(KRON) -- Congresswoman Barbara Lee officially announced she is running for Oakland mayor in April's special election. A 13-term member of Congress, Lee is known as a leading progressive voice with years of experience in public service. But whoever wins the mayorship faces a slew of challenges: from a massive budget deficit to concerns over homelessness and violent crime. KRON4's Stephanie Lin sat down with Lee to discuss the congresswoman's campaign, her perspective on some of Oakland's biggest issues, and why she's choosing to run now at the age of 78, after nearly three decades in Washington, D.C. Ex-Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao indicted by federal grand jury: report The interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.  KRON4: Congresswoman, thank you so much for joining us here today. We appreciate it.  Lee: Really happy to be with you. KRON4: You just announced your bid for mayor of Oakland. Now, this can be a challenging position. Are you ready? Lee: Very challenging. But let me tell you. I didn't just announce it. It took two months to try to figure out if this was something that I wanted to do. Right now, at this moment in our city's history, the city needs leadership. You can insist on accountability and transparency -- hopefully someone who has experience. I think that if you look at my record, and I hope people understand, I have been working for them and want to work for them and want to earn their vote. I think this is the time for me. KRON4: What's the first thing you plan to do if you are elected to the office? Lee: The first thing I plan to do is bring people together and say, let me listen to you. Let me hear what you think your priorities are. Of course, I know I'm going to have to look at immediately looking at how we, restore the fire stations, given the fire threats, and I think Oakland is really more prepared than most communities because I was in the legislature during the 1991 fire, and I knew what took place the trauma, the terrible devastation. So I want to make sure public safety, which includes fire safety, is addressed immediately. KRON4: The City of Oakland is facing a pretty large budget issue, a $130M problem. Back in December, we know the city council approved those budget cuts impacting public safety. So what do you see as the solution to fixing the financial problems facing the City of Oakland? Lee: There's not one solution, quite frankly, and I'm very pleased that the county has unanimously passed the Coliseum framework to move forward with the Coliseum deal, which was tied to the city budget, but also sales tax revenue, and increasing our revenue is extremely important. That's not the only method measure of addressing the budget. We have to look at private investment. And often times there are resources that we don't even know about. So I want to make sure we have a good audit, that we know where the current resources are, and we know how to move forward to increase revenue and to increase investment. 5 arrested after theft at Oakland Walgreens set to close next month KRON4: Is it possible to balance the city's budget without severely compromising public safety? Lee: We have to have public safety. Everyone wants public safety, and I don't believe we are going to compromise public safety. We have to do this right and do it better. I believe in, violence interrupters. I believe in preventing crime. I believe in ceasefire. And they are doing phenomenal work. And they do work closely with the police department and the crime rate is beginning to come down. Well, we have a good trajectory right now. We've got to take that to scale. And we can't just keep policing as the only way to address public safety. We have to prevent crimes from taking place. And so I'm looking for new ways to do that, on a regional basis. KRON4: And so on that topic, how do you apply your progressive values? Because you are seen as a pillar of progressivism on the national level as well as the state level. How do you apply those progressive values when it comes to addressing issues like violent crime, which is a big one in Oakland? Lee: Well, these are Oakland values. I don't know, one progressive, person who doesn't care about keeping their neighborhoods safe, who cares who doesn't care about their children being able to go to school and not worry about, school violence. I don't know any progressive, moderate conservative. I don't know anyone, so I don't believe that we should be, looking at public safety and most issues through, a lens that, is defined by a political perspective because we have to look at Oakland values, and we have to look at what Oakland residents live and want. And I believe the same thing.  KRON4: When we think about things through, for example, a progressive approach, I'm sure that can shape the approach to policing or drug treatment or helping somebody who might be on the streets unhoused. Lee: Well, look, you have to have every point of view considered. I mean, I never I've never uttered 'defund the police.' I never was there. Some were, some weren't. But that's okay. I wasn't. Some said it was only progressives who were, doing the right thing for police reform. And believe you me, I've been out there on police accountability and police reform. That's me. But, believe you me, I understand the need for public safety for everyone. I don’t believe anyone has to compromise their values if they know their bottom lines and they are working for people.  KRON4: As you know, the city of Oakland has a severe issue that comes to understaffing with the police department. There is that crime issue. So how would you navigate all of that?  