Thread by @tasha_mente

Hi #oakmtg friends. I'm watching the @AlamedaCoDem Oakland Democratic Candidates Forum. It's being hosted on Facebook live: facebook.com/events/6077616…

Oh no, with 15 seconds left we will hear a bell. I already know this bell is going to haunt me for a while. #oakmtg

First up is Derreck Johnson. The speaking time is so quick it's impossible to type everything he said. He hits the highlights about his single mom, restaurant, etc.

Kaplan does not speed through her speech by she recaps the highlights of her time serving City Council. #oakmtg

Nancy: speaks to public companies and corruption, environment, goes over time. #oakmtg

First question about policing goes to Nancy. "We need to start listening to the community" -- in East Oakland 90% do not want defunding the police, since there is so much crime. She says OPD has changed over the years, defundOPD does not represent most of Oakland. #oakmtg

Derreck says he has been profiled and that Oakland needs change. Need to engage in dialogue about systemic racism. Need to change culture of policing--bias training, recruiting black & brown officers #oakmtg

Kaplan is asked what her position is on how the city responded to protests and property damage and how she'd act differently. She says both those who complain the most about policing are disproportionately African American, fought for money toward civilian mental health training

Host (missed his name) said she didn't answer the question. He repeats question about protests. Kaplan -- the choice of deployment of resources was not appropriate-- talks about OPD focusing on protests & teargas instead of looters #oakmtg

Deadly force question. Nancy: I found it ironic most of the problems happened after dark. Need to talk about outsiders coming in. Says use of force should be higher standard. #oakmtg

Kaplan -- agree standard for deadly force needs to be raised. We found out yesterday under existing standards, OPD was hiding information. (Note to self to read those reports!). Kaplan supporting independent polcomm oversight #oakmtg

Johnson: Need to embrace 8 can't wait, we only have 5. regular audits on bodycams, demilitarize police and put money into deescalation & bias training. #oakmtg

Johnson-- supports strengthening the police commission. Need to look at how it's formed, the individuals on the PolComm. Host: do you support the initiative on the ballot? Yes

Nancy: commissioners and how they were chosen need to be looked at. need to be a cross-section of the community on the committee, not just friends. should not be appointed commission. #oakmtg

Elihu Harris: How to address gentrification?
Kaplan: We produce the right number of regular units but not affordable units. We passed an impact fee law but the city has not been tracking the funds so now we need to track that down. We put several properties out from public lands

Nancy: they passed a lot of ordinances in city council that hurt people. instead of stopping foreclosures they are driving people out, taxes are too high. people aren't coming because there are no jobs, we are losing people. #oakmtg

Johnson: "I am Oakland... Oakland is me." Upramp strategic partnerships with private sector for affordable housing units, need low income housing and "low-low" income housing. Too many friends have been pushed out...need housing for those at risk. #oakmtg

Elihu: How to alleviate homelessness? (talks about SROs)
Johnson: When I walk around Oakland, I don't recognize it. We can't move homeless to temp housing. "I would strengthen my relationship with Kimmy Walkins...

...I would work with county and state" take $ from affordable housing trust fund, keep oakland housed & building futures #oakmtg

Candidates keep running over the bell, so Elihu says people need to be more concise.

Kaplan--passed law around SROs... I missed this, if anyone else got to hear what she said I'd appreciate it. Trying to use hotels to house homeless. They are passing laws around backyard units, modular housing. Not just sheds but real homes. Need to expedite those.

Nancy: this is a county issue, but they've allowed other cities to push their homeless here. They're here but not by choice of the community. "Where's the OHA in all of this? I hear about nonprofits but not the OHA" #oakmtg

This shouldn't be at the expense of landlords and property owners but paid by everyone in the city including tenants -Nancy #oakmtg

Elihu: Why should you be elected?
Kaplan: We have an opportunity to expand democracy to let 16 & 17 yos vote and to vote yes on polcomm item. I authored these and passed the council unanimously. That consensus building. Kaplan's site also lists where the drop boxes are in Oak

Elihu makes a "vote early and often joke" and my inner nerd is tickled.

