Oakland’s rapid transformation as a desirable city to live and work in has upped the ante for a mayor who won office last year on promises that she would build housing, create jobs and tighten tenant protections.

When she delivers her first State of the City address Wednesday at Oakland City Hall, Libby Schaaf will talk about the need to share the wealth pouring into the city as tech companies and residents flee San Francisco’s exorbitant real estate costs.

Schaaf, who recently welcomed the multinational tech company Uber into the city’s downtown corridor and then urged its executives to hire Oakland residents, said in an interview Tuesday that the state of the city is promising so long as its leaders focus not only on attracting new wealth, but also on distributing it equally. She recently has used a new buzzword, “techquity,” to describe her vision for Oakland.

“I am very cognizant that Oakland is changing very quickly — and our work to preserve what we need to preserve has to be just as quick,” said Schaaf.

But fixing divisions in Oakland won’t be easy. While the city’s unemployment rate of 5.9 percent is only slightly higher than the national rate of 5.2 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the price of housing has soared. Median rents were $2,650 in August — up from $1,921 in August of 2013, according to the real estate site Zillow.

Distressed by violence

At the same time, Schaaf has to contend with a surge in violent crime: The total number of shootings has plummeted, but the homicide rate is up 15 percent from the fall of last year.

Street violence is by far the most distressing issue for a mayor whose love for the city seems deep-seated and abiding.

“I never get used to that absolute pit in my stomach about how much harm there is in this city,” Schaaf said, shaking her head and wincing. “There are just heart-wrenching stories behind each loss, and I just never get used to that.”

The mayor emphasized public safety in the two-year, $2.4 billion budget that she and the City Council passed in June, adding 40 police officers and $1 million for a special investigations unit to crack down on illegal gun dealing.

It will take a few months for those measures to produce tangible changes, said Jim Ross, an Oakland-based political consultant who helped run the campaign to raise the minimum wage in Oakland last year.

“I think most people will give (the mayor) an entire year before they start holding her accountable,” Ross said. He credited the mayor for beefing up police academies and taking a stand against unpermitted protests in Oakland, after a May Day demonstration ended with vandals setting fires and shattering dozens of store windows.

The mayor responded by directing police to shoo protesters off the streets after dark, a decision that drew ire from free speech activists and civil rights attorneys.

Easier sell for developer

Ultimately, it helped boost the city’s public image, said real estate developer John Protopappas, who has spent three decades trying to persuade investors to take a chance on Oakland.

“It’s a much easier conversation today than it has been in the past,” Protopappas said, indicating that shattered windows are no longer seen as a cost of doing business downtown.

Jim Chanin, a prominent civil rights attorney who criticized Schaaf on the issue of free speech, said that after the May Day melee most demonstrations in Oakland ended peacefully — largely because the mayor left the job of policing up to the city’s police force, he said.

In July, Schaaf and the council confronted a different group of protesters, when restaurateurs revolted over the city’s contract with its garbage hauler, Waste Management, after compost bills skyrocketed. Schaaf voted to approve the contract as a council member last year.

Back to Gallery Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf faces tough challenges in Year 2 5 1 of 5 Photo: Scott Strazzante, The Chronicle 2 of 5 Photo: Lea Suzuki, The Chronicle 3 of 5 Photo: Scott Strazzante, The Chronicle 4 of 5 Photo: Scott Strazzante, The Chronicle 5 of 5 Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle









Facing public outcry, the city’s new administrator, Sabrina Landreth, led negotiations for an amended deal that lowered the rate for compost collection, appeasing both Waste Management and the restaurant owners.

Other accomplishments

Fixing a garbage contract isn’t as flashy as cutting the ribbon for a new business. But it was a crucial achievement for Schaaf’s administration — and a sign of stability and order in Oakland’s government.

Other critical decisions Schaaf has made haven’t come with a lot of fanfare either. She passed a comprehensive budget that closed an $18 million funding gap without cutting city services. She started a new building inspection program to find everything from mold to rodents to leaky plumbing without requiring residents to file complaints against their landlords. She has pushed the city to impose new fees on private developers to help pay for affordable housing and basic infrastructure, like sewers and street repairs.

Leadership team

And she has assembled a new team. Schaaf tapped Landreth, the former city manager in Emeryville, to fill a leadership vacuum in the city administrator’s office in July. In April, she lured Claudia Cappio away from a top post at the state’s Housing Finance Agency. Cappio, who was Oakland’s planning director under Mayor Jerry Brown, is now the assistant city administrator. She has led talks to keep the Raiders and A’s in town.

A cohesive government is critical to Oakland’s success, said Barbara Leslie, head of the Oakland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce.

“I think that the people she brought into the third floor of City Hall on the administrative side are competent, strong women who are committed not only to Oakland, but to creating a strong government,” Leslie said.

But Leslie thinks the mayor’s greatest contribution to Oakland is enthusiasm, rather than personnel or policies.

“I think it’s her doggedness of all things Oakland,” Leslie said. “She’s unwavering. That goes a long way.”

Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: rswan@sfchronicle.com

Twitter: @rachelswan