Oakland relies on millions from the federal government. What if Trump cuts it?

Lots of local services get grants from D.C. The president-elect has threatened to slash that funding in the past.CA is the wealthiest state in the country, go to the Governor that allows the destruction of education, especially leftist education1/2

by Natalie Orenstein and AshleyMcBride

Nov. 27, 2024, 2:00 p.m.

During his first presidency, Donald Trump signed an executive order threatening to strip sanctuary cities of federal funding. Oakland, which has been a safe haven for undocumented immigrants since 1986, stood to lose about $130 million annually.

The threat, like many from Trump, was not ultimately carried out. But during his first term, he repeatedly used similar warnings to make points and push back against states and cities. In 2019, he said he’d cut support for the entirety of California over wildfire management practices.

Most departments and public services in Oakland rely on a hodge-podge of local, state, and federal funds to operate. Often the federal money is a smaller bucket, but if the president-elect takes a similar punitive tack in his upcoming term, local services from housing to education stand to suffer. This time, he’s also proposed shrinking or dismantling entire federal departments, like the Department of Education.

We checked in with government officials and analysts to learn how much the city depends on federal money, and what they expect to experience over the next four years.

Housing programs could shrink under Trump

Oakland’s Housing and Community Development Department subsidizes affordable housing in the city using an alphabet soup of federal and state grants and local tax revenue and fees.

Emily Weinstein, the department’s director, said the city receives four main grants from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, better known as HUD. These awards total about $14.4 million annually, with the largest being the Community Development Block Grantat $7.5 million. The city and county also receive HUD grants for emergency homeless shelters and programs.

“Absence of these programs would impact all of Oakland, including the low-income residents who are direct beneficiaries,” said Weinstein.

Other federal housing programs don’t get funded through the city directly, but support people in Oakland, she noted. The Section 8 program, for example, provides housing vouchers for low-income residents across the country. Locally, the Oakland Housing Authority receives and distributes those vouchers to renters who can use them to cover a portion of their rent.

The federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit program is a common way of funding affordable housing development. Developers can receive tax credits for investing in low-income housing. About 40% of funding for new affordable construction projects in Oakland is through these tax credits, said Weinstein, and “without it, we can neither adequately address homelessness nor build housing that is affordable to working families.”

It’s unlikely that Trump will end the tax credit, which has support on both sides of the aisle, Weinstein said, but she said other developer-friendly tax policies of his in the previous term “undermined” the appeal of the tax credit. With the corporate tax rate already lowered, it’s not as beneficial for investors to fund affordable housing and receive the tax credit.

“If the program is undermined, it would likely reduce the amount of affordable housing being built in Oakland,” Weinstein said. The city is already behind on targets for low-income construction.

What happens in Oakland if the Department of Education is eliminated?

Trump is not the first president to propose dissolving the Department of Education. Established in 1980, conservatives have long criticized the department, claiming it represents federal meddling in education issues better left to the states. In recent years,Trump and his allies have blasted the Department of Education because of policies meant to protect transgender and LGBTQ students and promote racial equity.

https://oaklandside.org/2024/11/27/oakland-federal-funding-trump/

28 Nov, 2024 18:35

Ukrainian draftees are ‘like cornered rats’ – recruitment officer

Men in Ukraine are “afraid” to go out because of the ongoing conscription campaign, a Kiev resident has told The Telegraph

Ukraine’s mobilization campaign has descended into a ruthless “game of cat and mouse” as recruitment officers scour city streets and public places in a bid to find men, The Telegraph reported on Thursday.

The British outlet, citing a Ukrainian draft official and a male Kiev resident,claimed that men appear to be desperately trying to avoid being sent to the front.

A recruitment officer working in an eastern Ukrainian city, who asked the paper not to reveal his real name or place of residenceclaimed that detaining would-be recruits is sometimes “like dealing with a cornered rat.”

“You’re basically afraid to walk from your home,”a man identified only as Vasily, 35, told The Telegraph, describing the situation in the Ukrainian capital.He subscribes to one of the Ukrainian Telegram channels which tracks the movement of recruitment patrols in the capital.

“Men who are the right age for the military draft are scared to walk freely in the street,” Vasily said, adding thathe also avoids trips to the city center and feels anxious about any large car driving slowly near him.

Numerous videos of Ukrainianconscription officers conducting raids in various public places, including bars, restaurants, and shopping malls as well as gyms and even in the middle of the streethave surfaced on social media over the past months. In October, one such raid took place at the performance of a popular Ukrainian rock band, Okean Elzy, in Kiev. Later the same month,another raid disrupted a wedding celebration in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv.

According to the draft official, civilians resist frantically even after they are placed in the recruitment team’s vehicle.He also admitted that the teams often just snatch anyone they can find as they are struggling to meet their draft quotas.

“We barely choose whom to stop – now nearly everyone is subject to inspection,” the officer said, adding that he and his team used to avoid stopping “visibly weak individuals” but detain such people as well now.

Would-be recruits are not allowed to go home and pack, as many have failed to return voluntarily, the official said.

Sometimes, we have to confiscate their phones, depending on the situation,” he added.

The families and friends of those conscripted often struggle to find information about the whereabouts of their relativesand loved ones, with many of them asking for help on social media, the British paper reported. It cited the story of a woman who was allegedly looking for her ex-boyfriend on Instagram only to find out that he had been forcibly deployed to the front just a few days after he disappeared.

The draft official contacted by The Telegraphadmitted that working as a conscriptor has allowed him avoid being sent to the front himself. “I always have the argument: It’s either them or me,” he told the paper. “I believe it’s better to work for [the draft center] than to hide from it.”

Earlier this week, The Economist reported thatUkraine was “out of willing recruits”as the nation was struggling to replenish its military ranks amid the ongoing conflict with Russia. This spring, Kiev significantly tightened mobilization rules, lowering the draft age from 27 to 25 to offset mounting losses, with Ukrainian officials hinting that the bar could be brought down even further.

In November, Ukrainian lawmakerRoman Kostenko suggested that the country needed an additional 500,000 troops to replace the lossesits army has suffered.

https://www.rt.com/russia/608368-ukrainian-draftees-cornered-rats-officer/

This is really disgusting, Zelensky offering up young men for a war that Evil leaders in the US wanted, all for money and death.