Nancy: Oakland is in the sewer. We need to bring businesses back, need to stop crime. If you want to change oakland you need to vote. I'm an honest person and will work with you, not for you or at you. #oakmtg

Johnson: Thanks ACDems. I've provided jobs. I'll work with you to create as many jobs as possible. I want 10,000 new jobs. Did Kamala endorse Johnson? That's his implication. #oakmtg

Now to D1.

Elihu announces the candidates, here's the slate. #oakmtg

Walton: priorities are housing for all, equity & education, police reform. Status quo is not working. "Comfortable in all the neighborhoods in D1"... that is a strange thing to say. #oakmtg

Kalb: when I ran for office I had 20 years of experience in policy. I fight for renters, climate justice, safety, wildfire safety. I'm good at detailed work. #oakmtg

Tri: Oakland is in crisis. I want to solve homelessness immediately. I will strengthen our democracy. I am limiting campaign contributions to $35. I'm creating an online platform for all residents to weigh in on what council is voting on. #oakmtg

Eviction moratoriums. Kalb: we extended it already to life of the pandemic. I authored the tenant protection ordinance, I'm a leader from stopping renters from displacement. Mentions tenant advocate endorsements. #oakmtg

Tri: I would go to the banks and encourage them to forgive mortgages. Reduce taxes on property owners.

Steph: lifting the moratorium would put people on the street. we need money from state or fed gov't to get tenants whole to make back payments. D1 resident has lived in same place for 22 years and landlord told her to sign paper that she isn't subject to rent control.

Elihu: Howard Terminal and the A's. Steph: I want to keep the A's. They are part of the identity of this city. She's been campaigning for over a yr. She's in favor of Howard Terminal & sale of colosseum to the A's. Wants it to be a Bart stop.

Kalb: I've been an A's fan for 40 years. I have a responsibility to look at all the proposals including all the environmental impacts, parcel maps, etc. If I say yes now, we will lose leverage. Let's keep the colosseum site as a backstop, let's negotiate what's good for the city.

Ngo brings up his $35 contribution limit and Walton can't keep a straight face. He wants to lease the land instead of selling it. #oakmtg

Elihu: Vague question about gentrification. Walton: we border Emeryville and Berkeley. We're broke and need to pool resources. She says again that she is comfortable in all neighborhoods. This is D1, so I'm not sure who she's impressing here. #oakmtg

Tri: "I was born in a refugee camp, I am seeing conditions that look like refugee camps." Mentions $35 contribution again. #oakmtg

Ok, I caught the question this time. how do you create consensus with the diversity of economics within the district. Kalb: community groups, sometimes problems are neighborhood-specific but often go beyond that. It's a good goal to achieve consensus, that's how you solve probs.

Dan also talks about being bold, but his record over the last few months often indicates him hedging his bets, so I'm not sure that reflects his general vibe.

Budget. Kalb: Authored real estate transfer tax, support equitable business tax that will be on the ballot in 2022.

Tri: would make cuts from police, can't have cops work 13 hour shifts, increase taxes on luxury property. Luxury apartments, bigger homes etc. Ensure govt' is transparent to show people where the money is going. #oakmtg

Walton: To balance the budget I'd encourage more housing built by local contractors. lift up local businesses. Bas' proposal--look at smart ways to cut that budget. #oakmtg

Elihu: if you had 700 homeless people, where would you put them? (I'm sorry, what??) #oakmtg

Walton: make more facilities available. Calls CA College of the Arts the "College of Arts & Crafts," (😂😂😂) says they are converting dorms to homeless housing, need to do more of that

Tri: need to focus on increasing taxes on luxury homes. Wherever fastest to house the homeless, do it there. #oakmtg

Kalb: I pushed the city to make the offer on the college. That building will be for homeless families and seniors. There are 2 affordable housing projects that will have 120 units. I'm trying to get more trash pickups and deep cleanings until we get more housing. #oakmtg

Closing statements. Kalb: Rattles off all his endorsements. I work very hard, understand the policy making process, it's tedious but I'm good at it. He is just running over his time. #oakmtg

Tri goes on his idealist diatribe and mentions the $35 contribution limit AGAIN. He has very little self-awareness and it makes me sad. He seems very nice. #oakmtg

Walton: endorsements, Julian Castro and Buffy Wicks. My value prop is energy and leadership. Transparency and accessibility. #oakmtg

SICK BURN, KALB! "Stephanie, maybe you and I should give $35 to Tri!" I tell you we HOWLED over here.#oakmtg

Moved on to D5. We just see McElhaney and Fife.

