This year’s California primary lands on Tuesday, March 3,
2020. What this means is that ballots have begun to arrive to registered voter’s
homes already. It also means you can go
to the Voter Registrars’ Office and vote.
Why the big push to vote? Unfortunately,
Latinos typically doesn’t turn out to vote in big numbers, which affects our
ability to get public policies that benefit our community. Only you can fix this! Don’t let the many sacrifices our historical
leaders went through go to waste by not voting.
Latinos are the most populous group in the state at nearly
40 percent of the population. In the
Sacramento region, we are nearly 30 percent, or close to one out of three
residents. Our children make up the
majority of students in the school districts, making voting for school trustees
especially important. What we have done
is reviewed public information on candidates and public referendums to assess
those we believe would be in the Latino community’s best interest. Here are our recommendations. Not all local races or referendums are
included.
City Council Races: Districts 2, 4, 6, and 8
District 2 has four candidates running for City
Council and they include: incumbent Alan
Wayne Warren, who has been in this seat since 2012; newcomer Sean Loloee, who
is owner of the Viva Markets; Ramona Landeros, who is currently a Trustee for
Twin Rivers School District; and, Lamar Jefferson, a small business owner. Of the four candidates, only Warren has the inside
experience in city government, and is a life-long resident of North Sacramento. Since being elected, Warren has learned how
to maneuver city hall to make District 2 issues a priority, which has resulted
in major street and walkway safety, increase in jobs, and more investment for
housing developments. A friend of the Latino community, which is now
almost 40 percent of the population, Warren has overseen the most improvement
in North Sacramento in nearly 50 years.
The other three candidates are nowhere near ready to lead North
Sacramento. VOTE FOR ALLEN WARREN, SACRAMENTO CITY COUNCIL.
District 4 has the fastest growing economy, comprised
of midtown and downtown. There are two
candidates running for the Council seat, incumbent Steve Hansen and Katie
Valenzuela. Hansen has been doing an
incredible job of bringing investors for housing development, pushing RT to cut
fares and promoting less use of cars.
Valenzuela is criticizing the construction of the Golden 1 Center and
the new professional soccer stadium and is taking a novice’s approach at city
government. VOTE FOR STEVE HANSEN, SACRAMENTO CITY COUNCIL.
District 6 is going through a major transformation
behind the energy of incumbent City Council Member Eric Guerra, who is being
challenged by newcomers Kevin Rooney, a plumbing contractor, and Waverly
Hampton III, a college student. Guerra
has kept a humble yet straight forward approach in improving business districts
and develop housing. Moreover, he has
made strong alliances among fellow city council members, an essential
ingredient to get good public policy passed.
His opponents should sit back and take notes. VOTE
FOR ERIC GUERRA, SACRAMENTO CITY COUNCIL.
District 8 is the most interesting of the city
council races. Larry Carr a long time public servant and friend of the Latino
community, is not seeking reelection creating an opportunity rarely seen in
City Council races. The candidates are: Mai Vang, a college scholarship director and
teacher at Sacramento State University and University of California, Davis; Les
Simmons, a Pastor and known leader from South Sacramento; Ronald Bell, a
retired Pastor; Daphne Harris, a real estate broker, and, Santiago Morales, a
program analyst. Of the candidates, only
Vang brings elected office experience having been a Trustee in the Sacramento Unified
School District. This alone makes her
the strongest candidate, but she also brings more diversity to a male dominated
City Council. VOTE FOR MAI VANG, SACRAMENTO CITY COUNCIL.
Mayor, City of
Sacramento
Sacramento has three individuals running for mayor. They
include incumbent Mayor Darrell Steinberg; challenger Mac Arteaga; and newcomer
Jrmar Jefferson. Darrell Steinberg was elected mayor in 2016 and has done a
number of really good things to improve living in the city of Sacramento. More
recently his push to develop the Rail Yards will not only bring business to
the area, but much needed jobs and housing.
Steinberg has also taken a strong leadership role in addressing the
growing homeless crisis. The other two
candidates have absolutely no relevant experience. VOTE FOR DARRELL STEINBERG, MAYOR, CITY OF SACRAMENTO.
Trustee For Twin
Rivers School Board
Twin Rivers School District is geographically the largest
school district in the Sacramento region, and based on news clippings and
attending School Board meetings, it is extremely disjointed. Those Trustees representing suburban and
rural Areas rarely support the needs of the schools in the Sacramento city
limits. And, the Trustees representing
the Areas within the Sacramento city limits are weak or disconnected with the
schools and school children they represent.
Area 3 - This year, Area 3 will have a new Trustee,
Christine Jefferson, who is running unopposed.
Her activities and commitment to especially Grant High School, which has
a 52% Latino student body, will be a breath of fresh air over the outgoing
trustee, whose troubled legacy included not living in the Area.
Area 7 - There are currently three candidates running
to represent Area 7, they include incumbent Linda Fowler; Planner and
consultant Daniel Savala; and community activist Sasha White Vogt. Linda Fowler was initially elected in 1971 and
she doesn’t appear to know or understand that the neighborhoods she has been
representing have changed. In addition,
she has been under investigation for numerous questionable activities including
paying herself for helping launch a private school. More recently, Fowler was not vocal about the
school closures nor the parents concerns in this Area, which will still face
some challenging proposals being considered by the Board of Trustees. What Area 7 needs is a fresh new Trustee who
sees the needs of the children and understands the demographic and economic changes
that have occurred since 1971. Daniel Savala and Sasha White Vogt bring those
perspectives as well as advocacy experience on behalf of the disenfranchised. Of these two, Savala brings the additional
experience of creating alliances, a much-needed tool to bridge the District’s
division between city versus rural and suburban. VOTE FOR
DANIEL SAVALA, TRUSTEE TWIN RIVERS SCHOOL BOARD.
Measure E
Measure E is one of those essential Bond issues that
are critical for the economic development of our region. Without proper
classrooms or learning environments for students to grow, the Sacramento region
will be unable to produce the workforce that is essential to attract big
businesses or stimulate entrepreneurship. The best thing about Measure E is
that it will not increase property taxes, a concern expressed by many homeowners
and renters early on and by tax groups. As a result we recommend: VOTE
YES ON MEASURE E.
Measure G
Measure G is an interesting idea but very ill
conceived. To believe that taxpayers would rather have their money spent on
raising someone else’s child versus protecting their home or their neighborhood
leads me to believe that the framers of Measure G gave no thought to ask
taxpayers if this even made sense. Nonprofits are established by individuals
who have a vision of improving things in the different aspects of our busy
lives. The state and federal laws allow nonprofits to exist by giving them
rights to raise nontaxable money through contributions, activities, or events. This
Measure takes taxpayer monies to accomplish the mission of those nonprofits,
which essentially equates to raising a child.
Taxpayers already flip the bill for schools, workforce development,
youth employment, gang prevention, parks and recreation, libraries, etc., but
this Measure implies City government is failing in these areas, therefore nonprofits
should be paid to duplicate these functions.
Moreover, in addition to the City funding existing programs, a total of
2.5% of the City’s budget will be committed to fund these nonprofits. Why not have the nonprofits petition to work with the existing City programs and add value to them versus functioning independently? Measure G appears more like a money grab than
a legitimate effort to address the City’s future. VOTE
NO ON MEASURE G.
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