Katie Valenzuela was a faithful leader of the opposition on Sacramento City Council | Opinion
It’s probably of little surprise to regular readers that I politically identify as a progressive liberal — a designation that carries with it no small reputation and an unfortunately necessary explanation.
My interpretation of progressive social reform includes directing our tax dollars toward helping people, even if they’ve made mistakes others can’t see past.
But since I returned to my hometown Sacramento in 2021, it became clear that being a loud, proud, self-identifying progressive can be a oft-fraught experience in a centrist community. Over the last four years, former Sacramento City Councilmember Katie Valenzuela’s experience on council starkly demonstrated that.
Valenzuela’s four-year term ended on Dec. 10, but while it lasted, I felt reassured that someone up there was actually representing my belief system; that people deserve help, and the government has an obligation to them. Even though I didn’t live in her district, I liked what I saw: A young, Millennial woman and a progressive leader, representing the people and ideas that I saw reflected in myself and my community. (That’s just one of the reasons why my colleague and I broke with the rest of our editorial board on an outside endorsement of her.)
But as much as it’s been a pleasure to watch Valenzuela’s growth as a force in Sacramento, it’s also been a nightmare.
For any young woman in this town with a strong voice and political opinion — character traits often admired in men — life is a constant carousel of angry emails, threatened violence, vocal public ire (mostly from old men) and disrespect. I know that for a fact.
After a certain point, for some people, it seemed as though Valenzuela couldn’t do anything right, no matter how much good she was doing. No one wanted to listen.
Valenzuela’s successes
During her first and only term, Valenzuela partnered with Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg and the Sacramento Community Police Review Commission to implement the strongest use-of-force standards in California and led the effort to end the city’s decades-old, racist ban on cruising.
She secured funding to launch a reconciliation process with the Office of Public Safety and Accountability seeking to repair relationships between communities and law enforcement. She also worked with local businesses and nonprofits to land $28 million in economic recovery funds during the pandemic; and partnered with local climate leaders to implement Sacramento’s climate action plan — a success the county hasn’t been able to match in more than a decade of debate.
The D4 council member partnered with the Newton Booth Neighborhood Association to successfully lobby the Sacramento Transportation Authority for $5 million to build a new sound wall to protect the Alhambra Triangle community from the roar of Highway 50. She also teamed up with state Sen. Angelique Ashby to lobby Sacramento Regional Transit to build the new Dos Rios Light Rail Station in the River District, which was needed by residents and visitors alike.
Valenzuela was always a reliable vote in favor of tenant protections for the city’s ever-increasing cohort of renters and for mental health services for the homeless. She was always against more pay raises for Howard Chan once he got too greedy, and was staunchly against buying more tactical weapons for the city’s police force.
She worked with her colleagues to update the city’s extreme weather criteria so warming and cooling centers would be open more frequently for those who need them; then she worked with advocates to create the first city-run “safe ground” in Sacramento under the W/X freeway, which later transitioned to Miller Park. Both sites saw a 40% for more success rate in getting people into shelters or housing while they operated.
“I spent a lot of time trying to convince my colleagues that what I was saying wasn’t just Katie Valenzuela going off the rails, but was a reflection of the concerns and values and interests of a broader subset of our community,” the former councilmember said.
Unfortunately, that was often the label she got stuck with.
Lived experience matters
Valenzuela brought lived experience that set her apart from other members of the council. Now we have no member of the city council who represents this city’s renters; every council member is a homeowner, even though nearly 40% of the households in the city are renting.
Without Valenzuela, there is no longer an Indigenous member of the city council despite the city entering into significant business deals with the Wilton Rancheria tribe (and without too much question).
No one on city council is a single woman, no one knows what it’s like to have to rely on public transportation to get to their job, and no one has witnessed firsthand the brutality and poor treatment that the Sacramento Police Department doles out in communities it doesn’t respect.
“It is important that every governmental body has a strong voice for fundamental change (and Valenzuela) was an important voice for change,” Steinberg wrote in a text. “Whether she won — or even should have won — many of the battles doesn’t change the fact that her voice mattered as Sacramento grows into a city that must have opportunity for more people who have too often been left behind.”
Despite the deafening voice of her detractors, Valenzuela was a voice for Sacramentans who don’t often see themselves represented in government. Ironically, she was replaced by a white, privileged male, who was elected to office by very privileged people.
Scorned and challenged
Valenzuela fell a little more than 100 votes shy of forcing Phil Pluckebaum into a November runoff for the District 4 seat on the council. Pluckebaum’s win was made possible by East Sacramento voters who were folded into her district after a redistricting effort two years ago — a process he was part of. The new district, with East Sac and Midtown together, comprises one of Sacramento’s most privileged neighborhoods and one of its most diverse; but both bear the heavy weight of homelessness.
But even before that election, Valenzuela faced constant abuse from East Sacramento residents and others who blamed her for their problems with homelessness and distorted her record, including an attempt at a recall. Throughout, she rightfully supported Safe Ground sites like the one under the W/X freeway and at Sutter’s Landing Park.
Of course, she was often lambasted for it — but did her opponents ever have any better ideas? I never heard any.
During her time on council, Valenzuela was threatened, maligned, and disrespected, and dealt with stalkers and death threats. Yet Valenzuela still tried to represent everyone, and that was often including the most vulnerable among us. She tried to provide the proper civilian oversight for the police department whose abuse over overtime is excused too often by more moderate council members.
Opponents who targeted Valenzuela only served to demonstrate that the idea of representation for all is often scorned and challenged by those who want even more representation for themselves.
For me at least, Sacramento just feels a little less democratic without Valenzuela on the council.
Though personally, I just think young women with progressive views are anathema to certain political interests in this town, and we will always be under attack for daring to speak too loudly, too often and with too much passion.
But that didn’t stop Katie Valenzuela, and by the way, it won’t stop me. I think someday, Valenzuela’s legacy on Sacramento City Council will be that she said it first — even if they didn’t listen to her back then.
This story was originally published December 23, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