Sorry, D3, typo.
Harris: Why are you running?
Fife: Decades of service in the community. We are in transformative times & I was forged for this moment. #oakmtg

McElhaney: Has been on Council for 8 years, gives some background. "Progressive needs to mean making progress."

Harris: D3 has highest percentage of homelessness. Also gentrification. Solve it.
McElhaney: D3 is home to 2/3 of homeless, CA is home to 1/3 of the homeless in the nation. Solving at local level: 1. emergency response 2. state partners 3. restore HUD funding #oakmtg

Fife: Need to address speculative nature of housing. Moms for housing was pinnacle of that issue, the avg income earner cannot afford to live here. Development has pushed market rate out of reach of most working people. Limit mkt rate development. Fund community land trusts.

Harris asks about the A's & tradeoffs. Fife: public land should be used for public good. we need to close deal on public lands policy that we haven't been able to finalize, need union jobs. A's moving to JLS would bring more revenue. concerned about impact to transit & jobs

McElhaney: Waiting for the proposal info to come back. The A's have to deal fairly & honestly & needs to make sense for both Howard Terminal & Colosseum site. #oakmtg

Harris: Port of Oakland--what would you change?
McElhaney: critical economic engine. I kind of spaced out on this one, my apologies.

Fife: I was employed by the Port, was part of negotiating for the Port, facilitated numerous Town Halls, brought jobs to working class people. Port should be a stronger partner. #oakmtg

Lynette is smiling daggers into the camera.

Harris: What will you do with next yr's budget?
Fife: I don't believe in austerity. We have everything we need to defund OPD & reallocate to creating new revenue sources. City workers have had furloughs & cuts for years. We don't need to cut FD. I've lobbied city council #oakmtg

McElhaney: Claims she was on the right side of every budget. Oakland is too decentralized. Schools & communities first is a game-changer. We will see infusion of cash. #oakmtg

Harris: 2 downtown issues: closed biz's & damage, but also the concept of restoring downtown as retail center.
McElhaney: working hard since 2013 to restore it, attracted target, sprouts, comm foods. Working with black biz funds, through cares act there are $6M for small biz

Fife: CALLS OUT MCELHANEY for equity caucus vote. "I hope my leadership on City Council actually brings democracy back to downtown." WOW, good for her. Wants to center small businesses instead of these large corps downtown. Cut red tape to let biz's thrive. #oakmtg

Fife: I'm doing the work without the salary. I put my heart first and serve the needs of those most impacted. I'm not funded by OPOA or developers. I've spent the majority of my adult life in D3. #oakmtg

McElhaney: Claims she's still new to politics. Says she is bringing people together, not tearing people down. It's difficult for a woman of color to have this seat.

Asks for more time for the budget: improved Moody's rating, reduced cost. More about transformative leadership.

D5 is up. #oakmtg

Mayor Harris: Why do you represent D5, which is Latino and diverse?
Raya: Born in San Jose, moved to Fruitvale at age 5. I'm Latino, my family is blended. #oakmtg

Gallo: I raised 3 daughters and a son, I went to Cal, served Oakland for 20 years. #oakmtg

Housing. Gallo: Been part of Unity Council's latest development, bring 200 units to affordable housing & also the homeless. Working with Native American Health Center. Jingletown & E. Oak have many developments in progress, house teachers. #oakmtg

Raya: We aren't going to be able to develop our way out of housing. Need systemic change. Bring in revenue and realign budget. Subsize housing, convert housing, wants housing for all. Developing alone isn't the solution. #oakmtg

Oakland A's. Raya: wants to follow strict environmental regulations. Longshoremen and other groups oppose it because it won't be equitable and will hurt environment. As it stands now, I can't support it. #oakmtg

Gallo: I'm a lifetime A's fan. I talk to the A's regularly. I want them to stay at the colosseum and have them develop that public land. This will be a long-term process. They only have a 4-5 year lease. NFL and WNBA want to come to Oakland. #oakmtg

