RICHMOND — Seven Richmond City Council candidates in the running to represent three districts shared their views on how they’d help the city’s local business community prosper if elected.
Three races – one open and two including incumbents – are nearing a close. Whoever wins will join a council tasked with managing a struggling budget and prioritizing a backlog of infrastructure improvements.
With District 5 Councilmember Gayle McLaughlin stepping down at the end of the year, nonprofit advisor Sue Wilson and nonprofit director Ahad Anderson are battling it out for her seat.
Vice Mayor Claudia Jimenez is facing conflict resolution consultant Shawn Dunning in her bid to keep her seat as District 6’s representative. And District 1 Councilmember Melvin Willis is seeking reelection in a race against social worker Dr. Jamelia Brown and retired auto mechanic Mark Wassberg.
District 6 race
District 6 is home to major business corridors along San Pablo Avenue, 23rd Street and MacDonald Avenue, Jimenez and Dunning both noted. Business has been booming on 23rd Street thanks to the 23rd Street Merchants Association, Dunning said, and both recognized the new shops opening up on San Pablo including Tacos El Tucan and El Jardín de los Sueños Cafe.
Jimenez also pointed to the city’s creation of a mobile vendor program on MacDonald Avenue as another clear success story.
The program, still in its infancy, was started in response to concerns being raised by residents and brick-and-mortar businesses along 23rd Street about vendors taking up sidewalks and not having the proper permitting. The council adopted regulations limiting vendors’ footprint while also dedicating funds to help mobile businesses obtain the necessary paperwork to operate.
Opening up shop in Richmond is a challenge though, Dunning said, and staying open is another. Vacant storefronts line MacDonald Avenue and business owners have warned they’re close to shuttering, he said.
If elected, Dunning said he’d like to address Richmond’s onerous planning and permitting processes, working with neighborhood councils and business associations, reducing crime and improving cleanliness, all issues he said are keeping small businesses from opening or staying in Richmond.
“If we’re going to make progress, we need to work together. No matter what the issue is, we need everyone at the table to do that,” Dunning said.
For Jimenez, reelection would mean she gets to continue working on some of the “unsexy” parts of city business — balancing the budget and improving infrastructure.
Part of that work will include staffing up the Public Works and Economic Development departments, crafting plans for major corridors and envisioning a future for the city’s shoreline that could include wind farm equipment manufacturing.
“This is the work. It’s not sexy work, but it’s work that is important so we can then start dreaming about other services we need and having the money to do the things we want to do,” Jimenez said.
District 5 race
Encompassing the southside of the city, from the Marina to Cutting Boulevard and bordering El Cerrito and Albany, is District 5. Wilson and Anderson, who are vying to represent the district, have some similar views on what’s needed there, namely a grocery store.
Both also see the area as rich with opportunity, once having been part of a vibrant city that’s struggled for decades following the creation of the Hilltop Mall. In-person shopping has taken a hit with online options, requiring the city to become more activity focused, they said.
Righting the ship requires better public relations and collaboration between residents, business owners, city staff and officials, Wilson said. If elected, she’d like to hire a public relations professional to uplift Richmond’s image.
Wilson said she’d also like to redevelop parts of the city, block by block, with more housing and ground-level retail space for restaurants and other attractions. And like Jimenez, Wilson also sees wind farm equipment manufacturing as a viable boost to the local economy.
“Whoever is elected to council needs to have a high priority of making (Richmond) less of a hidden gem and more of a gem the region recognizes,” Wilson said. “Richmond is moving in the right direction.”
Anderson, who’s campaign focus has been economic development, also spoke of bringing back energy to the city by recreating the magic in places like San Francisco’s Presidio by highlighting the city’s rich history, creating an arts and culture district and bringing in a variety of mom-and-pop shops and larger employers.
But to get there, Anderson said the city first needs to focus on cleaning up its streets. That includes both upgrading infrastructure and having the right amount of community policing.
He’d also focus on partnering with academic institutions to bring educational programs to young residents while working with regional organizations like East Bay Economic Development Alliance to turn Richmond into a “workforce ready community.”
“Everybody has their priorities, but it’s our role and responsibility to be a lighthouse and to shed light on these areas and to address them and keep our people in safe harbor,” Anderson said.
District 1 race
For Wassberg, supporting mom-and-pop shops is not a priority. Instead, he said bettering Richmond means welcoming in big businesses like Chevron, which recently agreed to pay the city $550 million in exchange for the removal of a ballot measure that would have cost the company between $60 million and $90 million annually if approved by voters.
Wassberg was a loud critic of the tax measure and settlement agreement. Rather than tax big business, he said he’d like to focus on giving tax breaks to corporations he said provide vital jobs and reduce crime.
“It’s big business that really pays into the city budget. Right now I’m all for big business,” Wassberg said. “I don’t know why in the world the council is focused on small businesses.”
Wassberg has been known for having controversial opinions. He often appears at City Council meetings to lambast elected officials and share what could be viewed as homophobic, transphobic, anti-immigrant and racist rants.
He most recently accused members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community of being “morally wrong” pedophiles and “sick in the head” while the council heard a proclamation recognizing Transgender Day of Remembrance.
Wassberg doubled down on those views of the LGBTQ community in an interview Tuesday.
He also reiterated opinions he’s shared in the past about Palestinians and Arabs, groups he falsely asserted were all terrorists, and asserted that undocumented immigrants have no right to be in the United States and don’t pay their fair share in taxes while receiving government assistance.
When asked why Richmond residents from a minority group should vote for him, Wassberg said he didn’t care one way or another who cast their ballot in his favor. Instead, he shared the hope that Brown and Willis would “split the Black and Latino vote so I can go right up the middle and win.”
“They have the right to vote for who they want to vote for and I’m not going to change my tune to sell my soul for them to give me their vote,” Wassberg said. “They can vote for who they want, doesn’t matter to me.”
Neither Willis nor Brown responded to multiple requests for interviews.