Introduction : Tony Daysog, 40, grew up in the City of Alameda, in the working class section of town called the "West End," in a neighborhood right next to the now closed military base. He attends bible study classes at the same Catholic Church where he received his First Holy Communion in the mid 1970s. Daysog attended West End schools, having even served as Senior Class and School President of Encinal High School. His Filipino father is from the town of Ormuc in the Visayan Province, his Japanese mother is from a hamlet called Kawa-hira in the southern island of Kyushu. Daysog was born in Castle Memorial Naval Hospital in Hawaii in 1966.
City Council: Urged to run for office at the age of 28 by members from Alameda's Filipino-American community, Daysog became the first American of Filipino or Japanese descent to serve on Alameda's City Council, and he has served with honor and distinction since 1996 - for almost ten years. Twice he has been elected to serve as Vice Mayor (1998-2000 and 2002-2004). Among the many projects that Daysog implemented, the Councilmember is most proud of his work on behalf of children and youth. Daysog created the "Traffic Calming Guidelines", which provides a framework for improving traffic safety around local schools through signage and other measures. Daysog also resurrected the joint School Board - City Council committee meeting after years of dormancy. He also created a mechanism by which residents can donate funds via their electric bills to a technology program of the local school district. This mechanism was a simple matter of allowing rate payers to "round up" their electric bill payment, with the difference going to our local schools: this year, over $7,400 was collected via the "round up", also known as "Power Up for Learning." Daysog also created the "small capital improvements project (CIP)" after determining that the bulk of CIP dollars went primarily to large public works projects, not local parks whose ball fields and play equipment needed repair.
Social Justice: During his tenure on City Council, Daysog has been a tireless advocate on behalf of social justice causes. He passed legislation exempting from the real estate transfer tax domestic partnerships, many of which comprise of gay, lesbian and transgender couples. For more information on his work on behalf the LGBT community, click here. He has been recognized for his leadership on behalf of environmental causes, including his effort to reform a much-penalized incinerator in the Fruitvale District in Oakland. Click here. Daysog has fought for racial justice, particularly with respect to housing in Alameda.
Mass and Other Forms of Alternative Transit: Daysog worked successfully on a variety of mass transit matters as a City Councilman. Working with bus transit advocates, he got City Hall to re-stripe red curbs throughout Alameda to accommodate AC Transit's modern "low floor" buses. Daysog worked with arts enthusiasts in Alameda to get City Hall to accept and install elegant AC bus shelters free of annoying billboard advertisements. He again worked with transit activists in Alameda to get City Council to pass Alameda's "Transit First Resolution," which laid the policy groundwork that led to the designation of Park and Webster Streets as Alameda's "transit hubs." Today, these hubs have a number of raised platforms with elegant shelters that facilitate bus service. On Webster Street, Daysog made sure that redevelopment dollars were available to match the original grant from the regional transit agency known as MTC. In the formative stages of its existence, Councilmember Daysog gave advice and guidance to a fledgling organization called Bike Alameda,and soon thereafter he worked with this group in having Council adopt the Bike Master Plan.
In 2003, Daysog lobbied AC Transit officials in an attempt to save various bus routes that were at risk of elimination and or consolidation, as the District searched for ways to close budget gaps for 2003-2004 and 2004-2005. Daysog spoke at the special meeting at the Scottish Rites Building along Oakland's Lake Merritt. While Alameda lost the 35X, W2 and 49 routes, other lines were saved altogether or consolidated with other lines.
Professional Background: Councilmember Daysog is an urban planner by profession and education, a full-time Senior Associate for an economic development consulting company on numerous projects largely in the Central Valley region. He has been in the field of urban planning for almost seventeenyears. Daysog earned his Master's degree from UC Berkeley's Department of City and Regional Planning, having been recognized as the "hardest working student" by his peers. He also earned his Bachelor of Art's degree from UC Berkeley, majoring in American History.
What Daysog does for fun: Daysog enjoys reading political biographies, particularly the works of Robert Caro. He is an active member what is called the "Alameda County Democratic Central Committee." In addition, he is past President of the City of Alameda Democratic Club, and served on Metropolitan Greater Oakland Democrat Club's Executive Board. He enjoys offering his thoughts to local newspapers on a range of policy issues, such as (click on subjects): Military base conversion, California's state budget, Healthcare, HIV-AIDS, Poverty in the US, and Native American mega-casinos in the Bay Area. Back To Home
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