Financial stress, spikes in crime, and high-level corruption charges have left Oakland residents more distrustful of city leadership than at any time in recent memory.

Some say these conditions have opened up an opportunity to reexamine the fundamentals of how Oakland government is structured and led.

Last month, Mayor Barbara Lee announced a new working group tasked with exploring charter reform in Oakland. The city’s charter is like its constitution, and one of Lee’s 10 goals for her first 100 days in office was to establish a group to look into whether rewriting it could solve some of Oakland’s chronic problems.

“Our residents are demanding greater accountability, transparency, and effective service delivery,” Lee said in an announcement about the working group, which Councilme

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