his is one election where a scorecard might help the
voters.
All three incumbents, plus 12 challengers, are in the race for
three East Palo Alto City Council seats Nov. 7.
One reason there may be so many candidates is that one of the incumbents,
R.B. Jones, is under a legal cloud after being arrested earlier
this year on bribery charges. Jones is scheduled to go to trial
in January.
With 12 challengers and three incumbents, the field breaks down
by gender to 12 men and three women, and by race to 11 African Americans,
three Latinos and one Caucasian.
Besides Jones, Vice Mayor Duane Bay and Councilwoman Patricia Foster
are the other incumbents in the race.
The other candidates include school board member Donna Rutherford,
sanitary district board member Samuel Rasheed, along with a former
sanitary district board member, A. Peter Evans. All three have won
elections previously in East Palo Alto. All three have lost elections,
too.
The other candidates are Robert Alexander, Jose Beltran, Edrick
Haggans, Irving Hemingway, Ayodale Ankoanda-King, Everardo Luna,
Victor Perez, Robert Reynolds and David Woods. If that's not enough
candidates, there is also an official write-in candidate, Montel
Yarbrough.
The three Latinos--Beltran, Luna and Perez--are running together
as a slate, although they have repeatedly stressed they want to
represent all East Palo Altans. They also believe Latinos should
be represented on the City Council.
In 1999, Latina Belinda Rosales, who has since been elected to
the sanitary district board, had been a candidate to replace Rose
Jacobs Gibson. Instead, the council appointed Foster. Had the council
appointed Rosales, there probably wouldn't be a Latino slate in
this election, Perez said.
Three of the African-American candidates have been endorsed by
a group of African-American community leaders. But the three--Evans,
Foster and King--are not running together as a slate.
In an election with so many candidates dividing up the vote, the
conventional wisdom--which says that the incumbents generally have
a significant advantage--may go out the window.
There is added uncertainty about how the voters will react to Jones
because of his arrest and pending trial. Jones is seeking his third
term on the council after serving on the Ravenswood City School
District board, so he's an experienced campaigner. He also recently
served three terms as mayor.
If there is an overall theme to the race it has to do with the
effects of the city's redevelopment projects. The Ravenswood 101
Retail Center and the University Circle project under construction
represent the new face of East Palo Alto, one speaking of jobs and
the beginning of prosperity for the city.
But it's a rising tide that hasn't floated all boats, as the saying
goes. Many families, especially Latinos, have been displaced by
the projects, while the general economic boom times of Silicon Valley
have also increased housing prices and rents. Lower-income families
and seniors on fixed incomes are most threatened by the economic
success, a process that is worrisome to city officials.
Some of the candidates are openly critical of the current council
for the way the redevelopment projects have been handled, but most
think that the growing prosperity has also been boon for the city.
Finally, there is concern about the Police Department and its leadership,
given a recent consultant evaluation of the department which resulted
in more than 70 recommendations for improvements. Opinion is divided
among the candidates about the ability of Chief Wes Bowling to make
the changes called for by the consultant, though many candidates
prefer a wait-and-see attitude.
