OAKLAND — Regardless of a number of makes an attempt, Oakland can’t appear to rid itself of an organization that has for years supplied safety at metropolis amenities, however which just lately discovered itself linked to a corruption scandal that introduced down former Mayor Sheng Thao.
The town appeared to have reached the ultimate stage of awarding a three-year, $27 million deal to a brand new safety firm on a number of events this yr. However the deliberations have gone nowhere, and now Oakland is beginning over from scratch.
It could take three months or longer for a brand new contract to be ready, officers estimated, leaving the town to proceed paying the incumbent firm, ABC Safety, on a month-to-month foundation.
The present association has now endured for over a yr, and in whole the corporate has been paid over $30 million because it first signed with Oakland in 2018, together with a number of contract extensions and pay will increase in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.
It’s a reflection of the town’s struggles to go away behind the remnants of final yr’s corruption scandal, laying naked the messy politics round metropolis contracts and the hundreds of thousands of public {dollars} given to non-public distributors that win them.
On two events in current months, the Oakland Metropolis Council has had the chance to go away ABC behind and award the contract to Allied Common, the world’s largest non-public safety supplier.
Each occasions, it has stopped brief. Elected leaders have brazenly advocated for an immigrant-owned native enterprise, Marina Safety Companies, to obtain the contract as a substitute — regardless of Marina ending behind Allied within the metropolis’s bidding course of.
“The council typically tries to be friendly to local vendors, while staff tends to look at it in more of a dispassionate way,” stated Dan Lindheim, a former Oakland metropolis administrator. “The sets of criteria they are using is different; sometimes they’re contradictory.”
ABC Safety Service guard Sabira Hussein screens guests at Metropolis Corridor in downtown Oakland, Calif., on Wednesday, July 16, 2025. (Jane Tyska/Bay Space Information Group)
ABC Safety, the present contract holder, will not be talked about within the federal felony indictments filed by prosecutors this yr in opposition to ex-Mayor Sheng Thao, her romantic companion Andre Jones and the father-and-son enterprise duo of David and Andy Duong, whose household has the town’s recycling contract.
ABC obtained its newest contract extension in September 2024, a call that just about required then-Mayor Thao to forged a tie-breaking vote, although the council finally reached a unanimous determination to stay with the corporate. In line with The Oaklandside, Juarez and one other particular person named in federal subpoenas had lobbied on behalf of ABC Safety when it appeared the corporate won’t get its contract renewed in 2022.
Chretien didn’t reply to questions on her present affiliation with Juarez, with whom she swapped possession of a number of industrial properties when the 2 represented the identical real-estate firm
At the very least on the authorized entrance, the notices are on to one thing: employees have filed in court docket for unpaid wages in opposition to each Allied, and Marina, whose proprietor is politically-connected.
However to the extent that there’s negativity at Metropolis Corridor across the two corporations, it hardly must be generated by outdoors critics.
At a gathering final month, Councilmember Ken Houston, a vocal fan of Marina, alluded to a report by The Oaklandside {that a} subsidiary of Allied was contracted to supply transportation to armed detention officers with the Division of Homeland Safety.
Oakland metropolis council member district seven Ken Houston speaks in the course of the 2025 Inauguration Ceremony held at Oakland Metropolis Corridor in Oakland, Calif., on Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Space Information Group)
This would appear to run afoul of a 2019 metropolis coverage that forbids public offers with corporations contracted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement for companies at “detention facilities.”
The council had already rejected Allied as soon as earlier than, months earlier, over settlements — together with again wages — that the corporate has needed to pay out to present and former staff. Allied officers didn’t reply to an interview request.
Metropolis workers, together with Transportation Director Josh Rowan, made clear on the time that their very own course of discovered Allied because the strongest bidder. However the brand new ICE query appeared to guide officers to relent — and now Oakland will begin from scratch.
Marina, in the meantime, has its personal share of ups and downs. Its proprietor, Sam Tadesse, has repeatedly alleged bias by metropolis workers who ranked the corporate second place in its bid course of.
He equally raised points with the Peralta Neighborhood School District’s personal search this yr for a safety contractor, which ended with the college system ditching Marina for one more supplier after Tadesse’s firm positioned third in that bidding course of.
Tadesse, a prolific donor in native political races, stated Thursday he’ll wait to see the town’s subsequent request-for-proposals earlier than deciding whether or not to pursue the contract as soon as extra.
Initially Printed: October 16, 2025 at 5:17 PM PDT
