Candidates for Oakland District 5 will Debate Tonight in Fruitvale

The four candidates for Oakland’s District 5 City Council Seat debate tonight in an open forum at the Fruitvale-San Antonio Senior Center, located in the Fruitvale neighborhood of Oakland.  The debate, produced by the Oakland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce Public Policy Committee will start at 6:30pm.  Paul Junge, the Chamber’s Vice-President and Director of Public Policy will moderate, and the candidates will be presented with a series of questions by a two-person panel – David Tucker, municipal affairs manager at Waste Management of Alameda County; and Kerry Hamill, manager of government and community relations for BART. Questions will also be solicited from the audience.

The boundaries of District 5 encompass a portion of the diverse East Oakland area, including the Glenview and Fruitvale neighborhoods and parts of the estuary waterfront, Dimond District and Jingletown. There are seven council districts total in Oakland, and one at-large member for a total of eight seats. There are no term limits for the city council members. In fact, long time Oakland politician Ignacio De La Fuente has held the District 5 seat since 1992, for nearly 20 full years (5 consecutive terms).

Oakland Council District 5 Debate Begins, Four Candidates Discuss the Issues

Program Starts

A group of about 55 are in the audience tonight, in the Fruitvale/San Antonio Senior Center adjacent to the Fruitvale BART station. It is unknown whom departing Councilmember De La Fuente will show his support for at this time, and with ranked choice voting, an incumbent’s support may prove to be less crucial to electoral success. The candidates are settled on the dais and the opening statements will be underway in about 10 minutes.