McMahon stands out

As a Bulldog at Vacaville High School and proud Vacavillian, I care very deeply about who makes decisions that affect our city. As we approach the Nov. 3 election, it’s easy to fixate on party-politics’ grandeur and polarization and the ongoing national election. That being said, we cannot lose sight of the policy makers who directly impact our community: Local government matters and that includes the Vacaville City Council.

I’ve taken some time to research the candidates running in the 1st District, and in doing so, I discovered a few things. I found several policies and plans worth discussing and was pleased that the entire slate of candidates represents a positive group of individuals passionate about making a difference in their communities. Yet, among the many candidates vying for this seat, one stood out among the rest: Vacaville’s Parks and Recreation Commissioner, Shawn McMahon.

After serving his country for 27 years in the United States Air Force, he was appointed to the Vacaville Parks and Recreation Commission. Since his appointment, he was unanimously elected commission chair by his colleagues on the commission and oversaw the successful expansion and improvement of our city parks system. Mr. McMahon is the definition of a public servant. As a city council member, Shawn McMahon will continue to advocate for our parks and open spaces because he knows that parks improve our community’s health and wellness.

Mr. McMahon’s breadth of parks related experience is far from the only reason residents of the 1st District should support him in this race. Something that also stood out to me was that he is the only candidate in the race with strong support from local labor unions and small businesses alike. McMahon will be a strong ally both to workers and to small businesses.

The Napa-Solano Labor Council, Teamsters Local 315, and the Napa-Solano Building Trades Council have all endorsed McMahon due to his commitment to support Vacaville’s working families. The Vacaville Chamber of Commerce, who represents a network of local businesses, has also expressed their support for him. Every working family and small business owner in District 1 should support Mr. McMahon’s city council bid.

Mr. McMahon wants to come to a compassionate and practical solution that deals with homelessness in our city. He has seen the excellent job our community resource unit does when dealing with homeless residents and supports continued homeless roundtable meetings. A signature aspect of his policy on dealing with the homeless is improving the city of Vacaville’s relationship with the Solano County Board of Supervisors. McMahon realizes that to deal with widespread homelessness, Vacaville needs to build a coalition of community leaders from every level of local government and faith-based and outreach organizations. A vote for McMahon is a vote to tackle the problem of homelessness in Vacaville in a transparent, intelligent manner.

I could take up pages and pages of column space listing why Mr. McMahon’s combination of experience and commonsense policy-proposals are right for Vacaville, but instead, I encourage all of you to take a look yourself. Go to ShawnMcMahon4Vacaville.com, and I’m sure you’ll be convinced as I was. In this election, you may have many options to choose for the city council, but clearly, there is only one choice: Shawn McMahon is the right person for District 1.

— Paul Hobbs/Vacaville