Oakland (Special to ZennieReport.com) – Ok, I have never done this before, but this time I have to. I just have to. And the “this” is openly questioning what a person’s motives really are when it comes to a run for office in Oakland. But with Zac Unger, I have to. I have no personal animus toward him. Never met him.
But I do have something massively against his copy-paste, milquetoast, I-will-do-that-too, slate of reasons for pursuing the seat currently held by Councilmember Dan Kalb. To me, Zac Unger is a robo-candidate. A man who’s giant ambitions are barely masked by a passionless presentation on his own campaign website. Zac Unger’s platform is something I can program a bot to spit out. Take his “public safety” section:
Public Safety
Protecting our community has been Zac’s profession for more than 25 years. A firefighter and paramedic who works and lives in Oakland, Zac is passionate about genuine public safety solutions. The choice between public safety and civil rights is a false one; we must have both. He will pursue a multi-pronged approach to address public safety that focuses on:
- Hiring and retaining law enforcement and dispatchers, especially those from the community who reflect the diversity of Oakland;
- Fixing our broken 911 system;
- Getting more officers into the streets and understanding the communities they serve – community policing;
- Investing more in Cease-Fire, the Department of Violence Prevention, and license plate readers and security cameras to identify and prevent crimes in progress and crack down on gun violence;
- Targeting and breaking up the criminal rings responsible for car break-ins, strong-arm robberies, retail thefts, bike thefts, and catalytic converter thefts;
- Evaluating the success of programs like MACRO and expanding the ones that have proven to be effective;
- Embracing a hope agenda that offers alternatives to youth and young adults, including pathways to more career training, more after-school programs, and safe parks accessible to every neighborhood; and
- Ensuring sound wildfire prevention strategies and oversight of apartment buildings in need of repair.
The simple fact of this list is that one can make a sound argument that we’re already doing all of that. There’s not a single original thought in any one of these focus areas. What about getting new equipment for the Oakland Police? How about reforming police deployment in Oakland? What about financing private security for small businesses?
Has anyone ever noticed that, even though the vast majority of bipping cases happen in or near our business improvement districts, no one in the Oakland Police Department has ever tried to just, well, “take over” one of them and present an obvious presence? What about employing drones as part of a tech-oriented approach? Zac Unger has nothing like what I just presented, and yet there are people who believe he’s going to make a giant difference as an Oakland Councilmember.
Please folks, stop the glue-sniffing.
Zac Unger Presents Nothing New And More Of The Same That Got Oakland In Trouble
Zac Unger presents not only nothing new, but a look at his website would make you think Oakland’s not in need of a more process-oriented, get-it-done, system of government operation.
Look at all of the managerial problems we’ve had under the current club of Oakland elected officials (who are otherwise nice people and friends in most cases but this is about the business of Oakland). You can’t point a finger at missed grant deadlines and a continued lack of use of legislative tools like tax increment financing, and say that as an Oakland Councilmember, it’s not your fault.
Ground control to you: you’re part of that culture. And here comes Zac Unger representing more of the same that got us what we’ve been dealing with.
Here’s Zac Unger with the “no duh” take on housing:
The housing affordability crisis requires us to act with urgency. Zac will work to leverage all available federal, state, and regional resources to build housing at all levels, including projects with a high percentage of affordable housing units. We must also eliminate red tape that prevents homeowners from building Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) on their parcels, with appropriate precautions in high risk wildfire zones. Working with the community, city leaders, and developers, Zac will get to the bottom of why it takes twice as long to build in Oakland as it does in neighboring cities, as these delays drive up the cost of housing and prevent neighbors from finding the security and peace of mind that comes with stable housing.
You call that original?
Another big yawn. The problem of the housing affordability crisis is that people don’t have enough money to pay the rent. Pure and simple. So here’s an original thought: why not focus on getting rental assistance to the renter, and compensate the landlord for revenue losses (so long as there’s no increase in rent)?
Why would Zac Unger want to force people who need to keep a roof over their heads into waiting for a long-term pipe dream? That’s what every Oakland elected official mindlessly does with this constant call just for affordable housing and not for increased financial help for the renter. It’s easy to sit back and come up with massively dumb ideas when your own fiscal house is in order, huh? Right Zac?
What bothers me is Zac falls right in line with the current group of folks who are part of the problem, but refuse to change. I love most of them, but Oakland needs a real shake up. We have to alter our course – an approach that pays more attention to resource allocation in all examples is better. After all, it’s lack of resources that’s the problem.
It’s clear that Zac Unger did not get the memo.
Do better.