State Assembly District 24

State Assembly District 24

Candidate Priorities

Peter Ohtaki • None indicated

State Senate 13th District

Candidate Priorities

Josh Baker • “represent the publicinterest-your interests.”

Alexander Glew Ran S. Petel

Qualifications

• Financial Emergency Manager • Former City Council member/Mayor City of

Menlo Park

Qualifications

• A lifelong education advocate • Expanded University of California system into

Merced and served 16 years as Trustee • Work expanding math and science in K-12 school have been recognized by First Lady Michelle Obama. • A Stanford JD/MBA and a Community College

Adjunct Professor • Serve on the State Workforce Development Board (Governor Brown appointee) • Serve on the County’s Child Care Partnership

United States 14th District

Candidate Priorities

Jackie Speier • YOU are my priority! • Support lowering prescription drug prices for all through government negotiations with companies • Support using wartime power to produce COVID-10 supplies.

Candidate statement Council

Candidate statement not filed

Qualifications

• Secured personal protective equipment for healthcare providers. • Obtained funding for pediatric cancer research • Voted to end discrimination against pre-existing medical conditions • Co-sponsored the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act • Co-sponsored Green New Deal • Authored bills accelerating conversion of US auto industry to electric vehicles. • Helped secure $647 million federal grant for Caltrain electrification • Fought for affordable housing on public lands • Sponsored 8 bills (airport-noise-related) allowing airport curfews, money for home insulation and new routes to avoid nighttime aircraft noise. • Voted for Increased unemployment payments, student loan relief, eviction prevention and small business loans, • Sponsored bill guaranteeing federal death benefits to support families of essential workers. • Sponsored bills to support universal child care/Pre-K • Sponsored 3 gun buybacks, supported comprehensive background checks and a ban on assault weapons. • Recovered over $200,000 in veteran benefits. • Authored resolution to facilitate ratification of Equal Rights

Amendment, the MeToo Congress Act, defended LGBTQ rights, advocated for reproductive rights, justice for survivors of sexual assault in the military and college not filed

A Measure Imposing an Increase to East Palo Alto’s Transient Occupancy Tax Rate of Twelve percent (12%) by One Percent (1%)on January 1, 2022, and another One Percent (1%) on January 1, 2023, for a Total Rate of Fourteen percent (14%)

In November 1998, East Palo Alto completion of the Four Seasons Hotel by Airbnb in the city. voters approved the Transient by 2004. The tax has however raised as The measure in addition seeks to Occupancy Tax, a 12% tax on the much as $300,000 a year each for the allow the City Council the authority occupancy of hotel rooms. The tax Children Youth and Seniors Family to “amend various aspects of the TOT was to augment the city’s general fund. Fund and for affordable housing. In the provisions without subsequent voter The measure was passed with a 60/40 last few years however, according to city approval” excluding the key provisions percent Yes/No and was codified in officials, the amount generated by the of the tax-rate and the allowed use of the the East Palo Alto Municipal Code as tax has declined and with COVID-19 its tax. Ordinance #230. downward trend is expected to continue Transient Occupancy Tax or the Hotel

In the 2002 November general with serious impacts on the city’s annual Bed Tax is a popular tax imposed by election, voters approved Measure I budget in the next few years. cities since it targets out of town visitors. and J setting aside 10% of the tax for The proposed measure V will increase Out of towners staying in local hotels get affordable housing and 10% to create the Transient Occupancy Tax rate from to contribute to the expenses cities incur a fund to support Children, Youth, 12 to 14 percent with the additional 2 for road and park infrastructure, public Families and seniors’ programs. Voters percent staggered over two years. The safety and other municipal services. approved Measure I (Children Youth 2 percent will exclusively be dedicated Both the Cities of San Bruno and Seniors and Family Funds) with 68 to affordable housing, “in particular San Mateo have similar measures in the percent vote. Measure J (affordable the rehabilitation and maintenance of November 3, 2020 ballot to increase the housing) won with 60% of the vote. affordable housing units throughout the tax by 2 percent for street maintenance,

