9/6/13 -- The Empress Theatre proudly presents 90 minutes of rib tickling comedy!!
No, wait...that's not it dammit. Ok...it's politics.
But seriously folks, here is the first Vallejo City Council Candidates Forum. This one, held at Vallejo's Empress Theatre and hosted by the Vallejo Chamber of Commerce last night was well run and provides a great introduction to the many candidates vying for a seat on the City Council in the upcoming November elections. If you live here, you know how important it is to see informed, independent, devoted and capable people get elected.
House sound was good thanks to Don Bassey running the board, and moderator Michael Coen managed to keep a big field of aspiring politicos on track and moving.
A very good intro and who's who in this year's Dog and Pony show.
This is all so very simple. Invert the ratio of homeowners to investor owned rentals. Homeowners are vested in place, care about what happens on their block and will use their own sweat equity to maintain their properties. Investors care only about making money and they mostly don't live here. The best return on investment is to defer maintenace and shift any real costs like the cost for police calls to the stupid local taxpayers so they will rent to anyone based on the amount of rent they get with Section 8 being the highest and best use. Vallejo has been farmed by wealthy investors and their toadies for years. What is happening now is government sponsored blockbusting (once declared illegal)designed to run the middle class out by making life here so miserable that good people just evacuate. Then the vultures can pick the carcass clean with no meddlesome homeowners trying to defend their tiny piece of heaven. The carpetbagger investors will make out like bandits (which they are) and the lackeys that serve them (attorneys, real estate and management firms)glean the scraps like scavangers. The City of Vallejo staff makes money too as HUD sends millions $ because Vallejo is so poor. The City has no incentive to make things better, they get their HUD pound of flesh. HUD loves it because other, more prosperous communities are not buying their product. The police love it because lots of desperately poor people result in a lot of crime that pumps up the fear factor that keeps their salaries bloated. So what happens? The middle class leaves, more poor people move in, poor people have no money to buy stuff but need a lot of services so the General Fund tanks more and more and more. The only outcome is, as I see it, that the City of Vallejo will go bankrupt again and the vultures will pick off our incredibly valuable water system. Ultimately Napa County (where all the global rich and powerful have moved to get away from social unrest) will decide they don't want Syria on their southern border and will take control from the GOBs in Solano County. Game over. Vallejo will come back as south American Canyon. The VPOA contracts will die with the City of Vallejo. That is the problem with giving a bunch of thugs in blue all the power. As they endorse theocrats for their own selfish ends, they are, in effect, attempting the overthrow of the United States Constitutional republic of secular laws. Rome died a similar death because of promises made to their legions. Humans do not seem to learn. The Enlightenment was such a good idea but it requires intellegence. Vallejo is short on that and we deserve the inevitable outcome. As some very important international visitors from the UN said a couple of years ago...."you can't save Vallejo". I believe them now.
Blue tick
|September.09.2013
I am amazed that most (if not all) candidates are very anxious to tell how much they have contributed in their life time to Vallejo, while we are in a mud pit (for the lack of a better term) up to our eye balls. Half of the country is aware that we have a lack of police problem, and the vandals are running rampant throughout the city and most of the leaders want to try a band aid on a hemorrhage that really requires a tourniquet. Not one word of how to stop the bleeding. Sure, jobs and education sounds good, but hasn't helped in the last 20 years. Check the expenditures (money spent) against the improvements, and tell me we're on the right track! How about a nice grocery store for down town or another news paper to give us all the news, and leave the politics out of the print, throwing their Times Herald opinions around tilts the playing field. That's how Vallejo stays in a rut, It would be a better city if everyone qualified would take the time to vote. There's more, but it's a waste of time. Let's just keep suffering, and plan on how to increase our tax base and the cost of expenses to live here. Shameful.
Please don't take my vote awa
|September.09.2013
These four candidates are simply Jon Riley puppets who have already promised Mr. Riley their support (votes) to overturn the will of the citizens who voted to remove binding arbitration from the city charter. Rozanna Verder Aliga, Anthony Summers, Pippin Dew and Mel Magapo promised Mr Jon Riley their support, and in doing so, will be totally diregarding a majority vote already cast. If you want to know and understand the who, how, and why they have made this promise to Mr. Riley, just confront each of the four candidates and ask them how and why they promised this vote to reinstate Binding Arbitration during a Central Labour Council endorsement meeting in which Mr.Jon Riley is the President!
@Sharon
|September.07.2013
Point well taken about the courage to run for office.
Still I think back to a recent Contra Costa Times editorial about well meaning candidates that could be better informed and prepared, e.g., Mapalo, Blackwell & Platzer.
There is also the issue of those not being entirely forthcoming about their views and records, e.g., Verder Aliga and the school bankruptcy, Summers' bigotry against gays, and Pippin's comments of being from the area, as long as the area means Walnut Creek.
Running for office DOES take courage, but it also should require integrity.
