Two relative political newcomers are vying to oust longtime Oakland City Councilmember Noel Gallo in the Nov. 5 election.
Erin Armstrong, a policy advisor to Alameda County Supervisor Nate Miley, and Dominic Prado, a Fruitvale District restaurateur, are both hoping that enough of an anti-incumbent sentiment exists in East Oakland’s District 5 to see them to victory.
Prado, who attended the University of California, Santa Cruz, describes himself on social media as the “formerly incarcerated, somewhat educated” owner of Tacos El Ultimo Baile, now operating as a catering business.
He is running because he’s “witnessed firsthand how crimes, neglect, and lack of investment have adversely affected our community and made our streets unsafe for residents,” according to his campaign website.
One of his top priorities is improving public safety and traffic safety, topics on which he’s been interviewed several times by local Spanish and English language news outlets.
He said he has worked with other neighborhood business owners to bring security and more police and traffic patrols to the area and to secure a $250,000 city grant for holiday season public safety ambassadors.
Prado said the group helped implement a “speed cushion pilot program” along International Boulevard that physically separates Alameda-Contra Costa Transit bus only lanes from other traffic.
If elected, he said he’d leverage the Fruitvale’s designation as a Latino Cultural District to bring more resources to the area to address blight and “start a new era of beautification” in District 5.
Prado doesn’t list endorsements on his website and has raised the least amount of campaign contributions in the race, close to $8,000, according to the city’s online campaign finance records.
Armstrong, Gallo’s other challenger, moved to Oakland in 2011 and began volunteering for Miley in 2018, the same year she earned a dual master’s degree in business administration and public policy from Mills College, where she says she was one of the first openly transgender women to attend the school.
She worked her way up to senior policy advisor focused on things like early childhood education, illegal dumping, public safety, emergency preparedness and homelessness prevention, according to her campaign website.
Armstrong served for several years on the BART Police Citizen Review Board and, like her opponents, also lists public safety as one of her top priorities.
“We need an adequately staffed police force, but we must also invest in youth programs, employment and apprenticeship opportunities, expanding our MACRO teams, fully staffing our 911 dispatch system and so much more,” she says on her website.
She says Oakland’s traffic laws need to be fully enforced so that people don’t think they can race down streets and take over intersections without suffering legal consequences.
She supports expanding the city’s apprenticeship programs, requiring development projects to hire local workers and pay a living wage. She also says Oakland’s “permitting and licensing services are a disaster. We need city services that support local businesses and developers in moving their projects forward quickly and efficiently.”
Armstrong is endorsed by, among others, BART Board Director Lateefah Simon, who is running for a seat in the U.S. Congress, Miley, District 3 City Council candidate Warren Logan and several influential unions, including Teamsters Local 70, Oakland Firefighters Local 55 and SEIU Local 1021.
She has raised the second most contributions in the race, about $20,500.
Gallo, who has been in office since 2013 and before that was a 19-year member of the Oakland Unified School District board, has by far the most name recognition in the race and has also raised the most cash, with a campaign coffer of about $40,000.
The long-time Fruitvale resident emphasizes his council experience, which he says is particularly important as Oakland grapples with its ongoing budget problems and what he calls a public safety crisis.
“It is not time to train new individuals — it is time to deal with critical issues that our community has identified with experienced leaders willing to take bold action,” Gallo says on his campaign website.
He says his top priority is public safety and touts accomplishments such as helping establish the MACRO program and the Oakland Police Commission, bringing police substations to his district and advocating for better traffic enforcement and pushing for more motorcycle patrols and school crossing guards in the district.
He says he’ll continue to vote for additional funding for law enforcement and will advocate for “more enforcement and partnerships with other law enforcement agencies.”
Gallo, who is sometimes seen at City Council meetings in a yellow reflective safety vest, is often out in the district with his staff and volunteers working to clean up trash dumped illegally on streets and sidewalks and to report graffiti, prostitution and abandoned cars in the district.
“I will work with other city leaders to develop a higher standard of fiscal accountability to ensure that Oakland’s limited resources benefit all,” he says on his website. “We need to deal with the city of Oakland’s deficit now.”
His endorsements include all the other Oakland City Council members except Nikki Fortunato Bas, the Alameda County Democratic Party, the Sierra Club and several unions, including Building Construction Trades Council of Alameda County, Teamsters Joint Council District 7 and Sheet Metal Workers Local 104, among others.