When the tax was originally enacted city and efforts to limit the displacement fire, paramedic, and 911 emergency in 1998, the funds were intended to of renters.” responses, managing traffic congestion augment the city’s general fund and The proposed tax measure will tax and enhancing pedestrian safety, and city officials had projected that the tax as hotel rooms, short-term overnight maintaining city facilities. would generate $2 million with the accommodation such as those provided

Lisa Gauthier Stewart Hyland Webster Lincoln Larry Moody

Carlos Romero

Bronwyn Alexander

Joel Rivera Antonio Lopez

Juan Mendez

John Pimentel

Lisa Hicks-Dumanske

Blair Whitney

Robert Silano

Marielena Gaona-Mendoza-

Mele K. Latu-Community

Zeb Feldman Virginia Chang Kiraly

Sean Ballard

Josh Becker

Alexander Glew

Marc Berman

Peter Ohtaki

Jackie Speier

Jacqui Cebrian Kirstein Keith

Virginia Chang Kiraly Ran S. Petel

David Alexander Walker

George Otte

Frank Dehn

Sharifa Wilson is calling it quits after 12 years serving on the Ravenswood City School District Board of Trustees. Elected to the education board in 2008, the year Obama was elected President, trustee Wilson was reelected in 2012 and 2016.

Asked about the accomplishments during her tenure, she pointed out three things: the completion of a strategic plan whose development engaged parents, teachers, administrative and support staff and community stakeholders; the passing of two bond measures to support the school district (one facilities bond measure garnered 81% of the electorate representing the highest support for a bond by voters in the state!); and finally, she expressed pride in the completion of a District Facilities Masterplan.

“$10 million is currently being spent to upgrade the Ravenswood Middle School campus and although I will not be on the school board when the work gets completed, I am looking forward to the fruits of our efforts.”

Ms. Wilson is happy that in recent years the board has worked well together and she is particularly proud of the success of her efforts to build bridges within the board.

Originally from New York, Ms. Wilson came to East Palo Alto in 1981 after a brief stint in Dallas, Texas.

“I left Dallas after six months, when the city approved a parade permit for the Ku Klux Klan,” she told El Ravenswood.

Arriving in East Palo Alto in the month of February, she was immediately hired to teach at Brentwood School. “I was the 13th teacher the class had since the beginning of the school year!” she remarked adding that, “they were not going to run me out of the school!”

She taught at the school until 1988 when she left to start one of the first school-age after school programs in East Palo Alto called Creative Adventures.

Twenty years earlier, she was a beneficiary of a program that was created following Martin Luther King Jr’s assassination. The program provided scholarships to Black students that allowed them to attend university. She attended New York University on a full four-year scholarship.

“The program encouraged us to complete our studies and to give back to communities in need and it was that encouragement that brought me to East Palo Alto to work as a teacher in the Ravenswood City School District.”

do not like something, do something to change it!’

In East Palo Alto, that opportunity came when, while attending a public meeting to advocate for the construction of play structures at a park, then councilmember Warnell Coats made a comment that propelled her to run for office. Warnell Coates in rejecting a suggestion that play structures be built at Martin Luther King Jr. Park reportedly said that children did not vote! In 1988, Sharifa ran unsuccessfully for a city council seat. She ran again in 1990 and was elected. Reverberating in her mind as she decided to run was, not only council member Coates’ children-

accounted for much of the federal funding allocated to the county. Additionally, she was perturbed by the fact that the grant was a reimbursement grant, meaning successful applicants were expected to spend the money upfront and then get reimbursement from the county. “I could not understand how they would expect non-profits to have the funding to meet that requirement and so I asked the question during a CDBG funding orientation and was advised, kind of snidely, that ’we could borrow the money from our city.’” “That the county CDBG representative failed to acknowledge that East Palo Alto was a recently incorporated city that was going through a massive fiscal crisis has never ceased to amaze me!” When she finally got elected to the Former City of East Palo Alto Council member Warnell Coates. council and became mayor, getting the city represented on the County

