The Oakland mayoral race will probably be one of the more interesting races to watch in 2010.  As such, it is important that young voters get to know the facts about the candidates and learn the issues that important to each candidate.  Here at EBYD, we have not endorsed a candidate for this position (yet).  So here are the people running and places where you can learn more about what they want to do for Oakland.

***Oakland’s First Mayoral Forum***

There will be a mayoral forum in Oakland on Thursday, June 10th at the First Unitarian Church at 685 14th St. in Oakland.  You can RSVP at the Facebook page.

All three candidates should be there and it would be a great chance to learn about all three and hear them debate on the best way to bring Oakland forward.

In the Oakland Mayoral Race, there are three main contenders for the city’s top position:

	Don Perata – Former State Senate President – www.perata4mayor.com Don Perata is a candidate from the “Old Guard”.  And i mean that in a loving way.  He has a lot of support from the business community and will likely fight Kaplan for support from Labor.  Don Perata has been working the neighborhood scene with gusto.  Almost every other week, he holds a neighborhood meeting or “town hall” (he likes to call them “community conversations”) to discuss his vision for Oakland.  Don Perata will hold his next community meeting on Wednesday, May 26th at 7pm in the Glenview/Diamond Heights District at 4101 Park Blvd., Oakland.  Visit his website for more info.
	Jean Quan – Oakland City Councilmember, District 4 – www.jeanquanforoakland.org Jean Quan is leaving her City Council position to run for Mayor.  She spent many years as a well liked member of the Oakland School Board.  She has been trying to distinguish herself as the “Education Candidate” in this mayor race.  She currently has no events in the coming weeks to speak of.
	Rebecca Kaplan – Oakland City Councilmember, At-Large – www.kaplanformayor.org Rebecca Kaplan has a wave of enthusiasm behind her.  She is young and a political newbie compared to the other two candidates.  Only recently (2008) was she elected to her current position as Oakland’s only At-Large councilmember.  Before that she served on the AC Transit Board.   Rebecca will have a fundraiser on Thursday, June 3rd at the Bench & Bar in Downtown Oakland.  The cost is only $25.  You can RSVP at her Facebook event page.

Oakland will be choosing a new mayor this election year.  The field has slowly become crowded with three contenders vying for the city’s top position at City Hall.  Don Perata, former State Senate President, has his eyes on the big chair.  Jean Quan will be leaving her District 4 City Council seat to run for mayor.  Both are political heavyweights in their own right and have worked the East Bay political scene for well over a decade.  But the surprise entry into the arena is Rebecca Kaplan, a former AC Transit Director and a relative newbie in politics compared to her counterparts.

Only in 2008 did Kaplan ride a wave of enthusiasm to win her current seat as Oaklands only At-Large (city-wide) Council-member.  Last month, Kaplan announced the creation of her exploratory committee, a must first step to run for any politcal office.  Though her run is not official just yet, it is all but certain to most observers that shes in the game.

Our friends at Oakland North were able to have a one-on-one chat with Rebecca Kaplan on her vision of the future for Oakland.  Here is a brief excerpt but be sure to read the full interview here.

Q: You talk about making changes at City Hall.  What is working and what is not working to attract businesses to Oakland?

In Oakland right now, you cannot apply for a business permit online. So the businesspeople come down to downtown and stand in the lines and lose time. We are wasting money, and we are paying people to sit entering the data, when instead, the businessperson could go onto the Internet and put in information to pay their fees and do their business licenses.  Meanwhile, we get complaints all the time when people try to call — they have questions about parking tickets and business licenses, and they say nobody is answering phones.  We are wasting all these staff [hours] typing data from a piece of paper that a businessperson can put in themselves online.

So when we look at how we are structuring the jobs inside City Hall, there are a lot of things where we are still not fully entered into the modern era in terms of technology and our systems. And if we change some of those, we could free up some staff time to do the things that people do need.

Read the full interview here.