BBBON-Oakland-Forum

Oakland Elections News: Block By Block Organizing Network Candidates Forum From Social Media Perspective

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In this Oakland Elections News, The 2018 Oakland Block By Block Organizing Network (BBBON) Candidates Forum held Wednesday night at Allen Temple Baptist Church, featured what were said to be “selected persons running for elected office in Oakland.

Or, as Former Oakland Mayor Jean Quan put it on Twitter, as only Jean can “As local media shrinks local elections news is hard to find.” She’s right, but it’s not that hard as this blogger has four websites focused on Oakland: Zennie62.com, Oakland Focus, Oakland News Onine and Oakland News Now.

On today, Wednesday August 8th in Oakland, California #BBON neighborhood leaders host Oakland City Council and Oakland School Board candidates that leaders of each Block-By-Block Network District believe to be the most qualified & in tune with the community. Many new voices promise lively debate just vote, at Allen Temple Baptist Church” (It’s not to be confused with the Oakland County Primary School Board elections held in Michigan. )

To which this Oakland blogger asked “So you are saying the incumbent Mayor Schaaf is not qualified to be Mayor?”

If this tone starts as if I’m testy about this event, that’s because I am, from a distance of 2,900 miles away. But because I object to this elimination of ‘certain candidates’ for made up reasons that add up to be “We the people on the pedestal over you believe THESE FOLKS are better because, well, because we say so.”

Not to say that a Rank Choice Voting group with the name “The D4 Three” isn’t interesting, but give us all of the Oakland elections candidates – let us decide for ourselves. (And to reiterated, I do see what Jean was trying to do.)

Here are the Oakland elections candidates who were invited to attend:

Oakland Mayor’s Race: Cat Brooks and Pamela Price and Saied Kamarooz
Oakland District Two: Nikki Fortunato Bas, Kenzie Smith
Oakland District Four Race: Sheng Thao, Nayelli Maxson, Pam Harris
Oakland District Six Race: Marlo Rodriguez, Loren Taylor, Natasha Middleton
Oakland District Four School Board: Clarissa Douthard
Oakland District Six School Board: Sharthi Gonzales
Peralta Area Five: Cindi Reiss

Ok, enough of my view; here’s what happened from some of Oakland’s top political social media posters (Sadly, bloggers with their own blogs don’t exist anymore outside my little Skull Island-like World.)

In fairness to former Mayor Quan, the intent by the Block By Block Organizing Network organizers was to give specific focus to new political players in the Oakland officer-holder races. This Instagram post by Quan said that message better:

Like the rest of America many new #progressive faces, especially #women challengers have emerged 4 #Oakland races. Meet them tonight, 6pm, Allen Temple, 8501 International. #BlockbyBlockOrganizingNetwork hosts #citycouncil #schoolboard candidates Because so many candidates have come forward, neighborhood leaders of each #district chose the candidates they believe most qualified & in tune w/ the community Mayoral challengers Cat Brooks and Pamela Price will also participate. bbbon.net #bbbon #oaklandelections #grassroots #affordablehousing #homelessness #economicdevelopment #communitypolicing #oneoakland Pictured: Nikki Fortunato Bas, Sheng Thao, Nayelli Maxson, Pam Harris, Marlo Rodriguez, Loren Taylor, Natasha Middleton, Cat Brooks, Pamela Price

A post shared by Jean Quan (@jeanquan510) on

To determine how best to start, I went to Twitter, which is commonly used to get moment-by-moment accounts of an event, and start with the Top tweets, and in order. So, here we go…

What About Block – By Block Candidates Forum Accounts YouTube Or Facebook?

I checked on both YouTube and on Facebook, but did not see a recorded livestream at the Facebook page for the Block By Block Organizing Network.