“I come from a politically engaged profit seeking funding from the federal (CDBG) Grant Committee was a family,” she said adding that her father Community Development Block Grant priority. Working with Congresswoman served on the first board of education in (CDBG) program administered by San Anna Eshoo, and Supervisor Ruben New York and her mother was active in Mateo County. Barrales, she was able to get an East Palo the leadership of the local parent-teacher She learned that there was a program Alto resident, the late Elbert Mitchell, associations as well as local tenant committee with representatives from appointed to the committee. organizations. communities that needed funding but “Elbert Mitchell’s presence on the

Growing up, she was steeped in her East Palo Alto was not represented County Community Development father’s often repeated dictum: ’if you despite the fact that its demographics Block Grant Committee had a significant

Community Development Block do-not-vote comment, but an experience Elbert Mitchell (l), the first City of East Palo Alto representative on San Mateo she had as a co-founder of a local non- Community Development Block Grant Committee, with William Webster.

Keisha Evans, the first person she met from New York in EPA.

Then Mayor Sharifa Wilson with Menlo Park Mayor Gail Slocum at a local Little League Parade.

impact on East Palo Alto getting CDBG funding!”

While a member of the committee, Elbert was instrumental in getting funding for much needed park renovations and facility constructions: Bell Street Park, Martin Luther King Jr. Park and Jack Farrell Park and the city’s only public pool.

Sharifa helped secure other funding for the city as well. In 1992, East Palo Alto was dubbed the homicide capital of the United States. Within a year, the city secured more $2 million in grants for police equipment, recreation programs and city administration.

Citing that crime was like air and knew no boundaries, Mayor Wilson met with mayors Gail Slocum of Menlo Park and Jean McCowan of Palo Alto eventually persuading both nearby cities to provide financial and staff resources. The Regional Enforcement Detail¬¬, the RED Team, was launched thanks to this tri-city collaboration. Nine officers from East Palo Alto, Palo Alto, Menlo Park and other agencies targeted known felons in separate investigations collaborating with the FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service. Within a very short period, 180 drug dealers were behind bars.

In April 1993, Wilson hosted Dianne Feinstein, the first U.S. senator to visit East Palo Alto In the same year then Gov. Pete Wilson signed an executive order forming the East Palo Alto High Crime Response Team and designated the city an enterprise zone, giving tax incentives to companies that relocated to or expanded in East Palo Alto and hired local residents.

In April 1993, while still serving as mayor, a new program Operation Safe Streets doubled the city’s police force. Palo Alto contributed four; Menlo Park, two; the California Highway Patrol sent 12; and 18 deputies came from the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Department, a department that until then was considered a foe of East Palo Alto.

Along her journey of more than two decades of public service, Sharifa was inspired, mentored and supported by her father and mother, John and Doris Wilson, whose lives and examples of community service left an indelible mark on her development as a person, Ayinde Tate, her son, who brought meaning to her work with children; his father, Gene Tate, who familiarized her with East Palo Alto and all the work many like him were doing to make a difference in the future of children; Keisha Evans, a former Ravenswood City School District school teacher and

Gene Tate, Colleen (daughter-in-law), Sharifa and their son Ayinde Tate.

board member and co-owner of African City Alive, who was the first New Yorker she met in East Palo Alto, developed what was akin to a family with her and her sister and recruited her to teach at Nairobi Day School, then operated by Gertrude Wilks; Omowale Satterwhite, one of the first City of East Palo Alto council members and considered to be the critical force behind the city’s incorporation; Barbara Mouton, a former educator and the first mayor of the city who served as mayor from 1983-1986 and who took Ms. Wilson under her wing; and Congresswoman Anna Eshoo, a friend of East Palo Alto who while on the Board of Supervisors voted to support East Palo Alto’s incorporation, partnered with Ms. Wilson to open opportunities previously unavailable for the City of East Palo Alto. In 1997 Anna Eshoo, whose district then included East Palo Alto, secured $1 million from the Department of Justice for additional police officers over a threeyear period.

East Palo Alto, not unlike other newly incorporated cities, had to grapple with navigating the protocols of a councilcity manager form of government. City council members and particularly the mayor generally failed to restrain the temptation to be administrators. The first council, for instance, took away the city manager’s responsibility to hire a police chief simply because the mayor disagreed with who the city manager had recommended for appointment. These incursions into the administrative arena were unfortunately accompanied by streaks of meanness and abusiveness toward executive management staff that was considered uncouth and professionally disrespectful. Line staff was known to get directions directly from council members, deliberately

Omowale Satterwhite, considered the mind behind the struggle for incorporation.

