Delivering for Oakland

Serving Oakland means turning our values into action and delivering results people can see and feel in their everyday lives.

From making our city more affordable and improving public safety to supporting immigrants, addressing homelessness, empowering survivors of trafficking, and investing in cleaner, stronger neighborhoods, I’ve worked to bring people together and move solutions forward. Explore my record below to see what we’ve accomplished, what we’re building, and the work that continues.

Affordability & Economic Opportunity
Empowering Survivors
Public Safety
Homelessness
Supporting Immigrants
Clean, Thriving Communities

Affordability and Economic Opportunity

I’m a renter, and have seen friends priced out of Oakland. The cost of living is a crisis and I am fighting for the city to act with urgency to bring down prices. By removing barriers to new housing, taking on price-gouging corporations, and supporting small businesses, I’m working towards an affordable Oakland.

  • I’ve been working with the Grocery Outlet team since last June, helping navigate safety and permitting hurdles quickly so District 2 can have access to affordable, local groceries.

  • Using the new state law SB 79, I pushed Oakland to act sooner rather than waiting years to approve new homes near transit. I won an amendment because housing can’t wait.

  • I wrote Measure FF to close a loophole hedge funds use to avoid paying millions in taxes when acquiring distressed real estate. By exempting office-to-housing conversions, the measure also helps turn empty buildings into badly needed housing.

  • I launched Boarded to Bustling to recruit businesses to vacant spaces in our district, help them navigate permitting, and connect them with the community. We’ve helped bring more than 20 new businesses to the district.

  • I funded 180 new affordable homes, including deeply affordable senior housing at the Lake Merritt/Chinatown BART station.

  • I helped eliminate fees on new housing that increase construction costs and rents. Reducing these barriers can help more projects move forward and increase Oakland’s housing supply.

  • I simplified the process for applying for and building accessory dwelling units, creating more opportunities for affordable, relatively quick-to-build housing throughout Oakland.

  • I approved using Measure U funds to support hundreds of permanently affordable homes throughout Oakland, including community land trusts. We also partnered with the Housing Accelerator Fund to move projects faster and bring outside funding into Oakland.

  • I’m investing in the LGBTQ cultural district in Lakeshore to strengthen the community and bring new customers to local businesses, including Moore Hope Plaza, Oakland’s first LGBTQ community hiring event for city jobs, and a rainbow crosswalk.

  • I negotiated the lowest afternoon and nighttime parking rates at Pacific Renaissance Plaza by securing an infusion of federal funding, helping bring customers to businesses in downtown, Jack London, and Chinatown.

  • I funded tenant legal-aid organizations such as Centro Legal, helping renters enforce their rights, challenge illegal rent increases, and stay in their homes.

  • I established a faster review process for new housing so starter homes and apartments can move through the city’s approval process more quickly.

  • I’m modernizing city software to speed up routine mechanical, electrical, and plumbing permits. Approvals that once took weeks can now be completed in as little as a day.

  • I was one of only two Councilmembers to vote for Oakland to support state legislation challenging PG&E’s monopoly and the high electricity costs residents face.

  • I’ve helped residents challenge tickets they received unfairly and secure refunds from the city when those tickets were issued incorrectly.

  • I added new parking spaces after hearing from businesses that limited parking was one of their biggest concerns, creating more room for customers to access neighborhood businesses.

Public Safety

Our low-income, immigrant, and working-class neighborhoods have some of the city’s longest 911 response wait times. I chair the Council’s Public Safety Committee, where I fight for an all-of-the-above public safety strategy including mental health, violence prevention, traffic safety, police, and firefighter responses.

  • I reversed fire station brownouts, improving fire truck and ambulance response times so first responders can reach people faster when every minute matters.

  • I helped open Fire Station 10, speeding fire and emergency response for Lakeshore, Cleveland Heights, Trestle Glen, and Crocker Highlands.

  • I’m funding a new Fire Station 4 to reduce emergency response times in San Antonio, Bella Vista, Chinatown, and Little Saigon.

  • I’m working to recruit officers who are rooted in and accountable to Oakland by partnering with community organizations, Black churches, schools of social work, transgender veterans, and communities that are too often overlooked. Public safety for all of us means bringing all of our communities in.

  • I restored Chinatown’s community policing officer so residents, including those who do not speak English, can receive the responsive and culturally accessible public safety services they deserve.

  • I launched Oakland’s first violence prevention academy to grow the city’s Ceasefire strategy. The program proactively works with people most at risk of committing gun violence and connects them with life coaching, job training, and other community support.

  • I’m pressing for greater OPD accountability and working to reduce excessive police overtime, including through GPS tracking in police vehicles. Recruiting enough officers remains essential so Oakland is not forced to rely so heavily on overtime.

  • I worked with neighbors around the Lake Shore cul-de-sac to establish a 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. parking limit, helping reduce late-night gun violence and disruptive street takeovers.

  • I launched a dedicated fund for sideshow-prevention infrastructure so Oakland can make targeted improvements that help protect neighborhoods from dangerous street activity.

  • After a tragic death on East 21st, I won new speed bumps to help prevent future crashes and improve traffic safety throughout the Bella Vista area.

  • After a burglary devastated Kim Tin Jewelry in Little Saigon, I stood with the owners, led a community fundraising effort, and pushed the city to speed up the permits they needed to rebuild.

  • I helped open the Maia Correia protected bike lane on Lakeshore to create safer streets and help prevent more people from being hurt or killed because of unsafe street design.

