A Commitment To Work With Common Ground
"Vallejo City Council Candidates commit to working with Common Ground on public safety and homelessness."
Beginning next year, the Vallejo City Council will look a little different. In a couple of weeks, we will be using our voices and ballots to elect 3 new members of the City Council. Those new Council Members will have their own priorities for Vallejo. But elections are not just about voting for the person with the best ideas. It is up to the community to tell them what we expect from them as representatives. Common Ground has a vision for our city and we want people to hear it.
Why do we care? We have concerns for the unhoused community, and concerns that the Police Department will continue policing themselves. We have been listening to the Vallejo community and they are scared, fearful, and losing hope that things will change. That is why on Wednesday October 12th, members of Common Ground, the Vallejo community, and City Council candidates gathered at St. Patricks-St. Vincent High School to begin a public relationship. All twelve candidates were invited and the candidates who accepted the invitation and attended were:
District 2: Cassandra James, Don Jordan, J.R. Matulac
District 4: Ruscal Cayangyang, Chris Platzer, Ravi Shankar
District 5: Tara Beasley-Stansburry, Melissa Bowman, Peter Bregenzer
They listened to our stories, our concerns, and our vision for Vallejo. When asked the following yes or no questions all the candidates gave a resounding “YES!”
-If you are elected to the city council, will you work with Common Ground to make police oversight effective, transparent, and independent?
-Will you meet with Common Ground and Vallejo Together to hear from those with lived experience and to learn and understand what is really happening on the ground?
-Will you work with Common Ground to leverage federal, state, and local funding and resources to give the unhoused community the safety net they deserve?
-If elected, will you meet with Common Ground within 2 months of taking office to discuss how we will move forward together on these issues?
This is a new beginning of Common Ground relationships with the City. By publicly affirming support, the candidates have taken a step toward building trust within our community. Whichever of the candidates are elected, we can hold them accountable to what they pledged at the event.
As members of Common Ground, we expect they will hold true to their public intention to make the Vallejo community safer and more secure and we will be there to work with them and hold them accountable.
We will be exercising our civic right to vote on 11/8, and we encourage the community to do so as well. Your vote matters!