I believe our future is about making more of the best of this island.
Let’s lift Alameda up – together
How we'll get there
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Hello Alameda!
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Are you like me? Do you love telling people you live in Alameda?

Our island has great schools, rich history, charming downtowns and parks, delicious beer, and stellar people. Sounds magical, doesn’t it? That’s exactly why we are so lucky to live here.

My name is Thushan Amarasiriwardena and I’m running for Alameda City Council to deliver thoughtful progress. I’m investing in this town so my two young daughters can benefit from a thriving community that shapes them positively.

As a progressive, I champion a liberalism that builds. I believe the best version of our future isn’t built by holding back, but through making more of the best of this island. Change is a constant in a city like ours. Let’s lean into it—build on our strengths, fix what we need to improve, excitedly imagine what Alameda should be, and take action to make it all happen.
Like you, I believe we deserve a city that can work with you to address fundamental issues affecting our Island
Housing & cost of living


Ensuring that you and other Alamedans can stay in Alameda–by delivering on the city’s existing housing plan and supporting meaningful renter protections
Vibrant businesses & jobs
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Enhancing our flourishing commercial districts to attract people and jobs—fostering an exciting sense of place and spur our economy
Safe neighborhoods & streets

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Fully staffed public safety departments and speed limit enforcement. Slower street design to live, walk, bike, and drive on
Quality of life & fun
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Making our city a place where you can live and play—with great parks, libraries, downtown street festivals, and craft spirits industry—delivering more joy to your life
In my time on the Island, I’ve served on the Alameda Free Library Board driving the future Tool Library project, this year’s Measure E campaign committee to fund our schools and teachers, Love Elementary’s School Site Committee, as a writer and former board member of the Alameda Post, and walked Every Street of Alameda with my daughters.

As a software product manager in government, I listen to what users need, dive into the numbers, craft a vision, and then do the hard work of building something people want—a mentality perfect for City Council work.

We have strong plans—Housing Element, Economic Development Strategic Plan, Climate Action and Resiliency Plan, Vision Zero and Active Transportation Plan—and must see them through. I learned in industry that delivering plans is a hard and long journey. Our city needs thoughtful prioritization and championing to wrangle these plans to completion. I will be a proactive force to make them bloom and succeed.

And I want to do this with you. Are you curious, pragmatic, and data-informed? Do you care about outcomes, and want to see neighborly friendliness in city politics? Then we’re excited about the same things.

Let’s lift Alameda up – together!
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‍Your neighbor,

