Councilmember Jean Quan
By'Julie'Scheff''''

Oakland Councilmember Jean Quan is a longtime advocate for children and public schools. But now she feels compelled to try to repeal new bulked-up after-school program funding in Oakland that voters approved just three months ago (Proposition OO).

City Councilmember Jean Quan at a Fremont High Lady Tigers’ home game on January 5. Left to right: Crystal Clark, Michelle Foketi, Quan, Coach Katinka Partridge, and Ashlee Woods. (See Maxwell Park News.) Photo by Pat Patterson.

It may come as a surprise that Quan would take this position. Quan said voters did not fully understand how much money they were allocating at the expense of other needed programs. Previous financing levels for after-school programs were sufficient, says Quan. Nonetheless, Proposition OO doubles and then triples after-school fundings.

"In three years the budget for after-school programs will be $17 million—more than the entire budget for the Parks and Recreation Department," says Quan.

Quan stated this opinion in a far-ranging two-hour interview with the Metro. Besides decrying Proposition OO for budget busting, she recounted a dizzying list of her office's accomplishments since she took office in 2003 as Councilmember for District 4.

Among some of the accomplishments that Quan mentioned: her campaign to save the libraries (Proposition Q) and getting funding to kick-start the Laurel neighborhood's Business Improvement District. Her Web site, jeanquan.org, and a weekly e-newsletter detail many more feats as well as current projects.

As the chair of the finance committee, Quan has a close-up view of the city's budget problems. With the city's current $50 million deficit, money is tight. Already the city has cut five percent from its staffing. She has felt the pinch personally. When she came back from the two-week closure of city offices over the holidays, 5,000 emails awaited her.

Quan warns that budget shortfalls will likely result in more garbage and litter in the parks. She points to the likelihood of cuts to shuttles that allow seniors to get out into the community from their homes at Lincoln Court, the Altenheim, and other senior homes. "I dread to think of what's next," she says.

She worries that the budget crisis could undo some of her previous successes. Earthquake preparedness in Oakland could be imperiled. In 2007, she initiated a program to give first-time homebuyers up to $5,000 to earthquake-retrofit their homes. Between 50,000 and 60,000 homes and 15,000 lives could be lost in a big earthquake, she says.

More budget friendly is the work of neighborhood volunteers. This month Quan celebrates her fifth annual "Local Heroes" event, a ceremony that pays tribute to the movers and shakers of her neighborhoods.

Quan says she devotes "massive amounts of staff time" to supporting the work of neighborhood organizations that are trying to improve their neighborhoods. As she looks to her remaining term, Quan says she will continue to support neighborhood activism. She also wants to tackle some of the city's deep-seated structural problems with the budget. Playing more of a role in national lobbying on the city's behalf is also on her agenda.

A vexing problem she hopes to begin to tackle is the city's health-care costs, which could bankrupt the city's pension program. She hopes relief might come from the new president.

Quan is hopeful that the Obama Administration's Economic Stimulus Package may include $30 million for the city of Oakland. Those funds could put hundreds of people to work fixing sewers, sidewalks, and streets. She is part of a group lobbying the Obama Administration to include Head Start in its economic stimulus package, which could free up $2 million of Oakland's budget.

Quan has gone to Washington with Mayor Ron Dellums to lobby on behalf of the city. Despite local criticism of Dellums, she says he is well connected in the state house and in Congress, and is great at working across party lines. She points to his closeness to Governor Schwarzenegger, and credits Dellums with creating a new city and state model partnership. That program will devote state resources across 400 blocks of Oakland. For instance, California Highway Patrol may increasingly handle traffic issues, freeing up the Oakland Police Department to handle crime.

Her increased role in lobbying is consistent with her future ambitions. She said that she would consider running for State Assembly or mayor of Oakland if Ron Dellums does not run again.

(District 4 stretches from the hills of Montclair to the flatlands of the Melrose. Quan roughly represents the Metro's circulation area. Ignacio De La Fuente, D5, Desley Brooks, D6, and Rebecca Kaplan, at-large, also represent parts of the Metro area).

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Julie Scheff is a Laurel resident and a realtor specializing in first-time home buyers. See her workshop announcement in the Calendar for February 7.