Sharon McGriff Payne
|September.07.2013
These men and women did something the vast majority of us won't do; they stepped forward and are running for office, and for that they deserve credit. Given the kind of criticism candidates are subjected to - especially in Vallejo - who can blame people for not wanting to run for office?
farce, postscript
|September.07.2013
I was harsh with some of my comments, and wrongly neglected to praise the overall effort.
I do think the forum was a great exercise, and very important. Still, some of the candidates are so out there that they are more suited for a farce than a campaign.
The GOB candidates include a bigoted preacher of an extremist church, and the school exec in charge of the 2nd biggest school bankruptcy in state history. Seriously?
Trailing candidates include a single issue guy, a no show, and someone loudly & incoherently off topic.
Great bones for a Saturday NIght Live skit!
Kudos to Marc
|September.07.2013
Once again, a great service to Vallejo in filming this event, and posting it promptly (complete with cue times!) Thank you Marc!!!
wharf rat
|September.07.2013
Thanks Marc for all the time and energy to bring this very important Forum to all
ironic that VIB is the only source for a
full video of the entire Forum . VIB remains the premium Community resource for accurate election coverage , in fact the only one in most respects .
**** VIB
|September.06.2013
Everyone did lousy acoording to VIB except the VIB candidates. **** that bull****!
BS
|September.06.2013
Love how Dew very carefully said she lived "in the area" for 25 years and is "raising her daughter" in Vallejo. Not outright lies, but intentionally misleading. Zero trust in this woman.
Farce
|September.06.2013
Marc is right, there were comedic moments, even though this is supposed to be serious.
Verder Aliga kicked off the comedy with her comments about 30 years of this and that, without mentioning the tiny teensy little detail of being Pres of the School Board when Vallejo entered the 2nd largest school bankruptcy in state history. Management skills, are you kidding?
Summers had his moment in answering the diversity question, saying something to the effect of everyone counts, even though his church says homosexuals are sinners. Would that be all straight people count? In Uganda, his church says homosexuality should get the death penalty.
Mapalo embarrassed himself, 1st by not being able to introduce himself, and then with his comments (w/o back up) about armed guards & casinos.
Liat had good answers, if you could hear them. Microphone!
Dew claimed she has been in the area 25 years, but as we know, Benicia (where her office is and kid goes to school), is not the same as Vallejo. Whatever.
Schively had good answers, but her voice was waver. She sounds ok at Council, not sure what happened.
Meissner was also somewhat microphone challenged, although she had great detail if you could hear it.
Blackwell was loud, and off topic, almost manic.
Patzer had one answer for all, a port.
Magalpo seemed lost, not sure how to defend himself.
Desperate hag groping again
|September.06.2013
It doesn't matter what you conjure up no matter how deep you dig. All the VIB hagdidates will lose. You are trapped in an exercise of futility.
Ouch
|September.06.2013
Verder-Aliga touts turning all of Vallejo into an Enterprise Zone. These 'zones' allow for businesses to obtain significant tax breaks for setting up their businesses in these depressed areas. Funny thing is, as of July of this year, (and this is from Sacramento Bee, Capital News) Governor Brown signed legislation overhauling an enterprise zone program of hiring tax credits that have provided employers in locally designated areas large tax breaks for years.
.... "The Democratic governor and labor unions criticized the existing enterprise zone program as wasteful and ineffective."
So, we have someone running for council looking to turn all of Vallejo into an "enterprise zone," and the program no longer exists because of LABOR UNIONS.... guess they are tired of businesses not paying full taxes into city coffers to add to the general fund so they can obtain higher salaries.
Twists and turns galore.
Ouch
|September.06.2013
Marc, thank you for uploading this forum on line. I could not make it to the Empress Thursday night but so much wanted to watch the Forum. This is GREAT!! And an invaluable service to all of us in Vallejo. Thank you.
The Coroner
|September.06.2013
16:22 & 480 -
Dead woman (Schivley) walking.
Ouch
|September.06.2013
I just found out that Pippen Dew... the "champion" for BUSINESS IN VALLEJO, has her real estate office on First Street, in BENICIA. How sad is that? She says she has leadership qualities and can help bring business to Vallejo? Yet, she does not want her business located in Vallejo? I do not know much about Dew and am open to listen to her. With this discovered fact, her credibility is forever tarnished.
She works for ReMax Gold, as a licensed realtor, 426 First Street, Benicia. Her website is: pippindew.com
Appears she is a coach for the Benicia Youth Soccer League (listed on her website). Since she has to reside in Vallejo to be eligible to run for council, I presume she has children in the Benicia schools that participate in the youth leagues. Not sure why else she would be coaching a soccer team in Benicia, rather than Vallejo.
I like the city of Benicia, but I'm not looking for my elected representative to so dislike Vallejo that she sets up her office Benicia and as a realtor, especially ReMax, she can office in Vallejo. Her job is not dependent on officing in Benicia.
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