Candidate for
Council Member; City of Richmond

THERE IS A LOT OF WORK TO DO IN RICHMOND

With your support I, Jovanka Beckles plan to work in the following issues

1. Clean and Effective Governance Democracy must extend beyond elections--ultimately culminating in individual empowerment and full citizen participation in decisions that affect our lives. Richmond residents deserve a government that is accountable, effective, transparent, and free of patronage and favoritism.

The Contra Costa Times in its editorials "Stop the secret oil deal" (May 12, 2008) and "Try Community Input" (August 21, 08) calls for the end of all secret back-room deals and for transparency and public imput in all public matters. I could not agree more.

I will work to improve ethical standards, transparency, integrity, accountability, and responsiveness, and I will engage Richmond residents directly in decision-making about the future of our City.

As a Councilmember, I will:

Clean up the election process by imposing limits on spending and contributions, increasing public financing of elections, enforcing "Sunshine Laws" to monitor election misconduct, and by implementing instant runoff voting;

Restore ethics and integrity at City Hall by discouraging patronage, creating an Ethics Commission and an Elections Department, and building bridges with City departments;

Demand fiscal responsibility during both good and bad economic times and reduce the size of government's expenditures by eliminating waste;

Monitor the Public Records Act implementation making sure our new public records policies are being conscientiously followed and full access to public records is occurring within reasonable time frames; and

Preserve the neighborhood voice in government by supporting district elections, empowering neighborhoods, pushing for minority representation, and promoting regional changes that allow non-citizens with children to have a say in School Board elections.

Rebuild an independent and effective Richmond Police Commission free of institutional biases and appointments that undermine the confidence of the public in the community police oversight process.

Lead by example in the democratic process of the Richmond City Council and related meetings

2. Strong Economic Development with Social Equity Historically, the industrial base of Richmond's economy has been petrochemical and petrochemical related. Although a certain level of diversity currently exists, I believe we need to further broaden the base of our economy. We also need to demand responsibility and fair share of taxes from the existing industry. This is paramount to build the Richmond of the future. Very few Richmond residents are employed in the local petrochemical companies. I am committed to actions that will aid small businesses, spur employment, diversify the economy, and foster new technological innovations. I will work to:

Diversify the economy by shifting from reliance on a few industries to many industries, protecting light industrial zones and expanding neighborhood-based planning.

Increase the general fund by eliminating all tax perks and collecting all outstanding revenue due to the city fund.

Support small businesses and balanced neighborhood economies with the creation of a Small Business Commission to help small business owners, many of whom are women, be successful in Richmond

Generate good paying jobs by developing Richmond's "human infrastructure," and expanding apprenticeship and job training programs that feed directly into existing public and private jobs. Create job opportunities that give our youth not only a paycheck, but a chance for a meaningful experience in shaping our Richmond.

Grow green industries by expanding cost-effective energy conservation programs, promoting solar-energy programs, and requiring the inclusion of local employment opportunities in major environmental clean-up and redevelopment projects.

Support community groups, like Solar Richmond, dedicated to the promotion of alternative energy throughout the City. Expand the development of downtown Richmond, Macdonald Ave, 23rd Street and San Pablo Ave.

Put the arts to work by helping non-profit arts organizations stay solvent, increasing the art components in public works projects, and supporting a cultural and entertainment district featuring the diversity of Richmond `s rainbow of cultures and traditions. Bring in bookstores, music stores, community theaters, as well as coffeehouses and cafes, which will not only raise revenue, but will foster cultural growth and provide gathering places for our residents, young and old.

3. Prevention of Violence and Crime

The roots of Richmond's violence run deep. Richmond's chronic street violence is largely drug- and/or gang-related. This is not the only type of violence that exists in Richmond but the price in young lives is unbearable. Richmond must start building the way out of the cycle. Yes, the availability of drugs to be traded and the use of guns to secure turfs and deal with conflict are key causal factors. Yet even deeper roots lie in our decimated educational system and a lack of jobs, leading to an ongoing vicious cycle of deprivation, desperation and anger and erupting too often in senseless acts of violence on our streets. I will work to:

Recognize the institutional causes of violence, the hopelessness, the despair and the lack of skills, including social skills, needed to earn a living and to deal with the ensuing frustrations. I will understand and address the deep roots of Richmond's violence. I will promote locally the creation of a peaceful and just society, based on fairness, respect and understanding.

Cut Richmond's street violence in half by 2012. The average number of street homicides and violent crime will be reduced by half in the four year period 2008-2012.

