More than a week into her new gig, Barbara J. Parker is happily settling in as Acting City Attorney.
Parker, who served as Oakland's chief assistant city attorney, was appointed by the outgoing City Attorney John Russo to her current role. Russo, who held the position for 11 years, jumped ship to work as the city manager of Alameda after a series of high profile fights with some members of the Oakland City Council and Mayor Jean Quan over medical marijuana farms, gang injunctions and other issues.
With her down-to-earth demeanor, Parker said teamwork and effective consensus-building will be the hallmark of her tenure as acting city attorney.
"I think the city needs someone with my unique skills," said Parker, who's overseen a wide range of services in the city attorney's office. "I'm very collaborative, much more so in style than John (Russo). I want (the city attorney's office and City Council) to work as a team."
Parker is well known around City Hall and her credentials are formidable. A graduate of Harvard Law School, for more than 20 years she has worked in the City Attorney's Office with 11 of those years in the role of chief assistant city attorney.
As second in command, Parker oversaw a staff of about 20 attorneys. She also was responsible for representing the City Attorney's Office at Council meetings and in the last decade, she has only missed a handful of those meetings.
Parker also has deep experience work as an attorney for federal, state and local levels of government, including more than five years as an assistant U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California.
A longtime Oakland resident, Parker said she's very much a candidate for Oakland City Attorney if an election is held in 2012.
"I plan to run following the appointment, which I hope will be made permanent in the near future," Parker said.
"I've thought about this a great deal because I'm at sort of a crossroad. My one daughter (Savannah) will be finishing college next year and so it's an opportunity for me to look at the world and see what I would like to do, where I would like to go ... and I thought what a great opportunity it would be to make a difference here in Oakland."
According to city rules, the City Council has 60 days to appoint a replacement for Russo. If that time elapses with no appointment, the Oakland City Council then has 120 days to fill the seat by a special election.
Equity, fairness and justice has shaped the life of Parker, the daughter of a sharecropper and farmer who fled the segregated South and made his way to Seattle where Parker was born.
Parker said her family experiences during segregation made a huge impact on her.
She recounts a story of being hurriedly snatched off an Arkansas sidewalk by her grandmother when she was a young girl visiting her family. Parker said she was confused as to why her grandmother would make such a move, until her grandmother simply told her that, "White people are coming." Back then, Parker said, it was common for blacks to have to step aside when a white person was walking on a sidewalk.
"It just instilled in me this commitment to fairness, (and) justice for all which is the dream and the goal," she said. "As attorneys, we have this unique opportunity to use the law to ensure that and to make sure that everyone in Oakland is represented."
Over the years, Parker has been involved with or supported a number of high profile social justice efforts in Oakland including medical marijuana, the enforcement of the Americans with Disabilities Act, access to reproductive health clinics, anti-predatory lending practices in Oakland and the use of prevailing wage in the city.
As acting City Attorney, Parker said her office will have an open door policy that includes initiating meetings with City Council, community members and the media to talk about a wide range of issues.
"It's all a part of the amalgam of what makes this city a unique city," she said. "Everybody has something to offer. It makes a difference when people think their input has been heard. We don't have all the answers here."
Parker said around the issue of public safety, she believes in working closely with Oakland communities.
"I see public safety as not just being about police, but also all of these other things, whether it's midnight basketball or after school programs," she said.
Parker said that while she's comfortable with the recent City Council decision on gang injunctions, including the directive to study the issue, she understands the concerns around gang injunction.
"Injunctions are merely a tool, they're not an end in and of themselves. It's unfortunate it's been so polarizing, I think. We all have to work together to see if in fact (they) are effective," Parker said. "With my background, I understand why people have some concern; the potential civil liberties issues, harassment and that kind of thing. I've had that happen to me as recently as last summer.
"Not here in Oakland, but when was I driving across country, driving through Texas ... . Again, John and I have different sides. If I had been city attorney when this came up, I would of worked with Council to make sure they were on board and understood what we were doing."
Parker said on the issue of gang injunctions, it is Oakland Police Chief Anthony Batts' office that wanted the injunctions.
"It's kind of gotten distorted in the media as if this was the City Attorney's suit, but the city attorney did this on behalf of and at the request of the police chief and Council members who were briefed on it."
Parker said she's interested in restarting regular standing meetings between the mayor's office and the City Attorney's office to discuss city issues.
"I want to work very closely with (Quan)," Parker said. "So that we can be upfront versus at the back end or not in the picture."
Source: http://oaklandlocal.com/article/oaklands-new-acting-city-attorney-has-strong-vision-city
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