san francisco's empty downtown is getting all the attention, but oakland is struggling with a similar problem. perhaps even worse y and two and a half weeks

until tax day. a whole bunch of new tax scams are popping up ready to rip off tax filers. what you need to know. but first, oakland's new police chief was officially introduced to the community and media today, and he promises to make crime reduction his number one priority. you're watching getting answers. i'm kristen sze. thanks for joining us today. after going more than a year without a permanent police chief, oakland mayor jintao introduced the man who's stepping into that role, an air force veteran with 30 years of law enforcement experience, floyd mitchell was most recently police chief in lubbock, texas. >> it is my honor to introduce to you our new top police officer, chief floyd mitchell >> i'm excited to join oakland's public safety leadership team and work with its partners at every level of government to build a safer and more prosperous oakland. >> joining us live now to talk

about mitchell. first impressions, top priorities. et cetera. et cetera abc seven news insider phil matier. hey, phil. >> well, top impressions, insiders and all that. you know, this is an interesting story that we've seen. so yes, oakland has a new police chief and he's not from oakland. and he's going to be largely just, you know, a new face, one that we've yet to know much about. he's enthusiastic. he wants to do a good job. but there's a real question out there about just how good a job any police chief in oakland could do at this point. >> yeah, i mean, this is true. he is now in charge, right? he's going to be in charge when he starts, i think in a month or so of a troubled police department under federal oversight for all problems, all the problems it's had historically, he's going to be tasked with restoring public safety under very challenging conditions. what do you think are going to be his top priorities in his approach? >> you know, it's interesting, kristin, if we were having this conversation five years ago, i

would be saying it is police reform, accountability and that federal oversight that oakland has been under. in other words, the emphasis was on the police department itself. now it's on public safety. there's been a tremendous shift. there's been a 20% consistently rise in crime in oakland. it's gotten intolerable to the point where even in-n-out burger has pulled out over questions of safety. first time ever. so the emphasis is going to be on public safety, and that means more police on the streets. the question is whether oakland even has the money right now to put more police on the street in the numbers that may be needed up to a 90 police officers are up for retirement this year. they've only got 700 officers, and the recruiting classes aren't going to match that. so not only is he going to be have possibly fewer patrol officers, but also some of the command staff is looking at the door as well. this is not a great time to become oakland's new police chief. there are a

lot of challenges, not the least of which is the politics of oakland, which have never stopped rumbling or never know unexpectedly what might happen. >> yeah, i want to get back to what support pieces he might need, right, in order to make it work, to not be just the latest in a string of ex police chiefs in just a second. but i want to ask you, if you watch the whole news conference, what he said, you know anything stand out to you in particular, what was your impression? anything stand out? >> you know my impression was, here's a guy that's sincerely looking to try to do a very good job. it's also someone that we know isn't all that familiar with exactly with what that job entails. it might being police chief of lubbock, texas, or temple, texas is a lot different than being the police chief in oakland. i didn't see necessarily anything there that's going to rock a boat, but i don't know if he's got the we'll have to see if he has the personality to come across with the public, because this is a key ingredient. if you can't necessarily change things, you can try to make people feel

better about the situation. lauren armstrong, who was the previous chief, who was fired, was from oakland. he was very popular with the people of oakland, even though there were questions about whether the changes he were making were beneficial or not. so some of this has to do with the personality, but he seems to be in that zone. not overly flamboyant, but not exactly a wallflower. i think it's a good way to start. okay. >> all right. what were the circumstances for which he left? i know he resigned from his job as lubbock chief. yeah they had a mutual parting of the ways, and part of it was over. >> pardon? >> were there issues with him or that he. >> yes, there was the mutual parting of ways came after issues were raised and questions were raised about his administration. of the 911 call center there. that's the number you dial when there's an emergency. and there were questions about, you know, calls were getting hung up, their staffing was low. and there were questions about how he handled that. situation. so. and which is kind of ironic since oakland

has faced the problem with 911 call center as well. so there's not a you know, i'm one of the reasons i'm not jumping up and down right now is there's some reality checks we have to put in here, not the least of which is that he was not necessarily the mayor's top choice or anybody's top choice. he was one of four candidates that were presented to the mayor with not a lot of input from her. after she rejected three earlier ones that included the former police chief. so he comes in, he has crime on the streets. he has a shrinking oakland budget, which is now looking at a $177 million deficit over the next two years. he has a $25 million a year overtime cost. so there's a question if he's going to have the money, then you have a police commission that doesn't necessarily on the same page with the mayor, and you have some policies in oakland which make it tough for the cops to do their jobs. you put all that together, and it's one of the reasons why we're having this conversation. maybe for the 10th or 12th time in the last, ten to

