By Ali Winston/WEST OAKLAND

The Oakland Police Department will have to look for new sources of funding after Measure NN fell short of the required two-thirds margin.

With 100% of votes tallied, 59,933 votes were in favor of NN, and 49,415 against – or 54.95% for and 45.05% against.

Ballot Measure NN would have allowed the Oakland Police Department to add more officers and buy needed equipment such as police cars and new crime-fighting technology.

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By Dara Kerr/WEST OAKLAND

Oakland’s council chambers looked more like a social event than a city council meeting last night. With standing room only, artists, union members, African-American cowboys and others crowded in to tell the council what they thought of the city budget.

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by Ali Winston/WEST OAKLAND

Faced with a $42 million budget gap, Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums on Tuesday proposed a combination of layoffs and cuts to municipal spending and services to balance the city’s books.

Approximately $32 million in savings would come from laying off 84 employees and leaving vacant positions unfilled, from parking meters and citations by transferring general-fund costs to other municipal funds, and by reducing park and street-light maintenance. The final $10 million would come from laying off an additional 120 people, or by shutting down city operations on Fridays.

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by Angela J. Bass/WEST OAKLAND

They showed up with pillows, sleeping bags, and basketballs, muttering to each other about the chicken and spaghetti they were promised but that was nowhere in sight.

Shooting hoops, eating dinner, and then joking with friends before getting some shut-eye at an all-male sleepover was the whole point in coming to West Oakland’s Boys and Girls Club last Friday night, according to some of the 52 12- to 17-year-old black boys in the building.

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