Dear Editor:

I am proud to endorse Jim Davis for another four-year term as Treasurer of the City of Antioch. Jim is a class act. He is dignified, professional, knows money and city governance. I first met him 11 years ago when he was working in the banking industry and sharing his expertise in the role of Antioch’s Mayor. I know him to be smart, honorable and able to connect with people across all levels of the government and the community.

Perhaps the one memory of Jim which stands out most to me when it comes to his commitment to the people of Antioch, is high-level meetings we attended in Washington DC advocating for funding and legislation which supported the economic growth of East Contra Costa.

What I know of Jim, I believe he is the best candidate to serve in the role of Treasurer and help Antioch move forward securing opportunities and addressing challenges for the finances of Contra Costa County’s second-largest city.

Angela Lowrey

Oakley, CA

Editor:

It is very important that I make myself clear.  Regardless of the fact that there are photos of me on early positive flyers supporting Sean Wright’s campaign, before the attack flyers against Lamar Thorpe  were designed and distributed, I had shifted my support to Gabriel Makinano for Mayor and here is why.

Back a few years ago when many of us in the community were trying to find a better way forward for our youth of all race and ethnic groups, I met  a young man named Gabriel Makinano who had the same mission and passion as the rest of us and aligned  and partnered his organization with the Youth Intervention Network team.

Most of you know about the work YIN was able to accomplish with youth who were struggling  and it was recognized by the United Nations and Attorney General Eric Holder after we saw the first 100 youth of all colors and economic status who finished the initiative go from a 1.0 GPA to an average of 3.5 and go to college after graduation.

This city was united with our police department, beginning with Chief Jim Hyde, and later Chief Allan Cantando, and now Chief Tammany Brooks. Over 300 residents of all racial backgrounds spent a full 40 hours with our Northern Irish team and then went through background checks to work with families.

During all of this, Gabe and his team were strong participants, allies and partners. He and his organization have and continue to make a tremendous contribution to our youth and our community.

Gabriel Makinano is loving and humble, and will be an amazing mayor

Iris Archuleta, JD

Antioch

Editor:

Ward 5 of the Community College Board needs change – Enholm must go!

Ward 5 of the Contra Costa Community College District, including Bay Point, Pittsburg, Antioch, Brentwood, Oakley, Knightsen and Bethel Island, is badly in need of new leadership. The current Trustee for this area, Greg Enholm, has engaged in poor decisions, erratic behavior, and unethical acts that have not served the District, Los Medanos College in particular, very well.

This is not new, but enough is enough.

When the Board of Trustees approved in a 4-1 vote the building of the new Campus located in Brentwood, on donated land, with an approved Bond Measure E in 2014, Enholm continued to oppose its construction. An alternative site would have taken years for approval adding costs for acquisition of land and increased taxes. The new campus was needed as the existing leased building in a retail district of Brentwood was over-capacity. In 2016 Enholm also recommended the residents of the nearby Trilogy community sue the District to keep its construction at bay.

This opposition caused numerous delays, added hundreds of thousands of dollars to the cost due to litigation, and for a time imperiled the use of the approved Bond as expenditures needed to begin within an approved time. Covid-19 has impacted its opening, but the students will be served well by this new educational facility.

Especially troubling has been allegations of multiple ethics violations by Enholm that have recently come to light. He has not denied the allegations. The allegations were found to be true by an investigator of the District which included inappropriately trying to get a friend re-classified to be considered for a top-level position as well as ghost-writing an email to the District. As part of the investigation it was noted that Enholm went directly to the Chancellor to ask him to reconsider his friend for the position even though the person was already deemed to be unqualified for the position.

Of late, with the District facing challenges due to COVID-19, he also voted to terminate upper-level district managers, ignoring numerous requests from faculty and classified staff to reconsider that decision. Enholm has stopped listening to the faculty, staff, and his constituents and has engaged in recent actions that have put our District’s financial future at risk.

It is time for new leadership on the Contra Costa Community College District Board: Elect Fernando Sandoval.

Valerie T Lopez

Pittsburg

 

PLEASE JOIN US.

Supervisor Federal Glover was there for our firefighters and our residents during the massive fires we experienced the last couple of years. We wholeheartedly support Supervisor Glover’s re-election and look forward to working closely with him for another term.

Dear Editor:

This is not the time for promoting hate by any candidate. Do we not see what is going on in this country. Is there nowhere that peace and dignity reigns during this time? People are dying. Racism and division rules.

What is all this really about and is it worth it? I guess unity and respect for one another has digressed.
No candidate is all good and none are all bad. Can we come together in a non-political environment and spend time talking about how we will rebuild community for real, and just talk about it?

I want to love people the way Christ has shown us. Whether you believe in Christ or not, I believe most of us in this community believe in unity and care. I’m not going to lie. Love is a struggle right now. Will people who want to love one another come together?

Iris Archuleta

Antioch

Mike Barbanica is a lifelong resident of Antioch, a local small business owner and a retired police lieutenant. He is the kind of person who isn’t afraid to stand up to make the changes needed to GET ANTIOCH BACK ON TRACK. CLICK HERE to read Mike’s Five Ways to Get Antioch Back on Track.

The Antioch Police Officers’ Association highly recommends MIKE BARBANICA for election to the Antioch City Council in District 2. Will you join us?

Antioch Police Officers’ Association

“Barbanica, a real estate broker and retired police lieutenant, emphasizes curbing crime but appreciates that law enforcement transparency is important, starting with body cameras for all officers. He is not averse to more housing but emphasizes that controlling crime and attracting jobs must come first.

Tony Tiscareno lacked basic financial knowledge when he ran for reelection in 2018 after six years on the City Council. Last week, he said he was out of town and too busy for a video interview.”

EAST BAY TIMES EDITORIAL – September 26, 2020

 

Speaks of the need to “tear down” most of these systems of policing and “start over or maybe not start over, at all”.

Campaign slogan, “The Right Choice for Change” should instead read “The Far Left Choice for Change Antioch Doesn’t Want”

By Allen Payton, Publisher & Editor

As part of her platform in her campaign for the City Council in District 1, Tamisha Walker is proposing Antioch become a sanctuary city for illegal aliens, the first and only candidate to ever do so. She also proposes “Reimagining Public Safety”, which is code words for defunding and reallocating funds intended for more police to social programs, and ultimately abolishing policing. She also claims that Antioch Police are frightening to people, and that “There is so much disfunction, harm, trauma and toxicity in the relationship between police and people.”

Most of what Walker writes in her platform are general statements without specifics, leaving a lot of room for interpretation and for the voters to unfortunately wait to find out what’s in it until after she’s elected.

One specific she does offer is that she wants “to make sure we do not cooperate with agencies associated with separating families such as I.C.E.” Then she better not have the Antioch Police cooperate with the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s and Sheriff’s offices, because they separate even American families every day, since they don’t put the spouses or children in jail with the spouse or parents who commit crimes. Walker must not  realize that Antioch Police don’t and can’t do that, anyway since California became a SANCTUARY STATE and state law prevents state and local law enforcement agencies from using their resources on behalf of federal immigration enforcement agencies.

Frankly, reading her platform it appears she’s running in the wrong city or for the wrong office, and shows just how out of touch she is with regards to the issues facing our city and is a bunch of Leftist rhetoric that might sell in Berkeley, but not here.

She mentions nothing about the major issues affecting most everyone in Antioch, which are bringing well-paying jobs to our city, cleaning up blight, solving the homeless problem, and continuing to hire additional police, as we the people voted twice to do by increasing our sales tax, to fight and decrease crime in our city.

Nevertheless, here is Walker’s platform as it appears verbatim on her website with a variety of questions that arise from the various planks:

Invest in Antioch

“We are in an unprecedented moment unlike we have never faced before. I know how important fiscal responsibility is.

I have a proven track record of being able to analyze complex public government financing and organize a base of community supporters and academics to develop research and policies to identify and fix harmful and wasteful spending.

With the economy and restructuring of budgets I want to make sure our community is going to have a representative in Antioch City council that is going to make sure Antioch will not be forgotten but invested in.”

What does that mean? With what money? Invest how? Where has she been since she’s been out of jail and lived in Antioch to analyze the city’s budget and make recommendations? She could have been doing that every year during the council’s budget sessions. I don’t recall ever hearing her speak up and offer proposals for the city budget and how our tax dollars can be spent differently.

School

“School is different this year, I know as a parent I am concerned about my child’s education and balancing school amidst a pandemic has already proven to be challenging. I want to let you now that I want to be open and able to find collaborative solutions towards making sure everyone’s needs are met. I know this is going to take hard work and I am ready to take that on.”

Question: Does she not understand that the city council doesn’t oversee the school district and has very little to no impact on the education in Antioch? That’s for the AUSD school board. Walker’s running for the wrong office if she’s looking for solutions to the current education situation.

Sanctuary Antioch

“‘Know our Rights’

I want to work as hard as I can to make Antioch a Sanctuary City. I want to make sure we do not cooperate with agencies associated with separating families such as I.C.E. I believe our city and if elected as city councilmember I will make sure we take a stance on protecting families not separating them.”

Had she merely picked up the phone and called Antioch Police Chief T Brooks – which she has yet to do – Walker would have learned, as he said to the Herald, “We have not, nor will not assist any federal immigration enforcement efforts. SB54, which went into effect in 2018, makes clear our responsibilities with respect to these matters, significantly limiting our cooperation with federal immigration authorities. We cooperate with all our local, state and federal partners when responding to criminal cases, which is completely different than immigration enforcement.”

Candidates need to do their homework before proposing a plank in their platform that sounds good to some voters and tickles the ears of Antioch residents, but does nothing and will actually have no effect, such as with this issue.

Youth

“I believe that resourcing our youth is investing in our future. I want to make sure our city is doing what they can to make sure there are youth services and programs and resources so our youth have options and choices for their present and future. This is such an important strategy to violence prevention and curbing the school to prison pipeline. I have experience doing it when my family lived in Richmond and I want to do it here in Antioch for generations.”

