News stories that East Bay progressives and environmentalists shouldn’t miss:
1. Oakland Mayor Jean Quan yesterday unveiled her budget for the next two years, and proposed to steer tens of millions of dollars to the police department, adding dozens of new officers and bringing the force up to about 700 cops by 2015, the Trib and Chron$ report. Quan would effectively pay for the new officers by eliminating at least 87 jobs elsewhere in the city. The mayor’s budget also would restore some of the temporary givebacks made by city-employee unions. The budget, however, does not address the unsustainably high salaries and benefits given to cops.
