Oakland Tribune-Alameda Time-Star Endorses Re-election of Daysog

By Tony Daysog

"LONGTIME Alamedan Tony Daysog is an incumbent City Council member who deserves to remain in office. He has done a good job serving the Island community as a council member since 1997, two years as vice mayor.

"Daysog, a professional urban planner, reflects the changing Alameda and has thoughtful ideas on how to handle the many challenges facing the city as it develops Alameda Point, deals with an evolving vision for the Catellus development and struggles with affordable housing, traffic and safety issues.

"He is among eight candidates vying for two open council seats. His opponents are Horst Breuer, Betsy Elgar, Frank Matarrese, Susan McCormack, Hadi Monsef, Tom Pavletic and Jean Sweeney. It's good to see so many qualified candidates with backgrounds in education, finance, government and management willing to serve on the council and interested in helping guide Alameda in new directions.

" . . . Daysog lists community planning and neighborhood safety as top priorities. He has worked with school district officials to improve traffic safety at various schools, and backed residents who founded Pedestrian Friendly Alameda.

" 'I want to be known as the councilman who was the champion of traffic safety,' he says.

"If re-elected, then the Encinal High School and UC Berkeley graduate plans to lobby for more minorities on city boards and commissions. 'In my next four years, I want to build on the gains we've had in including more diversity on boards and commissions,' he said.

"He sees 'huge, pent-up demand for more quality retailers' on the Island and cautions 'we need to understand the cumulative effect' of all proposed retail and housing projects.

"But Alameda 'can't bog projects in governmental red tape,' he says. The council has demonstrated an ability to fast-track projects for globally oriented businesses, and can do the same for quality retailers, he said."

NOTE: THE Oakland Tribune also endorsed Frank Mattarrese for City Council.