Latest news with #KevinJenkins
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
2025 Law Enforcement Torch Run for Special Olympics in Kinston
KINSTON, N.C. (WNCT)– Law enforcement in Kinston is spreading awareness for the special Olympics with their annual Torch of Hope Run today through the city. 40 runners with Lenoir County sheriff's office and Kinston PD running from Fairfield park to the Caswell Center passing the torch to Special Olympics athletes. This continues the tradition of law enforcement's commitment of inclusion and support for people with disabilities. 'Me from working in Kinston I saw the need for this awareness with our special needs population so it is very passionate to me and i took advantage of that and started participating in the torch run,' Kinston Police Department Major Kevin Jenkins said. He added 'Just to see the excitement once we reach Caswell center with the special needs population and see how excited they are for us to be a participant and a part of this and to see them join our run once we head to the chapel on Caswell center property.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Oakland Fire to operate all fire stations for first time in 20 years
The Brief City leaders say the sale of the Oakland Coliseum has made it possible to temporarily open all of Oakland's fire stations. It's the first time in 20 years all 25 fire stations have been open. The 25 stations will remain open through the end of the fiscal year, which is June 30. OAKLAND, Calif. - For the first time in more than two decades, every firehouse in Oakland will be open, making sure every corner of the city is fully covered in time for the start of wildfire season. How It Happened City leaders told KTVU the Oakland Coliseum sale made this happen. Interim Mayor Kevin Jenkins said the Joint Powers Authority, or JPA, which financially partners the city with Alameda County, and the sale of the Coliseum, is responsible for $2.5 million needed to open all 25 of the fire stations temporarily. The backstory Stations 28 and 25 in the Oakland hills, as well as Station 10 near Grand Lake were shut down, leaving neighboring fire companies to take on the workload. "They've done a lot of additional work, a lot of additional calls to make sure our residents are well taken care of even during the brownouts," said Fire Chief Damon Covington. "At Station 25, less than 8 hours after it was closed on January 6, there was a call for CPR nearly as far as I could throw a rock from here," said Seth Olyer, the president of the firefighters union Local 55. In mid-January, just down the street from Station 28 in Chabot Park, a house fire erupted and firefighters were delayed in arriving. During the Keller Fire last October, when resources were well-aligned, it was the opposite impact. "It made the difference between that fire not only growing larger and larger but saving dozens of lives and tens of millions of dollars in property," said Olyer. By the numbers The national standard for response times is four minutes or fewer, 90% of the time. "We've missed those quite a bit because of these closures," Olyer said, "But I'm hopeful for the future." Chief Covington also noted the fire department is well-prepared for wildfire season thanks to the passing of Measure MM, which provides more funding for vegetation management. Stations 28 and 25 will be open starting Sunday. Station 10, which has been closed due to renovations, will reopen after those renovations are complete in the next couple of weeks. What's next All 25 stations will stay open until the end of the fiscal year, which is June 30. The council decides what happens after that. Mayor Jenkins recently submitted a budget proposal that will keep all but one station open for the next fiscal year.
San Francisco Chronicle
11-05-2025
- Politics
- San Francisco Chronicle
Letters: What would Oakland do with more property tax money? Waste it like always
Regarding 'Property tax hike proposed by Oakland's interim mayor to patch budget gap' (East Bay, May 6): Oakland Interim Mayor Kevin Jenkins wants us to pay more property taxes. No way! Our household income last year was $85,000. Property taxes, at $674 per month, are our largest bill. For decades, we have watched the city fritter money away on consultants and things like the abominable Downtown Oakland Specific Plan. Streets have bicycle lanes where no one rides bikes, while up on Skyline Boulevard, the cavernous potholes maim cyclists, who can now sue the city. And how about the 'traffic calming' reconfiguration of Telegraph Avenue in the Temescal District? Were the transportation planners who designed that mess microdosing on something? How much tax money went to the hated Bus Rapid Transit infrastructure on International Boulevard? A recent UC Berkeley study found that this bad planning has resulted in 35 fatal accidents and economic losses to small businesses. We are fortunate to own our house. Many of Oakland's residents are renters who figured that they could stick it to homeowners by voting to increase property taxes. But, of course, landlords pass this on by increasing rents, which decreases affordability in Oakland. We have great confidence in Mayor-elect Barbara Lee. But she should not count on the largesse of her house-poor Oakland citizenry. Amelia Marshall, Oakland Mother's Day reminder Mother's Day evokes joy for many; it carries a deep and