2018 Oakland Mayoral And City Council Candidate Questionnaire by Zennie62Media
This 20-question questionnaire was designed to give Oaklanders a chance to evaluate, at once, the plans and philosopies of all of the participants in the Oakland Mayoral Race and the Oakland City Council Race for District 2, District 4, and District 6.
This is 2018 Oakland Mayoral Election Candidate Marchon Tatmon
1. Candidate’s Full Name and current occupation
Marchon Tatmon
Homeless Service Outreach Manager
2. Why are you running for office in Oakland?
At 14 years of age, I knew I’d run for Mayor of Oakland. I remember walking down East 14 th (International Blvd) and seeing the businesses shutting down, friends being gunned down, addicts turning up on every corner, and it seemed many people were being neglected. I’m running to restore the vibrancy in Oakland. This means building to bring people back, welcome new people in, and create businesses that lure people to spend money in Oakland. I want Oakland to thrive, and my motivation stems from the pain and suffering I’ve watched in Oakland. I remember when residents could find work to make a living, and when that become impossible, the decline of Oakland was inevitable.
Two opportunities in general made my dream- concrete; when I was 17 years old I had the opportunity to attend a 10 day trip while in high school called “ Sojourn to the Past” this trip allowed me to follow the exact route of the civil rights movement in which we flew in from the Bay Area to Washington DC, in DC we went to the Lincoln memorial in did the Martin Luther King “ I had a Dream” speech, visited the Arlington National cemetery in JFK gravesite; after, we flew in to Atlanta and bussed it all the way through the South.
This trip made me realize the importance of getting involved. Later that year I was afforded another opportunity, of being accepted into the Legal Fellowship program at Berkeley Law, and given the opportunity to work with Councilman Larry Reid of Oakland 7th District. This was the start of my vision to restore the city and bring in sound sustainable economic development that allows our city to grow and prosper and become a top-rated city on a global scale. I will Make Oakland Safe and Prosperous for All.
3. Have you held an elected position before? If so, please describe.
No
4. Have you ever served on a public board or commission? If so, please list assignments.
Frick Impact advisory committee
Castlemont High School advisory committee
5. What endorsements have you received? If so, please list them.
Smoakland
Oakland Rebels
Heals Shoe Store
So So Oakland
Oral Lee Brown
Damian Lillard
Marshawn Lynch
Our Oakland
Oakland’s Own
Oakland Leadership Council
Happy Homes
Yemeni Association
Small Business Bay Area Association
Dwayne Wiggins from Tony Toni Tone
Cheryl Davila, Berkeley City Council Member
Oakland Management Related Questions
6. What are your top six Oakland Budget priorities, and why?
Homeless crisis
Affordable Housing
Unfunded Pension
Unfunded Overtime – Police department
Economic Development
Social Programs
Reallocation of funds that’s currently being under-utilized.
Renegotiation of contracts
7. There is a projected deficit for the City of Oakland through 2020. Residents want to close the budget gap via raising revenues. What would you do to raise more money for the City of Oakland?
I will generate revenue with the Hegenberger Tourist Hub, which will bring 100s of millions in new tax money for the city of Oakland. I’ve talked with Visit Oakland about utilizing this space to develop small businesses and a tourist attraction center for people to visit and enjoy from all over the world. I also will implement a community bank and reduce the cannabis tax for companies utilize the community bank. This community bank
will serve as a funding source for affordable development. Additionally, the utilization of the measures currently on the ballot if passed, the real estate transfer tax and the vacant property tax (VPT). VPT is expected to hit 20 million in revenue.
8. How do you propose to solve the problem of the City of Oakland’s under-funded pension liability?
Utilize the real estate property tax as a short term solution, in San Francisco 2017, the city generated over 250 million; then create the billion dollar Hegenberger tourist hub as a long term solution in order to help generate revenue to help deal with the unfunded pension liability. I will work with visit Oakland to relocate the convention center near the airport. The convention center is generating over $200,000,000.
Oakland Police-Related Questions
9. Does Oakland need to hire more police officers or reduce the number we have – please explain your answer.
In order to reduce the 30 million in unbudgeted overtime, we must ask ourselves a question and conduct a needs analysis and see what’s smarter, the hiring of more local talent, community oriented officers and pay full time benefits or remain under staff. We must also work with the community and bring members of the community together to see should we hire more officers.
10. Do you support the work of the current Oakland Police Chief, or is a change needed? Please explain.
I feel we must reform the police department and renegotiate the high salary that’s currently being paid.
