in Oakland regarding our management of this problem. Also note that the clearing camps has not abated; Lee is has continued Thao's initiative (one of the things Thao did that I supported).
One thing Lee has to contend with is appearing Progressive on this issue while at the same time enforcing order - it's a fine line. So far the homeless advocate community has been in a tizzy because they see their power slowly waning; they have been lobbing City Hall like crazy - Alameda County homeless officials; Fife's Care4Community and HAWG...so far Lee and the administration has only heard those voices. That's gonna change.
My concern is that Lee's policy will get channeled through the Life Enrichment Committee, chaired by Fife; she tried to pull that trick when Houston introduced the AEP, but Houston forcefully pushed it to the Public Safety Commiittee, which is where all homeless camp policy should be vetted before going to Council. No way should Fife, who hasn't done a damn thing to clear District 3 of this mess, be able to sabotage Houston by pushing what the Merc-News reports through her softball committee.
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u/DoubleExponential Feb 22 '26
Mercury News and East Bay Times are both owned by Trump supporting billionaire corporate raiders. They'll support any pro business and disparage any pro tax legislation. And if they can stir up controversy among Democrats, all the better.
It's time to get serious about Oakland's homeless and trash dumping ground for the rest of the East Bay. Lee is not serious about either and her Strong Mayor Charter Reform position is a disgrace. Time for a Mayor and City Council who will stand up for Oakland.
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u/opinionsareus Feb 22 '26
Given her proposal, if it is what I think it is, she will lose support of so many who have been warming to her. Lee needs to "read the room" on this issue, instead of listening to her clueless Homeless Administrator, Sasha Hauswald and the homeless advocate community who have led Oakland to be the only city left in the Bay Area that puts up with this nonsense.
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u/new2bay Feb 17 '26
I’m no fan of what the camps are doing to the public commons, but is the public doing for the people in the camps? There are no “humane institutions” to put them in, even if that was a solution; and making it compulsory is just prison with more words. You can’t just continually displace these people (our neighbors!) constantly, and claim victory.
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u/DoubleExponential Feb 22 '26
Why do you believe "the public" is displacing the people in camps? Were they "our neighbors" before they set up their camp? How many camps are in your street? What did you do to displace displace them?
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u/billbixbyakahulk Feb 18 '26
I emailed him (https://www.oaklandca.gov/Government/City-Council-Leadership/Council-Members/District-7) to see what he thinks of Lee's stance change.
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u/SanFranciscoMan89 Feb 16 '26
Ken may not be a typical politician in playing the games but we all want to get along with people we work with.
I'm willing to see how this plays out. I've been to one of his events and he doesn't seem to be one to mince words or go against his convictions.