10 to 15 years, i know, but bottom line, then what will be success for him? >> like, what is it going to look like? what are the metrics that are going to evaluate him on, let's say, a year after he starts? >> if it is, if the crime trend has managed to turn around and start to go down, not dramatically necessarily, but just start to turn around and go down. and if he can inspire the confidence of the people of oakland to the feeling that he is trying and doing things, that's what he's got to show that he's trying and doing things he's not. nobody's expecting a huge drop because that's not realistic. but they've got to feel like the police department is responsive and it's going to be tough because it's like being a captain of a ship when you don't have a lot of wind in your sails. >> i know, all right. i mean, we'll see if there's a honeymoon period. we'll see what he does in his first 100 days. but i want to turn to san francisco politics now. phil, san francisco mayor, london breed suffers her first overturn of a veto. what is that about? that's a huge political loss. >> it's a political loss. but

it's also an interesting statement on where san francisco is right now. for years, we were talking about the need for more and more and more housing, and there's been an introduction of saying we need to get denser and taller, not just in san francisco, but in oakland and elsewhere all around the bay area. that's met with resistance by various neighborhoods. and the big neighborhood resistance on this particular one was a pair of taller buildings going in in that north beach jackson square embarcadero area of san francisco, which, let's be honest, is like includes chinatown and north beach and such. it is the amusement park of san francisco. it is the picture part of san francisco. and, aaron peskin and fellow members on the board of supervisors decided to put the brakes on some high rises there. you can say, well, that's a local issue, but the fact is that we're hearing about problems of like high rises going up in other parts of the city. so there could be a growing groundswell of says, yes, we want housing, but not the kind of housing that's being proposed. so this could be both

a setback for the mayor immediately, but it could also show that this could become one of those key issues in the upcoming mayor's race. and that's a neighborhood issue. how do we want to grow? and it's always been a thorny one in san francisco, i mean, just having the overall goal of we want more housing in the city. that's not enough, right? that's not like a blank check. okay sign off on everything. at least not politically, not in the mayor's race. and peskin may very well jump in. right. >> exactly. and what he'll do is he'll team this up with, a talk of high rises out in by the great highway along the coast and talk of other high rises or mid rises in other parts of the city that will make people nervous in those towns. it's one of those neighborhood issues that, yes, globally, everybody says they want more housing. until you say we're going to build it in your neighborhood, then they there's a reaction to that. and that reaction could translate into votes. and whether they, for the mayor or against the mayor remains to be seen. >> all right. i think we've got

time for one more. and let's stick with peskin here. he is expected he hasn't yet jumped into the mayor's race. of course lori is in it. farrell is in it. breed and maybe some other big names will jump into what might be his lane here. what demographic might he be competing for here? >> he's going to go for that 35% of san francisco that is on the left. the ones that said a no to the mayor's various tough on crime initiatives. although i don't think peskin is going to be light on crime, but this housing issue is going to be one that i think he's going to ride with. you remember that peskin was key in a number of no, quote, wall on the waterfront, which also meant the, warriors, which were very popular and continue to be popular, moving their plan basketball arena from the embarcadero on the water to down to south of market on the water. so peskin will ride with efficiency and with the idea in the neighborhoods. well, like

with issues like this. all right. so this in some ways might be the opening round of his mayoral campaign. >> it might be. we'll see. and i'm sure you'll keep us posted. thanks, phil. >> all right san francisco struggles with vacancies in downtown. >> high rises may pale in comparison to that of oakland ahead. a chronicle reporter who explores the issue in a new article has a look at how the

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pandemic recovery in san francisco's financial district. but things aren't any better across the bay in oakland. in fact, they could be worse. and part of the reason is because of san francisco. joining us live now to talk about her article,

which takes a close look at downtown oakland struggles, san francisco chronicle business reporter laura waxman. hey, laura. >> hey, kristin. how's it going? good. >> good to have you on. so give us the big picture of what's happening in oakland's downtown right now. >> so you captured it. you know, it's happening in san francisco as well. it's happening in cities across the country. but basically, work from home has emptied out offices in downtown oakland, which was really on a roll before the pandemic. there was a lot of new office uh, you know, a lot of new buildings built and the companies now are working from home. so their workforce isn't in downtown the way they used to be. >> how high is the vacancy rate right now in oakland? >> so in that downtown core, it's about 30, which is it's a much smaller market than san francisco. it's about 12,000,000ft■!s compared to 80,000,000ft■!s. but it's stilla very high vacancy, comparable. >> yeah. i mean, but it is a little lower than san francisco's. right. and but compared to pre-pandemic, it was probably in the single digits. so this is significant. and you mentioned that it went through

