oakland chamber of commerce ceo barbara leslie. barbara, thank you for your time. >> thank you for having me. >> it's a big week for you. you guys have your 2025 economic development summit, and ahead of that, you have completed an annual report. what did it set out to understand? who did you survey? >> well, this report specifically is based on economic data. we started the project about ten years ago, because we really believe that good decision making is based on good data, and we wanted to have more of it, and we wanted to use that for our membership. those that are investing in oakland, for those that are making decisions around growing their business, expanding here, as well as a blueprint for our policymakers to use when they're deliberating on their policy decisions and their budgets. >> right. so this was a survey how to how many people and what kind of questions did you ask? >> this this specific one is a data report based on a variety of different data sources. we also do survey research, which we do every fall. and that

i want to bring in barbara leslie. she is the ceo of the oakland metro chamber of commerce. you're hosting the summit. you put together the economic report. tell me why viewers and oakland voters, people in oakland, should be paying close attention to what's discussed here today. >> well, thank you for the opportunity to be here today. and i think it really you really can sum it up as good data makes good decisions. and we believe it's very important for our policymakers and our businesses and those that use this report to understand the data that's in the report and use that data when they're making their policy decisions, because you have better outcomes. if that's the case, more information is powerful and you have better outcomes with that information. >> so what does the data show? what is going well in oakland? what is not? what does the city need to change and work on? sure. >> like any major city in california, our recovery is slower than we would like. i think what the data will show, it's somewhat sobering in terms of our taxable income, some of the revenue streams

. >> barbara leslie is

. >> barbara leslie is the chamber of commerce president. she says this year's report has some sobering revelations, based in part on survey results. perhaps most important of all, the role public safety plays in the city's overall economic well-being. >> the foundation for our economic recovery lies in public safety and by public safety, even drilling down a little bit deeper, we need to rebuild the confidence that our residents need to have. our visitors need to have and our businesses need to have. >> leslie says the chamber believes city policymakers should make public safety the top issue they address. she says without it, creating new businesses and expanding the city's tax base will remain a nearly impossible task. leslie highlighted some statistics from the upcoming report. one specifically showing the majority of oakland residents feel more unsafe now than they have in the past year or so, even though that percentage is dropping. that data also backed up by our abc7 news neighborhood safety tracker, which shows steady decreases in t

. >> barbara leslie is the chamber of commerce president.s this year's report has some sobering revelations, based in part on survey results. perhaps most important of all, the role public safety plays in the city's overall economic well-being. >> the foundation for our economic recovery lies in public safety and by public safety, even drilling down a little bit deeper, we need to rebuild the confidence that our residents need to have. our visitors need to have and our businesses need to have. >> leslie says the chamber believes city policymakers should make public safety the top issue they address. she says without it, creating new businesses and expanding the city's tax base will remain a nearly impossible task. leslie highlighted some statistics from the upcoming report. one specifically showing the majority of oakland residents feel more unsafe now than they have in the past year or so, even though that percentage is dropping. that data, also backed up by our abc7 news neighborhood safety tracker, which shows steady decreases in things l