Spencer not reelected to Alameda council; newcomers win two open seats
With all precincts on the Island reporting election results in Tuesday's tight city races, Alamedens have elected two first-time city council members and three to the Alameda Unified School District's Board of Governors.
The winners in the close race for the pair of council seats include two newcomers — top vote-getter Michele Pryor with 24.6% of the votes cast (5,914) and Greg Boller, who came in second with 23.8% (5,702 votes). Pryor is a Fremont school district special education teacher and union leader, and Boller is an Alameda County deputy district attorney. Council incumbent, former mayor and school board member Trish Herrera Spencer took third place with 22.6% (5,427 votes) and hence was not reelected.
Notably and less than three weeks before the election, video footage released by the Long Beach Police Department showed Spencer appearing heavily intoxicated Oct. 18 and refusing assistance from officers while attending a League of California Cities Conference. The Alameda City Council at its meeting this week was to consider reprimanding Spencer for violating the city's code of conduct while on a taxpayer-funded trip representing the city.
Other contenders for the seats who will not be joining the council include multimedia journalist Thushan Amarasirwardena, who won 17.8% of the vote (4,271) and electrical contractor and law-and-order candidate Steve Slauson, who checked in with 11.2% (2,685 votes). In total, 23,999 votes were cast for the two open city council seats.
The three seats on the Alameda school board went to incumbents Heather Little with 28.6% (8,576 votes); current AUSD board President Jennifer Williams, a San Francisco administrative law judge who won 28.3% (8,494 votes); and newcomer Meleah Hall, who has a Stanford University master's degree in information systems and technology and received 27.2% (8,152) of the vote.
"I enjoyed meeting residents of Alameda of all ages on front porches, sidewalks and at the farmer's market," said Hall who added that she is committed to collaborating with islanders on the important work of running the district. "Thank you for sharing your vision for AUSD with me."
Joyce Boyd, a certified public accountant who grew up in Detroit's public housing, received 15.8% of the school board vote (4745 votes). The AUSD board race drew considerably more interest than the city council race, attracting 29,967 voters.
Incumbent candidates for city auditor and treasurer, Kevin Kearney and Kevin Kennedy respectively, were reelected with no opposition.
Paul Kilduff is a San Francisco-based writer who also draws cartoons. He can be reached at .
