Q&A with Ahmad Anderson, candidate for mayor

On June 2, Richmond voters will cast ballots in a primary election. Richmond Confidential interviewed mayoral candidates either in person or by phone or video, unless noted. We are publishing their verbatim responses, with light editing for clarity or brevity.

Ahmad Anderson, mayoral challenger

Why do you want to be mayor? 

I’ve lived in the city of Richmond for 66 years. I’ve had the opportunity of watching this city grow for a half a century. What I have noticed is there is a need for leadership that is not one just of integrity, but accountability and people-centered focus. A need for leadership that has demonstrated, as I have, the ability to bring jobs to city of Richmond, where I was the workforce planning supervisor for UPS. … How I worked with Goodwill Industries of the Greater East Bay, where we brought folks into the fold who had been left out the system, folks who were coming back from being in the system, providing them with opportunity, jobs and so forth. Also, the opportunity to be a part of that economic development piece that goes with that, serving as the chair of the Economic Development Commission for two years, working through what it took to support small businesses, retain small businesses, and then work with the East Bay’s economic development agency to talk about: How does a city like Richmond —demographics, socio-economic, household levels — attract businesses. And then what type of workforce development do we need to do with our high schools and our community colleges, to be able to make sure folks could work in this city, be able to afford to live in this city, and then, if they so choose, have an opportunity to buy homes in this city. … Looking towards bringing housing to the community, not just not affordable, but reasonable housing, meeting people at those levels. I’ve had that experience as an administrator and in human resources to understand budgets, to understand safety, to understand what it means to work with different departments, and, more importantly, listening to the people in the community and where I work, and then developing policies that make sure it keeps people safe, make sure we have a fiduciary responsibility and watch people not just survive but thrive — not only in the work space, but in our community.

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Can you suggest ways in which the city can attract more industries so that it is not so economically reliant on Chevron?

Well, one of the big first steps is safety needs to be a foundation. Folks need to feel that they’re protected, respected and safe in their communities, as do businesses. Businesses want to be able to thrive in the community. The way they thrive is that they’re able to bring folks wherever you live in the city of Richmond, but even in the greater west county, to be able to come to your community park your car, be able to come back to your car, make sure that that car is still there and not vandalized. … Public safety is critical to economic development and workforce development. If you have that as a foundation, you’re able to attract businesses. … In addition to that, you’ve got to develop a workforce. One of the ways is businesses will attract business. For example, Open AI is coming to the city of Richmond. It has been stated that it will come to the city with 730 (plus or minus) jobs. But do we have a workforce that’s ready? Have we done the kind of development through our high schools, our community colleges, through our nonprofits, or even, as I’m recommending, developing an East Bay Workforce Center, a skill center that not only speaks to technology and developing those that live here, whether you’re in school or not in school, but also a skill set that provides the knowledge, skills and other characteristics in the building trades, so that when they come to our city, we’re ready to go? … Don’t worry, come to Richmond, we’ve been training our people. We’re ready. Be sure you have fair wages. … Those objectives will bring forth community benefits. Most involve the tax revenue that helps take care of the community — bread and butter issues, of potholes, of staffing, of police, of community service, of our parks and recreation department, those are the things that we need to ensure when we bring business here. But also we need to be ready to open the doors for them and support them, getting people to be able to live at home in the city of Richmond, getting the opportunity to apply for jobs in the city of Richmond, 15 minutes away from home, minimizes traffic, minimizes emissions — which is the number one pollutant in the area — and provides an opportunity where people can eat, work, live and play right where you live, and not gentrify them or keep them on the road away from home. But keeping them home where they can thrive in this community.

Name one dire need in Richmond that you think the Chevron settlement money should be used to address.

One of the concerns is hold the polluters responsible. One of the concerns is that the African American community has the highest rate of asthmatics in Contra Costa County. They attribute that to the pollution of the community that live next door to Chevron, from Parchester to the north to Point Richmond to the southwest. So there’s a variety of different demographics in that community that suffer from that. What I haven’t heard in that conversation is a need for a hospital and better health and welfare opportunities for the communities that have suffered. That’s one step, building a hospital in our Hilltop area that works as a regional hospital. … We need to reinvest that into our neighborhoods, those neighborhoods on the south side who have been challenged. Those neighborhoods that need investments. To talk about the blight in the community, to talk about housing in those communities, to talk about what we’re going to do with the unhoused in those communities, being able to get monies that we can place in a general fund or other avenues to be able to start housing. As you remove folks from a place, you need to provide a place for them. Aand working with the county would be a way to do that as well. My relationship with our state senator, Jesse Arreguín, who’s endorsed me, our assembly person, Buffy Wicks, gives me an opportunity inside as well, to be able to put together not just a tactical plan, but a strategic plan. I find that the money for Chevron has been tactical because we didn’t say if we get the money, here’s what we’ll do with the money, which would require the conversations throughout the district and the city to talk about what’s missing, what should be prioritized, and then put together a timeline based upon the needs of the community. But it’s hard to do that when you don’t have the necessary staffing to take care of what the situations are today. So, taking care of the community from a health and welfare, taking care of the neighborhoods impacted the most, our infrastructure, as well as capital projects, flooding in North Richmond, lights and landscapes in other areas. … Last but not least, let’s talk about really looking at staffing and what it takes to bring staffing into play to be able to address these needs. We talk about a balanced budget in the city of Richmond, but we also have to be really clear about what a balanced budget means if you balance your budget and not hire people. That sounds good, but it’s not effective or efficient to meet the needs of taking care of the services that the city requires. … The last thing would be the port, and electrifying the port, making sure that you’re not just running engines day in and day out. Working with the Maritime Academy as well, to hire folks in that way as well, diversify that industry.

