Candidates discuss police, housing, inequality

League of Women Voters hosts mayoral forum

The League of Women Voters Solano County hosted an online Vallejo mayoral candidates forum on Saturday as each candidate had a chance to promote his or her goals as mayor.

Alice Fried, member of the LWV board in Vacaville, served as moderator and asked each candidate the same set of questions. Participants included Councilmembers Hakeem Brown and Robert McConnell as well as “transformative advocate” M. Avonelle Hanley-Mills and educator John B. Kenney. Candidate Cornisha Williams-Bailey was invited but said that she was

having difficulty with her computer connecting to Zoom. She will be posting her platform on the LWVSC website.

The discussion lasted for two hours and covered a lot of ground, but high on everyone’s list was the subject of economic development, housing, policing and inequality.

Fried first asked each candidate to identify the three biggest issues facing Vallejo, which was a snapshot of the goals each would have as mayor.

Hanley- Mills stressed peace and safety as being paramount, as well as building infrastructure and enhancing community enrichment. She emphasized a holistic approach and the importance of coming together as a community and “seeing the value” in each member.

“When we begin to value something, we begin to behave that way,” she said. “We need to have the attitude that people are valuable.”

Kenney outlined the need to rebuild after the effects of COVID on the community, the need to “reimagine” public safety, and the importance of beautifying Vallejo. He several times cited what he described as a bloated police and fire budget that accounts for fifty percent of the city’s costs. Investing in crime prevention, early intervention, and community empowerment are a better use of the funds, he said.

Kenney offered himself as an alternative to the “status quo” from the “toxic” city council and “toxic air” outside due to the fires and climate change. He described Vallejo as a “gem” that should be further beautified and capitalized upon through business growth and the need for more low-income and multi-family housing.

When McConnell was asked his three biggest concerns, he cited economic enhancement, police reform, and the need to restore trust in government.

He took credit for keeping the city out of bank

ruptcy for a second time and touted the creation of monetary reserves that have helped Vallejo.

McConnell also said that he helped with job growth, paved roads and increased the police force during his time on the council. He said he wants to be a mayor that recognizes the “benefit to all, not just a few select groups” and promised to always answer his phone personally.

Finally, Brown outlined his three main areas of focus — public safety, investing in our youth, and economic development.

He brought up his local roots and community involvement and how he regularly visits schools and meets with Police Chief Shawny Williams to discuss policing issues. He also decried what he calls a push to make Vallejo a “cafe community” instead of focusing on investments in our youth, as well as the need to create more living wage jobs.

Brown spoke of the “systemic racism” that has created the inequalities in Vallejo and that he says is perpetuated by current and past approaches to our problems by city government.

One subject that all candidates agreed on was the need to improve the Vallejo Police Department. For Hanley-Mills, the answer lies in restructuring and understanding that transformation has to happen “at the core…. Our city needs peacekeepers. We need to trust that they will teach peace and not violence.”

Kenney again brought up the funding of the police

and how it could be better used to invest in community ideas to prevent crime and tackle inequalities. He called racial inequality a “huge issue” and stated that investment in healthcare, our youth, and education will help with prevention, intervention, and empowerment and provide the police with the ability to focus on the “ten to twenty percent of calls” that are violence related.

McConnell said that there is “no question” that the VPD needs to be reformed and that its values are just “wrong.” “The failing of the head of the (police) union failing to recognize that sends a huge signal,” he said. He’d like to see the psychological assessment of prospective officers be “moved to the front of the process, not at the end” and he criticized the union for rejecting officers that he thought would be good additions to the force.

“I have called for police reform since 2011,” he said.

Lastly, Brown pointed fingers at a city council that he says never took the time to put quality officers into communities of color. Instead, he said, they installed a “cheap” officer or hired any officer that was “breathing” and willing to do the job.

He said that both officers and the city attorney need to be held accountable for bad policing and the record high shootings.

“Accountability, transparency, and bringing in quality officers” are key to fighting not only bad cops but systemic racism and economic inequality in Vallejo, he said.

The candidates went into greater depth on these issues and also answered a few other questions during the forum.

To watch and listen to the event in its entirety, go to my.lwv.org/california/solano- county and click on the YouTube channel link.