A third candidate, Kenneth Kahn, is a professional clown running a bare-bones campaign and advocating what he describes the middle ground between Johnson and deHaan. Kahn said he is asked all the time why the citizens of Alameda should entrust a clown with their government.

“I work with kids. I’m trusted with something far more important every day,” Kahn said. “I hope it makes a statement about democracy. I hope an underdog can put up a serious challenge and I think the underdog represents the people.”

Kahn is expecting to spend around $1,000, most of it coming out of his own pocket. “This whole campaign has been financed by animal balloons,” said Kahn. “It’s a serious candidacy, and I’m planning on becoming the next mayor of Alameda.” DeHaan and Johnson are raising about $30,000 each.

Alameda candidates for mayor include Alameda Councilmember Doug deHaan, Kenneth "Kenny the Clown" Kahn, and Alameda Mayor Beverly Johnson.

The job of Alameda mayor is part-time and pays only $450 a month, with a car allowance and stipend. Alameda, separated physically and culturally by water from its surroundings, has maintained a “Mayberry-esque” identity. With 74,400 residents, it is a diverse city ⎯ urban, like much of the surrounding Bay Area, while at the same time many Alamedans try to preserve a small-town feel created by the absence of malls and big-box stores.

DeHaan “seems to be representing the residents of Alameda that moved here to raise a family,” said Dave Kirwin, 47, a Berkeley Unified School District trades worker, who is raising two boys in Alameda.

Kirwin says Alameda is different from the rest of the Bay Area. “All of the high density we see in the rest of the Bay Area is not what we want here,” Kirwin said. “There is a lot of crime in the surrounding communities. It’s not because of poor people, but I think it is because of density.”

DeHaan, a retired chief operations officer at the Alameda Naval Air Station is leading a slate of candidates under the banner of “Action Alameda.” Running for the two citywide council seats with deHaan are Pat Bail, a Republican, and Eugenie Thomson, an Independent, though all citywide offices are non-partisan. Both Johnson and deHaan are Democrats.

DeHaan says he isn’t completely opposed to development, and understands it comes with time. But he says he wants to slow it down to make sure each plan is vetted through the public, and spending doesn’t get out of hand.

When deHaan was elected to the City Council two years ago, Johnson was in the middle of her four-year term. DeHaan said that during Johnson’s first campaign for Mayor in 2002, he remained neutral in the race.

But since his election to the City Council, he says, he has seen some dealings on the council he does not like.

A main focus of deHaan’s campaign is the historic Alameda Theater. “The theater project was $16 million,” deHaan said recently at a candidates’ forum hosted by the Alameda Architecture Preservation Society. “It has grown to $22.9 million at the end of last year, to over $30 million now.”

The proposed theater project calls for restoring the original building and adding a multi-screen cineplex and a parking lot. DeHaan would like to see the theater restored, he said, but not beyond its original grandeur.

DeHaan says he is disappointed that the project was brought to the council in different pieces and kept growing bigger and bigger. There was little input from the public, he said, and many of the decisions were made behind closed doors.
Both Johnson and Kahn support the theater. Kahn said it will give Alameda families somewhere to go instead of having to leave the island for entertainment.

Action Alameda is also campaigning against the proposed Target store to be located on the south side of the island, near the beach. The location means shoppers from off and on the island would have to drive through Alameda in order to patronize Target.

“Yes, I’d like to have a Target, but does the traffic outweigh the convenience?” deHaan asked. “If it was positioned on our northern shore and closer to the I-880 corridor, it would be a better fit.”

Johnson, an attorney with two school-aged children, has her own law practice in Alameda. She said she sees the development of the theater and Target as accomplishments, and said she is proud of her work to revitalize areas of Alameda that were once unused.

“We create a climate to take our blighted properties and create something useful,” Johnson said. She said she hopes to continue her work and create senior housing and develop the former Navy base.

“[Johnson] knows how to be a good mayor,” said John Spanger, 54, a writer. “I know her to be a person of integrity. I don’t always agree with her, though.”

Johnson is a native Alamedan. Her family has lived in Alameda for generations. She says she understands and respects Alameda’s history and culture. “I don’t like the fact it says Alameda Point when you enter former Naval Air Station,” Johnson said. “I wish it still said Alameda Naval Air Station.”