Annie Campbell
Oaklanders, this one is for you!
Last night I met with Annie Campbell Washington, who is running for City Council District 4 in Oakland. I came back very impressed.
She’s smart, competent, a good listener, friendly and with a good sense of humor. She seems like a very candid and human person, someone without airs or that sense of either superiority or inferiority that can be so harmful for working as a group. She seems to me like someone who will listen to her constituents, who considers all voices legitimate and would be able to weigh different interests and still come up with a policy that makes sense for the public.
Politically, she seems your typical Oakland progressive. Her concerns while in the council include transit oriented development, developing a better system of bike lanes, supporting small businesses and trying to bring functionality to a deeply divided council. She is also deeply committed to education and having the City support schools and working together. She’s currently in the School Board and has two children who go to Oakland schools.
I don’t know that she would agree with me on everything, but I think she’s someone whose thought process I would respect. Basically, she’s the sort of person whom I wish would run for Council here in San Leandro.
If you live in District 4 in Oakland, check her out
Her opponent is Jill Broadhurst. I haven’t met with Jill yet, but she’s the Executive Director of the East Bay Rental Housing Association, an organization that works against the rights of tenants. One of their major accomplishments is stopping legislation that would have made landlords pay interest on security deposits they hold for years/decades.