Aimee Allison's slick, union-funded campaign flyers are vague in the extreme. For District 2 residents confused on her stands, here is some information.
Aimee Allison is part of the old Dellums crony network. Her fundraiser this week is hosted by Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson and the city employees' union.
Aimee Allison thinks that Oakland, with about half the police per-capita of most mid-sized cities (let alone large cities),
spends too much money on policing. The link is from an article she wrote in a magazine that speaks "for socialism." If she cuts millions of dollars from policing services, how are we supposed to have community policing? She emphasizes gun control, seemingly unaware that Oakland and Alameda County passed stringent gun control measures in the early 1990s, under leadership of then-Supervisor Don Perata.
Aimee Allison
does not support a downtown main library (which is in District 2), because it shouldn't be "a priority."
Aimee Allison
favors the lawsuit that seeks to stop Lake Merrit improvements (voter-approved Measure DD), because a few old trees will get lost in the process of expanding the lake.
Aimee Allison is an avowed socialist,
happily accepting endorsements from several international socialist groups. Her government-directed vision of Oakland would result in the declining services and limited entrepreneurial opportunities we see in Berkeley.
Aimee Allison, as a good socialist, trusts bureaucracy over people's choices.
She wants to close down nailshops on Grand Avenue, because they're "poor planning." No matter that they are patronized, of course - she knows better than District 2 consumers what shops should be on Grand.
Aimee Allison wants to seize Port revenues for the school district. Since all port "excess" revenue (the port's tiny profit is spent on debt service) goes toward expansion, this would mean reducing airport expansion and the current, and successful, effort to increase revenue growth through container terminal expansion. Her figure of adding $500 million to the city's biannual budget is ludicrously wrong.
Aimee Allison
supports closing down charter schools for political, rather than education or financial, reasons.
Aimee Allison supports so-called "inclusionary" zoning, as the first item on her flyer. This is a fee levied on developers of high-density, transit-oriented housing, a fee that is not applied to developers of speculative mansions in the hills. In Oakland, the consumers of newly-built condos are first-time homebuyers who are mainly seeking to live close to Chinatown (a part of District 2). Ms. Allison is looking to impose huge fees on first-time, transit-oriented homeowners in Chinatown. Ironically, the fees do not go to provide low-income housing, but instead support vaguely-defined "affordable" housing, which may go to households earning as much as $100,000 a year.
Aimee Allison opposes the Oak-to-Ninth project, although I cannot find a single detail of her specific criticism of it. She has taken no position on the school board land sale. She seems to think that electing her will lead to the end of the war in Iraq. She thinks that
Oakland having all-black political leadership is "so great," even though it's a multiracial city. This is one nutty chick. Unfortunately, between her non-Oakland-based Green Party support, and the deep pockets of Dellums' cronies (remember, Dellums not only
violated the spending pledge but also far outspent De La Fuente), she will be able to put up a very tough fight against incumbent Kernighan. Hopefully District 2 voters will look past the hype and re-elect their effective, moderate councilwoman.
Aimee Allison's
endorsements are here. Notable endorsements:
The Dellums Machine: Dan Seigel, Greg Hodge, Keith Carson, Geoffrey Peete
The city employees' union (and the statewide unions that control the Democratic Party, like the nurses and teachers' unions, that donate huge sums to Don Perata). So much for an independent third party!
The Berkeley City Council's anti-growth, anti-transit, anti-youth, anti-business "progressive" wing: Kriss Worthington, Dona Spring, and candidate Chris Cavanaugh
San Francisco socialists: Chris Daly, Matt Gonzalez, Ross Mirkarimi
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