Oakland Mayor's Race: Larry Lionel Young Interview

Larry Lionel Young, Jr. is running for Mayor of Oakland to "make change," and if he were elected, at 30, he would be the youngest Mayor in Oakland's history.

Young, who's worked as a real estate broker for five years, said that his reason for running is to give a positive message to black and brown people who are struggling and incarcerated in jail. He also points to the economic problems faced by Oaklanders "facing foreclosure" as another reason he elected to run for Mayor of Oakland.

Oakland Can't Police It's Way

Young says that Oakland can't "police its way" out of crime problems. The graduate of Westlake and of Claremont Middle School, Berkeley High School, and after Laney and Diablo Valley Colleges, Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, favors programs rather than jails to help Oakland's youth in particular. He wants to reallocate money from public safety to parks and recreation programs. "Currently 75 to 80 percent of our budget goes to public safety. That's a lot of pie."

Young also wants to improve the facades of Oakland's buildings, pointing to large parts of International Boulevard that have dilapidated structures that he wants upgraded. Part of the reallocated funds would be used for that purpose.

Oakland Police Salaries Too High

Larry Lionel Young feels the best way to reduce the money spent on public safety is via lowering Oakland police salaries - "From $72,000 to $49,000 is the best way for us to accomplish our vision," he says. Young thinks Oakland officers he's talk to agree with him - not all of them, but the majority of the officers Young has talked to.

On the matter of City of Oakland employees, Young wants to have Oakland workers live in Oakland, in fact he wants that as a requirement of maintaining employment.

No On Measure BB

LL Young, Jr. does not favor any of the tax-based proposals on the ballot, particularly Measure BB. In fact, the only ballot measure he favors is Measure L.

Racism in The Campaign?

Larry feels that some of the reason he's not well known is due to, in some cases, racism. "I tell you this. There's a lot more glamorizing for the news to portray a young black man being shot on BART than there is one who's running for Mayor." In that way, he's correct. If the media were not so lazy, not so much racist, Young's story would have been told over and over again in the newspapers and TV channels covering the race.

The Mayor's Office Under Larry Young

Larry says his Mayor's Office will be ran by a person who's a good listener and is "more hands on and involved." His agenda is for Oakland to be the best place to work, best place to live, and best place to visit.

Oakland Sports And Larry Young

On the matter of maintaining the A's in Oakland, Larry's not well-versed on how that can be done - I had to explain it. He feels its important to keep them here, but if they decide to leave, he feels Oakland has "plenty of options" to replace them. He doesn't favor spending public money on sports stadiums.

The Young Campaign

Larry Lionel Young says his campaign has been endorsed by "The People," and has not worked to raise money. He claims that he has no campaign expenses and that everything in terms of communication has been by word of mouth. Indeed, he has and does not see the need for, a website. I've got on him about this, but that's his way. What's head-scratching is that Young refers to YouTube videos, but does not see the need for a website.

With this, can Young even gain visibility and votes?  We shall see.