ISSUES

ISSUES

These three issues are the cornerstones of my campaign's platform.

1. CREATE A RESPONSIVE AND ACCOUNTABLE GOVERNMENT

Create an Oakland Citizen Engagement web portal that
- Ensures rapid response for issues in neighborhood.
- Enables ongoing Participatory budgeting allowing neighborhoods to vote on how city funds are spent.
- Enable sourcing of funds for projects directly from community avoiding city bureaucracy, increasing efficiency and transparency.
- Implements an online liquid democracy system
- District 1 citizens will be allowed to vote on every vote I make in the council
  - By default, citizen votes are delegated to me.
  - Citizen can choose to undelegate and vote directly.
  - Citizen can delegate their vote to anyone else, for example neighborhood association leader, advocacy group representative.
  - This system ensures a small vocal minority does not dominate decision making.
- Enables us to build city wide political support for council proposals.
- Allows citizens to submit, discuss, and vote on district and city wide proposals.
- Centralizes all requests for citizen feedback on city and transportation plans.
- Leadership of web portal will be comprised of citizens across the city. Eventually should not be controlled by the government to maintain independence.
- Will be implemented using open source code to ensure future access and enables other municipalities to adopt the system.
Strengthen neighborhood associations in engaging with their members, getting their concerns and their positions on possible solutions.
Create a training program to build community leadership and future politicians.
Host frequent educational town halls to educate citizens on issues and possible solutions.
Create accountability by using multiple independent non-governmental organizations to regularly collect data on citizen satisfaction, engagement and publish regularly on the District 1 portal.
- My performance should not be evaluated only once every 4 years, it should be frequent and ongoing.

"The Government is Us"

See more about my vision for government engagement in this recent post on Medium.

What is Liquid Democracy?

See more here about Liquid Democracy.

2. ADDRESS HOMELESSNESS

Educate citizens on the problem
- Total grew ~47% from 2761 in 2016 to 4071 in 2019 (~1% of Oakland’s population)
- Stems from of lack of economic opportunity for working class
  - 75% homeless were residents of Alameda county
  - 75% report money as primary reason for homelessness
Provide permanent housing
Provide Economic Opportunity
- Trade schools
- Coding schools
- Apprenticeship programs
- Connect people with jobs
Lowering barriers to receiving substance abuse and mental health treatment
Consider Universal basic income (UBI)
- Will look at examples and speak with leaders from other cities for instance Stockton
- Would provide assistance to those living on the edge of homelessness

Homelessness is rising

See more here about my team's findings on homelessness.

3. DEVELOP AFFORDABLE HOUSING

Obtain rights to all vacant land, empty buildings and warehouses to build affordable housing.
Streamline approval process to build affordable housing.
Enable existing residents to remain while increasing the supply of affordable housing through redevelopment.
Ensure maximal utilization of supply by long term residents
- Discourage empty land/units for investment
Encourage residents to find other forms of wealth generation aside from purchasing property
Provide incentives to landlords to increase involvement in housing voucher program.
Negotiate NIMBY issues by obtaining wide ranging support from district.