Issues
Civil Rights
Watching federal forces smash car windows, kick in doors, and drag innocent people off the street into unmarked vehicles is terrifying. Emeryville is, thankfully, a sanctuary city, and I aim to keep it that way. There are other ways I’d like to explore protecting our neighbors from unjust persecution, no matter who’s currently in charge of those agencies and corporations.
Safety
As an abolitionist, I know that more police, more prisons, and harsher punishments aren’t how we prevent crime. In addition, I know that while our city police are among the best in The Bay Area, they are no more effective than other departments when it comes to preventing theft, vandalism, and violent crime in our city. They show up after these crimes are committed and help us file paperwork, but your catalytic converter is already gone.
I believe we need to provide our citizens with services beyond policing to help improve public safety. Things like mental health counseling, funding for local afterschool programs, and upgrading our parks into active hubs for young people to gather and peacefully enjoy themselves without needing to spend a dime. Legal and bureaucratic assistance for those of us who find navigating all the paperwork we need to file to get anything done especially difficult.
And finally, I want to encourage our community to get to know their neighbors. Emeryville is a lively up-and-coming city full of interesting people. Getting to know our neighbors is an excellent way to help us build safer communities. Showing up for each other when someone’s in trouble or noticing when something isn’t right can help us aid our local services toward our larger goals.
Surveillance Doesn’t Keep Us Safe
On the topic of safety, I want to point out one issue that I keep seeing all over the country. Surveillance is ramping up everywhere. Whether it’s speeding cameras, license plate readers, or CCTV hooked into facial recognition software, we have paved the way for bad actors to know every move we make. And we’ve paid for it with our own tax dollars.
Maybe you’re not as skeptical as I am about this. Maybe you think “If I don’t do anything wrong, I should have nothing to hide.” But think about who gets to use this data. It’s not just our friendly EPD cops we run into at Rudy’s Can’t Fail. It also gets into the hands of I.C.E. and other federal agencies we may not want in there. It’s also in the hands of the third-party services who enable the technology, so they can sell it to whoever they want, including stalkers, identity thieves, and pretty much anyone else who wants it. Even if they tell us they won’t do it, their databases can be breached.
This data collection and distribution is not properly regulated in our country. Even in California, where we have more protection than others, it’s still sparse compared to other countries. We shouldn’t let these corporate and fascist interests make us so afraid of our neighbors that we hand them the keys to our private data.
Fearmongering
Despite all the fearmongering clickbait headlines attempting to waste our time recalling DAs and installing corporate-friendly replacements, crime is trending down and has been for decades.
Worst of all, they’re not even effective. If we look at the other cities who’ve implemented these expensive solutions, none of them have actually dropped crime significantly.
Housing
The best way to improve housing is to build more of it.
The next way to improve housing is to regulate large corporate landlords who seek to manipulate what they call “market value” for rent prices while providing slum lord conditions to people paying over $2,000 a month for a studio apartment. I would seek an end to all the ways these landlords attempt to nickel-and-dime renters on top of the already exorbitant rent.
I’m also a big fan of vacancy taxes to make sure these landlords are competing fairly or selling their property to the many folks in our city who’d love the opportunity to own their home.
Unhoused People
I’m appalled at encampment sweeps. I know I’d be punching well above my weight to try and take on the U.S. Supreme Court, Gavin Newsom, and other heartless representatives who salivate at the idea of ripping apart the only safety, community, and consistency many of these poor folks have in the world. But I’d damn sure try.
Commercial Real Estate
Whenever one of my favorite small local businesses close, it’s almost always because their lease was up and the rent got too damn high. Obviously, running a successful small business has thousands of factors to manage, but the big reason many of our storefronts remain empty is rent.
It’s no wonder most of the newer businesses to come into our city have been national or regional brands who can afford the risk. I want small businesses to thrive here. I want more bodegas, family restaurants, boutiques, farmers markets, and — if I can selfishly dream for a minute — a decent video arcade.
I think we need to support local entrepreneurs more aggressively than the way we court these huge chains. I love that we have IKEA, Best Buy, AMC, and Uniqlo. I’m psyched about the Tokyo Central Market. (As a queer person, I could do without the Chik-Fil-A…) I want more local alternatives to these national chains that charge us city folks more to supplement their profit margins in rural areas.
Transit
One of the main reasons I chose to put roots down in Emeryville is how walkable our city is. I love that I can get almost anywhere in The Bay by hopping on the Emery-Go-Round and transferring wherever we need. I love how many bikes I see around, and don’t even get me raving about The Greenway!
I want to keep moving in that direction. I want to slow down the traffic that speeds through our neighborhoods trying to cut through for a faster way into other cities. I want less of a focus on private cars and more focus on pedestrian, bike, and transit safety. And I want to do it in ways that benefit our local businesses with more foot traffic and fewer parking woes.
Health
Environmental justice is close to my heart. I know we’re a heavily industrial city who benefits from the commercial space we offer, but I want to make sure we continue to regulate these businesses to account for all kinds of pollution (including noise) before welcoming them. I believe the planning commission is doing a great job of this recently, and I’d want to continue down that path.
Cities don’t tend to have a ton of power over making sure citizens have access to healthcare they need, but I’d also seek out ways to make sure everyone who needs things like vaccines, testing kits, masks, or information has our help finding them.
Sustainability
Sustainability is often described as an environmental discussion, and I care deeply about that, but it’s also about setting our future selves up to succeed. I don’t believe in borrowing from our future to make politically expedient choices today. I want to invest and reinvest in our future, and I think any city growing the way ours is should pay special attention to the way we grow.
In addition to that investment, I believe we must follow through on our commitments, even when it’s hard to balance the spreadsheets to do so. I’m disheartened by the ways other cities betray their most vulnerable citizens by pulling back on commitments to affordable housing, for example. I don’t believe those are the types of sacrifices we should make. We could all benefit from more creativity and generosity from the haves before we ever consider taking from the have-nots.
Council Productivity
Most members of our city council do their jobs in good faith and focus on solving problems effectively. A few seem to be there for self-promotion or to waste taxpayers’ time and money with delays and obfuscation.
I come to the city council with many years of management experience finding common ground between passionate, opinionated factions. I plan to listen, learn, and foster a cooperative atmosphere for our council so we can get things done rather than bicker about petty political squabbles.