One-on-one with Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf

KTVU is conducting one-on-one interviews with the mayors of the Bay Area's three biggest cities.

This week, KTVU's Gasia Mikaelian sat down with Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf to discuss the Raiders, housing and Oakland's new police chief Anne Kirkpatrick.

The interview took place the same day Las Vegas Casino Mogul Sheldon Adelson announced he was pulling out of a proposed $2 billion deal to bring the Raiders to Las Vegas. 

Many fear 2017 could be the year Oakland loses the Raiders. Team owner Mark Davis wants a new stadium, but Mayor Schaaf refuses to use public money to subsidize one. 

"I am willing to lose this team if the public money is the issue," said Schaaf. She is working with an investment group headed by 49ers Hall of Famer Ronnie Lott to finance a new stadium in Oakland. It's a plan she hasn't presented directly to Davis. 

Mayor Schaaf tells KTVU she still hears from Oaklanders still upset over the use of taxpayer dollars in the deal that brought the team back from Los Angeles in 1995. She also hears from fans who want her to do anything to keep the Raiders. 

Schaaf is also staying focused on public safety. She says violent crime has dropped 30 percent over the last three years. Residential burglaries have been cut in half. The mayor wants to see a move toward values driven policing and rebuilding of trust between officers and the community. This comes after a year that saw a number of officers caught in a teenage sex scandal and a revolving door at the police chief's office with three people in the top spot over the course of nine days. Oakland recently announced its new police chief, Anne Kirkpatrick, from Chicago. "I want this to be the last external chief hire I ever make. We have tremendous talent within OPD and part of her job is to mentor the next generation of leaders," said Schaaf.  

Meanwhile, she has another goal to improve Oakland's infrastructure by re-paving roads and building more housing in what has become one of the hottest real estate markets in the country. In 2017 she wants Oakland to have 4,500 new units of housing either completed or in construction.

When asked where the construction would go - Schaaf talked about going "taller."

Watch the interview in the video box above. 

Last week, Gasia spoke with San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee.  Next week she'll sit down with San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo.