ANTIOCH — The race for Antioch’s mayoral seat will see three candidates vying for the opportunity to shape the city’s future amid a host of challenges and concerns it faces, such as public safety, issue of homelessness, economic development and racial diversity.
Incumbent Mayor Lamar Hernandez-Thorpe will face off against Antioch’s former city manager, Ron Bernal, and Rakesh Kumar Christian, a retired businessman who ran for mayor in 2020.
Hernandez-Thorpe believes it’s important for him to seek re-election to continue fulfilling the promises he made in 2020 when he first became the mayor, including securing long-term funding for the city such as the Angelo Quinto Community Response Team to help the Antioch police from nonviolent, non-life threatening, low-level calls that they normally would answer. Initial funding for the team came from the American Rescue Plan Act monies.
“That means none of this is long-term, and so the next four years, we’ll focus on securing long-term, sustainable funding for these programs or figure out a budget that includes these priorities that the community appreciates,” Hernandez-Thorpe said.
Bernal, whose campaign slogan is “Change Starts Today,” believes there is a lot of dissatisfaction in the community with how the city has handled the unhoused community, higher crime rates, slower police response times to calls for service and businesses leaving Antioch.
Bernal said the city doesn’t have a strategic plan to address homelessness, adding that he would reestablish the relationship with county-run Contra Costa Health’s Housing and Homelessness Services and faith-based nonprofits to address Antioch’s homelessness issues.
“Richmond and Concord both have strategic plans that they recently adopted. Their homeless numbers went down by almost 20% last year. Antioch’s (numbers) went up 20% last year. And I think there’s a direct correlation between not having a plan,” he said.
The latest annual “point-in-time” homeless count saw Antioch having the largest unsheltered homeless population at 413, a 24% increase from 2023, while Richmond saw its unhoused population fall 22% to 338.
Bernal said the city’s transitional housing program opened last year at the former Executive Inn, now Dubbed Opportunity Village. It has only 32 rooms but is more expensive to operate than working with the county to provide shelter.
“I believe that the idea to shift away from working with the county and doing it on our own has cost the city a lot more money and has not achieved proportionate results,” Bernal said. “In the process of doing it on our own, our relationship with the county has been judged. I don’t know if the word abandoned (is right), but it’s been diminished and neglected.”
Hernandez-Thorpe said although there is no shelter in East Contra Costa County, the city has considered various options.
“We looked at small sheds, we looked at containers, we looked at everything under the sun, and the fastest way, most efficient way we could move was to lease a hotel because the facility already existed,” Hernandez-Thorpe said. “Every measure is expensive to get people off the street. There is no cost-effective way of getting people off the street.”
He added, “So any suggestion that this is so expensive is (by) people who either haven’t done their homework, and they don’t know what they’re talking about, or it’s like Ron Bernal being disingenuous because it’s a cheap political point.”
On the economy front, Hernandez-Thorpe said it is misleading to blame the city when businesses leave Antioch, adding that while some older businesses like Applebee’s have closed, residents now see higher-quality establishments such as Monica’s Riverview and Smith’s Landing Seafood Grill. Other business closures were part of a larger trend due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which impacted businesses nationwide.
Hernandez-Thorpe pointed out that despite these closures, Antioch’s sales tax revenue has continued to rise. He also said the city has expanded its industrial sector with the new marine terminal on Wilbur Avenue.
“Antioch is no longer a cannery town. It’s a city of a mixed economic base,” he said, describing that base as including retail, service jobs, industry and cannabis-related businesses.
Bernal said the economy depends on multiple factors, with crime and public safety playing a big part in it. He said creating a safe shopping atmosphere for businesses and residents is essential. Businesses have taken their own initiatives by hiring security guards to patrol their stores and surrounding areas for safety purposes.
“I would propose collaborating between business and property owners, the police department, and the code enforcement department. It’s a holistic approach to making sure our economy has everything it needs to succeed,” he said.
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Bernal added that many small businesses are struggling with vandalism and insurance coverage, which is putting a bigger dent in their finances.He also said the city’s Economic Development Department and the city manager should talk to business owners who have left Antioch to lure them back into the city.
In reflecting his tenure, Hernandez-Thorpe said Antioch has made progress in reducing violent crime.
“When I moved to Antioch 12 years ago, the city of Antioch was on the top 10 most dangerous cities in California because of violent crime. We are not on that list,” he said.
He also expressed optimism about working with the newly appointed city manager, Bessie Scott, to address issues such as police accountability, homelessness, and housing.
Bernal believes Antioch needs a well-qualified police chief who would bring the community policing model to the city and help reestablish trust with the community. He also adds that the city must recruit ample police officers to help restore department staffing levels.
Antioch has been grappling with staff issues since several officers were either put on leave, terminated or left related to a widespread corruption investigation and a series of racist, homophobic and sexist text messages sent among police officers, which were discovered during the misconduct investigation.
Bernal also wants to establish substations in different locations to create more police presence and reestablish neighborhood watch programs in the city.
Christian, the third candidate in the race, finished last in the 2020 mayoral race that Hernandez-Thorpe won. As reported by this news agency, Christian left several voicemails with a Bay Area News Group staff member that included antisemitic slurs and rants about everything from the Antichrist to Mickey Mouse.
According to Christian’s candidate statement, his priorities are fiscal responsibility and accountability, economic development and public safety, as well as making Antioch an education city with a four-year medical college.
“I’m pro-housing and pro-business. I’m proud to be an American immigrant, Antioch resident, and homeowner,” Christian said.