Oakland Jobs Political Action Committee

Everywhere I go people ask me who OJP will support for Mayor of Oakland. That is something we will not answer until our Board makes a decision. We will interview candidates and let all of you know.

But I can tell you this. As Executive Director, I will recommend that a key criteria be authenticity. My colleagues and I want to know three things about candidates: who are you really, why do you want to be elected, and how can we trust that you will do what you say. (I can tell you this, some of the candidates and you may be surprised of whom I am speaking, have already made us wonder if they can meet the authenticity test.)

We plan a very significant investment in the November elections. We have access to the most thorough and frequent polling and we stay very close to the issues in Oakland. We will share our thoughts on a regular basis.

Here is our first tip. This election is wide open. Forget what you read in the papers, the leading vote getter is Mr. or Ms Undecided. Jean Quan and Rebecca Kaplan may lead the pack, but I would not rule out Parker, Ruby, Schaaf orTuman at this time either.

Gregory McConnell

Too all Candidates for City Council:

Please let me know your specific plans for reducing crime in Oakland. Please tell me what you will do on day one if you are elected. We have had too many people murdered and too many people shot. We have seen a rash of crimes in what was once considered safe places in town and it must end now!

I witnessed a guy on a bike ride by a woman who was sitting in Frank Ogawa Plaza eating lunch and talking on her cell phone. The guy swooped in and snatched the phone from her and rode off right past the OPD Internal Affairs office. In another incident, I saw a woman running after a guy who she said snatched gold chains off her on the Plaza. Home invasions are on the rise. Children are hiding in closets while people kick in their front doors and sack their homes. Movie goers are ducking bullets in Jack London Square.

I think you know me well. I can discern political spin much better than the average person, so please keep your answers real. What is your plan and be specific. My members and clients want to know what you will do. That is how they will decide who they will support in November.

I will share your answers with Oakland Jobs PAC members, and people who follow my posts in various outlets. Please take this very seriously. We cannot move Oakland forward with the escalating crime, violence, and murders. People are telling me they will not bring business and jobs to Oakland unless crime is reduced. People are actually moving out of the city they love because they are afraid.

I am very much concerned that if this problem is not effectively addressed we can lose the city. Really!

Greg McConnell

Grow Oakland

Washington, DC, my hometown, has recorded remarkable growth and may be able to teach Oakland how to rebound. It started in 2003 with a report from the Brookings Institution that concluded that adding 50,000 well off residents would increase city revenues by $300 Million. City leaders made a commitment to add at least 15,000 homes and 100,000 residents to the city in ten years, and launched an aggressive program to attract new residents with disposable income. According to the Washington Post, in the next 12 months, DC will add another 11,000 apartment and condo units and is growing faster than anywhere else since the recession began.

This is almost shocking to me. When I lived and worked in DC, it was the epitome of urban dysfunction. It had all the problems we now have in Oakland, high crime rates, blight, scars from riots and demonstrations, and reeled from a crack epidemic that brought a wave of despair. Today, it is a bustling town where young professionals fill the city and spend their money at clubs, restaurants, and other entertainment venues and produce revenues that make “DC’s finances fare far better than those of similar urban areas.” (Washington Post, Opinion, May 25)

Oakland had its own experiment with rebuilding the city with young professionals. We called it the 10k plan. However, our program was not nearly as ambitious. We sought to add 10,000 residents in 6,000 homes. With focused government and collaboration with developers and residents, we were successful in building Uptown and other areas, but many people think we only scratched the surface. They now call for a 10K 2.

Some may think that DC has advantages over Oakland. It is the seat of our federal government and teaming with jobs for young professionals. However, when you consider the greater Bay Area and our appeal to tech companies, start-ups, tourism, and our natural amenities, Oakland has all the resources it needs to attract young professionals.

In a May 20 poll of 500 likely voters by the Jobs and Housing Coalition, we questioned whether Oakland voters would support growth. The answer was a resounding yes. When asked specifically about a 10K 2 plan to attract more residents, voters responded affirmatively with 72 percent in agreement.

Voters also want more cops and 88 percent view public safety problems as the greatest impediment to attracting new businesses and jobs. Yet, they would not pay for cops with new taxes. By a vote of 52 to 36 percent, voters would reject a modest telephone tax proposal.

Sixty-Eight (68) percent want to strengthen Oakland’s competitiveness by adding a director of economic development to the City Administrator’s office, and 74 percent want officials to aggressively market Oakland to bring creative young professionals to town.

To be sure, DC still has problems associated with poverty, crime, and hard-core unemployment in some populations. But with the income produced by the infusion of young professionals, DC now has resources to tackle those problems.

We have seen how a focused and dedicated approach to growth worked in DC and caught a glimpse of it here. The Jobs and Housing Coalition urges city leaders to work with business to marshal our human and financial resources to bring people to town and grow Oakland.

We urge a 10K 2 now.

Greg McConnell is President and CEO of the Jobs and Housing Coalition, a non-profit business advocacy group consisting of the major companies in Oakland.