The election is three weeks away and Berkeleyside is getting lots of op-ed submissions. We just published three op-eds on the mayor’s race, which join others we have published in recent days.
The recap:
Jonathan Jaffee talks about how he finds mayoral candidate Laurie Capitelli more knowledgeable than Jesse Arreguín.
Nicky Gonzalez Yuen said that Capitelli is not a true progressive and holds out as an example the times Capitelli reneged on his promise to vote for a $15 minimum wage.
Eric Panzer argues that Berkeleyans aren’t facing a choice of who is the most or least “progressive” but who has the temperament, the relationships, and the leadership to successfully govern. He supports Capitelli.
Former Mayor Shirley Dean says she is known as a “middle-of-the-roader,” so her support for Jesse Arreguin surprises a lot of people. But she considers Nov. 8 a “fork in the road when we decide whether to continue constructing faceless buildings up and out until there is no community left, or grow in a way that values and preserves diverse, pleasant and safe neighborhoods.”
Keith Johnson, a professor of Linguistics at UC Berkeley, thinks the current city council is “right-wing,” because it is supported – and influenced – by big business.
Alan Tobey raises the history of the two recent Measure “Rs” and how they are still relevant for this year’s local races. “They illustrate how open civic process encourages good outcomes, while antidemocratic civic process seeds unproductive division. Comparing the two gives us a yardstick by which to evaluate two current candidates who took the darker path: mayoral candidate Jesse Arreguín and District 5 candidate Sophie Hahn.”
Berkeleyside welcomes submissions of op-ed articles. We ask that we are given first refusal to publish. Topics should be Berkeley-related, local authors are preferred, and we don’t publish anonymous pieces. Email submissions as Word documents or embedded in the email to editors@berkeleyside.com. The recommended length is 500-800 words. Please include your name and a one-line bio that includes full, relevant disclosures. Berkeleyside will publish op-ed pieces at its discretion.