League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
	Alameda County, CA November 6, 2012 Election
	Candidates Answer Questions on the Issues Council Member; City of Oakland; Council District 5

The questions were prepared by the League of Women Voters of Oakland and asked of all candidates for this office.     See below for questions on , , , Click on a name for candidate information.   See also more information about this contest. 1. (Foreclosure challenges) Many Oaklanders have lost their homes because of the economic recession; how can the city help homeowners, and how can the city help neighborhoods experiencing high rates of foreclosures and vacancies? Answer from Mario Juarez: There have been 10,833 foreclosures in Oakland between 2008 - 2011. Lenders have been exempted from paying transfer taxes on these actions, which equals up to $ 22 - 25 million per year; revenue that could be captured if banks were required to pay their fair share. I believe the city can have an impact on reducing foreclosure rates through smarter taxation policies. When elected, one of my first pursuits is the implementation of a "foreclosure tax" that will provide a substantial monetary incentive to lenders to seek remedies other than foreclosure. Additionally, some lenders have proven to be irresponsible when it comes to maintaining foreclosed properties that remain vacant for a period of time, and the state of neighborhood blight can have a direct correlation to crime. The city must enforce the blight ordinance more aggressively, assertively impose fines and should consider increasing related fines on lenders who possess vacant and unkempt foreclosed properties. 2. (Public Safety) Improving public safety is about more than just increasing the police force. What should be done for violence prevention? Answer from Dawn Kirsten McMahan: My focus isn't on 'public safety'; my focus is on creating a community that is well-functioning. Public safety is an outcome of a community where people are heard, supported, and individuals are in a healthy relationship to each other. I do not support an environment of retaliation; we can be smarter than that. Having been through the LA Riots of 1992, I have witnessed that the solution will not putting officers on every streetcorner; fighting violence with violence gets people killed. At the very best, it will crowd our already overcrowded prisons for which the State of California is being sued, incite more anger, fear, loss and depression, and force the perpetrators to move to another city. The buck stops here; there is a 51% recidivism rate with Santa Rita Jail, a huge majority of parolees and probationers are released to our city, with their services ineptly handled or cut from funding. Ultimately, the public safety issues in this city revolve around drugs; according to the Executive Director of MISSEY, the young prostitutes, ages 12-18, are often started in this profession by a family member needing money to buy drugs...a mother, a father. I will be fighting for support, fundraising, for school-based programs, community programs, prisoner re-entry programs, as well as start a cultural broker program that works one-on-one with neighborhoods in connecting low-functioning families with needed services, and diminishing racism issues. Healing our violence issues won't be a one-step solution; our problems are multi-faceted, embedded in historical and cultural contexts. As much as we can observe the efforts in other cities, Oakland is unique, and we ultimately will have to find our own way, by paying attention to our citizens and approaching the issues from all angles...not just with force, and the force needs to be utilized very intelligently and judiciously. These are people with thoughts, feelings and families. In impoverished areas, children are out at night for many reasons; some don't have electricity, some have family members that are doing drugs, hooking, or are physically threatening them. And, there is a huge mistrust and fear of Child Protective Services, so an honest answer to certain questions is hard-earned; I know this by living and working with at-risk youth and underserved families on a daily basis, in their neighborhood, with my home as a connection to theirs. I already am researching late-night programs for teenagers who need to be away from their homes at night, rather than endorsing the compromising of their constitutional rights. Answer from Mario Juarez: I believe that Oakland's biggest challenge is crime so I am running on a platform and with a plan that emphasizes `Safety First". Several components of my plan speak directly to crime prevention over the longer term. Our violent crime rate is over 250% higher than California's and nearly 300% higher than the rest of our nation's. This unacceptably high crime rate discourages new businesses from locating here and keeps many of us afraid to leave our own homes at night. We must reduce our crime rate dramatically if our city is to prosper. Much of today's crime is committed either by young people - many of whom did not finish school + or recent parolees (Oakland sees an influx of 250 new parolees each month). Each of these populations has extremely limited employment opportunities. It is crucial that we give those who are most vulnerable to falling into a life of crime the tools necessary to make them productive members of society. A quality education is the best way to prevent our children from turning to crime. Once a child drops out of school, he or she has very few options to make a decent living. So, they turn to the streets for the quick, though dangerous, rewards they might offer. We must make sure our children finish school. On the City Council, I'll fight to provide funding to boost student retention. It is important that we invest in counselors and after-school programs that will not only keep our children off the streets, but lead them to higher academic or vocational education resulting in successful careers. I will pursue stronger enforcement of the existing city-wide curfew for minors with an approach that will not criminalize our young people or subject them to arrest. In conjunction with curfew enforcement, I'll push to establish a new, friendly and supportive curfew center. Young people will be picked up and taken there for assessment by various social service agencies to determine why they're on the streets so late and what their issues are that need to be addressed. Following evaluation, their parents or guardians will be notified to pick them up. One of the other best crime deterrents is a job. Excellent and effective employment preparation and support programs already exist. I will work to better coordinate existing job development and training services and programs to make them more accessible to parolees. 