Richmond Progressive Alliance candidates snub Chamber forum, allege bias

During a Richmond City Council election forum hosted last week by the Richmond Chamber of Commerce the candidates who attended all were critical of the city’s current elected leaders to varying degrees.

Taking his usual combative tone, District 1 candidate Mark Wassberg called current city council members “a bunch of anarchists” who “want to turn Richmond into a welfare city.”

District 6 candidate Shawn Dunning, who works in conflict resolution, was more diplomatic.

“We have one of the most diverse and fascinating cities in the entire country,” Dunning said. “But we don’t have leaders that are listening to all of the voices here. I don’t want to demonize them, but I can’t help but call out the fact that tonight, virtually all of our opponents are missing.”

Incumbent candidates Melvin Willis, District 1, and Claudia Jimenez, District 6, as well as District 5 candidate Sue Wilson, did not attend. They all told Richmondside the main reason they didn’t go was because they thought Wednesday’s forum, held at Rigger’s Loft Wine Bar, would be biased. 

Jimenez, Willis and Wilson are all endorsed by the Richmond Progressive Alliance and said that the chamber runs the Richmond Business Political Action Committee, often abbreviated as RichPAC, which has supported, and is currently supporting, opponents of RPA-backed candidates. RichPAC spent more than $27,000 in 2022 backing RPA opponents in the City Council and mayoral elections, according to campaign finance filings.

Chamber CEO James Lee said the chamber is a nonprofit that “doesn’t endorse a candidate or advertise for one,” and that it organized the forum “so that the business community could hear different candidates’ answers to issues our business community faces in Richmond.” 

RichPAC is listed on the chamber’s website where it states that RichPAC “operates independently of the Richmond Chamber of Commerce.” Campaign filings show Lee is one of the two principal officers for RichPAC. District 5 candidate Anderson is listed as the other one. John Ziesenhenne, a chamber board member, is listed as treasurer of RichPAC. 

In 2022, Lee told the Chevron-funded publication The Richmond Standard that the chamber launched RichPAC to elect pro-business candidates. The move prompted then mayoral candidate and current Mayor Eduardo Martinez to not attend a forum the chamber hosted that year, saying it would not “meet a minimum standard of fairness,” as RichPAC was then raising money for his opponent Nate Bates. 

Campaign filings show that RichPAC has raised $5,000 this year but don’t show any spending yet. However, the data that’s reported isn’t fully up-to-date. Willis, Jimenez, and Wilson all said they’ve seen RichPAC-funded billboards around Richmond in recent weeks in support of Brown, Dunning and Anderson. Richmondside spotted one such billboard supporting Dunning on San Pablo and Solano avenues, and was sent a photo of another supporting Anderson on Cutting and Carlson boulevards.

“I am not afraid of community forums,” Jimenez told Richmondside (she and her opponent Dunning attended one hosted by the League of Women voters and one co-hosted by Richmondside on Sept. 30). “But we cannot send people to forums where the playing fields are not even. The Chamber of Commerce is clearly and openly supporting opponents of my campaign.”

Jimenez also said she had a date conflict as she’s the council liaison for the Community Police Review Commission, which met the same night. Additionally, Riggers Loft is currently suing the city, and she said she would have had limitations as to what she could have said about the venue.

In total, about 25 people, including the candidates and the host, Robert Rogers. attended the forum, which primarily was publicized to chamber members via email.

Business taxes, smoke shops among discussion topics

Rogers, who told Richmondside he was hosting in a volunteer capacity, is District Coordinator for Contra Costa County District 1 Supervisor John Gioia. In the rapid-paced hour-long forum, Rogers asked candidates about business, policing, homelessness, and the environment. But he started out by asking them general questions about themselves and why they were running.

District 5 candidate Anderson, who was born and raised in Richmond and whose parents both served as mayors, described himself as “Richmond’s native son.” Speaking in the third person, Anderson said, “Ahmad Anderson has paved the way for himself and is really looking to add to the change we need to diversity in leadership” because current leadership “doesn’t listen to the people” and is not concerned with “economic development that impacts safety.”

District 6 candidate Brown, a fourth-generation Richmond resident, said she “aspires to see Richmond become even more thriving than it once was” and that she is prioritizing “safety, engagement, and economic resilience.” To support economic resilience and “a flourishing business community,” Brown said she’d “streamline permitting and licensing processes to eliminate red tape that hinders growth.”

Dunning said his 25 years of experience in conflict resolution services would help him as a council member.

“It’s about getting people to work well together, build relationships, and more than anything just connecting with people,” said Dunning. 

He said he’s brought the spirit of building relationships to his campaign by walking more than 240 miles so far to meet constituents.

Wassberg, who grew up in San Pablo and worked as an auto mechanic, and also as pipe fitter for Chevron, said he wants a “big change on the city council” and that welcoming large corporations is key to achieving positive change.

“My goal is to bring in big business and to train people for jobs,” Wassberg said. “The more people who work, the less crime you have and the less homeless.”

