City Manager

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In Alameda, the City Manager is appointed by the City Council and is responsible for providing policy support and recommendations to the City Council. As chief executive officer, the City Manager provides the leadership and direction for the operation and management of all City departments.

John A. Russo is the City Manager.  As City Manager, he also serves as a Commissioner on the Public Utilities Board. Lisa Goldman is the Assistant City Manager, Alex Nguyen is the Deputy City Manager, and Jennifer Ott is the Chief Operating Officer - Alameda Point.

John Russo, native of Brooklyn, New York, was appointed City Manager for the City of Alameda, CA in June 2011. After a difficult six year period in which Alameda had six chief executives, Russo has quickly stabilized City Hall, assembled a dynamic management team, and established transparency, responsiveness, and accountability as core values for Alameda’s municipal government.

John's parents, a construction worker and a dress maker, arrived in the United States five months before he was born. John graduated from Xaverian High School in Brooklyn in 1977. He earned an undergraduate degree at Yale and a law degree at New York University.

Throughout his career as a public servant, John has fought for reform in local government, in the state legislature, and in the courts. During his terms as City Attorney of Oakland, CA (2000-2011), as a member of the Oakland City Council (1995-2000), and as President of the League of California Cities (2002-2003), he has led battles for the rights of consumers, for open, accountable government and for safer neighborhoods.

Some of those battles include: defending Oakland's anti-discrimination policy in court; defending victims of predatory lending; shutting down drug houses and problem liquor stores; prosecuting violent gangs in civil court; and leading successful statewide initiatives to protect local taxpayer revenues and to give Californians a constitutional right to open and transparent government.

John was first elected in 1994 to represent the Chinatown and Grand Lake neighborhoods on the Oakland City Council. He authored Oakland's Sunshine Ordinance to make City Hall more transparent to the public, and as chair of the finance committee he developed the first balanced budget in a generation along with specific quantitative performance measures to hold bureaucrats accountable.

He became Oakland’s first elected City Attorney in 2000. In 2002, John formed the Neighborhood Law Corps, a unit of young lawyers who work to improve Oakland block-by-block by shutting down drug houses, prostitution and other public nuisances. The program has prosecuted dozens of slumlords, problem liquor stores and other nuisances in the community, and has won local, state, and national awards for excellence. In 2004 John’s strong track record of innovation and powerful legislative advocacy won him the California Lawyer of the Year Award in the area of Public Policy from California Lawyer Magazine.

He has received numerous other honors including:
Distinguished Service to the Legal Profession from the Italian American Bar Association (2008)
Legal Service Award from Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom (2008)
Northern California Super Lawyer from Law and Politics Magazine (2005-2008)
Guy Rousaville, Jr. In-House Diversity Award from California Minority Counsel Program (2004)
Champion of Local Democracy from the League of California Cities (2004)
Beacon Award from the California First Amendment Coalition (2003)

The City Manager's Office can be reached by phone (510) 747-4700, fax (510) 865-1498 or by email. To send a comment or question online, please use the City's Alameda Access messaging system.

Community members are also welcome to address correspondence to:

John A. Russo, City Manager
City of Alameda
2263 Santa Clara Avenue
Room 320
Alameda, CA  94501