kind of a boom right before the pandemic. right. was that driven in part by how expensive it was for companies to rent in san francisco? >> that's right. so san francisco, the market was so tight. i think there was like a 4% vacancy rate right before the pandemic. so not a lot of space, very expensive. so companies would start looking into other markets. and there were also following their employees because employees moved to the east bay, because it was more affordable to live there. and that's where they wanted to be as well. right. >> and i think a lot of companies really put down stakes in oakland, right? like blue shield i can think of as one of them. i'm not sure. what are some of the other big employers and companies and, and so there was a lot of investment there and like you said, new buildings. so are there also stalled or abandoned projects like in san francisco? >> so it's certainly there will most likely be more. but there are some that are, you know, working on financing right now. construction financing is extremely difficult to secure, interest rates are really high. there's a lot of risk in the market. banks are investors are

shying away from investing in that market and in others in san francisco as well. so that's kind of the big problem here. >> all right. i mean, san francisco is counting on i in part for its recovery, right? i wonder what types of businesses and companies are in oakland and whether that plays a role in maybe how quickly they'll recover. >> that's right. so it is the county seat. there's a lot of government workers in oakland, there are other companies or law firms, professional services, nonprofit. but many of those office space companies, no matter whether they're tech or not, are working from home or at least part of the time. so it's really that work from home element here. >> is public safety an issue or a factor in all this? >> so that has been, you know, the huge topic in oakland, there has been a rise in violent crime over the past year. you know, we have to say that that compared to past decades, crime isn't where it used to be in oakland, but it's still on the rise. and the merchants there, the businesses, the small businesses are feeling that extremely. >> so what needs to happen then

in order for these companies and people, workers to come back? what are experts telling you? what are their predictions actions? what are their forecasts and what are their fears and concerns? >> so that's the multi-million dollar question, you know, i think the immediate fix would be companies bringing their employees back into the office. but, you know, things have evolved a lot since the pandemic. so the jury's out on that. but but what i did hear from businesses and residents when i was out there interviewing, you know, is a little stricter hand on crime, just kind of getting a handle on things. there's a lot of, car, you know, theft and burglaries in certain parts of oakland. so that is an issue for a lot of people there. >> what are some draws, i guess, that oakland has to work with unique traits that it can build out or market that can bring companies and, you know, workers back? >> well, we all know oakland is a very charming and unique city with a lot of culture, a great

music scene, a great nightlife, lots of shopping, very local independent businesses. and i think those are really that city's strengths, and i and the city right now, the city government is trying to address this issue. and they they are touting that, as you know, we want to create an entertainment zone in downtown. we want to really draw focus to what we have going for ourselves. >> and zooming out, why is that so important to the financial wealth and overall health of a city? to have that downtown that is vibrant, where people are working and spending time and living and eating there. >> it's the economic engine from for most cities, including oakland, oakland is dealing with a budget deficit, as is san francisco and other places. so it is important that downtown functions in a healthy way. and i think the pandemic has really just laid bare the inequities and the ways that maybe it wasn't working. so this is kind of the step ahead for the city government. >> laura, your article is super fascinating. i mean, there's a lot more people actually read

it. people that you talk with with different perspectives. so thank you so much for coming on san francisco chronicle business reporter laura waxman. >> thanks for having me. >> scammers are getting pretty creative this season to get their hands on your tax refund or your identity. up next, the better business bureau joins us with tips and

in san francisco. >> live at levi's stadium in san jose. live in oakland. >> yeah, you're watching abc seven news live anytime, anywhere. we are, we are, we are, we are, we are, we are. >> where you are. >> never miss a moment of the news that matters to you. download our abc seven bay area streaming app. join us and start watching. >> it's that time of year again. tax season. the filing deadline this year is april 15th, and we