11. Unreported “use-of-force” incidents are a major Oakland Police problem. How do you propose to solve it?
We must retrain our officers, hire more officers from Oakland by creating a cadet program from elementary through high school and we must hold officers more accountable. We also must elect people from the community on the police commission board so we could have more community input as it relates to discipline.
12. The Oakland Police Department is in its 13th year of federal oversight. What’s your plan to get OPD away from federal government watch?
Create markers and mandates and if the markers are not being hit, possibly start redirecting some funding towards community programs and non-profits that will better our community.
13. The Oakland Police Department disproportionately stops more people of color, than whites. What’s your plan to stop this problem?
Retrain and hire more officers from the city of Oakland. Especially officers of color, that said, we must eliminate or lower some of the criteria.
14. What’s your plan to stop or curb homelessness in Oakland?
Build more affordable housing, lower rents, bring in higher paying jobs, wrap around services to help with addiction, mental health and financial money management. In regards to homelessness and affordable housing, I plan on housing all homeless within my first 4 years in office, officially the count has been estimated at 2700 and unofficial count of 5700. This will be done by revenue generation, utilizing the recent vacant property tax and real estate transfer tax initiative and a mix of affordable housing options; small homes, ADUs, utilizing Oakland Churches who have space for RVs and other mobile homes, funding of in law units and the conversion of shipping containers into homes (Shipping Container Home). We could even house those in some of the vacant condos that haven’t been rented out, in which the city could provide a subsidy. We must address homelessness with every tool in our tool belt as a city and we must negotiate.
15. What’s your plan to cause more affordable housing to be built in Oakland?
Be stern with investors and make them realize the value of being and investing in Oakland. We’re in the epic center of everything the bay area has to offer and as a city we must know our value and never under sell it. We must focus on building affordable housing and until the market get stable, build less condos.
16. What’s your plan to stop or curb illegal dumping in Oakland?
Work with Waste Management to lower dumping fees so people could afford to dump legally. Also, near hot spots, set up legal dumping sites with smart dumpsters that are ran off of solar panels and that have built in compactors. Plus, penalized those who continue to dump illegally.
17. Share with us your economic development plan and policy for Oakland.
Equitable and sustainable economic development comes with my vision to create a HegenBerger Tourist Hub (HTH) around the Oakland Airport that includes 300 new businesses in the form of villages for people to enjoy, spend money, and fall in love with Oakland over and over. The HTH will boast 50% of its businesses from residents of Oakland, giving the people of Oakland an opportunity to grow in the wealth pouring into the city. The other 50% of businesses will be a mix of corporate and international businesses to attract people from around the world. I want to move the Convention Center from Downtown Oakland near the HTH in which 60% of the hotels in Oakland is in the HTH zone, and utilize space downtown for housing and business development.
I also want to create a public bank to help small businesses get off the ground. The bank will be funded by utilizing the cannabis tax and giving cannabis businesses an option to utilize the public bank for a 5% fee, which will go toward community programs, and small business grants. For every cannabis boutique that utilizes the public bank, their taxes will be reduced by the city of Oakland. This area will also be open to investment opportunity for the citizens of Oakland by creating investment pools to pool up money which will enable residents to buy parcel in this tourist zone. We will also utilize the underperforming Bart to Airport tram by adding a stop so walkability will be the focal point.
18. What industry should Oakland focus on developing, and why?
Oakland should go back to its roots and not only manufacture but catch up with technology and go green. Under my leadership, Oakland will create a GDP, and the product should be solar panels. Panels we could use on all our future development and panels we could sell worldwide.
The Coliseum and The Sports Industry in Oakland.
(A special section because Oakland has a multi-billion-dollar facility called The Oakland – Alameda County Coliseum Complex.)
19. Where should the Oakland A’s new ballpark be: Coliseum or Howard Terminal?
I will love for the A’s to be a part of my HTH plan. This area will be fully revitalized and the entire infrastructure is currently in place. I will also like to build a lake within the complex that’s connected to the estuary so the A’s could have a water ball park. I also will generate funds and place them in annuities/ stocks so we could “save” for a new Football, Rugby, Soccer or Nascar stadium, with the help of private investors. Then, I will recruit a team to Oakland.
I might also explore suing the Raiders in order to keep the history of the Raiders within Oakland so they could go to Vegas as an expansion team. This was done when the original Cleveland Browns went to Baltimore, and the city of Cleveland sued in order to retain the history of the Browns and the former Browns went to Baltimore as an expansion team (Baltimore Ravens).
20. What should the future of the Oakland Coliseum be, and do you have a plan to share with Oaklanders?
This area must be fully revitalized and well defined; no longer will it look like a former industrial area in ruins. HTH will solve the problem; furthermore, this is not Coliseum city.