ALAMEDA, CA — As the November elections approach, Patch has reached out to candidates to ask about their professional experience and why they're the best fit for the role.
Alamedans will see a new mayor take the helm following the elections.
Tony Daysog is one of three candidates vying for the top seat. Get to know him below:
What is your educational background?
What is your professional background?
I am a long-time urban planner, having worked in this field in non-profit, for-profit, and public sectors.
I work for a state agency operating in the nine-county Bay Area that protects and enhances the waters and shorelines of the San Francisco Bay.
The state agency issues new or amends existing permits for projects in the Bay waters or along the shoreline, and I monitor adherence to the terms of issued permits, paying special attention to protecting public access to the Bay and shoreline.
Have you ever held public office, whether appointive or elective?
What are the top three issues facing Alameda right now?
Priority 1: I will end the hiring freeze on police officers, so City Hall is responsive to our residents worried about rising crime and speeding on our streets.
We have the revenues to hire the number of officers we've always targeted – i.e. 88 positions – so this is not a budgeting issue.
There is no need to keep the Chief from filling the 88 positions. The "beach takeovers" and on-going traffic concerns demonstrate this freeze is ill-conceived.
Priority 2: I will lead the fight against bigotry aimed at Alamedans caught in the cross fire of the national culture wars: City Hall will remain a welcoming place for all -- Alameda's LGBTQ community, immigrants, and faith communities under pressure.
Priority 3: I will create a new "infrastructure and sea level rise commission".
The Commission will champion adequate budgeting of infrastructure -- especially to prevent deferred maintenances so out of control as to require a $300 million bond meant to "catch-up" on maintenance backlog.
What is one specific action you would prioritize during your first year as a council member?
I will end the hiring freeze of police officers, especially so that we have a fully staffed traffic unit of 5 to 6 officers.
Because of the hiring freeze put into place twice -- in 2025 and again in 2026 -- our current number of officers is over-stretched, having to work additional hours, and thus at risk of "wear and tear".
And, certain Police Department units that touches the lives of residents everyday are under staffed , such as having a fully staffed traffic unit to ensure that drivers drive through our neighborhood safely and within speed limits.
We have the revenues to fully staff the police force -- but my Council colleagues twice *opted* to have a less than fully staffed department in what can only be seen as a local version of "defund the police."
I will also establish a number of new commissions to allow residents of Alameda more access to the operations of City Hall.
Why do you feel you're a better candidate than your opponent?
If elected, I will be the first elected Mayor who grew up in the West End of Alameda, where I continue to live. While there have been a considerable number of elected Mayors from Harbor Bay, Fernside, and the Gold Coast, there has never been one from the deepest part of the West End -- I grew up in the 1970s and 1980s next-door to the then-operating military base.
Moreover, there has never been an Encinal High School grad elected to serve as Mayor -- though there has been a considerable number of AHS Hornets.
There has also never been of a person of Filipino and or Japanese descent, two communities with historic ties to our city.
In my twenty-two years of service on Alameda's City Council, I have always drawn on the fact that I am a West Ender, an Encinal High "Jet", and am Filipino and Japanese -- I bring the perspective of an "outsider" who has made, and who will make, City Hall responsive to all Alamedans, regardless of which neighborhood you are from.
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