Exclusive: Sheng Thao gives final interview as Oakland mayor ...Middle East

OAKLAND, Calif. (KRON) -- Last month, voters approved a recall of Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao.

KRON4's Stephanie Lin sat down with Thao ahead of Tuesday, the recalled mayor's final day in office. Thao spoke on the firing of the OPD chief, the A's departure, what she learned in her two years in office, the FBI raid, etc.

Watch the full interview in the video player above or read the Q&A below.

KRON4: So tell us a bit about how you're feeling right now. You faced a lot of challenges in the last couple of years, and the voters just recalled you out of office. How are you feeling?

Thao: You know, I'm very proud of the values that my administration led with. We knew coming into office that crime was on the rise. We knew that there were homeless encampments that needed addressing. We knew that the streets were dirty. That needs addressing. We could have done what was popular versus what was right, but we chose to do what was right.

And at the end of the day, it's not about getting into office for me to play politics. It's about getting into office, so we can create the real changes and the real positive impacts on people's lives.

KRON4: You were meant to be in office for you. It looks like you'll be in for two. Given that, what would you say are some accomplishments that you're proud of?

Thao: You know, again, my team and I, we were able to accomplish a lot. Obviously, coming in, we knew that there's going to be a lot of changes that needed to happen. Something that I'm most proud of is saving lives. You know, we went through a whole month of October with zero homicides. You know, resurrecting the cease-fire strategy, where OPD is working with the Department of Violence Prevention and Community.

We're seeing less people dying on our streets. And it's not only less people dying on our streets, but it's also an overall decrease in crime. Right. And so your property crimes are robberies or burglaries. Of course, it's not at 0% yet, but it is way lower than a time where with the time before we came into office.

KRON4: Can you say that those that the police data is, though, at the end of the day, because it has been reported that there were some inaccuracies with the reporting in the police data?

Thao: You know, the inaccuracies aren't true inaccuracies. There is, as you know, it takes about 3 to 4 months sometimes to update the system, whether it's around property crimes or burglaries. People that are reporting via the online system, you know, they just need to be verified. And then sometimes those numbers will change. What I can tell you is that the homicide is not the homicide numbers.

They don't change. Right. Because when someone is murdered or there's a homicide of some sort, you can't hide those bodies. And so we know that the strategy that we're carrying forward, that we are apprehending the people who are at fault, you know, that we are making sure that people are safer.

KRON4: You acknowledge that there do need to be some improvements with the current tracking system when it comes to different types of crimes to ensure that there is more accuracy with those numbers.

Thao: Right. You know, of course, we can always do better. You know, something that we have done better on is the fact that our 911 system, it's never fun or sexy for, you know, politicians to come in and actually do an overhaul of our ID system. But that's what we did because we knew that that was going to save lives.

Oaklanders, like let's be very clear, Oaklanders were really frustrated that when they called 911, they get a busy signal or you know, they, it doesn't get picked up within a timely manner. And so today I can report that we're at 71%. That's 71% of our calls are being answered within 15 seconds. And it's all interconnected. Right. The dispatchers that we've put in place, we've hired all of our dispatchers.

We started a whole new way of training them under my administration and leadership. And this Oakland has never seen numbers as high as this in regards to your number one system since every riot that we can't even remember the last time it's been that way.

KRON4: But it sounds like there's also room for more.

Thao: Oh, absolutely. There's always more room for improvement. We want to get up to the 90 percentile when it comes to picking up the phone calls within 15 seconds. You know, that has always been the goal. But to come in and have a911 dispatch pick up calls at a 34% rate, we came in and they were picking up phone calls at a 34% level.

And we've increased that within, you know, a year and a half to 71%. And so we're definitely headed on the right track, and Oakland is definitely being set up for success.

KRON4: I'd like to talk a bit about the recall election. What was your reaction when you heard about the final results? I know that you campaigned quite heavily against the recall. Of course.

Thao: It's disheartening because we just got in, started to do the work and we're seeing the real results, the positive results. And I will always do what was right for the city of Oakland versus, you know, doing what's politically popular to stay in office. To stay in office for the sake of staying in office. Right. If I play the political games, then I probably would still be in office today.

KRON4: What do you mean by playing politics?

Thao: Well, you know, of course, you know, I just, for example, call I'm a staunch believer that we cannot have coal come through Oakland. You know, there were conversations that were had. And I continue to say that, no, I will not allow for coal to come in. And so we see people who have invested in coal across the country, billionaires come in to actually remove me from office.

When you get into this leadership position, it is so critical that you represent your values because the general public are not is not going to receive and have and may never have all the full 100% information for whether it's legal purposes or what have you. But you have the information. It is up to you as a leader what you do with that information.

Do you go along just to get along or do you go and you lead through your values because you know what is right for the city?

KRON4: Why didn't you issue a rebuttal statement in the voter guide when it came to the recall?

Thao: You know, with I mean, obviously, this is a first time ever for a recall of the mayor, you know, and running the city is always my top priority. And so that's what I was hyper-focused on, making sure that our homicide levels were, you know, decreasing, making sure that our crime levels was decreasing. We have economic workforce development.

That's coming in. We had the Coliseum, so we had all these different things that were happening. And my priorities -- always to be the mayor first. But at the end of the day, for me, again, it's not about playing the politics. It's about ensuring that Oakland continues its positive track. And again, it's such a sensitive process that if you let your foot off the gas just a little bit, we can see Oakland Spiral.

KRON4: Yeah, I hear that. But I that was an opportunity to also speak your case against, you know, this well-funded campaign against.

Thao: Well, that was one opportunity. But there are multiple other opportunities in the sense of the results, right? The results that we were able to drive. And so we feel confident that we were able to show those results through our actions.

KRON4: Is it possible someone just forgot to fill out the form?

Thao: Well, you know, again, it was a new process, you know, and so it's not that someone forgot to fill out the form. You know, it's more so it's a new process. And, you know, as it was with ballot measures or what have you, people get notified and all of that stuff. But, you know, where was the notification on this?

You know, so there were other things that were in play. However, at the end of the day, you know, we were just focused on making sure that cities run.

KRON4: Yeah, I ask this too, because of what happened around the city, missing a critical deadline to fill out an application for a form to get a grant to prevent retail theft. And so I just wonder, you know, if you feel like you surrounded yourself with the right people to make sure that critical deadlines like that are being met and opportunities like that are being missed.

Thao: You know, even in the past, you know, opportunities like that have been this even previous to my administration, the once perfect, you know, grants nowadays they require for multiple departments to work together and then for someone to submit it. Obviously, I don't, you know, oversee all the nuances of every single department. That's actually not my job. However, of course, what we did was we took action.

We took action in regard to that response, we have a centralized grant maker which we put in place so that something like this will never happen again. And not just that, but we worked with all of the different businesses to create an informal network of support with ambassadors, with OPD, you know, with other organizations, whether it be at BART or AC Transit or the sheriff's department.

And so that is something that has never happened before. So what I'm really proud of when I leave this office is the fact that we were able to get our partners to come to the table and have a strong relationship of partnership. And I really hope that this continues on with the next administration.

KRON4: Sounds like you're already thinking ahead about your thinking on that, on what's going to come next. Let's talk a bit about the special election that's upcoming. So this month will be your last in the mayor's chair as of now. Now. So what ...

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