Council Wants to Clone Youth UpRising
All Over Oakland

The Oakland city council plans to establish clones of Youth UpRising – an agency notorious for promoting sideshow culture and gutter rappers – all over the city. To pay for the centers, councilmembers may attempt to grab Measure Y money promised for more police.

Two City redevelopment officials wrote a memo about the city council's June 19, 2007 budget session. They reported, "Council District 7 (Reid) already has a teen youth center, Youth Uprising, and District 6 (Brook[s]) is proposing to buy a piece of property next [to] the Rainbow Recreational Center for a teen youth center, so the other council members proposed funding centers in their districts." (Gregory Hunter and Patrick Lane, July 11, 2007)

7 districts, 7 pieces of pork

An earlier story in the San Francisco Chronicle similarly noted, "Council members promised new teen centers in each of the city's seven council districts, which they touted as a way of reducing youth violence." (June 22, 2007)

According to a recent report from the city Department of Human Services DHS), in Sept. 2005 "staff was instructed to identify strategies to expend one time Measure Y carry forward monies. Specifically, staff was asked by City Council to examine the concept of teen centers..." (DHS report to council, May 22, 2007)

Measure Y money for "violence prevention programs" and fire stations has been spent. However, the City has been unable to hire even one of the 63 additional police that councilmembers promised in the 2004 campaign for Measure Y. They have their eye on grabbing this money for grants to social agencies. In addition, the council has taken Redevelopment funds for a teen center.

The DHS report says a " youth center is a physical center that offers programming to youth between the ages of 13 and 24 and operates, at a minimum, during after school hours. ... One of the best examples of a successful youth center is Youth UpRising (YU) in East Oakland." The report cites no evidence of success.

Apart from health checks and other noncontroversial services, Youth UpRising is notorious for supplying youth members to rapper E-40 when he made a music video glorifying sideshows, "Tell Me When to Go (Dumb)." Youth UpRising is notorious for welcoming gutter rappers Too Short and Mistah F.A.B. to counsel youth at its center. The City grants Youth UpRising more than $475,000 a year in Measure Y money plus another $175,000 from the Kids First fund.

Youth UpRising welcomes gutter rapper Too Short as a celebrity; he called himself a "career counselor." His music video "Blow the Whistle" includes these lyrics: What's my favorite word? B*TCH! Why they gotta say it like $hort? B*TCH! ... But these real h*es still know they gots to f**k Give a f**k n*gga what you say $hort Dog f**k with UGK

If councilmembers want to reach youth around the city, they could bolster City staff at the Recreation Centers. The council could do likewise at branch libraries, but instead it has failed to deliver the promised library at 81st Avenue and Rudsdale, one of the poorest parts of Oakland, for more than two years.

The Parks and Recreation department started a center in west Oakland at Campbell Village, but Oakland streets are so underpoliced, so dominated by thugs, that "due to turf issues, many young people will not travel" to it. (CEDA July 10, 2007 memo to council) City reports do not discuss how to guarantee security at the centers, a glaring omission considering the gang situation and the experience of a brutal attack last November at the Allendale Recreation Center.

Councilmembers prefer to privatize public services by making more grants to non-profit agencies. The City would buy buildings for them, as Brooks wants, or bring the agencies into City Recreation Centers. As for operational costs, at a center in west Oakland, "councilmember Nadel and several community organizations will work to secure additional funding (e.g., grants)," according to a July 10, 2007 CEDA memo to the council.

The management and staff of non-profit agencies see who makes the grants; they pay back the favor by supporting councilmembers and their schemes. In effect, councilmembers are building political machines in their districts at taxpayer expense, even casting a covetous eye at money that was supposed to hire more police!

The May 2007 report from DHS was not completely enthusiastic about youth centers, because deals had not yet been worked out with mayor Dellums. For example, the report notes with a negative tone, "While many youth centers [in some other cities] initially planned to serve a large age range of youth, they found that younger teens (ages 12-14) were more likely to use their facility."

"What works in one center is not easily replicated in another center." "Also, a center model open to all youth of a certain age cannot limit services only to those at high risk for violence." Furthermore, "youth centers are ... expensive to develop and operate. It is estimated that youth centers require $2,500 to $5,000 per youth per year to operate."

Meanwile, the city council refuses to acknowledge that Oakland needs at least 1,100 police if we are to restore peaceful streets. Instead, the council limits the police budget to a ceiling of 803 officers. Oakland has only 700-some police. On every day since Measure Y went into effect on Jan. 1, 2005, Oakland has had fewer police than when Measure Y was written.

While councilmembers gain, residents remain surrounded by danger and disruption. Struggling homeowners are asked to pay additional parcel taxes. Youth do not have their promised library at 81st Avenue, they are encouraged to admire gutter rappers, and saddest of all, they see the hypocrisy and scams of supposedly responsible civic officials.