- Thushan Amarasiriwardena
It’s pronounced “Two-shan Ah-mara-siri-war-den-ah.” You don’t have to spell it to vote for me–just look for the long name!
Endorsements
I’m proud to be endorsed by leaders I share goals & values with. As a federal employee I’m prohibited from partisan endorsements (I'm progressive). *Titles used for identification purposes only.
Marilyn Ezzy Ashcraft
Mayor*, Alameda
Tracy Jensen
Council Member*, Alameda
Jennifer Williams
AUSD School Board President*
Ryan LaLonde
AUSD School Board Trustee*
Heather Little
AUSD School Board Trustee*
Lena Tam
Alameda County Supervisor*
Phong La
Alameda County Assessor*
Megan Amarasiriwardena
Love Elementary School Garden Teacher*
Ron Mooney
‍Former Downtown Alameda Business Association President, and former AUSD School Board President*
Barbara Mooney
‍Owner, Daisy's Mercantile
Adam Elsesser
CEO of Penumbra, one of Alameda's largest publicly traded companies*
Doug Biggs
Executive Director, Alameda Point Collaborative*
Vicki Sedlack
‍Executive Director, Alameda Education Foundation*
Randy Rentschler
Former Director, Metropolitan Transit Commission*
Keith McCoy
Chair, Alameda Point Collaborative
Gretchen Hoff Varner
Former president, PTA Council of Alameda, Chair, Yes On E Campaign*
Jennifer Cianciulli
‍Business Owner*
Debi Ryan
‍Sustainability Advocate
Maurice Ramirez
Alameda Photographer
Xiomara Cisneros
President, Alameda Planning Board*
Katie Honegger
President for Alameda-wide parent organization *
Kate Quick
Advocate for informed electorate*
Rachel Campos de Ivanov Alameda Arts Advocate*
Serena Chen
Alameda Open Government Commissioner*
Bill Schaff
‍Former AUSD School Board Trustee*
David Forbes
‍‍Former AUSD School Board Trustee*
Vadim Sidelnikov
‍Vice Chair, Housing Authority of the City of Alameda*
Sara Strickler
Board member, Alameda Free Library Board*
‍Cyndy Johnsen
Sustainable Transportation Advocate
Maria Piper
Sustainable Transportation Advocate
Denyse Trepanier
‍Sustainable Transportation Advocate
Misha Chellam
‍Founder, Abundance Network
Anita Battle
Board member, Alameda Free Library Board*
Sarah Lewis
Former President, Alameda Social Service and Human Relations Board*
Kristan LaVietes
Parliamentarian for Alameda-wide parent organization*
Doyle Saylor
Affordable Housing Advocate
Karl Anderson
Regional Transportation Planner
Tim McQuillan
President, Love Elementary Parent Organization Leader*
Aileen Haxo
Andrew Pratt
Andrea Dunlap
Andree Brazeau
Ali Darrow
Ariel Sklar
Brittany Bauch
Brett Webb
Bill and Lois Sonneman
Charlie Hale
Christina Lam
Christa Cusimano
Devon Treece
David Link
David Osborne
Daniel Eisenstein
Drew Breunig
Drew Williams
Geoff House
Jacob Clingerman
Jacob Engelskirger
James Gorton
Jason Purdy
Jayaram Natarajan
Jennifer Heflin Wit
Jeremy Schmitz
Joe Vachon
John Weaver
Juliana Eckard
Juliana Eckard
Katie de Vries
Kate Rome
Kate Stirr
Laura Gamble
Leann Sebastian
Lise Needham
Lisa Knittel
Liz Westbrook
Michael Cordell
Natalie Link
Robin Oliva-Kraft
Ryan Clausnitzer
Sarah Coombs
Sarah Grausz
Steve Perez
Seraj Ehsan
Teresa Miller
Viet Truong
Yuri Yakubov
The Plans
The things you want are things a lot of us want to make this Island better. City Council works on a gamut of issues, here's how I think we should tackle them:
HOUSING
More ways to stay in the place you love
  • Increase our housing supply, including affordable options to purchase for middle incomes. We The People have a housing shortage and haven't built enough to meet demand across local / state / national levels.
  • Deliver our Housing Plan already approved by City Council to enable 5,353 new residences by 2031 (we’re behind). Proactively attract more housing in areas with public transit / commercial cores, The Point, and infill empty lots
  • Support renters—more than half of Alamedans—and their housing stability by backing Rent Control and investing in our city’s impactful Rent Program. 44% of renters pay more than 30% of their income on housing in Alameda. Renter stability is a key factor in preventing homelessness
  • Champion beautiful new projects that weave into our town’s historic charm like Mulberry St. in Central Alameda, winner of an award from the Alameda Preservation Society
  • Status quo isn't going to succeed–we need to explore creative paths that work elsewhere. Concepts like Social Housing build economically diverse neighborhoods, while kickstarting a flywheel to fund more affordable housing.
DOWNTOWNS
More vibrant commercial districts
  • Light up vacant storefronts with viable small-businesses by collaborating and supporting downtown business associations
  • Fast tracked leasing, permitting and planning process, with clear and transparent paths for businesses to not just survive, but thrive
  • Promote street festivals, keep our parklets, and build vibrant public spaces, creating places for Alamedans to gather and enjoy Island-life
  • Bloom pocket neighborhoods, small 1-2 block stretches with commercial spaces already exist across Alameda, with neighborhood grocers, coffee shops and amenities
  • Keep Spirit’s Alley a world class district for craft beer, wine and spirits, attracting visitors outside our shores
JOBS
‍More jobs on the Island
  • Promote on-Island job creation by attracting more green / life-science / clean-energy / marine / tech companies to The Point, Harbor Bay, and science parks to build jobs across the economic spectrum–a critical element to Alameda's Economic Development Strategic Plan
  • Fast track leasing and sales of property at The Point and fund critical infrastructure investments–attracting top job-creating companies and generate revenue for the city
  • Work with business chambers and associations, to fund spreading the word that Alameda is Open for Business
  • Champion an educated workforce–through our own College of Alameda and companies with on-the-job trainings and apprenticeships
  • Collaborate with unions on their goals for fair wages, benefits, working conditions and workforce training–which helps us all–while aligned in the city's goals and budgets
PUBLIC SAFETY
An even safer Alameda
  • Fully staffed police and fire departments with the tools and technologies they need, while safeguarding our privacy
  • Speed limit and parking enforcement to encourage everyone to slow down in town, drive safely, and follow our parking guidelines
  • Empower and fund our City Attorney's office to prosecute crimes / consumer protections in Alameda and enforce justice in line with our community's values and goals
  • Encourage more walking beats and other community policing programs to build positive connections, transparency, and accountability that we want to see in modern public safety
  • Invest in public safety infrastructure needed for our growing West End and The Point
  • Support our CARE program helping in mental-health situations and an alternative to policing
  • Enable our public safety staff to live in the community they serve
TRANSPORTATION
More ways to get around safely
  • Design streets with traffic calming road engineering (roundabouts, road diets, slow streets...) making them safer by default, and champion our Vision Zero goals to eliminate road deaths and injuries in Alameda. Equally champion our Active Transportation Plan towards enabling mode shifts.
  • Enforce our speed limits consistently to encourage everyone to slow down when in town. Staff parking enforcement in our downtown cores, enabling smooth, safe flow in pedestrian and bike lanes in these busy corridors
  • Expand biking in Alameda. Weave a flourishing connected network of bike lanes–enabling additional ways to get around for those that want to. Explore bringing back a bike share to Alameda. Encourage e-bike adoption with continuing AMP rebates.
  • Deliver Safe Routes to Schools for our children, encouraging more families to walk and ride to schools
  • Support more options for frequent and reliable travel around and off the island
  • Advance the long-term goals of a BART in West Alameda, and bike/walk crossing options for Alameda-Oakland Estuary (Woodstock is a great start)
SUSTAINABILITY
More towards our green future
  • Cut green house emissions in the city to 50% of 2005 levels by 2030 (we’re behind, at 29%) and champion our Climate Action and Resiliency Plan
  • Strengthen our critical infrastructure for seawalls and stormwater, particularly in acute areas like Bay Farm and the West End where issues already arise–by supporting a city infrastructure bond. It is cheaper to invest today, than punt it to our children
  • Enable switching more of our homes and vehicles to our clean and cheap municipal electricity–the clearest path to hitting our climate goals, through our rebate programs. 70% of our emissions are in transit.
  • Attract green- and clean-tech companies to setup shop here and drive the forefront of climate science and solutions
QUALITY OF LIFE
More beauty, fun, and connection
  • Measure how happy Alamedans are—and lean into more of what we’re succeeding on and fix the things that could make meaningful improvement for them
  • Build natural and unique playgrounds that spark creative play for kids and parents to play together
  • Build a library branch at The Point with a Tool Library
  • Promote beautification projects like gateway arches at the start of our business districts and build a sense of place
  • Increase our urban forest and underground power lines to make our neighborhoods even more beautiful
SCHOOLS
Strong collaboration with AUSD
  • Keep strong bonds between the Alameda Unified School District and the City, including supporting shared services–with overlaps on pools, parks, sports fields, after school care programs and more
  • Ensure children have Safe Routes to School, encouraging biking and walking to our neighborhood schools
COMMUNITY
More of your involvement
  • Shorter City Council meetings that fit the schedules of working families, organized around topics, and enable more citizens to attend and express their input
  • Use more surveys and asynchronous ways to increase citizen participation and hear more voices
  • Push for elections in town that are
    - High in voter participation
    - Diverse in high quality candidates (race / ethnicity / economic / ages / backgrounds / work experience)
    - Inclusive of the wide range of views
    - Representative of the majority
    - Positive in tone, while clear on the differences in viewpoints
    - Low in cost, enabling more people to run and temper the effects of money in politics
    Why I'm Running
    Alameda is perfect. Alameda has issues. Alameda could be better. 

