No on Measure K

Measure K (November 2018) was a measure pushed on the ballot by paid signature gatherers sponsored by out-of-town landlords to try and prevent renters from getting stronger rent control in Alameda by moving an older, watered-down rent control ordinance into our city charter whereby any modification would force a costly election.

Former mayor and current city council candidate Trish Spencer during her failed mayoral re-election campaign publically endorsed Measure K and was the only member of council in support of Measure K at the time. Current city council candidates Jim Oddie and Malia Vella both signed the official opposition argument against Measure K.

Measure K failed to pass with 60.31% voting no.

Yes on Wellness Center

Measure A (April 2019) and the competing Measure B (April 2019) determined if a former federal facility on McKay Avenue could be repurposed to allow for the opening of a "Wellness Center" facility to help unhoused seniors needing long term medical and hospice care.

Opponents of the project, specifically the Friends Of Crab Cove (FOCC), created an initiative petition to attempt to rezone the McKay Avenue facility land as "open space" to prevent the Wellness Center from opening. FOCC used paid signature gatherers, funded primairly by a nearby out-of-town strip-mall owner, to force the issue on the ballot. The FOCC initative was placed on the ballot as measure B with a city council placed competing ballot measure in support of the facility as Measure A.

Former mayor and current city council candidate Trish Spencer acted as a spokesperson and actively campaigned against the Wellness Center and for Measure B. Current city council candidates Jim Oddie and Malia Vella both actively campaigned in support of the Wellness Center.

The forced special election by the Friends of Crab Cove cost the City of Alameda upwards of $800,000. Measure B to rezone as open space was defeated with only 44.09% voting yes with the competing Measure A in support of the Wellness Center passing with 52.67% voting yes.

Yes on AUSD Parcel Tax

Measure A (March 2020) placed a parcel tax on the ballot to increase teacher pay. Revenue from the parcel tax is being used to bring AUSD employee salaries, which have long lagged behind those of neighboring districts in Alameda County, in line with the county average. Measure A passed with 67.10% voting yes, needing a 66.67% super-majority to pass a new tax.

Yes on Measure Z

Article 26 of the Alameda City Charter, initially added by Measure A (March 1973) and later amended in 1991, is an exclusionary housing policy that only allows the building of only the the most expensive types of housing and forces unreasonable density limits that drive up the cost of housing on the island. Article 26 has limited Alameda's newer housing stock to only the highest income earners for the past 47 years. This "color blind" measure consequently has kept many BIPOC people out of Alameda who would have likely moved here otherwise that were previously restrictred from living in much of Alameda because of past red lining and deed restrictions before the Fair Housing Act in 1968 passed making such discriminatory policies illegal.

A measure to repeal article 26 from the Alameda City Charter is scheduled for the November 2020 ballot. The motion to place the measure on the ballot in November was signed by current city council candidates Jim Oddie and Malia Vella.