Ive had to FINALLY make some tough decisions and fill out my own absentee ballot this weekend. There are some surprises here as I had to weigh my idealism with reality and strategize the ranked choice voting. For my first choice I idealistically had it narrowed down to Joe Tuman, Bryan Parker and Courtney Ruby, all who are pro-business candidates. I honestly think that Oaklanders need to pick a mayor that will make growing the tax base a top priority. How else are we going to find the funds to pay for additional police, pave our streets, set up social programs to help prevent displacement of people at risk to our booming economy, and pay for much needed infrastructure, not to mention keeping the As and Raiders in Oakland! I chose Joe Tuman for my top pick. Ive been thoroughly impressed by his ideas to come up with actual ways to fund much of our badly needed improvements by capitalizing on Oaklands under-utilized assets. He also realizes that we need to court new industries and businesses as a means to grow our tax base. When I asked him AB 32, which is the state initiative requiring Oakland to achieve a 40% tree canopy by 2020 his replay was Planting trees as we both know is a low priority when it comes to the current budget. There are some major issues with police staffing, deficient, pension obligations etc. that need to be addressed. But that does not mean Oakland cannot look for outside help via Grants and personal donations. Once we can fix the crime issue/perception in Oakland we can then attract new tax paying businesses which will then give us the ability to plant trees, fix streets, add parkways and the like. I appreciate his honesty and his willingness to look for alternatives outside of the Oakland budget to help Oakland meet this requirement. For my second ranked-choice vote I have expected to vote for Bryan Parker or Courtney Ruby, being the idealist I am. With much thought I instead decided that I needed to make my vote count as Parker and Ruby have not cracked the top 3 in any of the polls to date so I need to look from the top three from the most recent poll (Kaplan, then Schaaf, then Quan) and decide who I would most like see lead if Joe Tuman did not win. I picked Libby Schaaf for my #2 choice. My issue with Libby has been that she has been too political trying to play up to too many different factions and I just want to see her take a stand so we see the real Libby. The fact that the Left-leaning East Bay Express put Libby in their top 3 further alarmed me. I sent an email to Libby and her team asking for her to weigh in on AB 32 and got no answer when all previous email conversations had been answered. I held a fundraiser for Libby in July and asked her personally about her intentions to meet the state-mandated requirement for Oakland to achieve a 40% tree canopy (AB 32) and it had not been on her radar. But of the top 3 mayoral hopefuls in the recent polls I think Libby Schaaf is the one most likely to bridge the divides. Today alone I, like many people, received two emails from Libbys camp asking me to review her Economic Revitalization plan for Oakland. Libby stated, As Mayor, I will change that: I will attract new businesses, work with long-term employers to stay and expand, and make it easier for Oakland-grown businesses to open their doors faster....While anyone can promise to bring economic growth to Oakland, I have a record of actually doing it. Libby is fiscally conservative, which I love! My hope is that when in office she stops playing to the extreme Left since many of their ideas would stall Oaklands improving economy. And I will make it my mission along with the help of such organizations as Urban Releaf to put on her radar the need for Oaklands leaders to stop kicking the can down the road and address the need to clean our air and find ways to plant trees with funds from corporations and state sources so that we are compliant with AB 32 & dont have to tap Oaklands limited budget. This leaves the 3rd spot left and I cant in my right mind give it to Quan. She has already proved she cant lead. #3 goes to Rebecca Kaplan. Kaplan has not showed up to controversial votes on the City Council and has been more focused on trying to make everyone happy than making the really tough decisions that could elevate Oakland for success. However, in the last 3 polls Rebecca Kaplan has come out on top. She is an excellent communicator and has done more than most anyone to help keep the As in Oakland. If she can tap into that ability to negotiate to make deals with business interests to take up shop in Oakland then that would make her an incredible asset. We also need to educate her on AB 32 and have her put her negotiation skills to use to find corporate and state money to fund our programs and of course our AB 32 requirements. Kaplan also has a secret weapon, Ada Chan- Rebeccas aid on the City Council. Chan has come to my own rescue on a city matter and took an approach no one else in the city thought of. You are only as good as the people who support you and Kaplan has been very smart in picking extremely qualified people to support her and that has helped earn her the #3 spot. Endorsements mean nothing in the big scheme of things. Do your own research and find the candidate(s) that best your own values and goals for Oakland. Hedge your choices- choose who best represents you for your top choice for sure. Your #2 and #3 votes you should make sure at least one of them includes one of the top contenders just in case the remaining 20% of undecided voters dont all decide to go with your #1 choice. Be smart and, most importantly, do vote! Dont let someone else decide your and Oaklands future for you. And make sure to encourage all your friends and neighbors to vote as well.
Posted on: Mon, 20 Oct 2014 02:47:49 +0000
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