By the end of the year, City Council again will have to decide whether to continue using Flock license-plate-reading cameras. Where do you stand on the issue?

I supported Flock 100%. I went and spoke to the City Council. … If you come to Richmond and commit a crime, we would be alerted with Flock, we will respond with Flock, we will investigate with Flock, and we will hold you accountable and make sure justice is served with Flock, no matter who you are. … And I want to make sure that if you are 70 plus years of age, you are just as well protected if you are 2 years of age. I we can track you through your license and your mobility through the city, we will make sure of that. As someone who’s been in charge of safety in places I’ve worked at as an HR administrator, I will make sure that the system is being held accountable by holding the people who operate the system and our city and who we sign a contract with moving forward with, accountable as well. … I found it quite interesting that the same folks that voted against Flock were the same folks who had to vote for Flock in the first place for it to be approved. They asked the questions after the fact, instead of asking before they implemented the program. … That’s another reason why I’m running for mayor. We lack that kind of institutional knowledge and experience to be aware of the questions you should ask beforehand and not after the fact. That’s critical to being in charge of voting on the needs of the city.

How would you bring more affordable housing to Richmond?

One, by working with safety. Developers want to make sure that safety is an issue. Folks want to make sure that they’re safe in their community. One is working with CEQA to making sure that not only business, but the environment and the community has input and will replace housing. There’s a move to put Marina housing. There’s concern about rising shoreline issues there. There’s concern about access to and fro through parking there. There are major concerns with that process, which we’ve not fully discussed. There are concerns with the permitting programs here for housing. In fact, the grand jury stated by 2035 we should have about 4,000 houses in the city of Richmond. It is now 2026; that’s nine years from now that we should be there. We only have 386 housing permits with no shovels in the ground, which is about 9 to 10% of the 4,000 you need to be proactive. … Work trends are changing. So as you’re working from home, you’re moving from transportation, you need to be able to expand. When you expand, it impacts the price of housing, and also the impact of where people rent or don’t rent. We need to be able to provide the housing so folks can work and eat and live at home, where you have small businesses that provide the resources, and then the staff that’s able to adjust to that accordingly. You shouldn’t move towards getting more housing if you don’t have the staff to support the needs of the city, you must do this in lockstep. It can’t be tactical. It needs to be a strategy, a workforce planning, a community planning, city planning, strategy overall.

What makes you the best candidate?

I think my years of service, of commitment to this city. … One thing I can tell you for sure is I’ve lived here long enough. I’ve committed myself to the growth and development of this city. I’ve never walked away from the city. I’ve run before, and every time I’ve run, people said, ‘Well, you lost.’ I lost — it related to the vote count, but I didn’t lose. It relates to coming back to learn from those experiences. I’ve expanded my opportunities from the economic development department, to Youth Services Bureau, to Child Care Council that deals with working families or youth service building around youth programs and prevention. I’ve been an educator working at UC Berkeley for over 13 years. I’ve been in the botanical work, having been with the gardens of Golden Gate Park. I understand the environment. I understand workforce development, from economic development and HR. I understand this community, not only because I’ve lived here for 66 years, but in addition to the work I’ve done, both my mother and father served as mayor and City Council. My father served during the Civil Rights Movement, when we talked about DEI, which we’re talking about today, and equity and access to justice and inclusion. My mother served here during the most violent times, where we had the number one murder capital in this city, and she moved towards getting community policing. I understand that. I get that. And now my knowledge, skills and abilities, and my commitment to the community and the work that I’ve done that’s proven and demonstrated will be not only a voice for me, but for the community. Our voices, our actions, collectively, they matter. I will be that voice. I will be that active participant. I will be your mayor in the city of Richmond, representing you as Richmond, as one.

(Top photo courtesy of the candidate)

Coming Wednesday: A Q&A with Demnlus Johnson
(Mayor Eduardo Martinez and Councilmember Claudia Jiménez did not schedule an interview with Richmond Confidential or answer emailed questions.)

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Q&A with Demnlus Johnson III, candidate for mayor

Q&A with Mark Wassberg, candidate for mayor