KRISS' ELECTION RECOMMENDATIONS

Real Policies, Real Change.

1.I moved to Berkeley because my boyfriend wanted to go to school here. He came first and looked for apartments but could not find one. When I arrived from Hawaii, after the first apartment interview, the woman said "You sound like wonderful fellows, you can move in right away." With such a blessed welcome, it felt like coming to Berkeley was the perfect place to be.

2.Berkeley's top challenges are: Threatened Alta-Bates Hospital Closure; Housing Affordability; Transparency; Public Safety; Homelessness; Diversity; Teamwork; Student Housing; Fiscal Responsibility; Economic Development. I have sponsored numerous Council items on all of these topics.

The current Mayor and City Council have repeatedly delayed practical solutions. For example, in October 2015, I introduced 27 solutions for a short term affordable housing action plan. It took seven months delay until May 2016, for the City Council to vote yes to refer most of the ideas to start to be considered.

The Tuesday Night City Council Circus atmosphere can be changed with clear solutions. If I win for Mayor I will schedule special meetings with only one topic, whenever there is a major controversial issue. This will prevent most major issues being discussed late at night after most of the public left exasperated. It will allow more participation at a reasonable hour by families with children needing childcare, disabled residents who need to get home to have their attendant put them in bed, and people who have daytime jobs that prevent them from testifying at 10 or 11 pm or later. Also other City Department Directors and staff would not have to sit through hours of hearings that have nothing to do with their department.

There will be at least two new City Council members so we have an opportunity to build stronger working relationships and try teamwork and new approaches.

3.What distinguishes me most is working with interns to produce 2,000 policy items which were mostly all adopted by the City Council. I negotiated hundreds of compromises to move forward with practical common sense measures as well as trailblazing progressive policy. As a civil rights activist since my teens, I think diversity is more a MORAL issue than a political issue. George Bush and Ronald Reagan had higher percentages of appointing racial diversity than one of our Mayoral candidates. In the 2005 and 2012 diversity reports the Councilmember had zero African American and Latina/o appointees, and for other years only 1 or 2 of each ethnic group. For most of the last twenty years I appointed the highest numbers of Asian and Pacific Islander, African American, and Latina/o Commissioners.

4.YES on E!, Yes on U1, NO on DD are most important. Yes on X1 for Campaign Finance Reform could reduce negative effects of money on politics. As a public policy wonk I spend much time on ballot measures. E1 for continuing BUSD public school support is extraordinarily important for our kids, teachers, parents and our image as an informed humane civilized city. I support all the ones with a 1 after them- T1, U1, V1, W1, X1, Y1, Z1 & E1. Measure DD is dreadfully deceptive and punishes tenants and small landlords alike. The landlord lobby is spending outrageous amounts of money for DD to try to use it to defeat U1, which was put on ballot with support of all 9 City Council members. U1 is a well thought out effort to recover a small part of the large landlord's mega-millions profits from extreme high rents. BB and CC are no longer needed because we reached a minimum wage compromise.

5.Thanks to Ranked Choice Voting you can vote for up to three candidates for Mayor and City Council. Of the many interesting options, Jesse Arreguin comes closest to my combination of progressive vision and practical accomplishments. Jesse has championed solutions for environment, tenants, affordable housing, immigration issues and much more. Other candidates have a bright future, like Ben Gould, or have focused attention on important issues like Mike Lee and Berndt Wahl. Because of Jesse's extensive track record on many important issues, I encourage my supporters to vote for Jesse Arreguin and myself in the order that they prefer.