Mayor addresses key topics in State of the City
Sampayan wants to find a way to house about 600 homeless
Vallejo Mayor Bob Sampayan delivered his second state of city address before 300 business leaders, local elected officials and community members.
Sampayan touted the city’s 3.8 percent unemployment rate — a 25-year low — the nearly 3,000 jobs created in the city since Jan. 2017, and the mayor took time to announce that 130 high-end housing/condo units are being proposed for construction above the second planned parking garage in downtown Vallejo.
The proposed site, located at Georgia and Santa Clara streets, is the former home of the main U.S. Post Office in town, which is currently a parking lot.
Later in the event, Vallejo City Manager Greg Nyhoff called the proposed project a “momentum builder.”
“Having people live in our downtown is critically important to its success,” he added.
Nyhoff said that when people invest in the downtown, that encourages more people to invest — increasing the area overall.
Sampayan also unveiled that there are plans in the works to connect SMART Commuter Train services to downtown
Vallejo.
However, Sampayan admitted that the city is still facing challenges, including finding a way to house over 600 homeless, addressing trash and blight in Vallejo, finding activities for the city’s youth, and improving the city’s image.
Last November, City Hall announced that Sutter Health, NorthBay Healthcare, and Kaiser Permanente pledged $6.2 million to fund the construction and operation of a naviga
tion center in South Vallejo, which will house about 125 people at one time and about 500 people per year.
Sampayan further said the city is in conversation with the Nimitz Group about the future of the Mare Island Sports Center — expected to close on April 30 due to issues with the building’s structure.
Both Sampayan and Nyhoff fielded several prearranged questions from members of the Vallejo Chamber of Commerce after the mayor’s speech.
“It isn’t just about the police department preventing crime — it’s about everyone becoming involved in crime prevention.”
— Vallejo Mayor Bob Sampayan
The first inquiry centered on what the city is doing to stop crime in the city.
“It isn’t just about the police department preventing crime — it’s about everyone becoming involved in crime prevention,” Sampayan said.
The retired Vallejo police sergeant urged the business owners in attendance to “keep dialing (911) until you get a police response.”
The mayor further said he’d like to see business watch and neighborhood watch programs be restarted in town.
Nyhoff said newly hired Police Chief Shawny Williams is looking at the entire police organization and how to provide a better response to calls.
Nyhoff explained that officers respond to priority one calls that require immediate attention.
“They are not patrolling our streets,” Nyhoff said of the city’s officers. He noted an early plan to hire nonsworn community service officers to handle certain police calls.
Nyhoff said that there are “not enough resources in the police department,” and that the council may look toward a possible tax measure as a source of additional revenue.
The annual state of the city event is held as a fundraiser for the Vallejo Chamber of Commerce.