Julius Robinson

Economy
Robinson wants Oakland's contracting process opened up to more local and minority-owned firms, proposing supplier-diversity programs and a new Oakland Opportunity Fund aimed at business development, alongside simplified access to city contracts for smaller companies. He argues that residents care less about ideology than about results, saying "what I hear consistently from Oakland residents is less ideological" than commonly assumed, and pointing instead toward practical concerns like safety, cost of living, and accountable spending.

Security
On public safety, he backs staffing the police department to at least 700 sworn officers while preserving existing civilian roles, and wants violence-prevention work tracked against clear, structured metrics rather than run as an open-ended program. This echoes an earlier public comment of his, made during coverage of the campaign to recall former mayor Sheng Thao, that "there is a lack of infrastructure and leadership" behind Oakland's public-safety problems.

Infrastructure
Robinson's housing platform calls for streamlining the city's permitting timelines, pairing new affordable-housing requirements on development with stronger protections for existing tenants. He frames faster, more predictable permitting as a way to get more housing built without abandoning affordability goals.

Governance
He also proposes performance-based budgeting tied to measurable results for individual city departments, along with a 100-day fiscal-transparency plan meant to give residents an early, concrete look at how a Robinson administration would run city government. This emphasis on management discipline is consistent with his framing of himself as a pragmatic outsider rather than a career politician.