MOBN is a brand-new Oakland acronym making the rounds, which stands for Make Oakland Better Now.  It’s no mystery about what MOBN seeks to do, though:   identify the key issues Oakland mayoral candidates should address next year.

Oaklander Bruce Nye (in the left photo, above) came up with the idea, and organized a kick-off meeting last week.  He gathered some of his friends to wrangle opinionated meeting-goers.  There was surprisingly civil discourse, as the wranglers had no axes to grind and focused on gathering as many issues as possible.

At least 100+ people came to this evening meeting, held at St. Theresa’s Church in the hills.  There were bloggers, a couple city workers, a city council member, and concerned citizens who had read about the meeting online.  The first issue emerged instantly, namely to hold future gatherings a little closer to public transportation.

After we were told the rules, the crowd split into three groups covering public safety, public works and infrastructure, and accountability/budgeting.  In under two hours, the attendees had created a tsunami of important issues – and it was a very good beginning!

What’s kind of challenging?  Getting down to pointed issues that really could or should be addressed, or else we’ll be trying to solve world hunger.  On the other hand, if those great Bakesale Betty gingersnaps were distributed beyond this first meeting…hhmm.