Lee: I'd want to work with the police chief and the police union to talk to them about that, how we do it because I know that we're not going to get to the number of police officers that, we deserve and need. But I also know that maybe there are some efficiencies in the police department itself or within the city, that we can help make sure that police officers are doing their job on the beat. Community policing is extremely important. People want to interact with their police officers. They want safety. So we have to look at if we don't have a budget that will allow for or a system that will allow for the hiring of more police officers where we need to be, that we have to look at what we can do inside of our city government. KRON4: The city's police department has been under federal oversight for more than two decades. So how would you work with the top brass to bring the department into compliance? Lee: We have to look at what I believe that one or two tests that have not been met yet. I want to know why. Because that's an awful long time. But believe me, we need a police force that is accountable. We need a police force that is trained, that loves their jobs and wants to stay in Oakland. And we need a police force who will uphold the rule of law. So we have to look at what has taken place and what is taking place to not allow this to close. And so I've got to look at that and, we'll understand and evaluate it if the good people of Oakland elect me as their mayor.  KRON4: The number of homeless people increased about 9% between 2022 and 2024. We heard from Governor Gavin Newsom saying that would threaten to withhold state funding from local cities, local governments if they didn't follow through with encampment sweeps. Would you follow through with that directive?  Lee: Well, we have directives. We have to understand, how to, manage directives in a humane way. First of all, we need to make sure that, people who are unsheltered, have a place to live. And the first part of this is making sure people who, unfortunately, are unsheltered, we find places transitional housing and mental health services. Hopefully, a job and a job training so that they can get into permanent housing right away. We can't let this happen and let people stay on the streets.  It's a moral disgrace. First of all, we shouldn't even have to have a directive. It's a moral disgrace. It's inhumane; it's wrong. And people living on the streets, you know, are there for many reasons. Some have been evicted, some just don't have any place to go because of because of the cost of living. There are many reasons, but whatever the reasons are, they shouldn't be living on the street.  KRON4: But, of course, all of this is going to cost money, right? So where do you think that's going to come from?  Lee: We've got to raise revenue. That's one strategy. Secondly, we have to look at efficiencies within the government where is waste occurring. I don't know. Let's look and see where we could capture or have resources that are not being spent, for example, that can be used for, the city. We need private investment. I'm one. I've had a business for 11 years, so I don't shy away from business.  I think businesses can create good-paying union jobs for workers, for employees. So let's talk to businesses and create an environment, in Oakland, where businesses want to come to Oakland to create these jobs and economic opportunity. KRON4: You opposed the recall of Mayor Sheng Thao. Do you still stand by that? Lee: Listen, I voted the way and spoke out against that recall. But the people who conducted the recall, they won. So I got to accept the will of the voters. That's what voters decided. That was the will of the people. Now I'm running for mayor, and, I hope I've worked to earn everyone's vote.  KRON4: Given the recall, given a number of events that have happened politically in the city of Oakland, there's quite a bit of distrust involved in city government. How would you go to rebuild that trust of Oakland voters? Lee: The lack of hope, is a real issue I'm grappling with and want to grapple with, if I'm elected because people have to have hope, they have to believe in their city. They have to believe in their leadership. So I'm hands-on, and I'll go into the communities. You can't make false promises. So I hope people know me. If they don't, I want this campaign to be a campaign where they get to know me and know what I have done. I'm not making a lot of promises in this campaign, you know. If I'm elected, we're going to look at what promises we're going to make together and deliver on them.  KRON4: I would like to ask you too about the subject of age. This has been something that's been under the spotlight, especially recently during the last presidential election. Some of your opponents in this race have mentioned that it's time for a new generation of leadership. Do you agree with that?  Lee: Listen, you know, it's nothing I can do about my age. Well, all I can say is, I believe that my leadership, my history, my ability to bring people together to solve problems is something the voters will have to decide if they trust me to be able to do that. I've never worked at city hall so believe me, I have a lot of fresh ideas for the city. I've never worked there.  Actually, as a federal and state official, I have supported my city and my congressional district in my state legislative district in ways that have helped with the quality of life. And so, if I haven't worked to earn, voter's vote, then they won't vote for me. So I hope they know though that I have, a lot of experience, and experience matters. I think at this point in time in Oakland history and also being able to use my leverage, from everywhere, because I've delivered and I've helped a lot of people around the country, around the world, and I would want to be able to now, cash in on that.  KRON4: Do you think there should be a maximum age limit for elected officials?  Lee: No, I don't. You know, that takes away a person's fundamental right to vote for who they want to vote for. And if they believe that someone is too young or too old or not experienced or has been there too long. Voters are very smart, especially voters in Oakland, they won't vote for them. KRON4: How would you apply that experience from being in Congress to running a local city? Lee: Well, I know budgets and I know how to appropriate money. I know how to look at values and where the gaps are and what people need, in terms of their daily lives, in terms of prioritizing our budget and hard-earned tax dollars. I've been doing that for years. Now, hands-on in Oakland to be able to deliver services, to be able to try to, you know, deal with potholes. Yeah, and to deal with the daily, problems of the city and want to just help people, in their neighborhoods be the type of neighborhoods that everyone deserves. KRON4: Thank you so much Congresswoman for your time, we appreciate it. Lee: Nice to be with you.