The first-of-its-kind Oakland Mayor’s Race Candidates Forum directly employing one form of social media (using Facebook) is about to get under way tonight at 7 PM PST at Oakland City Hall, at the Oakland City Council Chambers.
Slated to appear are 14 of the 15 Oaklanders running for Mayor: Saied Karamooz, Ken Houston , Rebecca Kaplan, Charles Williams, Bryan Parker, Courtney Ruby, Dan Siegel , Libby Schaaf , Patrick McCullough, Jean Quan, Jason Anderson, Nancy Sidebotham, Joe Tuman, and Eric Wilson (who’s attendance is reported as “pending.”)
According to the moderator’s page, 62 residents have submitted 179 questions as of this writing, and voted on the most popular ones. Here are the top questions:
1) “What is your understanding of the job of mayor, specifically in a strong mayor system? What is the role of the Mayor? City Admin? (point is to get them to say something more than “spokesman,” “leader,” ….)”
2) If Oakland has to pay for $68 million bill from The Golden State Warriors leaving Oakland,how do you plan to tackle this while maintaining basic services?”
3) “What are you willing to do to Keep the Raiders and A’s? You think it will be good ideal to put a bond to keep them and you think that it will help to boost the economy”
4) “I would like to know what each potential mayoral candidate has planned in an effort to keep the Raiders franchise in Oakland (in a new stadium at the Coliseum site), and assist it in thriving.”
5) “How will the next mayor keep the Oakland Raiders & A’s in town?”
6) “Now that Alameda County Bd. of Supes has approved $1.3 M for a feasibility study and start-up of community choice energy program, what actions would you take to lead Oakland in promoting local clean energy & good jobs through community choice energy?”
7) “If you have to cut from one department to balance the budget, which would it be? Why?”
8) “Name one good thing that has happened in Oakland city government in the last year.”
9) In some ways, Warshaw has more power over public safety in the city than the Mayor. How would you develop a working relationship with him while maintaining Oakland’s independence?”
10) “How do you plan to make the City of Oakland workforce more innovative? Please provide specific examples of what you believe is working and what could be improved upon.”
What’s interesting is the total lack of questions regarding how the Mayor’s office works, and is managed. The question about the “understanding of the job of mayor” comes close, but this blogger, who’s worked for two of the last four Mayors of Oakland, has many experiences that are the ones which wind up forming the news you read about. But that’s for another entry.
If you want to participate online, first, you can watch the streams here, at the City of Oakland’s clunky and outmoded webpage:
http://www2.oaklandnet.com/Government/o/CityCouncil/s/VideoArchive/index.htm
And you can submit new questions here: http://www.google.com/moderator/#16/e=212175
Stay tuned.