So, she wants Antioch to become like Richmond, huh?. Didn’t many of our residents move from that city and come here because they didn’t like it there? This is also code for her opposition to School Resource Officers – police on Antioch campuses, that were approved earlier this year by both the city council and school board.

Housing

“I want Antioch to be a place anybody can make a home. I know we are in a double crisis for renters and homeowners. I believe the solution is going to come with immense collaboration with people from all levels to coordinate aid from the federal government and the state. As your representative I want to make sure all of our voices and concerns are being heard and do everything with the City Councilmember’s power to leverage solutions that are inclusive for everyone.”

Who can’t “make a home” in Antioch? Who isn’t welcome, here? This is code that she wants more low- to moderate-income, government subsidized housing in town even though Antioch has met its state requirements for years to come and already has more than its fair share. Where was she when the recent apartment complex on Delta Fair Blvd. was voted on by the council. Did she speak out in favor of that market-rate, multi-family housing project?

Covid-19

“As we continue toward a possibility of 2021, Covid -19 is still a responsibility that requires us to make sure we are active and ready to respond in ways that preserve life.”

What does that even mean? It’s so general that it says nothing. Besides, the City really doesn’t have anything to do with COVID-19 as it’s a County Health Services issue.

Environment

“I do not want to make Antioch an environmental sacrifice zone. We all deserve clean healthy air, water, land and that sense of safety and sustainability. I want to be a good steward of the environment. That makes sure preserving our natural resources and ensuring our investment goes towards communities that have been underserved and underrepresented.”

What does that mean? Does she oppose bringing industrial and manufacturing jobs to Antioch? Does she oppose more housing development? What “investment” is she referring to and what “communities that have been underserved and underrepresented”? We have had Hispanic and African American elected officials on our city council and school board for years. What “communities” haven’t been represented in Antioch?

Reimagining Public Safety

“Too often our communities’ stories and experiences are not heard on mainstream television. Safety means feeling safe, not under threat and terror. There is so much disfunction, harm, trauma and toxicity in the relationship between police and people that the only sensible conclusion is to re-imagine this relationship with the value of feeling truly safe in our communities. This has been a big part of my life’s work to re-imagine public safety. With several communities undergoing this right now, I believe my combination of experience, compassion and hard work can help Antioch make the right choices and become a leader in transforming our community.”

What city is she referring to? It sounds like Walker is projecting the problems in other cities onto Antioch. How is there “so much disfunction, harm, trauma, and toxicity in the relationship between people and police” in Antioch? Maybe there’s harm and trauma for those who are committing crimes, as should be expected. Perhaps that’s her perspective if that’s with whom Walker spends much of her time.

It’s interesting she doesn’t want Antioch residents to actually enjoy safety, only that we are feeling safe “in our communities”. Why the use of the plural? What communities? She should be focused on the Antioch community. Or is she saying Antioch is made up of multiple communities, thus serving to divide us.

The most radical thing she mentioned about police was during an interview on EastCountyToday.net when Walker said, “I definitely have my ideas around, you know abolition and you know the root of all of these systems and how most of them we need to tear down and start over or maybe not start over at all.” That right there is reason enough to reject her candidacy.

But, Walker needs to be much more specific as to what she does and doesn’t like that the current council member she’s running against, Joy Motts, has done and what she would do differently.

Except for a few things like abolishing police and unnecessarily making Antioch a sanctuary city, all of Walker’s general statements in her so-called platform have no real meaning. It’s like when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said about Obamacare, “we need to pass the bill to find out what’s in it.” Antioch can’t take the risk to find out what are the details in Walker’s platform until after she’s elected. She should tell the voters, now. But, frankly, there’s enough there, already to reject her radical, Leftist agenda and not vote for her for city council in District 1.

While I applaud her work as co-founder and executive director of the Safe Return Project which has the goal of helping those coming out of prison to get jobs, etc., Walker should remain focused on that, instead and leave the governing of Antioch to people with more common sense views and values.

The following email was sent to Antioch residents on Monday from the Antioch Police Officers Association regarding their endorsement of Councilwoman Lori Ogorchock for re-election.

1. Councilwoman Lori Ogorchock helped locate funding to approve 20+ new police officers to deal with crime in our neighborhoods. Nichole Gardner was on Facebook supporting an effort to FIRE ALL POLICE OFFICERS, which would be devastating to our community.
2. Councilwoman Lori Ogorchock is working to disband homeless encampments and opposes Lamar Thorpe’s plan to permanently house the homeless in an Antioch motel. Nichole Gardner is leading the effort to bring more homeless into Antioch and is supporting Lamar Thorpe’s plan to house homeless in a motel close to homes and 1/4 mile from 4 schools.
3. Councilwoman Lori Ogorchock voted to accept a Department of Justice grant of $750,000 to bring School Resource Officers back into 6 of our Antioch schools. Nichole Gardner officially opposed this proposal.

As the police officers whose job it is to protect our community, we need leaders who will work hard to lower crime in Antioch – not make it worse than it is. That leader, we believe, is Councilwoman Lori Ogorchock. Please join us in voting for her on or before November 3rd. Thank you.

Antioch Police Officers’ Association

P.S. Please CLICK HERE to learn more about Councilwoman Lori Ogorchock.