Early in the forum, Rogers asked several questions about businesses in Richmond. In November 2020 voters approved Measure U, which, after being implemented in January 2022, switched Richmond’s business tax structure from being based on total employees to one based on the total amount of money a business takes in, or gross receipts. Rogers said the tax has increased taxes for businesses and asked what candidates would do to ease tax burdens for businesses while safeguarding the city’s finances.

Wassberg responded by saying city leadership wants big business out of Richmond and criticized the council for accepting $550 million over a 10-year period from Chevron in exchange for taking a refinery tax on the corporation off of the November ballot. He called the move “blackmail.”

Wassberg said, “You want to tax businesses fairly, but you can’t gouge them because no business is going to want to come to Richmond,” and that Richmond should “give big businesses a tax break.”

Brown said she was “in the middle when it came to Measure U” because it increased and improved city services, but it was “harmful to businesses overall and to our local economy.” Saying she’s weary of relying on business taxes to solve fiscal issues at the city level, Brown asked, “What are we doing to generate new tax revenue and how are we inviting new businesses and making Richmond more attractive to them and not put on alert?”

Dunning said that he isn’t against a shift in tax structure but said the tax rates “need to be reasonable and make sense.” Richmond’s business tax is currently between .075% and 1.395%. The tax rate, according to Dunning, makes it harder for car dealerships, specifically, to operate. 

Dunning said the new tax rate caused a car dealership’s taxes to rise from $14,000 to more than $1 million and suggested the only way such an increase made sense was if the goal was to drive car dealerships out of town. In 2022, six car dealerships in the Hilltop neighborhood owned by the same people sued the city after their taxes cumulatively increased from about $14,000 to about $1.1 million after the new tax took effect, according to the complaint. In response, the city agreed to lower its taxes in response.

Anderson said that when Measure U passed he served on the city’s Economic Development Commission and said the city wasn’t responsive when the commission asked what level of funds the new Measure U tax would bring in. Anderson criticized the tax and said that a business could operate in bordering cities and “do better and fair better.”

“We need better leaders,” said Anderson. “Or those leaders up there need finance for dummies.”

While all the candidates at the forum questioned whether taxes the city has imposed on businesses recently need to remain at their current level, they didn’t extend open arms to just any business. All were critical of smoke shops — businesses that have long been controversial in Richmond. In April, the council imposed a 45-day moratorium, which has since been renewed, on granting business licenses to new tobacco retailers. At the time, Mayor Eduardo Martinez said that 78 licensed smoke shops were operating, but that additional ones were operating without a license.

“You have to have businesses that are responsible to the community,” said Anderson, citing the high rates of asthma in Richmond and the dangers of secondhand smoke.

Brown said she was “happy about the moratorium because that’s all you see when you come to District 1.”

Wassberg said the city should shut down existing smoke shops using its public nuisance law.

“The smoke shops need to go,” said Wassberg. “All you see is a bunch of thugs hanging around them.”

Dunning said he supported the moratorium on new smoke shops and a ban the city passed on selling flavored tobacco but said the bans aren’t being enforced.

“What good are all these rules if we’re not practically enforcing them?” Dunning asked.

According to Dunning, cuts to the police department have hindered police’s ability to enforce such laws. 

Candidates debate police funding levels

Richmond’s Police Department’s budget, which was about $67.5 million in 2020, or about $82.1 million in today’s dollars when adjusted for inflation, was cut by about $2.3 million in 2021, then cut by an additional $1 million in 2022. Since then, the budget has increased annually. The proposed police budget for 2025 is about $87.2 million.

All of the candidates said they want to expand Richmond’s police force.

“Defunding the police is a nonstarter for me,” said Anderson, who wants more money put into policing.

Brown said that while some areas of Richmond might be safe, she doesn’t feel safe letting her child go to the bus stop alone in District 1. She said that she wants the city to ask the police chief what is needed and collaborate with her to make the community safer. Dunning said that he hears “again and again that people don’t feel safe in Richmond.”

The number of crimes reported in most categories has stayed about the same since 2021, according Richmond Police statistics, with decreases in homicides and assaults citywide decreasing, while vehicle thefts have increased. Anderson said he thinks many crimes go unreported, because people think police lack the resources to respond.

“The only reason crimes have gone down is people don’t report them,” Anderson said.

Both Dunning and Brown agreed that relationships between police and the community need to be improved. While Brown wants a higher police presence, she expressed concern that officers often drive through her neighborhood with their windows up. Dunning said he wants to return to a community policing model from the mid-2010s that former chief Chris Magus spearheaded.

Wassberg falsely said that after the George Floyd protests, “Just about every democratic city defunded the police,” that the police were also defunded at the federal level, and that presidential candidate and Vice President Kamala Harris said police were unnecessary. He blamed “antifa” and “Black Lives Matter” and “radicals” for causing departments to be defunded.

Wassberg supports expanding the police force and said more police are needed than ever.

Wassberg’s comments likening Black Lives Matter activists to radicals sparked the only moment of tense disagreement during the forum. Anderson said he comes from a family that protested during the civil rights movement and if he closes his eyes, he can’t tell the difference between the two groups.