Anna Eshoo, Hilary Clinton and Sharifa Wilson in 1998.

sidestepping the city manager, executive and mid-management staff.

This modus operandi established in the city’s infancy percolated into successive city councils and the practice characterized the style of most if not all mayors including Ms. Wilson.

“The city council transgressing into the administrative arena, with the mayor taking on some of the city manager’s functions was necessary because there were several instances in the city’s history where there was no city manager and the executive management staff did not live in the community and therefore would recommend policy actions without truly understanding the lay of the land,” she told El Ravenswood.

During 1993 budget hearings, she pushed through the council the elimination of the public works director, planning director and building official positions in a move that was seen as specifically targeting the individuals occupying those positions. This was confirmed in the mind of one of the eliminated staff when he received a call from someone on his staff telling him that the mayor had instructed the staff member to call him and ask him to

John Wilson, Sharifa’s father, served on a school board in New York City.

Doris Wilson, Sharifa’s mother was active in Parent Teacher Association and Tenant Organizations.

Barbara Mouton, who was on the council from 1983-1990 serving as mayor from 1983-86.

come back to the office and remove his s_____!

Ms. Wilson did not recall this specific incident but said that in the early days, the leadership of the council found itself in situations where they had to step into the city manager’s role during periods when the city manager position was vacant. This particular incident occurred when Russell Averhart was the Acting City Manager.

Now that soon she will no longer be an elected official, Ms. Wilson hopes to marshal her experience, skills and extensive contacts to implement what she calls the “Legacy Project.”

“This is an effort,” she explained, “to make available to young adults, who grew up in East Palo Alto and maybe went to college and came back, affordable housing opportunities so that they and their families can live and work here and provide the next wave of leadership to public as well as private local agencies.”

Cynthia Marie Mose September 7, 1964-September 7, 2020

‘‘We ourselves will be gone one day, but our memories will last because of all the different things we have done with one another, and shared with one another in our lives.” Cynthia Marie Mose

Cynthia Marie Mose, 56, was East Palo Alto and Menlo Park, she killed on Monday, September told her friends, would always be home 7 at a birthday party for her and that regardless of how organized in her honor by her many years she spent outside the two East Palo Alto and Menlo Park friends. communities, she knew that she would

Born September 7, 1964 to Alma eventually come back home. Batiste Carr and Curly Mose, Cynthia Cynthia is survived by her two was raised in a family of 12, by her children Apollo Curtis and Brandon stepfather Charles Carr in the Belle Powell/De’Oshanay Ragland; her Haven neighborhood of Menlo Park grandchildren Arielle Canedo-Mills, where her family moved in 1965 from E’siyah Powell, Kaeyden Cutts, Artez Lake Charles, Louisiana. Cutts, Dontae Vaughn and Ra’nayjah

She graduated from Willow School Powell; her brothers and sisters Ruthie and attended San Carlos High School. Norwood, Paula Flemmings, Kevin She played basketball throughout Julian and Rachael Carr-Houston/ high school and was known for her Gayland Houston. She was preceded competitiveness, tenacity and her warm in death by her son Prince Ray Mills, and disarming smile. She enjoyed ballet, mother Alma Batiste Carr, stepfather track and field and played organ at a local Charles Carr and brothers and sister church. Cynthia moved to Sacramento Stella Levy, James Batiste, Mary to live with her mother and while there Robinson, Curly Mose Jr., Roosevelt started and operated several businesses Mose and Ray Mose. but finally settled on selling real estate.

Antar Nadir Jannah Mandela was a well- known fixture on the East Palo Alto and Belle Haven political, economic, artistic and social scene.

He was born January 25, 1952. His family first moved to San Francisco before coming to the Belle Haven community in Menlo Park in the fifties. He attended schools in the Ravenswood City School District and Palo Alto Unified School District. In the seventies he converted to Islam, changing his name from Tommie Irving to Antar Nadir Jannah. He married his first wife Carla Nisa Smith and over a 25-year marriage they had three children, two daughters Fitrah and Naja and one son Deen.

