Mayoral hopefuls view Island's future differently

Oakland Tribune, Oct 20, 2006 by Kelly Rayburn

ALAMEDA -- Mayor Beverly Johnson believes residents here are highly satisfied with the direction in which the city is heading. City Councilman Doug deHaan believes they are increasingly concerned about it, as in worried.

The two face each other in a three-way Nov. 7 mayoral contest that also includes long-shot candidate Kenneth Kahn.

What all candidates can agree on is the importance of this election in shaping the Island's future.

Johnson likes her chances.

"People are overwhelmingly happy with what's going on in Alameda," she said.

DeHaan's take?

"If I felt very comfortable that we were going in the right direction, I wouldn't be running ... there are real concerns out there."

The city of roughly 76,000 is bracing for a number of development projects that could produce a boost in population, more traffic and, some fear, the loss of the Island's small-town feel.

There is an open question as to what will happen at Alameda Point -- the former U.S. Naval Air Station -- after a development group last month backed out of its plans to build housing and retail space there.

The city is also getting under way with its controversial renovation of the Alameda Theater, which is slated to include construction ofan adjoining seven-screen cineplex and a six-story parking structure.

And a proposed, 145,000-square-foot Target has already generated opposition as it wends through the city planning process.

With these projects pending, Johnson's campaign is built largely on what she calls the successes of the past four years -- a revived Park Street corridor, the city's first new school and park in 20 years, a consistently low crime rate, and completion of a new main library scheduled to open just days before the election.

The mayor has drawn criticism for her support of the theater project, which critics call a bad financial deal for the city that will become a downtown eyesore.

She said she gets questioned often about the Target, too.

"People ask me about the Target and I tell them the Target's not a done deal -- that it's going through the process," she said.

The 48-year-old attorney ran for City Council eight years ago, having served on the planning board four years before that. She won a four-way election for mayor in 2002, taking 47.96 percent of the vote.

When she ran for mayor the first time, she said responsible base conversion would be among her top priorities as mayor.

And so it will be again if she is re-elected.

In September, a consortium of developers -- Alameda Point Community Partners -- backed out of a tentative deal.

Johnson expressed regrets, but also said she believes the city now faces new opportunities. She said it would be ideal to find another developer who could meet the terms of the Navy -- which still owns the land and is asking $108.5 million for it. She has acknowledged that might be difficult.

She said voters don't often ask her about what she calls "a long, deliberate, slow process."

The base closed in 1997.

"I've kind of developed the attitude that when it happens, it happens," she said.

DeHaan was more critical than Johnson when the developers backed out. He said it was a "shame" that they could walk away from the table without a penalty.

And he continues to express doubt that the kind of project they had proposed can work for Alameda Point.

When the developers pulled out, they cited a softening housing market. DeHaan suggests that light industrial uses, as well as some commercial and residential uses, may be more appropriate for the former base.

DeHaan joined forces with City Council candidates Eugenie Thompson and Pat Bail early in the campaign to form the Action Alameda slate.

The slate aims to seize majority control of the five-person City Council and promises community-driven development and open government.

Now retired, deHaan, 65, worked at the former base 30 years, for a time as a department superintendent. He first ran for council in 2004, finishing second in an election that sent the top two finishers to City Hall.

He said as he goes door to door for his mayoral campaign, he hears a lot about the theater and Target. He voted against the theater and is critical of the Target as it is currently proposed.

"The issue that is out there right down the line is development," he said.

Kahn, meantime, is running a low-cost campaign that his own mother, Barbara, calls "quixotic."

The 41-year-old professional clown and substitute teacher has never run for elected office or sat on a public board. But he insists he's a serious candidate.

"To me this race comes down to change," he said. "We're facing change in this city ... I grew up in this city. I love this city. I think it's the greatest place in the world."

Kahn supports the theater renovation and said that while a Target may not be aesthetically pleasing, Alameda could lose out to other communities if it does not jump on the big-box retail bandwagon.