League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
Alameda County, CA November 6, 2012 Election
	Dawn Kirsten McMahan Answers Questions Candidate for 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.
Read the answers from all candidates (who have responded).

Questions & Answers

2. (Public Safety) Improving public safety is about more than just increasing the police force. What should be done for violence prevention?

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.

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?

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.

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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.

Read the answers from all candidates (who have responded).

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Created from information supplied by the candidate: October 1, 2012 11:45
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