Create the Richmond Youth Corps (RYC). Up to 1,000 youth (<21), residing in the areas of the city with the highest incidence of street violence, will be able to work up to 10 hours a week and throughout the year in many areas of community need under the leadership of mentors from these Richmond from these Richmond neighborhoods. This program will be funded by revenue originating from the "A Fair Share for Richmond" initiative (largely Chevron), as well as other sources, hiring and paying the youth and their mentors as union public works employees.

Reduce local high school drop-out rate by 50% by year 2012: HS enrollment will be required for participation in the Richmond Youth Corps. Parents and neighbors will be encouraged and supported to converge into groups supporting HS completion and graduation.

Create the Richmond Goes to College Program: to double by year 2012 the number of Richmond residents graduating from local high schools who enter college.

Support a Richmond Mentoring Center for Young Parolees who were Richmond residents at the time of their incarceration. If we want people who served their time to be responsible residents there needs to be a time and place for transition as well as guidance, social orientation, and life skills training for concrete job opportunities .

Coordinate existing resources and identify new resources from federal, state, local, and regional. We need to maximize funding streams.

Promote solutions that address long-term recidivism:

Promote support groups, mental health counseling services, education opportunities, supportive housing. Regionalize the solution because there is strength in numbers. We cannot solve street violence without a comprehensive regional plan that is inclusive of all East Bay municipalities cities, and counties.

4. Better Education The City of Richmond has to intervene and save Richmond `s children from the inadequate and insufficient learning opportunities. Even though it is the responsibility of the WCCUSD to see that appropriate school services are provided the reality is that generation after generation our children are short-changed in their education. I am committed to the youth of Richmond and will ensure they receive learning support opportunities to compensate the shortcomings of our public schools. I will work to:

Increase funding for the Richmond Public Library by prioritizing education in the city budget and aggressively lobbying the state government on issues of education funding.

Create two more library branches in the Iron Triangle and North Richmondl. Improve the quality of education by supporting community based after-school programs in each City neighborhood to reinforce and strengthen the academic learning from the schools and to expand the minds of our children to areas of learning not covered by the school programs, including literacy and life skills promotion.

Make good management of the WCCUSD a priority by pushing district officials to adopt sunshine laws, ensuring there are clear lines of accountability, and strengthening the role of the City's liaison to the school district.

Bring new voices to the table by supporting the idea that non-citizens with children should be able to vote in school board elections, advocating for a Student Advisory Commission, invigorating the City's Youth Commission, and promoting better ties between school site Councils and the City Neighborhood Councils.

Recognize the centrality of art in a well-rounded education by supporting the Richmond Art Center and the East Bay Center for Performing Arts, helping them to ensure high rates of low income and minority representation and encouraging funding partners, both private and public, as well as artists and arts organizations to play a more active role in allocating resources to our public schools.

Support students in non-traditional ways encouraging individual creativity and uniqueness.

5. Better Environment I will work to make Richmond a more sustainable city, by championing green energy and business practices, protect scarce natural resources from further degradation by pollution and overuse, and make the city a healthy place for all of its residents. I will work to:

Convert city vehicles to cleaner fuels or electric power, which reduce noise and air pollution and lower operating costs, and expand access to the shoreline.

Promote the city's participation in Community Choice Aggregation (AB117), and to include residents and businesses who would voluntarily want to join. CCA will result in more local control, lower energy rates and more renewable and alternative energy sources, for Richmond residents, business and government.

Promote the generation of electricity cleanly and efficiently through solar and tidal power, and expand energy conservation programs.

Restore and expand urban parks, plazas, and open space, convert unused city land to parks and open space, protect and restore natural areas, and expand access to the shoreline.

Make Richmond a model city for sustainable development by promoting a Sustainability Plan and greening City buildings.

Promote and support a community-planned Richmond Greenway. Protect the natural and use values of our water system by making use of recycled water, opposing expansion of the system to support suburban sprawl in the hills, incentivate water conservation, and manage watershed lands sustainably.

Protect the surrounding Bay and waterfront by preventing the loss of the remaining open space, marshlands, protecting the waterfront from redevelopment, reducing sewage spills, and reducing urban runoff.

Fix Richmond's failing sewer system to stop the high rate of raw sewage flowing into the San Francisco Bay. Promote the safe removal of toxins from our environment. Reduce noise pollution by implementing quiet zones and enforcing City ordinances.

Institute significant Shelter in Place fines to be charged to the industry responsible for the alert. Create a Richmond Environmental Commission. Establish an Environmental Justice Policy. Support smart growth, infill housing and neighborhood character preservation.