He worked for many years at the Bayshore Employment Service, the only job placement agency ever based in East Palo Alto. He also worked with the Ravenswood City School District as well as the California Department of Corrections where he served as Muslim chaplain at several prisons in California.

“You would think that we were a military family,” reminisced his daughter Naja who said the family moved frequently. A spiritual leader, he was also an avid science fiction enthusiast and writer having penned several books: Dr. Shepherd’s Universe, The Intergalactic Conference, The Secret of Infinite I met Cynthia 40 years ago when she tried out for the San Carlos High School basketball team. She got you with her smile. She was full of life and quite the competitor. Needlessly to say, she played through her senior year. She was a big part of the team. Cynthia, you will be missed. Thank you for being part of my life; you only made it better. To her family, she was a wonderful person and may she RIP.

Coach Cocconi

We lived on the same block, raised kids together and managed to keep in touch thru the years. We all loved her free spirit and enthusiasm.

Eva Cuffy

Intelligence, The Perfect Mistake, The Third Self, The Neurogenetic Implant and The Cosmic Energy.

He was also well known as an inspirational speaker on personal, intellectual and economic fulfillment.

He is survived by his second wife Nisa Carla Jannah, his third wife Tahirah Taalib-Din, two sons, Tommie Hakim and Deen Jannah and two daughters, Fitrah Jannah and Naja Jannah.

Annie Mae Harrison

Annie Mae Harrison turned 94 on September 10. Born in Oakland, Louisiana, in 1926, she moved to Oakland, California with her late husband in the fifties. From Oakland, the family moved to East Palo Alto.

She was one of the pioneer African American families to move into the then unincorporated East Palo Alto.

Known for her feisty character, sense of humor and her hard work providing for her family, she was and still is a welcome friend to many that lived on Menalto Street. “In her younger days she loved collard greens and cornbread,” said Barbara Jacobs, whose family moved to the same street in 1960.

She worked at the Hillhaven Convalescent Home in Menlo Park for most of her professional career until her retirement in 1985.

Ms. Harrison had two children, Elton and Otis. Otis, the youngest was born in 1946 and takes care of her in the house where he grew up.

Otis is one of the many grown sons and daughters who have taken the unspoken parental vow promising to take care of their parents in their latter years in “sickness and in health till death.” Others, not only have not taken the vow, but have no clue as to its existence.

Otis Harrison, is living up to that vow. He has taken care of his mother alone, since she came down with Alzheimer’s in 2005. “I wish I could get the picture we took of her with famous Amos Brown and other famous individuals and movie cartoon characters,” said Otis.

“She is my mother. She took care of me and now it is my turn to take care of her.”

Mr. Harrison, who still works a regular job at El Camino Hospital, has a live-in-attendant who takes care of his mother while he is at work. With the onset of the pandemic, he took several weeks off to lay down precautions that would ensure his mother’s safety. A small birthday party was held for her on her birthday.

A 1956 picture of Annie Mae (left) with a friend. Otis is sitting on the car.

INSERT / RIGHT He has regularly taken his mother to various places of interest throughout California and toured sites with her in a wheelchair.

Fred Mcdonald Died on August 3, 2020

“Today, be the kind of man that when your feet hit the floor each morning the devil says ’Oh crap, he’s up!’ Brother, life is too short to wake up with regrets. So love the people who treat you right. Love the ones who don’t just because you can. Believe everything happens for a reason and, if you get a second chance, grab it with both hands. If it changes your life, let it. Kiss slowly. Forgive quickly…”- Fred McDonald

Fred McDonald, a studentcounselor- mentor-advocate, died on August 3, 2020.

Mr. McDonald was one of a team of three counselors, with Dee Uhila and Ruben Avelar, who worked with African-American, Hispanic and Pacific Islander students from East Palo Alto and Menlo Park.