want to help you get the most from your deductions and keep your tax data safe from scammers and identity thieves. joining us live now with some important tips is ama galvan from the better business bureau. ama, how's it going? >> good. how are you? >> i'm fine. i'm fine, thank you. so much. you know, anytime there are checks going around, there are scammers. tell us, what are the biggest worries during this period? the schemes that we might could fall victim to. >> well, the irs is the number one government impersonated company or organization. so these scams year after year never seem to amaze us. but they do change slightly. so we have a page dedicated to our consumers to teach them about resources, but then also the most common scams that they might be able to see. this tax season ranging from ghost preparers. so those are the tax preparers that offer you ridiculous amounts of refund options as far as a reimbursement or the ones that make false promises to get you that higher refund. so you want to make sure that if you're

waiting, you know, till the last minute or just, you know, gathering your documents because you know, you've taken your time to make sure you have everything that you trust and you know your tax preparer before you provide any sort of personal information, keep in mind these tax preparers that you're working with, whether it's a cpa or an enrolled agent, they're going to have access to your personal information, which is your social security number, your date of birth, your, you know, your government name, your address, anything else. and if you have dependents, they also have access to those dependents on your tax forms as well. so you want to make sure that you take the time to fully understand once some of the scams. and then two to take the time to, you know, look over your your taxes before you sign and send anything over directly to the irs. >> wow. wait, are you saying there are bad actors out there pretending to be preparers, but they're really just trying to get your personal info? >> yes. if you go to b-b-b .org

forward slash tax tips, you'll find a section that we have called ghost preparers. and on there you'll see these, you know, people that are pretending to be either with the irs or that have the california tax education council license, otherwise known as ctec, where they help you, you know, file your your taxes. but a lot of times what happens is they end up keeping the refund so they provide their own banking information and you'll never see that refund. and two, not only is it the refund that we're concerned about here, but the fact that they now have access again to your social security number to your kids. so remember, if that's something that you did. so you want to be extra careful. look over the documentation. verify the banking information. and also always have that pin the irs as a pin where you could use to file your taxes. and that way you only have access to it and not anyone else. i remember when i was doing fafsa, for example, for, financial aid, it's kind of

the same thing. you have that pin that's only targeted or directed towards you. so now you can have the same thing when you are doing your tax refund as well. >> yeah, that identity protection pin, that is one of the points you mentioned. we do have a graphic. so we'll just throw that up there. these are some of the tax tips. you mentioned some of these already. but you i don't think you mentioned this one that the irs does not request personal info online. so what does that mean? if you get solicited it's not real. >> you a phishing email is one of the things that we also do see are phishing emails where they are pretending or impersonating the irs and asking for money via some sort of payment online. understand that the irs one does not call you. we've said that before, but also does not ask for any sort of payment online or cash apps, you know, those are a couple of things to consider in red flags that if someone is calling you pretending to be the irs, or asking for any sort of payment online or using cash payment

apps to be cautious. and the best thing that you can do is to communicate and talk to the irs directly. if you think you may owe back taxes or there's an issue with your tax refund as well for the possibility of an audit. and as well, if you see one of the things that we have mentioned is do not share your pin number with anyone, like i've mentioned before, on, you know, when you have these personal identifiable numbers, keep it to yourself and if you are working with a tax preparer again, make sure that you verify the appropriate license for them. here in the state of california, you know, just like their fake tax preparers is, they're also malicious tax software out there. yes. so a lot of times when we're talking about cybersecurity, one of the things that we always tell our our consumers and businesses as well is to make sure that one, they have a secure internet connection or a wi-fi connection, but also to verify the software, the address that it's coming in the domain, and make sure that the website is secure, meaning that they're not sharing the information with the

third party and that it is encrypted, meaning any sort of information you're putting on the website. if i was a hacker, i wouldn't be able to see it on the back end. so you want to verify the software, verify the website that you're working on, when you're doing buying software or when you're working directly on a software program. and three, make sure that you are working in a secure and safe place for internet like don't go to a coffee shop and connect to the public setting. make sure that your wi-fi is also secured, because a lot of times, unfortunately, that is where cybersecurity threats or attacks come in is from unsecured websites and unsecured wi-fi connections. >> wow. those are some great tips. ama govan with the b-b-b really appreciated. by the way, i know you guys also have a taxpayer bill of rights ten fundamental rights, and that's on your website as well. and we have the address up there b-b-b. org slash tax tips. thanks so much for joining us. >> thank you so much for having me. have a great afternoon. >> you too. remember abc7 news

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from around the bay area. world news tonight with david muir is next, and i'll see you back here at four. tonight, breaking news coming in now. authorities revealing they have recovered two of theed bos after the bridge collapse. and tonight, for the first time, the surveillance from the bridge itself, and what it shows. also breaking, we have just learned tonight former vice presidentidi