painful significance for me. I lost my son Eric to an overdose on Nov. 23, 2022, just three weeks shy of his 32nd birthday. His loss is part of a tragic statistic: about a million lives have been lost over the past decade to overdoses, all preventable deaths. For far too long, society has responded to substance use disorders with stigma and punishment rather than compassion and understanding. Harsh drug laws are ineffective, costly and steeped in systemic racism. Criminalization fills our prisons without addressing the root issues faced by those struggling with substance use disorders. We must advocate for expanded access to evidence-based health strategies that have proven effective in saving lives. This includes making medications for opioid use disorder more widely available, increasing harm reduction services and ensuring that the overdose-reversing drug naloxone is distributed across all communities. Cara Wykowski, Oakland While not wishing to wax too rhapsodic about the San Francisco Giants, in these screwy times, baseball is a grand way to forget about it all for a few hours. To see a grand slam, a guy steal third or the joy on the face of a child who gets a foul ball, all make the experience a balm in times of trouble. Steven Tracy, Davis
CBS News
06-05-2025
- Business
- CBS News
Oakland interim mayor delivers budget proposal as city faces $268M deficit
Interim Oakland Mayor Kevin Jenkins delivered a nearly $4.4 billion, two-year budget proposal to the City Council Monday, emphasizing the need to protect police and fire services while simultaneously tackling a massive budget deficit. Along with the draft budget documents, Jenkins delivered a letter to the Council laying out in broad strokes his vision for the city's financial life, including how he'll eliminate an estimated $268 million deficit over the next two fiscal years. "It's a pathway to physical stability," Jenkins said of his proposal. "We want to ensure that public safety is a priority, that we are doing a really good job at our core statutory services." Jenkins said he realizes that Oaklanders want to feel safer in their city and are alarmed at the prospect of cuts to police, fire and the Department of Violence Prevention. He said that the city saw a 30 percent reduction in its homicide rate over the past year and his budget will help build on that momentum by, in part, funding six police academies and providing enough money for 678 officers, with a goal of getting to 700 officers in the future. Jenkins' budget also includes two fire academies and, thanks to the recent voter-approved Measure A, funding for four fire stations that might otherwise be on the chopping block. Still, the public safety budgets—which account for 75 percent of the city's general fund spending—weren't spared from cuts. Two fire stations will be "browned out," or temporarily closed, on a rotating basis and the Oakland Police Department's overtime budget has been reduced from a recent high of about $50 million per year to roughly $34 million next fiscal year and $38 million the year after that. "As the fire department, we understand we're a spoke in the wheel. We're part of the public safety team," said Fire Chief Damon Covington. "Everybody's had to take some level of cut. I know that the interim mayor and the incoming mayor have prioritized public safety, so from the fire departments perspective, we're trying to figure out different ways that we can be less impactful on the budget." Incoming mayor Barbara Lee has been in near-daily contact with Jenkins and his budget team in order to help guide spending priorities since she won a special April 15 election to replace Sheng Thao, who voters ousted in a recall election last November. Sometime in mid- to late-May, Lee will take over for Jenkins who, as City Council president, has been filling in since Thao left office in December. Lee didn't immediately respond to a request for comment Monday. In addition to public safety budget cuts, Jenkins' budget eliminates more than 400 mostly vacant city jobs and anticipates fewer than a dozen actual layoffs. It also anticipates adding additional revenue streams to the city budget, including a proposed $40 million-a-year parcel tax for the June 2026 ballot. It also envisions bond sales of $180 million for affordable housing investments and $15 million each year for the next two years for street paving. While the budget Jenkins delivered is balanced, his letter to the City Council warns that employee pension and medical benefit expenses are expected to rise faster than the city's project revenue growth for the foreseeable future, which means that city leaders will likely be making difficult budget decisions for years to come. In addition to police and fire budgets, Jenkins said he prioritized spending on combating illegal dumping, cleaning up homeless encampments and removing abandoned vehicles from city streets, among other things. While he didn't give specific numbers, he also said that funding levels for Oakland Parks and Recreation Department's summer and after school programs remain intact, as does spending on public libraries. Jenkins' budget proposal now is in the hands of the City Council, which has until June 30 to make whatever changes it has in mind and pass a final budget. Councilman Noel Gallo, who is serving as interim City Council president, didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
