Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee is starting the last week of what has been a months-long series of events to gather feedback on possible ballot measures to reform the City Charter.
An event Monday was the first of three this week being held by Lee with the League of Women Voters of Oakland and the San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association, better known as SPUR.
It is part of the mayor’s Charter Reform Working Group, which is working in partnership with City Council president Kevin Jenkins and seeks to educate residents about the history of the City Charter and hear from them on ideas for how to improve it.
“The Charter is the framework for how Oakland’s city government operates. It lays out who holds power, how those officials operate and are held accountable, what rules govern city employees, and how essential municipal functions — budgeting, licensing, infrastructure, and elections — are all carried out,” the mayor says on her site about the reform efforts.
The mayor’s plan is for the working group, which was tasked with holding 15 events around Oakland, to provide recommendations to Lee and the City Council by January that could inform any potential ballot measures to be put in front of the city’s voters for the November 2026 election.
Monday’s event at the Richard C. Trudeau Conference Center included the council president Jenkins and Councilmembers Ken Houston and Janani Ramachandran.
Another event will be held Wednesday with Councilmember Carroll Fife at the DeFremery Recreation Center at 1651 Adeline St., and another will be held Saturday at 10 a.m. on Zoom.
People are asked to RSVP for any of the upcoming events.