The people of Oakland need practical places to shop for our families and we need hip places to shop with our friends. Right now if you need department store items we have to head to Walnut Creek, San Francisco, Emeryville. If you want to have a fun shopping day Berkeley 4th street, Walnut Creek, San Francisco. Temescal is our only hip spot and it is small. Montclair is a MISSED Opportunity!! And all of our other sweet neighborhoods could be real quaint, distinct destination revenue zones.

We need to keep working families in Oakland and need to provide apartments and condos that are big enough for 4 people and maybe have outdoor balconies or common areas where kids can play. This is needed downtown as well as in the neighborhoods.

No matter what kind of civic improvement we have and how much money we spend, we will not change/impact the view of Oakland without addressing our homeless population. We need to triage them to appropriate housing, drug, alcohol and mental health facilities. I think there are many examples of doing this with proactive outreach not by the police but by people who work with and understand these issues. I am all for the police but they should be working on criminal activity and not those with mental illness. I am struck driving especially in downtown Oakland by the people camping under the freeways and on our streets. Of course there are some people gaming the system but I assure you that this is the great minority. This will do more to improve the City of Oakland than millions spent on new infrastructure.

Roads- Oakland's roads are worse than some places in Haiti. I was there last December and I was amazed on the development of its infrastructure.

Filth- Many places in Oakland are a dump, there is trash everywhere. It is embarrassing!

Schools- Unless your kids go to a charter school, private or a school in the hills, you will find that schools are horrible. How can we expect Oakland to change when we are not investing in our kids!

Taxes- Stop stealing money from its citizens, and put the money back into the city!!! Our property taxes have increased tremendously, and I don't see much of an improvement anywhere.

Crime- Hiring more cops and policing is not enough. You have to invest in its citizens!!