On August 29th, Joseph Tanios, Oakland City Council District Four Candidate and City of Oakland Public Works employee for 19 years (and currently a City of Oakland worker), was interviewed by Suad Asfour on Arabic Television by the Arab American Cultural Center of Silicon Valley.
The 28-minute interview, which is also on Tanios’ YouTube Channel “Joseph Tanios”, was focused on Joseph’s background, (He’s originally from Lebanon) as well as why he’s running for Oakland City Council, and how he plans to serve the people of District Four.
Some highlights and excerpts from the conversation:
• On why he’s running for Oakland City Council District Four: I really love America and I love Oakland, where I live. They adopted me. They accepted me. I’m running for offfice to serve the people who have given so much to me.”
• On homelessness: “I want to focus not just on affordable housing but workforce housing. Its not just a City of Oakland issue, it’s a big problem. We need help. This is going to be my number one focus.”
• On Oakland Crime: Auto and Home Break-Ins: “Yes, we do have, like any metropolitan city, we have a lot of break-ins. I met with the Alameda County Sheriff and he promised to help. I will make sure our Oakland Police have the resources. People are sick and tired of having their cars broken into – a senseless act.”
• On Oakland Illegal Dumping: “Back, eight years ago, the City abolished the Redevelopment Agency. We used to have litter (cleanup) enforcement officers. They used to monitor the illegal dumping. And, sadly, the City of Oakland has never replaced them. I am very experienced with the internal agencies. We’ll get to the root causes of the problem. We may not get rid of illegal dumping, but we will reduce it.”
• On Planning And Permits in Oakland. “Not intending to bad-mouth my co-workers of any department, any division. We are failing the people. People deserve to have better service than they are receiving now. Residents should not be afraid to come and get a permit.”
• On Oakland Worker Morale: “I want to bring respect to the City workers. They’re the most awesome people I’ve ever seen. But they’re under-appreciated in the City of Oakland. I want to support them, and I want to give them the tools to do better.”