As the youngest candidate to run for city council in recent memory, Justin Harrison removed the training wheels for his first campaign, hoping his community involvement will steer him into City Hall. At 25 years old, Harrison is running alongside two incumbents and a school board member each vying to fill one of the council's two open seats.

To Harrison, experience is relative. He believes the numerous hours he's spent working with and within the community qualify him for the city council. He hopes voters feel the same way in November.

"There is a lot to be learned from attending city council and school board meetings, which I do. But honestly one of the biggest downfalls to public service is that public servants aren't out in the community," he said.

"My experience is drawn from being out there. My job is to represent the folks in the community. Knowing the community is the best experience I feel like you can have for that."

He's hosting his first campaign event, Carnival with Justin, on Saturday starting at 1 p.m. in Washington Park. There, community members can have an opportunity to meet Harrison.

The Alameda native grew up on the Island's West End and attended elementary, middle and high school in town. After graduating from New College of San Francisco by way of Feather River College, Harrison returned to Alameda and began working with the community's youth through non-profits like Alternatives in Action.

He toyed around with running for city council in 2006 but decided to hold off. He did, however, create a Web page to see if he had support from the community.

"I made a Facebook or something like that just to see who would be interested in supporting me and what are the possibilities here. I think from that point I got pretty involved much more so than I had been in the community and started to establish myself as a staple, somebody who really cares about what happens here," he said.

Among his concerns is the state of Alameda Power & Telecom, funding for police and firefighters and the municipal golf course, which the city is looking to privatize. One possible solution to the city's budget woes: convincing Alamedans to keep their dollars in town. Consumer spending in Alameda is very low, Harrison said.

"It shouldn't be that way. We have a great community here," he said. "We have great small businesses. Why aren't we effectively keeping out dollars in Alameda? We shouldn't have to choose between having a golf course open and having police on duty.