FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
August 26, 2006

Contact:
Jaime Hiraishi
Deputy Campaign Manager
Phone: (510) 704-1445
Email: jaime@jasonoverman.com

Overman Announces City Council Bid

Berkeley, CA (August 26, 2006) – Surrounded by his supporters on Saturday at the Redwood Gardens senior housing community, Rent Stabilization Board Commissioner Jason Overman formally declared his candidacy in this November’s District 8 City Council race.

Pointing to the incumbent’s failure to address critical concerns of senior citizens in his district, Overman said he wanted to announce his candidacy at Redwood Gardens because he wanted to fight for their concerns.

“One of my friends at Redwood Gardens was without heat in her apartment for an entire month,” Overman said. “She contacted another councilmember to help her get her heat back—because she was tired of getting the run-around from this councilmember, and that shouldn’t be happening.”

In his speech, Overman said that, unlike the incumbent, he would personally see to it that the concerns and needs of senior citizens were met. He cited the residents’ long struggle to try to get a bus shelter across the street, and said the incumbent has given them no response.

Among Overman’s early supporters are the AFL-CIO Central Labor Council, the John George Democratic Club, City Councilmembers Max Anderson, Kriss Worthington, and Dona Spring, School Board Director John Selawsky, and a wide array of neighborhood leaders such as former Panoramic Hill Neighborhood Association President Janice Thomas, Committee to Minimize Toxic Waste Co-Chair Gene Bernardi, and Redwood Gardens resident Charlie Betcher.

Worthington, Spring, Thomas and Betcher all made remarks at the event, as did Rent Board Commissioner Chris Kavanagh, Redwood Gardens resident Arlene Merryman, and UC Berkeley senior Anil Daryani.

Overman emphasized that his decision to run was, in part, at the urging of a diverse coalition of senior citizens, environmentalists, neighborhood leaders, tenants, labor advocates, homeowners, and students who overwhelmingly nominated him at a community meeting last month.

“I want to invite everyone back in who has felt left out, and listen to all those who feel their voices have been ignored,” he said.

District 8’s Council seat is currently held by Gordon Wozniak, who Overman says “is out of step” with the values of the community. Overman cited Wozniak’s votes to increase the tax burden on homeowners while cutting funding for the police and fire departments, including closing fire stations 286 days out of the year.

“Fire safety and public safety are among my top priorities” he said. “My first act in office will be to restore funding for the fire stations the incumbent closed and the 19 police and fire positions he cut.”

The incumbent has also come under fire for his vote in favor of last year’s settlement between the City and University of California administrators. Overman characterized the incumbent’s vote as “unapologetic support for a secret, backroom deal that shut out constituents from having a voice in how our community is developed.” He added that the settlement will also severely increase traffic in District 8, as well.

“This vote is clearly emblematic of the incumbent’s failure to include his constituents in decision-making,” Overman said. “I’m running because I believe our community deserves better, and I’ll bring leadership we need to unite our neighborhoods.”

In 2005, the incumbent cast two votes in which he was the lone opposition on the City Council: he was the only Council Member who voted against a resolution opposing Gov. Schwarzenegger’s special election last year, and he provided the lone opposition to support of a statewide Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander Affairs—both of which demonstrates “how out of touch the incumbent is,” Overman said.

“The vast majority of our district voted against Schwarzenegger’s wasteful special election, which many saw as a direct assault on California’s working families—and the incumbent was the only councilmember who did not oppose this attempted Republican power grab,” Overman said. “And with a large Asian American community, it strikes me as odd that the incumbent would oppose keeping a commission to address their concerns.”

Overman said that “the incumbent has a clear record of failing to hear and heed the concerns of his constituents,” and said he would bring everyone back to the table.

Traffic problems have also been a major concern to many neighborhood residents. Overman said his opponent has not taken even very basic steps that would help ease congestion in the district—steps that he said he’d take as soon as he was elected.

“I’m troubled by the incumbent’s inaction on our horrible traffic problems,” he said. “I have very practical first steps towards ameliorating the situation, including having the city conduct traffic counts and origin-destination studies on the Warring-Derby-Belrose corridor, reclaiming Ashby Avenue from control of the Caltrans bureaucracy, keeping new traffic out of our neighborhoods, fighting for mitigations to Caldecott expansion, and pressuring the university and other major employers to implement a traffic-reducing Ecopass for its employees.”

In his time as an elected Commissioner on the Rent Board, Overman has consistently voted against rent increases on tenants and voted in favor of funding affordable housing, including senior housing and the Oxford Plaza/David Brower Center—both of which Wozniak voted against when they came to City Council.

“The incumbent has supported 7 different ways to raise rents, he’s refused to put a dime into the affordable housing trust fund from the city general fund, and he’s opposed popular projects like the Brower Center, which was shepherded by the Mayor,” Overman said. “I’ve demonstrated strong support for affordable housing—without allowing inappropriate development that our residents don’t want.”

Overman also expressed concern for a growing tax burden on the homeowner population. “The incumbent has not only left tenants behind,” Overman said. “But he’s also voted to increase the tax burden on the homeowners in our district—and I truly believe we should be making it easier to afford living in our great community.”

Overman, a senior at UC Berkeley, said that students have also been ignored by the incumbent. “His proposals to raise rents, his cuts to public safety, and his abysmal record of student commission appointments show a clear disregard for the student voice,” Overman said. “So many constituencies have been shut out by this councilmember—I’d make sure no one is left behind.”

Overman emphasized that his campaign is about community unity.

“We don’t have to be just tenants or homeowners, students or neighbors, progressives or moderates,” he said. “We are one community, and I believe we deserve leadership that works hard on the issues that affect us all—because we deserve better.”

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