3. (Bringing businesses and jobs) Oakland needs more neighborhood serving businesses. What can the City Council do to bring more businesses and jobs to the city? Answer from Dawn Kirsten McMahan: Our district is extremely diverse, with many struggling citizens needing functional support. Neighborhood serving businesses that we most need in our are nonprofit service organizations; services that provide language interpreters, substance abuse counseling, prisoner re-entry services, family services, domestic violence services, and stable food-giveaways. Many nonprofits are started by those who previously received services (for example, substance abuse counseling programs are started by former addicts). Since drugs, prostitution and violence are so interrelated, and everything connects into the functionality of the families, I want to establish a program that encourages for-profits to support nonprofit organizations on their Board of Directors, and in their fundraising efforts; many start nonprofits out of a passion for what they want to achieve, without the necessary business skills. These nonprofits will provide more jobs for people who would not be hired by the for-profit sector (due to prison records, etc.), provide interesting jobs that provides self-esteem by enabling them to help their community and families, develop themselves, and open their hearts...where they are working with supervisors who understand them and can mentor them as they develop into functioning citizens. It's not enough to lecture them, or even give them a class. They will provide more revenue for the City of Oakland from a very untapped population sector...with very little effort on the for-profit businesses' part. Every for-profit business in this city should sponsor a nonprofit organization, and get involved in solving the issues. Ultimately, it will start to change the selfish manner in which most of this city functions. It's where we now have to go. Answer from Mario Juarez: Oakland's well publicized crime rate is our biggest impediment to growing and prospering. It impacts every aspect of our existence and has a particularly detrimental impact on Oakland's ability to attract and grow businesses. I am a small business owner in Oakland and know first hand how Oakland's crime issues have negatively impacted my business operations. I think that new or relocating businesses want to establish where they feel comfortable that their employees, property and operations are safe. Therefore, I believe that creating a more secure environment is the most important thing that Oakland can do to encourage them to locate in our city. Additionally, the City must make potential new businesses feel welcomed and wanted, I don't believe this happens right now; instead our city comes across as indifferent to new businesses and our overall permitting process is difficult and unfriendly. Businesses will be more interested in locating where they feel wanted and welcomed. As a business owner, who in part thrives on attracting new businesses here, I will be Oakland's business ambassador on the Council, but further, we might consider initiating a public-private business ambassadors team to recruit new businesses to Oakland and help them work through any City requirements. This ambassadors team should also be tasked with being aware of the businesses operating in Oakland and monitoring whether any are considering leaving. If they are planning to relocate, team members should find out why, explore with the business what would encourage it to stay and help to work out any issues that might be within the City's power to address. I also believe that new and existing businesses are concerned about issues such as access to capital and educated workforce. Oakland already has a relationship with One Pacific Coast Bank and I would work with that, and other financial institutions, especially those in which Oakland has its money, to mutually develop a strategy around providing access to capital specifically for businesses located in Oakland. We also need to focus more on workforce readiness, perhaps by better working with the Workforce Investment board (WIB), of which I am a former member. Further, Oakland should first look to grow its own workforce. For the past 19 years, Oakland schools have not produced much in the way of qualified workers. Dropout rates have remained constant at 40% . As a Council member, I will advocate for funding of programs that prevent dropouts + sports, arts, after school counseling. 4. (Your Council Legacy) In 20 years what do you want to look back on as having been your legacy in the City of Oakland? Answer from Mario Juarez: That in this time and at this moment, Oakland is a very safe city thanks to the policies and programs I put forward. Responses to questions asked of each candidate are reproduced as submitted to the League.  Candidates' responses are presented as submitted. Direct references to opponents are not permitted. The order of the candidates is random and changes daily. Candidates who did not respond are not listed on this page.