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Stick to the issues please. 

I write in response to the diversionary smear campaign attacks on Laura Menard (Daily Planet, Oct. 22-25). These hit pieces are used against anyone brave enough to oppose the oppressive city machine that serves only the politically connected, leaving the rest of us fighting over crumbs. Their typical vernacular of division is to use simplistic, reactionary labels to paint opponents with alleged transgressions since they can’t speak to the real issues. 

And what are those issues? Well in my opinion, it’s historic redlining, exploitation, and neglect of District 3 by the city’s power elite that has left our community devastated, overrun with crime, violence, and hopelessness. My commentary “Homebuyers‚ Assistance Program is Predatory” (Daily Planet, Feb. 10-12, 2004) explaining how the city pillaged hundreds of thousands of dollars from our neighborhoods through deceptive predatory lending scams in the name of affordable housing assistance is one such example of this dispossession. Those factors likely played more of a role in the exodus of Black home owning families than any so-called gentrification. Why only when Black people’s property values increase is it seen as a bad thing that must be stopped, while the rest of Berkeley is allowed to benefit? 

Spiraling taxes and fees are increasingly imposed to feed the insatiable hunger of a bloated, ineffective bureaucracy that treats us as second-class citizens. Our neighborhoods are filled with fixed income elderly, minority and lower income families that simply cannot afford to keep up with the city’s financial arms race who are being squeezed to the breaking point! The lack of investment in our community has deprived us of opportunity to build businesses. Our streets and sidewalks are deformed and covered with broken glass, so much so that they were cited as a major factor in the death of Fred Lupke. We pay in, but we don’t get back. Shamefully, our pitiful images are often used as window dressing to solicit support for regressive taxes that hurt us the most. 

These issues, and many others are what give Laura Menard strong support in her real grass roots campaign that has ignited like a wild fire. She is not beholden to city interests that have so devastated our neighborhoods. As the independent voice of our community, she supports families, education, safe neighborhoods, inclusiveness, affordable housing, and opportunity for all District 3 residents because she is one of us. We can finally have a seat at the table instead of begging for scraps as she will fight for our rightful piece of the pie. Laura is not a conservative, or a racist, and you can rest assured I will keep her (or who ever wins) true to our values. 

Downtown is clearly threatened by the momentum of Laura’s campaign greatly outspending her trying to install their own hand picked candidate. Why are they so interested in meddling in the affairs of District 3 after ignoring us for so long? Do they want to hear what citizens have to say, or do they want to keep us in our place? I do not seek to label Mr. Anderson, but it is legitimate to be suspicious of the fact that the power brokers that fostered these conditions are spending a small fortune trying to elect him. His position as a city insider raises questions about where his loyalties are. Will he stand with us against his city cohorts for the benefit of District 3, or sell us out for political expediency as others have done in the past? Will he demand and end to the political and financial redlining of our neighborhoods? Will he work to enact anti-predatory lending laws and end the city’s abusive practices in our district, or allow the city to continue denying us due process rights? Will he offer opportunity to our families and youth? Please don’t sell us short trying to manufacture conflict. 

Hopefully, it will based be on the issues that this election is won, or lost. I ask that the discussion return to the issues of District 3, which are too important to be brushed aside by petty personal attacks.