Keep Richmond's hills open, accessible and public. Keep Richmond's shorelines open, accessible, clean and public.

6. Better City For Families and Children The diversity of Richmond families, from couples to multi-generational families living under the same roof, must be supported by City Hall. I will champion change that allows a more sustainable city with a stronger economy, a healthier environment, and a better future for all of Richmond's families. Richmond must also become a more child-friendly City, by making sure that all of our City agencies and policies address the needs of children, and that the city programs complement school district programs for the benefit of our kids. The future prosperity of our City lies in our City's future leaders. By investing in their safety, education, health, and environment, we improve the prospects for a better Richmond for all of our residents. I will work to:

Address poverty of families by promoting an increased minimum wage in Richmond of $8.75 per hour. Studies have shown that 30% of the children living in the United States live in poverty.

Advocate for the strictest environmental controls for the local refinery and related industry. The health impacts from this plant disproportionately affects families and children in the Northwest sector of the City Create family-friendly neighborhoods by supporting a West Contra Costa Unified School District small school policy, assisting small businesses, calming traffic, and making public venue more affordable for families.

Support non-traditional families by advocating for full marriage and domestic partnership rights for same-sex couples, including health benefits, bereavement leave, right to survivorship, family sick leave, child custody, and adoption.

Support families with special needs children by ensuring that the City continue to help with maintaining the programs of the Disabled People's Recreation Center (DPRC), NIAD Art Center, and other programs assuring well-rounded opportunities for our disabled population.

Increase child-care options by offering City contractors bonus points or tax credits if they offer onsite child care and by supporting residential child care facilities. Promote a holistic education system by expanding after-school and before-school programs, providing fun and educational summer programs, expanding the bookmobile program, and promoting the idea that non-citizens have the right to vote in school board elections.

Provide health care for all children by supporting universal health coverage for children, opening youth health clinics in schools, and supporting public and private health clinics in our City.

Supply families with adequate and affordable housing by preserving and increasing the stock of family-oriented affordable housing units and ensuring that new housing construction includes a variety of floor plans.

7. Human Rights for all, including Immigrants and the Homeless Richmond's immigrant population is a vital part of our community. The diversity of our City is what makes Richmond culturally rich. To maintain that diversity, we need to ensure protection of immigrant rights and improve their access to services. Immigrants should not be afraid to use City services that are meant to support them. I will support legislation that levels the playing field, while strenuously opposing that which scapegoats immigrant communities. Regarding homelessness, the existing system of criminalization of the homeless and reactive service provision has failed. Changing the system will take courage and the resolve to do what works, not what is politically expedient. I will work to:

Sustain and defend the end of any criminalization of the homeless .

Recognize the institutional causes of homelessness, its history, and how we got to where we are today. Using rhetoric and criminalizing poverty obscure the issue and do nothing to solve the problem.

Rework the system to be truly accountable. The homeless service delivery system must track individuals through a seamless continuum, with the ultimate goal of transitioning homeless people to appropriate and permanent housing so they can reconnect with their communities.

Coordinate existing resources and identify new resources from federal, state, local, and regional. The Richmond General Fund is not a panacea. We need to maximize funding streams.

Regionalize the solution because there is strength in numbers. We cannot solve homelessness without a comprehensive regional plan that is inclusive of all Bay Area municipalities, cities, and counties.

Create solutions that address long-term exit strategies. Housing is health care. We must commit to those most vulnerable in our community. We must invest in supportive housing, treatment on demand, and mental health services.

Create a Municipal Identification Card to ensure that all Richmond residents have access to city services regardless of language spoken and immigration status.

Support State Drivers License bill and driver licenses for all safe drivers.

Eliminate the unconstitutional anti-day laborers section of the Richmond Municipal Code 14.72.

Create and fund a Richmond Day Labor Program

Support passage of a "Privacy Initiative Ordinance" so that immigrants and others are not afraid to access City services.

Protect the privacy of Richmond residents and identify ways to oppose the Patriot Act .

Oppose the implementation of the federal Clear Act and ensure no collaboration between local police and federal immigration enforcement.

Support national legalization efforts for immigrants. Build subsidized housing for all immigrants.

Support and expand the role of the Richmond Human Rights and Human Relations Commission.