Homelessness.
Gallo: I do cleanups on the weekends, provide meals and other services. The county has failed the city. Went on a tangent a bit, but wants to add more housing. #oakmtg

Raya: Went to a service call with Gallo. Wants to work collaboratively to build housing that isn't substandard. #oakmtg

Balance the budget.
Raya: I would not have voted to postpone the progressive business tax. Wants to "be really curious about" the police budget to defund it. Did not commit to a 50% defund. #oakmtg

Gallo: $112M deficit, council committed not to lay anyone off or furlough anyone. Says he is willing to reimagine public safety. Talks about cops patrolling parking lots. Wants to shift policing to neighborhood level. #oakmtg

Harris: Small biz.
Gallo: Supported the rent moratoriums. Brings up Bus Rapid Transit system. Small biz rep 90% of city income.

Raya: Rent control, well administered policy. Biz has been suffering because of the construction with the BRT. City looking at innovative ideas like Black Cultural Zone. Get creative & aggressive to subsidize landlords. #oakmtg

Police Comm. independent oversight.
Gallo: I endorse strengthening it, I've always supported them, that's why OPD has never endorsed me. The federal monitoring system has cost us millions. Asks everyone to support the PolComm. #oakmtg

Raya: Yes, agree, but we need an engaged City Council to help from a budgetary standpoint. #oakmtg

Use of deadly force question.
Raya: Standard needs to increase. I wrote a whole article about this in college an law school. "reasonable" is culturally subjective. We need a higher standard that will save lives. Reasonable fear can be twisted and can kill. Whiffs the end. #oakmtg

Gallo is asked about what happens when moratorium is over: Second reference to grandma & grandpa living in their cars. Prisoners are out of jail and don't have a job. Thinks federal govt needs to reinstate HUD. Not sure how much power this position has over that. #oakmtg

Raya: Ideally Oakland would have enough money, it would be great, but HUD excludes undocumented people. Need to make big asks of landlords, developers, businesses #oakmtg

Closing statements.
Gallo: clean safe healthy environment. A lot of rambling before that. #oakmtg

Raya: Compares this forum to the DNC. Compares himself to AOC and Bernie. Thinks people should vote young and progressive. #oakmtg

Onto D7 #oakmtg

Mayor Harris: D7 is challenged but differently. It will be impacted by the A's and there are a lot of issues. Opening statements.

Aaron Clay: Need vision, experience and courage. Create jobs, can't have someone who needs 2 years to learn on the job. Needs to advocate for D7 even if unpopular. Lawyer, started community legal clinics. We need to control the development instead of development controlling us.

Treva Reid: I serve on community boards, raised with political activism, one of 128 grandchildren (fun trivia). Focus on gun violence. #oakmtg

Marchon Tatmon: career built on mentoring, teaching, on the front line and the back end, advocate at local, state & fed level. "When we talk about experience, that's me." Degrees in polisci and administration. Homelessness & affordable housing. #oakmtg

Marcie Hodge: Served 2 terms on Peralta Community College board as trustee. #oakmtg

Mayor Harris: A's.
Hodge: We want the A's to stay where they are. Already approved for an environmental impact report. I don't support the selling of the property. If they do, it's a public asset to develop affordable housing or economic engine. #oakmtg

Marchon: Howard Terminal is one of the most polluted lands in Oakland. Pollution, infrastructure. Colosseum site: only 1 sports team willing to hang on and wants to go. I ran for mayor in 2018 and was the only one who wanted to lease it out and get dividends.#oakmtg

Reid: Wants A's to remain. Led negotiations at the Oakland army base. Wants community benefits. Transit-oriented housing is critical. #oakmtg

Clay: A's need to stay in East Oakland. I started a solar firm, work in environmental space. No way to develop on Howard without a decade of environmental work. Don't give it to the A's and beg, we need to lease part of it and put other parts into a community land trust 4 housing

Harris asks about economic stimulus in the district. Reid: Rezoning the district. How do we use public assets to retain/attract to make D7 a thriving hub. Bring Black ownership back into the district, particularly banks. #oakmtg

Clay: has worked on development projects in career. Focus on schools. Need to guide development in opportunity zones to make sure it's for the betterment of the community. #oakmtg

