Jack London News Endorses Greg Hodge
Although I'm not printing the paper these days, many have asked who I am supporting for District 3 City Council. I am officially supporting Greg Hodge.

I've long said that I think it is time for a new Council Member, and at the recent JLDA District 3 Candidate Forum that view was cemented. You can see my questions and the candidates answers at Zennie Abraham's Oakland Focus website. Nadel says that the issue is one of race as to why she spends her energy and focus on West Oakland and seems to ignore the Jack London District, yet looking around I see our District as diverse. And hey, we pay taxes, so shouldn't we have some representation? It's really an issue of socio-economic status. She sees us (JLD) as rich, and the poor of West Oakland are the ones that need her. Well, we need(ed) her. And since she doesn't see that, she should NOT continue to be our Council representative.

Hodge said it best. He said that if you don't want change, then you should stick with the incombent. But if you want change, you basically have two choices. Greg Hodge or Sean Sullivan. I think we're lucky in District 3 to have a choice of good candidates, unlike other districts where the choices are grim (imho). I'll also say that I like BOTH Greg & Sean, and I think that they both have positives to bring to the table. You should read their websites and try to meet them both and make your own opinion.

Ultimately I have chosen Greg over Sean for a few specific reasons. First, Oak to 9th may make a return to Council for a new vote in the next few years. Our City didn't listen to the masses who felt that it should go to a referendum and the Planning Commission failed to listen to the people despite all the "public meetings" - it's one thing to have the meetings, but another if you've already made up your mind and you refuse to listen to what the people have to say. The waterfront is for all and the more we block it off and only leave the bad bits for the masses, the worse it is for the City, again, imho. It's my feeling that Sean is too good of friends with Signature Properties and that will tilt his perspective on the Oak to 9th project in particular. He has good reason to like/love Signature - they were very supportive of getting Covenant House into the neighborhood and even freely offered their services as general contract in the renovations of the We the People building formerly owned by Jerry Brown.

The other issue that tipped the scale for me towards Greg Hodge was his relationships with other politicians and his knowledge of how things work politically. Could Sean learn this? Yes, but it would take some time. He's young and he still has some learning to do.

Ultimately, I think Sean Sullivan will either win or go into a run-off with Nancy Nadel, but I'd like for people to get to know Greg Hodge before making their own decision.
Posted 5/28/2008