Support and defend the call for Comprehensive Immigration Reform

8. Affordable Housing Over half (51%) of Richmond residents are renters and the slightest hiccup on their part could lead to eviction. I am committed to making Richmond a place where the rights of good tenants and of good landlords are protected. I am committed also to expanding homeownership opportunities to people of all incomes. A balanced housing strategy for Richmond includes protecting existing affordable housing, making additional permanently affordable housing available, and increasing the overall housing supply. The City must adopt smart policies that allow the private market, the nonprofit sector, and government to work together to keep the city affordable. I will work to:

Implement strong Just Cause Eviction and Fair Rent protections to allow tenants to stay in affordable homes.

Preserve the City's affordable housing by preventing the demolition of sound housing and by making low-interest financing available to maintain and upgrade housing.

Increase affordable homeownership opportunities through limited-equity homeownership, community land trusts, first-time homebuyer assistance, and other innovative programs.

Have the City respond with information and policy recommendation to the ongoing sub-prime mortgage crisis affecting thousands of Richmond residents

Address the growing disparity between household income and housing costs .

Expand affordable rental housing by providing additional funding for the construction, purchase, and rehabilitation of nonprofit, permanently affordable rental housing. Encourage more mixed income housing within residential developments putting more emphasis on actual building of affordable units and less allowance of "in lieu" fees coming from developers.

9. Better City Planning Richmond needs a Planning Department that plans in the public interest. I will work on comprehensive reform of how we plan for the city's future, creating a Planning Department with the leadership to develop a unified and integrated vision for how we can grow- strengthening the role of local communities in the planning process, and ensuring that new development contributes to a better, more equitable city for all residents of Richmond . I will work to

Transform the Culture of Planning by taking the special interests out of the Planning and Redevelopment Departments, putting an end to irresponsible rezoning amendments and leading the effort to create a responsible, community-based strategy to manage Richmond's growth.

Do comprehensive planning by promoting the transfer of more decision-making capacity to the neighborhoods, demanding more interagency collaboration on streetscape, open space and community facility improvements, and creating new revenue sources to fund a range of public benefits.

Improve the quality of new development by creating an independent design review unit in the Planning Department, accountable directly to the public, to improve the overall design and quality of large projects.

Monitor the General Plan Update process so that the City addresses the needs of all of Richmond, recognizing that Richmond's destiny should be defined by Richmond's residents.

Support the inclusion of Environmental , Environmental Justice and Health elements within the General Plan. Improve Preservation Planning by including a preservation element in the City's General Plan, and increasing the number of land-marked buildings and historic districts.

Monitor the City's new plan review process, making sure it is operating without bureaucratic stalls. Monitor the new inspection program, making sure the old self-inspection process (that in the past allowed Chevron to self-inspect, self-permit, and self-determine its projects) is revamped completely and the new process operating smoothly.

10. The Arts, Culture and Global Connections Richmond has many cultural expressions and a vibrant art community. The arts, often overlooked and marginalized, not only contribute to the cultural character of our City, as a venue for individual and collective reflection and healing, but also can act as a revenue-producing sector. I will work:

Put the arts to work by increasing arts funding, helping arts organizations acquire affordable space, and increasing the inclusion of arts components in public works projects Contributing monetarily to the Richmond Art Center and the East Bay Center for the Performing Arts assuring that these great art facilities can continue to survive, flourish, and bring cultural enrichment to Richmond.

Recognize the centrality of art in a well-rounded education by supporting a regional blueprint for arts education, encouraging funding partners as well as artists and arts organizations to play a more active role in allocating resources to our public schools, and initiating a Visiting Artist program.

Ensure a diverse arts community by supporting the Arts and Culture Commission, promoting both demographic and geographic diversity on the commission and through the commission's work. Support the commission's ongoing efforts to help the City shift away from a culture of violence toward a community development culture.

Impact accessibility of the arts by promoting single-screen neighborhood movie theaters and by encouraging existent and new community playhouses and art studios .

Support a Rainbow Cultural and Entertainment District in our downtown featuring the diversity of Richmond `s cultures and traditions, including those connected to the African Diaspora.

Maintain and expand the sister city relationships that currently exist and promote new ones, particularly connecting local Richmond residents with their communities of origin.

Jovanka Beckles, Candidate to the Richmond City Council 2008

PS. The above thoughts and ideas are based on many sources, including proposals heard from Mayor Gayle McLaughlin, the Richmond Progressive Alliance, Black Women Organized for Political Action and others. _ _ _ _ _ _ _
"Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek." - BARACK OBAMA, speech, Feb. 5, 2008

Join me, and many good friends, neighbors and supporters in a celebration of truth and good ideas. We need them both and badly in Richmond, and we need them soon.