Vote yes on P
The recent meeting proposing the new revenue-generating measure was infuriating. The first two hours were a community forum, which is supposed to be 30 minutes, but the mayor allowed an extra 90 minutes to listen to vulgar abuse from the podium, the crowd and people over the zoom line — including screaming, foul language and personal attacks on a number of people, and the usual hate speech we have been forced to become used to.
Ms. Arriola rooted them on and even started arguing that her district was the biggest ghetto! No wonder people are afraid to show up to the meetings, which now require metal detectors and officers who should be on the streets, to guard those attending, when groups are allowed to organize spectacles inside our council chambers that violate the code of conduct posted in the agenda and on the wall.
When the ballot measure was finally discussed, I couldn't believe what I was hearing from Mayor McConnell and Ms. Arriola! I have watched them and their followers both incite and promote anti-police rhetoric for the past couple of years, even leading protests over where not to put a station, ignoring the employees forced to work in hazardous conditions. I have watched them recruiting ordinary citizens to go out and purchase bags of asphalt to pour into the craters we call potholes — Ms. Arriola even taking credit for circling them in orange paint while handing out cookies, and the mayor suggesting the city operate its own asphalt plant to provide the bags cheaper.
And when presented with the only solution to the problems they complain about? They trash it! They don't trust staff (they hired them) they don't trust future city councils to spend wisely (that's what they said before they were elected), so they will campaign against what they know is the only solution to the problem they and their supporters scream against. And I am sure those supporters will once again start the “You've been canceled” attacks against anyone that disagrees with them as they continue the status quo of no.
I will do what the other 5 city council members suggested: Invest in the Vallejo I love and vote yes on P!
— Lisa Logoteta, Vallejo