[This page is currently being updated. Thanks for your patience.]

Results

I am proud of what we have accomplished in Oakland. Working together with neighbors, nonprofit organizations, and businesses we will continue to accomplish great things for our city. Below are some of the highlights from over a decade of public service in Oakland:

Increasing Jobs and Expanding Businesses in Oakland

• Supported by the Oakland Chamber of Commerce for implementing policies that enable Oakland to retain, expand, and attract businesses and investment opportunities in Oakland. These businesses not only generate tax revenues for public safety, parks, and libraries but also provide jobs for Oakland residents.
  
• Joined with community leaders to design, finance, and build the beautiful Fruitvale Transit Village, recognized by The New York Times and the Urban Land Institute as a national model of community revitalization. New shops and housing are linked to regional transportation BART and provide a welcoming gateway to the bustling businesses of International Boulevard.
  
• Marshaled resources to fund “main street” and façade improvement initiatives to beautify the International Boulevard business district. These efforts increased revenues to the city and revitalized the neighborhood when the vacancy rate dropped from 40% to nearly 0%.
  
• Crafted and enacted Oakland’s Living Wage Ordinance to encourage jobs with decent wages for Oakland families (1998)
  
• Crafted and enacted the “Hire Oakland Policy” to encourage businesses to offer job opportunities to local residents (1993)
  
• Crafted and enacted law to regulate small, entrepreneurial businesses such as push cart and taco truck vendors. (2001)
  
• Crafted and enacted law to stop the over-concentration of unsightly and exploitative Check Cashing / Pay-Day Loan establishments throughout Oakland (2004)
  
• Identified investments to create an organized, one-stop shop for both day laborers and those seeking to hire them. Today, this center finds work for more than 200 people a day making it the most active and successful job placement program in the city. (2000)
  
• Crafted and enacted “Anti-Predatory Lending” law to protect consumers from predatory lenders and to encourage homeownership (2000)
  
• Crafted and enacted legislation to discourage “super” Wal-Marts with low-paying jobs from invading Oakland and diverting precious revenues from neighborhood business districts.

Increasing Public Safety

• Closed or mitigated at least 12 nuisance liquor-serving facilities bringing relief to many neighborhoods.
  
• Reduced fire danger and improved child safety by cracking down on illegal fireworks with an emergency Fireworks Ordinance (2004)
  
• Discouraged loitering and suspected drug-dealing by enacting law that enabled city to remove pay phones near liquor stores and other problem locations. (2001)
  
• Enacted Moratorium on new Massage Parlors in order to craft legislation that stops the exploitation of young women and stops the over-concentration of these establishments in our neighborhoods. (2005)
  
• Worked with colleagues on the City Council to craft and pass Measure Y, the Public Safety and Violence Reduction Measure, approved by 70% of the voters in November 2004. We are currently hiring and training new police officers for every neighborhood and developing a strategy to support violence prevention programs that work. (2004)

Improving Schools and Generating Opportunities for Oakland Youth

• Led efforts to build the first 3 new schools in Oakland (2003-2005).
  
• Launched pilot initiative with School District to open recreational facilities until 9 p.m. for neighborhood youth. (2005)
  
• Identified critical funding for neighborhood schools such as Glenview Elementary, Edna Brewer Middle, Manzanita Elementary, Hawthorne Elementary, Think College Now, International Community School, Urban Promise Academy, Lighthouse Community Charter School, Dolores Huerta Elementary, and other public schools.
  
• Worked with community groups to support “small autonomous schools” that enhance student learning with lower teacher-student ratios.
  
• Improved pedestrian safety for school children by enhancing crosswalks and installing stop lights near schools such as the Cesar Chavez Educational Center, Hawthorne and Melrose.
  
• Supported innovative After-School Initiative to provide comprehensive after-school programs for 20 elementary and middle schools including homework assistance, sports, and the arts. (2004)

Improving Services and Quality of Life for Oakland Residents:

• As City Council President, led the adoption of all city-wide budgets since 1999 (approximately $800 million per year for operating and capital budgets) with a focus on citizen priorities including public safety, libraries, and parks. (1999 to present)
  
• Leveraged resources with Glenview Neighborhood Association to beautify a mile-long stretch of Park Boulevard. (2003-2005)
  
• Crafted and Enacted a ground-breaking Equal Access Ordinance making Oakland the first multi-lingual city in the US, so that all Oakland taxpayers have access to city services and their elected officials. (2001)
  
• Led the movement to consolidate the maintenance of our parks under one agency to increase accountability for clean parks.
  
• Created more new open space than any other Councilmember, including Union Point Park (along the Estuary), Peralta Hacienda Park, and the soccer and baseball fields at the Cesar Chavez Educational Center.
  
• Coordinated the planting of 177 trees in Council District 5 (2002) and supporting funding for 100 more trees near the 23rd Avenue business district (2005)
  
• Reduced bureaucratic barriers enabling East Bay Habitat for Humanity to clean-up a “brownfield” and build new homes for Oaklanders, a project recognized as a national model by the Environmental Protection Agency.
  
• Encouraged livable communities with more open space and homeownership by down-zoning high density Oakland neighborhoods (1993)
  
• Launched “Dirty Dozen” campaign forcing 71 problem-landlords to improve their properties, which not only benefited Oakland families but also revitalized their neighborhoods (1999)
  
• Leading a citywide effort to take on some of the worst absentee slumlords by bringing forth public nuisance lawsuits and unfair business practice lawsuits to prevent abuse of neighborhoods and tenants.
  
• Worked with local nonprofits to help 45 Oakland families win battle against slum lord and to transform Oak Park Apartments into a neighborhood gem.
  
• Saved the historic buildings and gardens of the Altenheim (Glenview / Dimond neighborhoods) by identifying city funds to enable the development of new senior housing.
  
• Leading effort to protect animals by reforming the Oakland Animal Shelter after holding a Town Hall meeting on allegations of animal abuse. (2005)
  
• Leading the fight to stop the proposed gambling casino by communicating our concerns to leaders in Sacramento and Washington, DC. Oakland is not for sale! (2005)