Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao gives State of the City address amid financial crisis, recall effort

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- During her State of the City address Tuesday, Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao took time to talk about some of the city's most pressing issues.

One top of mind was public safety.

Thao says over the past year, her office has worked to combat crime by doing things like reintroducing the city's ceasefire strategy focused on preventing gang-related shootings, and installing over 200 new security cameras.

On Tuesday, the mayor also announced a new drone program for law enforcement.

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"A drones live feed will arm our officers with up to the second information to aid in their response. This will lead to safer responses for our officers and the community," Thao said.

But not everyone in Oakland is convinced.

"Right now, no citizen in our city can tolerate the level of crime that they're dealing with. You look at businesses that are closing down all across the city," said Sgt. Huy Nguyen.

Sgt. Nguyen is the president of the Oakland Police Officers' Association.

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Nguyen feels Thao brushed over some of the topics most impacting Oaklanders and downplayed the severity of the problems facing the city. That also includes when she discussed the city's financial issues and its projected budget deficit of around $80 million.

"This deal was never going to be a silver bullet to solve our decades long budgetary issues. But I am not willing to stand by idly while we are facing cuts to our police and fire resources," Thao said.

Oakland City Councilmember Janani Ramachandran confirmed to ABC7 News the city is now in a contingency budget.

Thanks in part, to a delay in the payments the city is meant to receive for its share of the Oakland Coliseum.

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Ramachandran says as a result of the contingency budget, crucial city services and departments could be facing cuts.

"We don't know what's going to happen first. I hope that it's not going to be a brown out of five fire stations and a complete slashing of officers to 600. But that's what is on the table because that is what council passed," she said.

Those cuts could be catastrophic to agencies like the Oakland Police Department, says Sgt. Nguyen.

"We'll be basically down to bare bones of the police department to just basically answer 911 calls, if we can manage that," he said.

Thao says despite the challenges Oakland is facing, she believes they can be conquered if the city works together.