Here are the candidates for Sacramento City Council, mayor in the March 3 election
Mayor Darrell Steinberg and three Sacramento City Council members are seeking reelection in March. One council member, Larry Carr, is retiring, leaving the Meadowview seat open.
Here’s what you need to know about the races on the city of Sacramento ballot.
District 2
Area: North Sacramento, including Del Paso Heights, Old North Sacramento, Woodlake, Noralto and other neighborhoods
Incumbent: Councilman Allen Warren
Warren, 55, CEO of New Faze Development, was sworn onto the City Council in 2012. He has stressed that he does not want the district, most impacted by the city’s Railroad Drive shelter, to be overburdened by homeless shelters, and will only allow more shelters if they’re also opened elsewhere in the city.
He’s proposed the city build a “Renewal Village” on a school district-owned site for 700 homeless and low-income people in Noralto, though it’s unclear if that project will come to fruition. He has long raised concerns about the city’s process for permitting cannabis dispensaries, and wants the city to allow at least 10 new cannabis storefronts to open to allow African American residents most impacted by the War On Drugs to open shops.
Opposition:
Ramona Landeros, Twin Rivers Unified School District trustee and economic development coordinator.
Sean Loloee, owner of Viva Supermarkets
Lamar Jefferson, listed in campaign forms as a father
District 4
Area: Midtown, Downtown, Land Park
Incumbent: Councilman Steve Hansen
Hansen, 40, the city’s first openly gay council member, was also elected in 2012. He holds the arguably most high-profile and busiest council seat.
He led the charge to adopt a local rent control ordinance and pass a ban on the sale of flavored tobacco. He proposed the city open a homeless shelter at the Capitol Park Hotel downtown, which has been criticized for its conditions, but is currently sheltering 114 homeless people and has permanently housed 62, according to the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency.
Hansen also proposed a compromise to the mayor’s recent controversial bonding proposal, which the council supported, to include the major $100 million housing trust fund using Measure U sales tax revenue to spark the construction of many new affordable housing projects. He recently said he wants the city to stop participating in the Cops-style reality television show called “Live Rescue.
Opponent: Katie Valenzuela
Valenzuela, 34, is the policy and political director for the California Environmental Justice Alliance.
Seen as farther to the political left than Hansen, Valenzuela supports a version of rent control that would be more strict against landlords. That version got enough signatures to qualify for the ballot, but the council passed its own version, so it’s unclear if it will still be on the ballot in November.
Valenzuela also serves on the board for the Sacramento Community Land Trust, and wants the city to use the land trust model in downtown and midtown. She suggested the city start using the former Sleep Train Arena in Natomas as a temporary shelter for the homeless. She opposed the Measure U sales tax increase because she considered it a regressive tax that overburdens working families.
District 6
Area: Southeast Sacramento, including Elmhurst, Tahoe Park, Colonial Village, and other neighborhoods.
Incumbent: Councilman Eric Guerra
Guerra, 41, first elected in 2015, is a strong Steinberg ally.
An immigrant from Mexico, Guerra lived in his car for a time as a Sacramento State student, giving him personal experience with many of the issues the council frequently tackles. He championed a city program that pays for legal aid for undocumented immigrants, and a city ordinance requiring hotels provide panic buttons to protect workers from sexual harassment.
Guerra is pushing to uplift Little Saigon and transform it into a walkable destination with more public transit options. He supported a new ordinance to ban auto shops and mini storage facilities along sections of Broadway and Stockton Boulevard, which he says will help with that goal.
Opposition:
Waverly Hampton, III, small business owner, Sacramento State student
Eric Frame, small business owner
Kevin Rooney, plumbing contractor
District 8
Area: South Sacramento neighborhoods of Meadowview, Parkway, North Laguna Creek and Jacinto Creek
Incumbent: Councilman Larry Carr, who is not seeking reelection
Candidates:
Pastor Les Simmons, 41, is a longtime community activist and senior pastor at South Sacramento Christian Center. He served on a city committee that was asked to recommend how the city should spend revenue from the original Measure U sales tax increase, then on the city’s police commission in 2015.
Simmons has been demonstrating in the city for more than 30 years, with an emphasis on peaceful actions, including after police shootings of unarmed black men Joseph Mann and Stephon Clark. He recently offered the parking lot of his church for a homeless shelter, but city staff said it was not big enough, he said. Councilmen Steve Hansen, Jay Schenirer and Rick Jennings have endorsed him.
Mai Vang, 34, is a Sacramento City Unified School Board member and former staffer for Councilman Larry Carr. If elected, she would be the first Hmong woman elected to the council.
She would also be the second woman to sit on the council and the only Millennial. Vang, the oldest of 16 siblings, teaches at Sacramento State and UC Davis. On the school board, she has fought for resources for schools in the Meadowview area, where she grew up. She grew up in a poor immigrant family and a full college scholarship changed her life, she said. She also is director of college scholarships for an organization. Council members Carr, Angelique Ashby, Jeff Harris and Allen Warren have endorsed her.
Other candidates:
Ronald Bell, retired pastor
Daphne Harris, real estate broker
Santiago Morales, governmental program analyst
Mayoral race
Incumbent: Mayor Darrell Steinberg
Steinberg, 60, is seeking his second term as mayor. Since he was elected in 2016, he’s played a leading role in securing a Major League Soccer team, receiving an additional more than $40 million a year from the Measure U sales tax increase to uplift underserved neighborhoods, and has an elaborate plan to revitalize the Old Sacramento waterfront and Railyards.
Steinberg asked his eight council colleagues to find sites for large homeless shelters in their districts. Since then, one has opened downtown, and at least two more are planned to open this spring. Gov. Gavin Newsom also named him to co-chair a task force on homelessness, expanding his work across the state.
Opposition:
Mac Arteaga, resident manager
Jrmar Jefferson, listed as father
This story was originally published February 12, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
