Prominent south Sacramento pastor running for City Council. How a friend’s murder shaped him
When Les Simmons was in the seventh grade – a member of the first class to attend Samuel Jackman Middle School in Sacramento’s Valley Hi neighborhood – his friend Marcus was murdered by gang violence.
“We were faced with two different responses. One could’ve been one of retaliatory action and the other was, ‘How do we process this to allow this not to happen anymore?’” Simmons said. “We chose to do conflict resolution.”
The experience propelled Simmons to dedicate much of his life toward preventing such tragedies and serving those affected by gun violence.
“I’m still working, living, playing in the same area and have been doing a lot of the same work around violence intervention (and) prevention work, and it was because of that first shooting when I was a kid with Marcus,” Simmons said.
Now 41, a longtime community activist and senior pastor at South Sacramento Christian Center, the experience has also played a role in Simmons’ decision to run for Sacramento City Council.
Though he’s never run for elected office before, Simmons is no stranger to City Hall.
He served on a city committee tasked with recommending how the city should spend revenue from the original Measure U sales tax increase, then on the city’s police commission in 2015. He’s been protesting in the city for more than 30 years, including after police shootings of unarmed black men Joseph Mann and Stephon Clark, with an emphasis on peaceful actions. When a council meeting divulged into chaos and shouting the month Clark was shot, Simmons said “we’re better than this,” and suggested everyone instead hold hands and pray.
Councilman Steve Hansen observed Simmons in those moments from the dais, and later got to know him more as a roommate at a leadership program.
“He has literally put himself and his safety on the line repeatedly to be in the community working on gang issues to help at-risk youth turn their lives around, from being a point of friction between the protesters and police, to helping people connect to each other so they can see each other,” Hansen said. “He has, I think, a unique perspective on how government can be a force for good in communities that feel left behind.”
Earlier this year, Simmons was a lead activist pushing lawmakers to pass a state bill that imposes the strictest standards in the country for when officers can use deadly force, which Gov. Newsom signed.
“I think the bill is a win for right now,” Simmons said. “But I think we all need to ask tough questions about where we wanna be a year from now.”
He’s also seen progress with more city resources being invested to disadvantaged communities, but wants to ensure it continues.
“I feel seen,” he told the council after it passed the first series of projects funded by Measure U.
The council recently allocated $350,000 in city funds for his project to renovate the old Cal Skate facility, which provides 1,000 young people a month with a safe space to receive services like job training, mentorship, parent services and, for some fun, a former Kings basketball court and restored skating rink, Simmons said.
“It has been through targeted passionate outreach to bring programs like that to Sacramento that has built up who I am today,” Simmons said. “I plan to take that same passion and same calling to our youth and to a City Council position to work really hard to create an opportunity for them to thrive.”
Simmons is also supportive of Mayor Darrell Steinberg’s plan to open large homeless shelters with services in each district, and suggested his church parking lot as a potential site, though city staff who visited said it wasn’t quite big enough. He’s now offering the lot for a safe parking program for homeless to sleep in their cars.
Simmons said he supports the homeless shelter in Meadowview opening this winter for women and children – a project Councilman Larry Carr, who currently holds the seat and is not seeking reelection, strongly opposes due to its location.
“My church is on Stockton (Boulevard). I can go just about any day of the week and there’s someone sleeping in their car, under an overpass or in a tent,” Simmons said.
While most of the original Measure U money was spent to restore core city services lost in the recession, Simmons wants to see the new Measure U revenue spent in ways to uplift south Sacramento. Some of his ideas include job training for trades fields in high schools, affordable housing, rent subsidies, and drug and alcohol counseling programs. He also wants to see if funds can be used to spark more development at Delta Shores to create more housing, jobs and retail in the area.
“There’s a renaissance in Sacramento going on,” Simmons said. “You talk about the whole soccer team, you talk about this big boom that’s happening, and my goal would be to bring District 8 up with that.”
Simmons has been endorsed by Hansen and Councilman Rick Jennings; Greater Sacramento Urban League President Cassandra Jennings; and Jackie Rose of Meadowview’s Rose Family Creative Empowerment Center.
District 8 includes the south Sacramento neighborhoods of Meadowview, Parkway, North Laguna Creek and Jacinto Creek.
Sacramento NAACP President Betty Williams and Sacramento City Unified school board member Mai Vang are also running for the seat.
The primary election will be held on March 3.
