[Read Jason’s announcement speech]

[Read Jason’s ballot statement]

Born and raised in Washington, DC, I saw everything that's wrong with politics. But I was also inspired by great leaders like the late Sen. Paul Wellstone—true public servants.

I decided to dedicate my life to improving the lives of others. And in 2004, I was elected to citywide office here in Berkeley. For the past two years, I’ve worked to make it more affordable to live in our great community.

This July, I helped organize a community meeting in District 8—and I heard an overwhelming desire for change, for a new approach that invites people into the process rather than shutting them out with politics of secrecy and backroom dealing.

And I was honored to be overwhelmingly selected by a diverse coalition of senior citizens, environmentalists, neighborhood leaders, tenants, students and homeowners to carry that torch—I’m fortunate to have such broad-based support for our campaign to unite our community.

We aren’t neighbors or students, moderates or progressives, homeowners or tenants—we’re one community in need of leadership that works hard on the issues that affect us all.

Under our neighborhood's current leadership, we’ve been shut out by secrecy and our voices have been ignored.

And I believe we can make our community a better, stronger, and safer place to live.

We must be stronger on public safety and disaster preparedness, not support massive cuts to police and fire. We must be stronger in our resolve to clean up our traffic mess, not ignore the problem. We must be stronger in our efforts to make living in our community more affordable, not propose ways to make it less. And we’ve got to be stronger in our quest to reduce the tremendous tax burden on everyday families, not increase it.

Our campaign is about positive ideas. It’s about a vision that shares our values, it’s about a community that can be re-united, and it’s about diversity that can be celebrated.

The incumbent is out of step on all the issues that affect our lives every day, and I’ll bring the leadership and the vision that will represent us all.