Susan Marie Fisher

Oakland Mayoral Race

I saw today in a neighbor's window a sign supporting Dellums.

It surprised me, knowing the resident quite well.

I guess to me, Dellums knows how to talk the talk. I don't want to hear that someone is going "to end poverty and provide universal healthcare." I want to know how the City of Oakland is going to pave my potholes, trim my trees, keep my park clean, improve our libraries, work at reducing crime, and ensure that gentrification doesn't cause a loss of affordable housing. Dellums seems very good at making political promises - the type that are not even close to being affordable or realistic.

The other two candidates, to me, have a much better background and connection with the people of Oakland, having both served on Oakland City Council for a number of years. De la Fuente doesn't seem like the obvious choice to my southern, white, yuppie facade - but having worked with the man, he's really the only choice for the job. What can I say other than I am a democrat, a liberal southerner, and looks can be deceiving?

There is this blog I stumbled across about 'stopping' de la fuente's run for mayor - it was a joke. Apparently they think someone "who can't even clean up his own district" doesn't deserve to be running. I am still pondering under which rock precisely this blogger has been living under to have not noticed the vast changes de la fuente has made happen in Fruitvale. Anh, I'll write more later, I am just taking a break from some charity work... But having met two out of three candidates, my choice was immediate giving De La Fuente's track record - and personal ongoing dialog with constituents outside of his district (me!). I guess seeing the Dellums sign made me realize that De La Fuente as a mayor isn't obvious to everyone else, and that saddened me.

BTW given De La Fuente is like getting two mayors for one, he works so hard ;) Nadel, second choice. But Dellums? come on!

Posted by sfisher at April 3, 2006 10:11 PM