City Government

Incumbent Lynette Gibson McElhaney Seeks Re-Election for D3 Oakland City Council

Published

4 years ago

September 18, 2020

Kiki

Lynette McElhaney

With six candidates running to represent District 3 for the Oakland City Council, McElhaney has her work cut out as an incumbent already in her second term. The other five candidates running are Carroll Fife, Seneca Scott, Meron Semedar, Alexus Taylor, and Faye Taylor. District 3 includes West Oakland, Downtown/Uptown, Jack London, Pill Hill/KONO, the Lake and the Port of Oakland.

Lynette was born in San Diego and self describes as “a child of Southern immigrants.” She is married and currently lives in West Oakland. She attended UC Berkeley for her undergraduate work.

McElhaney was the first Black woman to be elected President of the Oakland City Council in 2015 during her first term.

She is the Chair of Oakland’s Finance Committee; sits on the East Bay Economic Development Alliance Board, the Association of Bay Area Governments is on the executive committees for the Youth Ventures JPA, and Coliseum Authority, and the Alameda County and Oakland Community Action Program.

Housing and homelessness are central issues for District 3. On this issue, McElhaney touts her housing work and the “creation of a Proactive Rental Inspection service to ensure safe dwellings for families and their children and protect them for predatory landlords.”

She is on record as being in favor of “trailers, not tiny homes.”

On racial injustice and the effectiveness of policing she states that the city of Oakland is ten years behind in systems and IT development and needs to invest in that structure to better audit and allocate funding.

She wants the “best value for taxpayers, communities, and workers.”

McElhaney has worked for affordable housing for 20 years. She authored Measure JJ in 2016 that expanded “just cause eviction” among other benefits.

In 2015 she was named by the San Francisco Business Times’ as one of the “most influential women in Bay Area business.”

Recently, The Oaklandside reported five current councilmembers are alleged to have accepted laundered money on a land deal, McElhaney being one of them along with Sheng Thao (not up for re-election), Rebecca Kaplan, Larry Reid (not seeking re-election) and Dan Kalb.

Previously McElhaney got a reduced fine from the Oakland Commission in 2018 from $8,625 to $2,550 for receiving a gift from a restricted source because of free services she got from an architect involving a government decision in which she had a financial interest.

McElhaney has faced severe family loss during her time in the city council. In December of 2015, she lost her 17-year-old grandson to non-police related gun violence near West Oakland Bart. In 2019 she lost her son in Los Angeles to non-police related gun violence.

During her tenure as city council member McElhaney has helped create the Department of Violence Prevention, “which seeks to implement community-focused and community lead strategies to drastically reduce homicides, domestic violence, and the sexual exploitation of children”.

McElhaney is responsible along with Donald Lacy for the adoption of “Love Life” as Oakland’s Motto in 2017 in honor of Lacy’s 16-year-old daughter LoEshe (translation from Nigerian dialect is “love life” Lacy and others who were the victims of violence.

The hope was that by adopting the motto it would “send a clear message that honors residents who have lost their lives to gun violence and speak hope and healing to the communities of residents who are dedicated to living robust lives.”

The motto was added to “Welcome to Oakland” signs.

For more on McElhaney’s campaign, her website is www.lynetteforoakland.com

Kiki

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Activism

Oakland Post: Week of May 8 – 14, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of May May 8 – 14, 2024

Published

2 days ago

May 10, 2024

Oakland Post

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Activism

S.F. Black Leaders Rally to Protest, Discuss ‘Epidemic’ of Racial Slurs Against Black Students in SF Public School System

Parents at the meeting spoke of their children as no longer feeling safe in school because of bullying and discrimination. Parents also said that reported incidents such as racial slurs and intimidation are not dealt with to their satisfaction and feel ignored.

Published

1 week ago

May 4, 2024

Oakland Post

Rev. Amos C. Brown, president of the San Francisco NAACP and pastor of Third Baptist Church. Photo courtesy Third Baptist Church.

By Carla Thomas

San Francisco’s Third Baptist Church hosted a rally and meeting Sunday to discuss hatred toward African American students of the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD).

Rev. Amos C. Brown, president of the San Francisco NAACP and pastor of Third Baptist Church, along with leadership from local civil rights groups, the city’s faith-based community and Black community leadership convened at the church.

“There has been an epidemic of racial slurs and mistreatment of Black children in our public schools in the city,” said Brown. “This will not be tolerated.”

According to civil rights advocate Mattie Scott, students from elementary to high school have reported an extraordinary amount of racial slurs directed at them.

“There is a surge of overt racism in the schools, and our children should not be subjected to this,” said Scott. “Students are in school to learn, develop, and grow, not be hated on,” said Scott. “The parents of the children feel they have not received the support necessary to protect their children.”