Created in 1987 by and managed by Robert ‘Bob’ Hoover, the mission of the East Palo Alto Youth Development Center (YDC) was to reduce the high Bob Hoover, founded the East Palo Alto drop-out rate (estimated at over 50% at Youth Development Center. the time) of East Palo Alto/Menlo Park students attending high schools in the Fred McDonald Sequoia Union High School District. With an imposing height, a massive body frame and a “teddy bear” demeanor, Mr. McDonald was loved by all he worked for and with. Called the gentle giant, he was able to get the best out of students, their parents, his work colleagues and members of stakeholder agencies be it the Juvenile Court, the Probation Department or the Public Defender’s Office.

“Fred’s size, personality and his love for basketball allowed the YDC to win over and influence a lot of kids,” Dee Dee Uhila-YDC Counselor-Student Uhila told El Ravenswood recently. Advocate. YDC was established in 1987. Fred McDonald with his fellow counselor- Park attended. Students having any kind mentor-advocates Dee Uhila and Ruben of issues would be referred to these Avelar worked with students and their locations by teachers and administrators families with the intent of keeping as well as the Juvenile Court, Probation students in school and ensuring that and the Public Defender’s Office. they graduated from high school. Fred McDonald grew up in Oakland

YDC operated out of locations in and graduated from the University of all the schools in the District in which Colorado. He worked with YDC until Ruben Avelar-YDC Counselor-Student students from East Palo Alto and Menlo the agency closed in 1995. Advocate.

EPA Belle Haven Information Inc P.O. Box 50849 East Palo Alto, CA 94303

Please Find El Ravenswood At These Choice Locations Want to be an El Ravenswood distribution location? Please contact El Ravenswood at info@eastpaloaltoinformation.com

EAST PALO ALTO Above All Insurance, 907 Newbridge Street # B; | Boys and Girls Club-East Palo Alto, 2031 Pulgas Avenue; | Brentwood School, 2086 Clarke Avenue; | Cesar Chavez & Green Oaks, 2450 Ralmar Avenue; | Ravenswood Child Development Center, 952 O’Connor Street, | Community Development Department, 1960 Tate Street; | Costano School, 2695 Fordham Street; | County Services Building-Lobby; 2415 University Avenue; | East Palo Alto Academy, 1040 Myrtle Street; | East Palo Alto Charter School, 1286 Runnymede Street; | East Palo Alto Phoenix Academy, 1039 Garden Street; | East Palo Alto Police Department, 141 Demeter Avenue; | East Palo Alto Senior Center, 560 Bell Street; | East Palo Alto YMCA, 550 Bell Street; | Ecumenical Hunger Program, 2411 Pulgas Avenue; Gregory’s Enterprise & Barber Shop, 1895 E. Bayshore Road; | Jones Mortuary, 660 Donohoe Street; | Oakwood Market, 2106 Oakwood Drive; | Peninsula Park Apartments, 1977 Tate Street; | Rainier’s Service Station, 1905 E. Bayshore Road; | Ravenswood City School District, 2130 Euclid Avenue; Ravenswood Family Health Center, 1885 Bay Road; | Ronald McNair School, 2033 Pulgas Avenue; | San Mateo Credit Union, 1735 Bay Road; | St Francis of Assisi, 1425 Bay Road; | St Johns Baptist Church, 1050 Bay Road; | Stanford Community Law Clinics, 2117 University Avenue; | Starbucks-East Palo Alto, 1745 East Bayshore Road;

MENLO PARK Belle Haven Library, 415 Ivy Drive; | Belle Haven School, 415 Ivy Drive; | Esquire Barber Shop, 830 Newbridge street; | Job Train, 1200 O’Brien Drive; | Jonathan’s Fish & Chips, 840 Willow Road; | Markstyle Barber Shop, 828 Willow Road; | Menlo Park City Hall, 701 Laurel Street; | Menlo Park Senior Center, 100 Terminal Avenue; | Mt Olive AOH Church of God, 605 Hamilton Avenue; | Project Read-Menlo Park, 800 Alma Street; | Tony’s Pizza, 820 Willow Road; | Tutti Frutti, 888 Willow Road; Willow Cleaners, 824 Willow Road; | Willow Oaks School, 620 Willow Road