About 150 green Oaklanders filled the Oakland Museum theater Tuesday night to hear eight of this year's mayoral candidates state their positions on green jobs and climate action.

Questions were prepared and read by members of the Oakland Climate Action Coalition, or OCAC - a group of labor, business, social justice and environmental organizations who created the Energy and Climate Action Plan. The goals are to reduce air pollution, especially in neighborhoods around the Port of Oakland and the airport; improve public health; reduce water, energy and food costs in low income neighborhoods; provide accessible, affordable and safe public transportation; and create local green jobs. The forum was sponsored by the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights and the East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy.

The candidates were asked six questions and given two minutes to answer each one. Questions covered transportation and land use, energy, food and water, adapting to climate change, reducing pollution at the Port of Oakland and implementing local climate plans. The following is a little of what they had to say.

Arnold Fields

Fields said he would partner with OCAC to staff, fund and implement its goals. His plans include more bike lanes and a rail system, funded by the port, from Jack London Square, down Broadway and College Avenue with rails going east and west. He said existing infrastructure would be restored and kept affordable, not torn down, rebuilt and sold or leased at higher prices.

Fields said permit fees need to be lowered and the accompanying red tape eliminated so property owners can make green improvements more easily. He would use tax dollars to teach kids to grow food at schools and create incentives to bring what’s grown to Farmer's Markets. He would implement entrepreneurial programs for business owners to donate land and water for community gardens. He’d impose container fees at the port to give to truck drivers to retrofit their trucks. He’d seek financing from the port to buy green trucks. He said Oakland needs to be a green city that is pro business.

Greg Harland

Harland said Oakland is in an unprecedented financial crisis and needs a new mindset. Oakland’s in a perfect position to lead the way with new energy technology, but businesses have been turned away including solar panel and wind turbine companies. He said the city has done nothing to encourage new business.

He reminded the audience that business at the port is dying due to excessive fees and more business will be lost when the new class of ships begin sailing that are too big for the bay and won’t fit under the Golden Gate Bridge. He said one third of port workers have been laid off and there’s more to come.

He said Oakland needs to rethink what type of business the port can support.

Harland would make sure all residents could grow food and raise chickens and said he would find the technology and people to make Oakland a green city leader.

The audience agreed with murmurs and applause when Hartland stated the candidate with the biggest name recognition wasn’t there. He said we had a mayor who checked out early and now we had a candidate who has checked out. He said Oakland needed to change direction and as mayor he would execute that change.

Marcie Hodge

Hodge cited the Peralta College Community as an example of how Oakland can become a greener city and reduce energy consumption. She said she would push OCAC initiatives forward, bring in sustainable consultants and grab hold of opportunities such as solar panel businesses. She said the port needs a new vision that aligns with Oakland as a sustainable city.

Rebecca Kaplan

Kaplan said federal funds are on the way and she will ensure local transit improvements and make affordable housing accessible.

She said Oakland can gain energy purchasing power buying energy as a community, increase clean energy production by producing more biofuels and reduce our energy use by greening our homes.

She said she’s working on changing zoning to allow more urban agriculture, planning for long-term water resources and bringing in more grocery stores to east and west Oakland.

She wants to implement tiered energy rates, so those who use more, pay more.

Kaplan said the port system is outdated and needs scheduling to prevent trucks idling for hours waiting to pick up and drop off containers, bathrooms for the drivers and truck service centers in Oakland, instead of trucks congesting the freeways going to other cities to be serviced.

Don Macleay

Macleay said regulations and zoning must be made simpler so building owners can get the permits they need to install solar panels and use gray water for urban gardening.

He said Oakland needs to take a hard line with PG&E and should be regulating the utility companies, not asking them for permission to change.

He said we need to meet climate change head on and lead; bigger government is not going to help. Community green jobs need to be created.

Macleay said port truck owners shouldn’t be responsible for retrofitting their trucks; it’s the distribution companies’ responsibility. He suggested introducing electric trucks.

Jean Quan

Quan said housing should be built closer to public transportation and that a larger percentage of impact and developer fees need to go towards transportation improvements and making it affordable. She wants low income home owners to be able to use federal dollars to green retrofit their homes.

She’d ensure that local people are hired at new green companies as loans and grants are awarded. She said Oakland must stand up to PG&E and make them stop blocking green initiatives. She’d take public capital and invest in reusable fuels.

She’d change zoning for more “pop-up” farmers markets and utilize city resources, like parks, schools and libraries for gardens. She’d make sure corner stores carry fresh affordable food.

Quan said she’d employ a special unit to look at all city contracts and job training programs to make sure they’re viable.

She said all children need to be educated about climate change and the urban forestation plan must be acted on now.

Joe Tuman

Tuman said he’s skeptical of Oakland’s current regulatory powers. He’s interested in using the Oakland Army base to help with truck traffic from the port and reduce downtown traffic.

He said before urban agriculture can sprout everywhere, soil must be inspected very carefully for contaminates.

Tuman said union issues and fear of crime are some of the reasons there are no grocery stores in east and west Oakland.

He said we have to protect the water supply and accept the reality of Oakland’s limited financial resources. He’d update sewer systems, build seawalls to protect the estuaries and implement desalination plants.

Tuman said there are currently 13 port operators with 13 different leases. He said it’s the government’s job to recall all the leases simultaneously, rewrite them, and make the term operators responsible for green retrofitting the trucks, not the drivers. He said drivers need to be hired by the companies.

Larry Lionel Young Jr.

Young said as mayor he’d implement generating and selling energy produced in Oakland. He’d make sure low income people received grants or zero interest rates to green their homes and ensure that Oakland colleges were teaching green job skills.

He said he’d find a port commissioner who would accept responsibility as the city’s biggest polluter and help Oakland move in the right direction. He said the companies were responsible for retrofitting the trucks, not the drivers.

To learn more about each candidate, click on their name above. To learn more about the Oakland Climate Action Coalition, click here.