Attendees were briefed last Friday in a meeting with SFUSD Superintendent Dr. Matt Wayne.

SFUSD states that their policies protect children and they are not at liberty to publicly discuss the issues to protect the children’s privacy.

Some parents said they have removed their students from school while other parents and community leaders called on the removal of the SFUSD superintendent, the firing of certain school principals and the need for more supportive school board members.

Community advocates discussed boycotting the schools and creating Freedom Schools led by Black leaders and educators, reassuring parents that their child’s wellbeing and education are the highest priority and youth are not to be disrupted by racism or policies that don’t support them.

Virginia Marshall, chair of the San Francisco NAACP’s education committee, offered encouragement to the parents and students in attendance while also announcing an upcoming May 14 school board meeting to demand accountability over their mistreatment.

“I’m urging anyone that cares about our students to pack the May 14 school board meeting,” said Marshall.

This resource was supported in whole or in part by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the California State Library via California Black Media as part of the Stop the Hate Program. The program is supported by partnership with California Department of Social Services and the California Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander American Affairs as part of the Stop the Hate program. To report a hate incident or hate crime and get support, go to CA vs Hate.

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Bay Area

Mayor London Breed: State Awards San Francisco Over $37M for Affordable Housing

On April 30, Mayor London N. Breed announced San Francisco has been awarded more than $37.9 million in funding from the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) as part of the State’s Multifamily Housing Program (MHP). The HCD loan will provide the final funding necessary for development of Casa Adelante – 1515 South Van Ness, a 168-unit affordable housing project located in San Francisco’s Mission District.

Published

1 week ago

May 4, 2024

Oakland Post

San Francisco Mayor London N. Breed (File Photo)

By Oakland Post Staff

The HCD loan will provide the final funding necessary for development of Casa Adelante – 1515 South Van Ness, a 168-unit affordable housing project located in San Francisco’s Mission District.

The new development at 1515 South Van Ness Ave. will provide 168 affordable homes to low-income families, formerly homeless families, and persons living with HIV earning between 25-80% of the San Francisco Area Median Income (AMI).

In addition, the project is anticipated to provide family-friendly amenities and ground floor community-serving commercial spaces that preserve the prevailing neighborhood character of the Calle 24 Latino Cultural District.

“This funding unlocks our ability to move on building affordable housing units for families in San Francisco at a crucial time. We understand the level of need for more housing that is accessible, and like the state, the city continues to face a challenging budget cycle,” said Breed. “1515 South Van Ness is a good example of what can be achieved in San Francisco when you have strong community partnerships and an unwavering commitment to deliver on critical needs for our residents.”

“From the beginning of my term as Supervisor, I have fought to bring affordable housing to 1515 South Van Ness” said Supervisor Hillary Ronen. “In the interim, the site has been utilized for homeless services and shelter, and I am thrilled that HCD has recognized the value of this development, and we are finally ready to break ground and bring 168 affordable homes to low income and formerly homeless families in the Mission.”

Owned and occupied by McMillan Electric Company until 2015, the City and County of San Francisco purchased 1515 South Van Ness Avenue in June 2019 with the intent of developing new affordable housing.

In November 2020, the San Francisco Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development (MOHCD) released a Multi-site Request for Qualifications (RFQ) seeking qualified developers to build affordable housing on the site, and subsequently selected Chinatown Community Development Corporation (CCDC) and Mission Economic Development Agency (MEDA) in May 2021 to develop the site.

The project is expected to begin construction in winter 2025.

“A strong, long-term push by Mission advocates to make this site 100% affordable is now paying off, with 168 family units that include services and childcare. People of color communities know what they need, and we are excited to be in partnership with a team, consisting of MEDA, CCDC, and MOHCD, that listens,” said Malcolm Yeung, Executive Director at CCDC.

“We are excited to be in partnership with CCDC, yet again, and for the opportunity to develop intergenerational affordable housing in the City’s Mission District,” said Luis Granados, executive director at MEDA.

Increasing housing affordable to lower-income and vulnerable residents is a key priority in the City’s Housing Element which calls for additional funding for affordable housing production and preservation, as well as Mayor Breed’s Housing for All Executive Directive that sets out the steps the City will take to meet the bold goal of allowing for 82,000 new homes to be built over the next eight years.

Tuesday’s funding announcement emphasizes the importance of regional and state collaboration in order to reach our housing and climate goals.

“We are thrilled—not just to bring a project of this size to a community with great need — but to do so with community-based developers and their partners who understand the neighborhood and sensitivities around cultural preservation,” said HCD Director Gustavo Velasquez.