Dangerous Ideas

Looks like Ron Dellums won the election for Oakland mayor outright. I guess this means that progressives will be able to focus on electing Aimee Allison to Oakland City Council (District 2) in the November election.

I’ve worked on campaigns in San Francisco and Oakland, and I have to say that Oakland has a much more personal feel. When I volunteered on Matt Gonzalez’s campaign in S.F., he seemed a bit removed from us. Last year, though, I, along with several others from CJWP, helped organize one of several candidates forums for the District 2 Oakland City Council election. The candidates were approachable, and I got to talk to Aimee Allison a bit and helped with her campaign during the final days (I didn’t want to commit to a candidate before our forum took place). She came in fourth last spring, but this year she’s in the runoff for the D2 seat. One of my fellow organizers of the D2 forum was Andre Spearman; this year he’s the mayor elect’s campaign manager.

Oakland’s slightly larger than half the size of San Francisco, but so far it feels like it’s easier to talk to civic leaders. This gives me a lot of hope that we’ll have positive meetings with leaders when we try talking to them about low-income housing in Oakland, with particular regard to the PacRen evictions in Chinatown.