“Black lives matter,” said Anderson while staring directly at Wassberg. “As all of our lives matter.”

Wassberg attempted to respond to Anderson, but Rogers talked over him, and moved the forum on.

When asked about his approach to homelessness in Richmond, Anderson said there’s not enough work done to properly tally the number of unhoused people living in the city. Anderson also said he thinks homeless people have a wide variety of abilities and needs and that a one-size-fits-all solution won’t work.

“We need to address the type of housing and wrap-around services each person needs,” Anderson said.

Anderson pointed to homelessness as a nationwide and regional issue that requires collaboration. 

“If we push people out of one neighborhood, they’ll go to another,” said Anderson. “So you need to work collectively. Richmond has generally not been part of that collaboration.”

Anderson also said that when the city funds agencies that address homelessness, such as Safe Organized Space Richmond, the city needs to see results before giving out more money.

Dunning said that while homelessness is a tough issue one city can help if it collaborates. 

“A city can make a difference, but we have to collaborate to do it,” Dunning said.

He praised the way the city of San Antonio, Texas, collaborated with a Valero Energy Corporation CEO in 2005 to tackle its homelessness issues, reportedly resulting in an 80% decrease in homelessness. According to an article in the San Antonio Express, the number of homeless people statistically recorded in San Antonio fluctuated between 2005 and 2014, depending how many volunteers are available to count them each year.

Wassberg said he didn’t approve of any city efforts to address homelessness and made disparaging remarks about homeless people, claiming “all they do is drugs and alcohol.” However, he also said during the forum that he himself was once homeless and lived out of his truck for 16 years.

Brown praised the planned opening of Motel 6 on 24th Street as permanent supportive affordable housing but wants more to be done.

“Can we do more to address homelessness?” Brown said. “Yes we can. But we have to have aggressive leadership on council who will push the issue.”

She said she often sees homeless people sleeping outside the gates of two large empty lots at 12th street and Macdonald Avenue, and asked why supportive housing couldn’t be built there.

“Let’s start utilizing those underused spaces throughout Richmond,” Brown said.

Skepticism around ‘Green-Blue New Deal”

All candidates were skeptical of current city leadership’s plans related to the environment, including the Green-Blue New Deal, which aims to provide careers for residents in renewable energy, electrification and efficiency, sustainable transportation, zero waste, water, and land use. They also were skeptical about other local efforts to harness renewable energy, such as installing wind turbines.

Wassberg called the plan “nothing but a scam,” saying that people “will never be able to get over fossil fuels,” and that ending reliance on fossil fuels would “cause chaos.”

Anderson called the plan “a bunch of fat air,” because it hasn’t been practically achievable. He pointed out that two companies that had been offering Green-Blue New Deal jobs, solar battery companies SunPower and Moxion, left the project as they filed for bankruptcy. 

Installing wind turbines to harness renewable wind energy, Anderson said, wouldn’t be achievable because they’d likely have to be installed in or near Point Richmond, and its residents wouldn’t want to look at them. He also expressed doubts that the Bay Area Coastal Commission and the Coast Guard would allow their construction off-shore, as has been suggested.

Dunning said that he supports transiting from fossil fuels to renewable energy in principle, but “you don’t do it just by saying it.”

Citing a conversation he had with a person who works on a government commission who helps decide where wind turbines can go, Dunning said that Richmond’s location is not currently appropriate for installing wind turbines now or in the near future. 

“These things take decades to assess,” Dunning said. “They’re not going to be here anytime soon.”

Brown said she agreed with Dunning, and added that she thinks the city “is so focused on being progressive that we’re not making informed decisions.”

While not directly addressing any environmental issues, Brown said, “We’re not considering what the experts are suggesting, and we’re leaving the city behind.”

In her closing statement, Brown doubled down on her criticism of current city leadership.

“We know that there is monotony on the city council and that there is a supermajority that we need to break up,” she said. “Let’s get District 1 and the city of Richmond back on track.”

Dunning spoke about how more diverse opinions need to be represented on the city council.

“If you want to find a breakthrough solution that’s never been found before, you’re never going to get it from one way of looking at things,” Dunning said.

Wassberg and Anderson both specifically criticized the Richmond Progressive Alliance. Mayor Eduardo Martinez and four out of six of Richmond’s council members are part of the alliance, and they generally vote together.

“We need to get the RPA out,” Wassberg said. “As long as the RPA is in office, it’s just going to be the same garbage over and over.”

Anderson said that the Richmond Progressive Alliance came into power by demanding that Chevron and large corporations stop influencing Richmond politics, but that alliance members recently “got paid by Chevron.”

While the city did just accept the $550 settlement from Chevron, RPA members have not accepted campaign donations from the oil company.

Anderson accused RPA members of “becoming the status quo” and said that “diversity of thought is important to energize and motivate the community.”

Criticizing current leadership and uplifting other candidates at the forum, Anderson closed the event by saying, “We don’t have that safe harbor that keeps us focused on the goal. I’m offering that and many of us here are offering that.