After a Year as Oakland's Mayor, Barbara Lee Looks to 'Finish the Job'

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KQED

News, Politics, News Commentary

4.2 • 726 Ratings

🗓️ 28 May 2026

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Barbara Lee was elected mayor of Oakland last year with the city reeling from a political scandal, mired deep in fiscal crisis and scarred by years of violent crime. She promised a calm, no-nonsense approach to dealing with Oakland’s major problems. A year later, the city’s financial outlook has stabilized some, its streets are safer than they have been in decades and Mayor Lee is talking about running for a full four-year term. We’ll talk with Lee about the successes of the past year and about the city’s many challenges including homelessness, the budget, illegal dumping and an empty downtown. Guests: Barbara Lee, mayor of Oakland Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This summer, switch to Xfinity and get Wi-Fi so reliable you can host the world.
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0:10.6	Xfinity, imagine that.
0:12.5	Restrictions apply, select plans only.
0:15.4	Support for KQED podcasts comes from Landmark College,
0:19.7	offering executive function support and social coaching for neurodivergent individuals at the Bay Area Success Center. Learn more at landmark.edu slash success center.
0:32.3	From KQED.
0:35.3	Welcome to forum. I'm Alexis Madrigal. It's no surprise to anyone who listens to this show that I'm an Oakland resident. So I have my own daily perspective on what's happened in our city during Mayor Barbara Lee's tenure in office. And my simplest take, things are better. At least in the parts of the city I know best from the port up through West Oakland and on
0:54.4	through North Oakland to the Berkeley border. But we've got some major problems too. Police overtime is
0:59.7	staggering. Crime has plummeted over the last couple years, but we're no San Jose to say nothing of
1:04.5	Tony suburbs. And while many neighborhoods are thriving, the downtown core is a shadow of its pre-pandemic self and shows few
1:12.6	signs of returning to its previous vibrancy. So lots to talk about still in Oakland here with
1:18.5	Mayor Barbara Lee. Welcome to the show. Mayor, it's nice to have you back. Nice to be back. Thank you.
1:23.9	We also want to invite listeners into the show early, particularly if you two are in Oakland resident.
1:29.4	You can give us a call.
1:30.0	The number is 866-733-6-7-86.
1:33.7	That's 866-7-3-3-6.
1:36.4	We've got the mayor here with us.
1:37.7	You can email your comments and questions to forum at kQED.org.
1:43.3	So just take us back, you know, a little over a year ago, you took office,
1:47.4	just on a gut level. How did the city look to you when you took over? And how did you
1:52.0	view the challenge? Well, thanks a lot for that question, because remember now, I was a resident
	...

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