Councilman for Social Justice

By Tony Daysog

Long-time AC Transit Bus Rider: Daysog rides the bus regularly, taking the bus to BART during the work week. He has depended on AC Transit since his youth during the 1980s, when he would take the bus from his West End home to attend youth orchestra in Berkeley. Even in the 1970s, he took the bus regularly to his music lessons in Central Alameda. This early acquaintanceship with AC Transit played a major part in his decision to continue to depend on mass transit.

City Council: Urged to run for office at the age of 28 by members from Alameda's Filipino-American community, Daysog became the first American of Filipino or Japanese descent to serve on Alameda's City Council, and he has served with honor and distinction since 1996 - for almost ten years. Twice he has been elected to serve as Vice Mayor (1998-2000 and 2002-2004). Among the many projects that Daysog implemented, the Councilmember is most proud of his work on behalf of children and youth. Daysog created the "Traffic Calming Guidelines", which provides a framework for improving traffic safety around local schools through signage and other measures. Daysog also resurrected the joint School Board - City Council committee meeting after years of dormancy. He also created a mechanism by which residents can donate funds via their electric bills to a technology program of the local school district. This mechanism was a simple matter of allowing rate payers to "round up" their electric bill payment, with the difference going to our local schools: this year, over $7,400 was collected via the "round up", also known as "Power Up for Learning." Daysog also created the "small capital improvements project (CIP)" after determining that the bulk of CIP dollars went primarily to large public works projects, not local parks whose ball fields and play equipment needed repair.

Social Justice: During his tenure on City Council, Daysog has been a tireless advocate on behalf of social justice causes. He passed legislation exempting from the real estate transfer tax domestic partnerships, many of which comprise of gay, lesbian and transgender couples. He has been recognized for his leadership on behalf of environmental causes, including his effort to reform a much-penalized incinerator in the Fruitvale District in Oakland. Daysog has fought for racial justice, particularly with respect to housing in Alameda.

Mass and Other Forms of Alternative Transit: The following are Daysog's City Council successes in the area of mass and alternative forms of transit:

Daysog worked successfully on a
variety of mass transit matters
as a City Councilman. Working
with bus transit advocates, he got
City Hall to re-stripe red curbs
throughout Alameda to accommodate
AC Transit's modern "low floor"
buses.

Daysog worked with a group called
Alamedans for Responsible AC Transit
Bus Shelters to get City Hall to
accept and install elegant AC bus
shelters free of annoying
billboard advertisements.

He again worked with transit activists
in Alameda to get City Council
to pass Alameda's "Transit First
Resolution," which laid the policy
groundwork that led to the
designation of Park and Webster
Streets as Alameda's "transit hubs."
Today, these hubs have a number
of raised platforms with elegant
shelters that facilitate bus service.

On Webster Street, Daysog made
sure that redevelopment dollars
were available to match the
original grant from the regional
transit agency known as MTC.

In the formative stages of its
existence, Councilmember Daysog
gave advice and guidance to a
fledgling organization called
Bike Alameda,and soon thereafter
he worked with this group in
having Council adopt the Bike
Master Plan. He also worked with
this group to make sure that bike
paths were included in the "Cross
Airport Road" project, now called
the Ron Cowan Parkway.

In 2003, Daysog lobbied AC
Transit officials in an attempt
to save various bus routes that
were at risk of elimination and
or consolidation, as the District
searched for ways to close budget
gaps for 2003-2004 and 2004-2005.
Daysog spoke at the special
meeting at the Scottish Rites
Building along Oakland's Lake
Merritt. While Alameda lost
the 35X, W2 and 49 routes,
other lines were saved altogether
or consolidated with other lines.

Professional Background: Councilmember Daysog is an urban planner by profession and education, a full-time Senior Associate for an economic development consulting company on numerous projects largely in the Central Valley region. He has been in the field of urban planning for almost seventeenyears. Daysog earned his Master's degree from UC Berkeley's Department of City and Regional Planning, having been recognized as the "hardest working student" by his peers. He also earned his Bachelor of Art's degree from UC Berkeley, majoring in American History.

For more information on Daysog, go to http://www.daysog.info