    All three can be true.

    I fell in love with Alameda on my first visit during the Fourth of July parade in 2013. Running that route I saw a community that truly enjoyed each other. I've never missed a parade since.

    I’m choosing to place roots here for my daughters. Their future and quality of life depends on the magic of this town.

    My children have seen too many of their friend’s families leave this Island because of the cost of housing.  When these families leave, we lose vital members of our community.

    Growing up with caring, ambitious parents, the schools and friends that shaped me, the chance of meeting the girl-literally-next-door now my wife, or the kind souls that bent my career—I see my life as a reflection equally of my hard work and fortune well beyond my control.

    Strong communities are the constant.

    I aim to keep Alameda a force of opportunity for its citizens—a place where we are all lifted up.
    How I'm running this campaign
    Me in a nutshell
    Maybe I was destined to be an Islander. I was born on another island—Sri Lanka. My parents moved to America for a better future, and I share their dreams for my kids. We moved to Alameda to raise our children in a diverse, small town with great schools and people.

    I live in Central Alameda with my wife, Meg, and our daughters, Naraeliya and Anjali (6 and 4), who attend Love Elementary. We love exploring the Island, and met countless Alamedans along the way, teaching me we made the right choice to move here.

    As a kid, I loved "This Old House." Finding our 1893 Charles Shaner Queen Anne was a dream come true. Living in a historic home teaches you that you’re just a caretaker for the next family—just like being a City Councilor.
    My Career Arc
    • Resume at linkedin.com/in/thushan
    • Studied Computer Science at NC State University
    • Started my career at The Boston Globe, learning to ask tough questions and tell stories
    • Volunteered in Cambodia, Laos, and Kenya with the non-profit Digital Divide Data
    • Co-founded Launchpad Toys, building critically-acclaimed education apps for kids, that went on to win an Emmy
    • Joined Google after they acquired my company. Led a large multi-national team towards early AI initiatives with Large Language Models
    • Currently work in government at a national level, advancing beneficial use of AI and digital technologies
    In Alameda
    • Alameda Free Library President, currently driving the Tool Library Project. Appointed by the Mayor
    • Measure E campaign committee member to fund Alameda schools and teachers this spring
    • Love Elementary School Site Committee—we oversee Title 1 funds and the school's performance on academic goals
    • Alameda Post contributing writer and former board member
    • Walked Every Street of Alameda with my daughters
    I’m a neighbor of yours who deeply loves this place and is excited to make it even better, not only for my kids, but for you and yours.

    Thanks for getting this far.
    I'd be honored to earn your vote.

    No candidate is perfect—we’re humans. But I hope you see me as a friendly, idea-filled get-things-done person, supported by great leaders and Alamedans across the Island. I’m committed to keeping an open mind, ear, and heart, and I’m genuinely curious to find shared ways we can all Lift Alameda Up—together.