I wear many hats - part of the week I work as an architect, designing affordable housing, transit infrastructure, and homes and small businesses throughout the Bay Area. The other part I run my own design & art business, and have worked with many local organizations to create illustrations, games, and reports on housing, transportation, and environmental policy.

I currently serve on Berkeley's Planning and Landmarks commissions, and have previously served on the city's Zero Waste Commission. I have also been active in the Democratic party, representing the East Bay and Asian Pacific Islander communities, and previously led the East Bay Young Democrats.  I have many years of experience working with transit advocates and state and local elected officials on improving road design and transportation infrastructure to be safer and more efficient, as well as updating transportation and city planning to meet our 21st-century needs. 

I ride the bus. I don't own a car. Ever since moving to Berkeley in 2002 to attend UC Berkeley, I've been riding AC Transit and other mass transit, including both local and Transbay lines.   I have lived in Berkeley and Fremont, and used the bus in both.

Politics is like a bus.  We all come from different places and are headed in different directions, but for the part of the journey that we're going ithe same way, we get there faster together. 

I take a collaborative approach, and have worked with elected and community leaders at both the local and state level, bringing together different sides to work on the issues where they have common ground.  I am also commited to progressive policy, including raising the minimum wage, the right to abortion, expanding the use of renewable energy, single payer healthcare, and more. I do not take any corporate money in my campaigns.

Joel Young is a Partner with the Tidrick Law Firm.  He focuses his practice on employment law, mass torts, and complex class and collective actions that advance the public interest. Before joining the firm, Mr. Young was associated with Gunderson Dettmer LLP and Reed Smith LLP.  

In light of his recognized leadership in the field of employment law, Mr. Young was selected to speak at the American Bar Association’s 15th Annual Section of Labor and Employment Law Conference. Mr. Young has represented employees in a broad range of claims, including wage and hour, discrimination, wrongful termination, sexual harassment, and racial harassment cases.
 

Mr. Young received his bachelors and law degrees from the University of California, Berkeley. As an undergraduate, Mr. Young was a member of the Dean’s Honors List and a four-year letterman in football. 

Moreover, since becoming an AC Transit Board Member, Mr. Young has: (1) helped raise over $1 million for our hydrogen fuel cell bus program; (2) voted to allocate over $200 million of AC Transit’s contracting dollars to local businesses to support good paying local jobs; (3) secured over $600 million to support local bus service for AC Transit; (4) advocated for providing affordable, reliable, and more bus service; (5) supported a Climate Action plan for the agency; (6) pushed the agency to begin the development of a path to have a 100% clean bus fleet; and (7) spearheaded the Freedom Bus Project, which aimed to provide public transit, arts education, and the history of the civil rights movement.