Hodge: Bring in more industries; Healthcare, biotech, greentech. Rezoning. Create pods to bring tech in and grow small businesses. #oakmtg

Tatmon: Says D7 will be a "financial juggernaut." Hagenburger tour zone will create jobs. This will allow us to reinvest back into the city, provide grants or low-interest rate loans. #oakmtg

Gentrification.
Tatmon: Protect our most valuable asset--African Americans & POC, who built this city. Home ownership is focus. Need to keep people in long-term, create affordable living wages, need to bring in economic development. #oakmtg

Hodge: People need jobs that have a living wage. Increasing affordable housing. We have some parcels but housing needs to be built out beyond 7% affordable housing. My business needs 12 people but I'm tied up with a fire dept clearance so we need better policies for small biz

Reid: 70% of homeless are Black, need to prioritize those with greatest need. Need to break the wealth gap. We've only achieved 14% of our affordable housing goals since 2015, ahead of plan for nonaffordable. #oakmtg

Clay: Need transitional housing, supportive housing, affordable housing for working class people. Need to address inequality by developing pipelines of supplies and union jobs in our community for larger companies. We need to keep our land. #oakmtg

Where would you put homeless housing in D7?
Reid: Hotels funded by the county, FEMA trailers as temp housing, available land at the Colosseum, environmental review already completed. Convert vacant buildings around that area. #oakmtg

Clay: Everybody should have housing. Some need different resources than others. Transitional housing, mental health resources, job development. Don't stack them all in one place, put families together, veterans together, give them the resources to thrive. #oakmtg

Tatmon: I spent a lot of time as a homeless outreach manager, provided 1000 beds to people needing a roof. This is my #1 issue. Need "every tool in the tool book." I did a homeless count of over 4K people til 5 AM. Any available land, we need rents down and get people in. #oakmtg

Hodge: We need residential programs. A lot of them have closed. Need RFPs for biz owners to see if they can house homeless. Work to transition them to their families or housing. She also mentions she is a psychologist and has experience in working with mental health. #oakmtg

Mayor Harris: Budget deficit. "They used some trickery to balance the budget" -- direct shot at Treva's father. #oakmtg

Hodge: Ask city to support a sales tax increase. Bring in businesses that can give back. This doesn't help with poverty, it's a regressive tax.
When asked if she wants to cut anything, she doesn't want to cut employees of the city of Oakland. I'm a bit confused. #oakmtg

Tatmon: Won't sacrifice city workers. We need to create entrepreneurship opportunities.

That's not really a budget balance thing. #oakmtg

Reid: Supports reallocating funding from OPD. Supports progressive budget tax in 2022. Supports Uber tax, Prop 15, AB208. Mentions Appellate court approved Warriors paying us back.

Does not acknowledge the trickery comment. #oakmtg

Clay: A budget is just our priorities, OPD is 44%. He didn't do criminal law but public defenders would tell him about cops cheating the system. Shouldn't cut city workers. #oakmtg

Closing Statements.
Clay: Repeats his vision and experience line. Need an advocate to strengthen the community instead of having resources sold. We'll lose long-term residents. Need to do more to improve conditions. #oakmtg

Hodge: Track record in education. Have served for 8 years as trustee, brother served 2 terms on OUSD board. We serve the city because we love the city. #oakmtg

Reid: Courageous progressive policies. Labor apprentice programs, outreach programs, raising a workforce to offset wage/wealth gaps. Has worked with Nancy Skinner. She's rattled off a bunch of issues and general solutions. #oakmtg

Tatmon: Says he supports defunding OPD. Doesn't really say anything either. There's a weird echo issue so the end of his speech gets a bit lost. #oakmtg

I think we're done here, thanks for hanging in there with me, I hope any of this made sense. Definitely not all of the candidates on the ballot turned up tonight, but the major players were there. #oakmtg

I also think it's hard for any of the candidates to get solid policy ideas out there in like 2 minutes. There were 300 people watching online, which is not a ton considering there are 400K people living in Oakland. #oakmtg

I hope this thread helps people narrow down their candidates and helps them figure out how they plan to vote this year. Cheers. #oakmtg