Although it seemed like some air was taken out of this forum after some miscommunication, the room was packed within a few minutes of the start of the Sierra Club sponsored green forum. 

So which kid in this class has the shiniest green bicycle? The Sierra Club intended to find out with  5 questions. With 9 of the candidates there (Marcy Hodge was not present), each had only 2 minutes to answer each question. With this format, this was less of a forum and more of an arena with each rattling off their main points without having to go into much detail about their plans. This is what the organizers were trying to avoid, but was also a format that was necessary for the sake of fair and open elections. 

The first question was about the biggest environmental challenges facing the city and gave the candidates a chance to make their larger points. Rebecca Kaplan started the evening's presentations, Fresh from the news of his lead in an early CBS5 poll, Perata spoke calmly and clearly. “The city needs to do it here first. Every [government] building needs to be solarized.” he said insisting that the city leads by example.

Dense housing and transit oriented development is quickly becoming a given in urban planning philosophy, and both Rebecca Kaplan seems to understand that more than the other candidates. A few weeks ago she held a talk about transportation in the city, which has become a key point in her campaign. At the forum she insisted that this sort of development will bring jobs, and pointed out, “Hiring policies need to be enforced if we want to make sure that those jobs go to Oakland citizens. People from all income levels can benefit from our actions.” Perata, questioned the entire premise of moving people closer to their jobs and instead said, “We need to rebuild neighborhoods and give people an opportunity to stay there.”

On every question Jean Quan seemed to have a firm grasp of what is facing the city and what she intended to do about it. After Kaplan explained her plan for a large truck rest stop which would prevent the truckers from idling and driving during rush our, Quan picked this up and said that while the rest stop is all well and good, there are bigger issues with the Port which causes air pollution in the area. 

As always, Terence Candell brought a lot of energy, and nearly all of it was positive and honest, if overacted. With the room completely hushed when he spoke, his suggestions had more substance than some have come to expect from his impassioned speeches in the past. He brought up an important point about the city not taking advantage of millions in energy grants that have been appropriated by the federal governments for either clean energy or energy efficiency.  It's not a surprise that his intensity and oratory skills led some to believe that he is a preacher, but he corrected the misconception by saying, “I'm not a preacher... I'm just eloquent”, with a laugh.  

Don Macleay, the Green Party candidate who was partially behind the movement to get all of the candidates represented in the forum, sported a wrinkled tee with a picture of a lounging Kermit the Frog with “It's not easy being green” written in large, green letters. After new candidate Larry Young pridefully pointed out that he biked to the forum this evening, Macleay countered by giving Young a intent look and stating, “I bike a lot actually.” This was Macleay's forum to own and while he made many important points, he didn't stand out with a particular depth of knowledge of the environmental issues. 

The last question concerned diminishing funds for Parks and Recreation and City Tree Services, and only gave the candidates 1 minute to answer, which gave them a chance to wrap up their points instead of clearly answering the question. Every opinion seemed middle of the way and while nobody said that they wouldn't support Parks and Rec, no one firmly defended the funding either. 

The Ella Baker Center, which originally was a host for this event, is organizing another inclusive green forum. It will be sponsored by the Oakland Climate Action Coalition and held on Wednesday, September 15, 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. in Nile Hall in Preservation Park, 1233 Preservation Park Way in Oakland. See you there!