Supporting Immigrants

Coming from an immigrant family, I know how important it is for every Oaklander to feel safe accessing city services, regardless of immigration status or the language they speak. I’ve fought to strengthen Oakland’s sanctuary protections, prevent immigration enforcement from accessing city data, expand language access, and connect immigrant communities with legal aid, rapid response, and other critical resources.

  • I wrote Oakland’s sanctuary city law, banning the collection of immigration status and cooperation with ICE, creating ICE-free zones, and requiring city services to reach residents regardless of legal status.

  • I advocated for Governor Newsom to expunge the records of formerly incarcerated community members who had turned their lives around so past convictions would not lead to deportation.

  • I banned the sharing of safety-camera footage with immigration enforcement and authored strong safeguards including hard-coded limits, independent auditing, and civilian approval before police can share data with other local law-enforcement agencies.

  • I passed a resolution supporting statewide language-accessibility standards so government services are available to residents regardless of the language they speak.

  • I’m pressing city departments to provide stronger multilingual services and connecting them with immigrant-led community organizations so residents know what resources and services are available to them.

  • After reports of CBP presence on Coast Guard Island, I convened undocumented community leaders in District 2 to share rapid-response information, know-your-rights resources, and connections to legal aid.

Fighting the Sex Trade, Empowering Survivors

On a given night, hundreds of women and girls are bought and sold on International Blvd. This is not consensual sex work. It is organized commercial exploitation. I’ve made this a citywide priority, bringing survivor-led organizations to the table.

  • I created California’s first municipal fund dedicated to supporting survivors of sex trafficking, financed through penalties on pimps. This work received the Freedom to Walk Award from Love Never Fails, a survivor-led organization supporting people impacted by the sex trade in Oakland.

  • I chair the anti-trafficking task force, bringing together the District Attorney, Alameda County Board of Education, state legislative offices, and the city to build a coordinated regional response to human trafficking.

  • I helped shut down smoke and gift shops on International Boulevard that were linked to sex trafficking, illegal gambling, and organized crime by connecting residents and the evidence they gathered with the City Attorney’s Office and code enforcement.

  • I’m working with the San Antonio Neighborhood Coalition, EBAYC, and other community leaders on a pilot program installing traffic barriers in strategic locations to obstruct sex-trafficking activity, including near Franklin Elementary.

  • I launched a philanthropic partnership with The Oakland Fund to strengthen survivor services, including housing, healthcare, and job training.

Homelessness

I’m working to bring our unhoused neighbors indoors, keeping shelters open, connecting people with services, and ensuring that programs deliver results.

  • I reversed cuts to shelters citywide, helping keep people indoors, and connected more than 100 unhoused District 2 residents with shelter.

  • I’m using my oversight role to build performance management into homelessness funding so limited public dollars are focused on programs that deliver measurable results.

  • I’m working to strengthen Oakland’s homelessness response by focusing on earlier intervention, addiction treatment, and pathways to employment.

  • I joined Mayor Lee in advocating with the county to ensure Oakland receives its fair share of Measure W funds for homelessness and supportive services.

  • After major new encampments appeared in the Jack London area in February, I brought county behavioral health resources into the neighborhood to connect people with support.

  • I voted to streamline the process for closing encampments, with the requirement that people are offered shelter as part of the process.

  • I’m working to convert crime-ridden motels into homeless shelters, replacing sources of violence and instability with places where unhoused residents can access safety, services, and recovery support.

Clean, Thriving Communities

From increasing street paving to combating illegal dumping, supporting parks, and partnering with community groups, I’m working to improve everyday quality of life in our district.

  • I co-sponsored Oakland’s $1.5 million illegal dumping expenditure plan, funding movable solar-powered cameras and handheld citation devices so enforcement teams can collect better evidence and hold illegal dumpers accountable.

  • I organized eight community cleanups across District 2, including a day of action at Clinton Park and East 12th that brought together more than 100 volunteers.

  • I helped restore Bulky Block Parties so residents once again have a convenient way to legally dispose of furniture, appliances, and other large items.

  • I’m working to increase street paving and pothole repairs throughout District 2. We’ve made progress, but there is still much more work to do.

  • I wrote and passed legislation designating a San Antonio BART station as a transportation priority for Oakland, laying the groundwork for a potential long-term expansion of BART service.

  • I helped break ground on Oakland’s first climate resilience hub at Lincoln Elementary, creating a community resource during disasters and an air-conditioned gathering space for residents year-round.

  • I helped reopen Pine Knoll Park, restoring an important neighborhood space for residents and families to enjoy.

  • I passed a resolution formally recognizing Little Saigon as a Cultural and Economic Center, helping establish the neighborhood as a destination and laying the groundwork for a future business improvement district.

  • I fought to keep the Tzu Chi Buddhist Center in Oakland by working with its operators to address neighborhood safety and cleanliness concerns that were pushing the organization to consider leaving the city.

  • I convened a Lake Merritt working group that brings together the Mayor’s Office, City Administration, and community organizations to address safety and quality-of-life issues around the lake.

  • I opposed lifting the big-rig trucking ban on I-580, submitting formal opposition to Caltrans and raising concerns before the City Council about increased emissions, road safety, and seismic risk.

  • I lowered the cost of permits for storefront hardening by ten-fold, making it more affordable for businesses to protect themselves after incidents where robbers crashed vehicles into storefronts.

  • I’m supporting the renovation of a community kitchen at Clinton Park to strengthen the work of TRYBE and other community organizations serving local residents.

  • I partnered with Chinatown community organizations on a coordinated graffiti-removal blitz to improve neighborhood cleanliness and support local businesses.

  • I removed dumpsters in Lakeshore that had become a source of blight and rodents and were discouraging people from visiting the business district.