'It's my story. And my story will not be silenced.' In a a candid, engaging conversation, MayorShengThao spoke to benpimentel about how she's using her life experiences to inform her choices in office.
That's what Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao said San Francisco Mayor London Breed told her when she took the helm in the East Bay in January.
In a candid, engaging conversation with The Examiner, Thao talked about how she has adapted to the crises that hit in her first six months in office. She also talked about her incredible journey of pain and despair when she considered violence to escape her abuser. One of the big issues recently that came up in the city is the clearing of the Wood Street homeless encampment. Can you talk a bit about the significance of that for you and for the city?
I worked with city staff very closely and intimately. We got it cleared within three weeks. What I did was I did the work. I've worked with our nonprofits, our community-based organizations that the residents trusted and have them go out and be the deliverer of the message of saying,"Choose dignified housing."
Once we get everybody into a temporary shelter, we can triage and figure out where people are coming from. And if new tents or new people are coming, we can figure out what city they're coming from. Oh, absolutely. I have a lot of advocates say to me,"How dare you? You were homeless before. You know what it feels. How dare you take our homes from us."
Not just that. There's a lot of ugly out there. When I was homeless, I was so stressed every single day. I didn't sleep a lot at night. Because I slept with a knife under my pillow thinking if someone came out and tried to hurt me or my son, I was going to be ready. Now you're seeing the consequences of that. So we have to step up and really take care of our community. We cannot incarcerate our way out of these problems.It's 100% resolved. All of our systems are back up and running. You probably will see a delay because we've had like two and a half months or so that we're backlogged. But it's already been resolved.
I can't say much about it. But I'm very, very proud of my team. I'm so proud of this leadership. In regards to how we reacted quickly and in a consistent way. It could have been a lot worse, but we were able to come out of it in a strong way. Fentanyl addiction is a big problem in Oakland, San Francisco and other parts of the Bay Area. How do you view the controversial approach of setting up harm reduction centers and safe injection sites?
Have you had conversations with Mayor Mayor London Breed about your roles, about also being the leader of a major Bay Area city? What resonated with me most is the fact that I have to remember this is not a sprint. I have to take time for myself and my family. I do have two children, a 16 year old and a nine year old. That's what resonates because a lot of times I am a workaholic.I don't believe I have. I'm the new kid on the block. So I'm soaking it all in from everyone.
It's my story. And my story will not be silenced. I will not be silenced. And for every single man who comes up to me to say that to me, five other women come up to me and say,"I've been through it. And thank you for speaking your truth because I've been ashamed of what I went through. You're an inspiration. This is what my daughters needed to hear."
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