Bee Endorsement: District 4 election is a bellwether for Sacramento’s warring politics | Opinion

Of all the races in Sacramento, the battle for the City Council’s District 4 seat is the bellwether for the unsettled state of city politics. Progressive incumbent Katie Valenzuela, with a base of trade union and social activists, is facing a challenge from Phil Pluckebaum, backed by monied business interests, developers and the police union.

The political divide is widening in town, and that is to Sacramento’s great detriment. District 4, spanning downtown and Midtown and East Sacramento neighborhoods, has become the fault line where the friction is greatest between the warring forces. It is also where the residents desperately need effective leadership to improve the urban core and its surrounding neighborhoods.

In a close call that is reflected in a dissenting perspective by members of the Editorial Board, the Bee endorses Pluckebaum. He stands the better chance of creating alliances with a majority of council members to advance the overall interests of the district. If elected, he will need to reach out to those who opposed him and be willing to say no to the developers and elected officials who supported and financed his campaign.

District 4 is the epicenter of the Sacramento region’s homeless crisis. The shifting encampments in Midtown and downtown present daily challenges for residents, businesses and responding government agencies. Sadly, the city’s two major Safe Ground sites near downtown are now closed, with no nearby alternative for homeless people other than the streets.

Pluckebaum is admittedly a mixed bag on this issue. He is wrong to see any value in District Attorney Thien Ho’s lawsuit against the city for its response to the homeless crisis. It’s a publicity stunt that doesn’t do anything to house homeless people and serves only to distract attention and resources from that effort.

But he is right to question the city’s strategy of only looking to city property for safe ground sites when there are private lots that could be far more workable for both the homeless and residents. And he is right in his pledge to hold the county accountable for providing the necessary mental health and substance abuse services to those who need them.

Pluckebaum says he has walked this entire district and knocked on just about every door. That is precisely what a candidate needs to do, step by step, to bridge the district’s political divide. He is right to promote how to reduce bureaucratic barriers to building more housing. And he is right to have a heightened focus on businesses large and small that have suffered from the double whammy of the Covid and homeless crises.

One of Pluckebaum’s favorable qualities is how he seems to sense that this council representative needs to work for all its neighborhoods, not just some. It’s a very tough district to represent, with both high voter interest and expectations.

Valenzuela has demonstrated many strong and admirable attributes. She is a tireless worker. She has true compassion for the city’s homeless and its disenfranchised lower-income residents who struggle to pay ever-rising rents. But she has not made enough of a transition from activism to governing. She has too often stayed within her limited support base. And she has made a series of bad judgments that cannot be ignored.

Valenzuela has not voted for a single city budget. An opponent of the police, she could not manage to support a reform package that fully funded the independent police watchdog (the Office of Public Safety Accountability). These reforms included adding non-sworn positions to the department to improve police compliance with department policies.

On housing last June, she did not support a proposal that was entirely privately financed (approved by the council majority) to build 40 new midtown dwellings at 15th and G streets with 20 percent dedicated to affordable housing. She objected that the developer was not using union labor. It was a requirement that neither she nor the city could impose on a self-funded project, and she caved to union pressure rather than vote yes.

Valenzuela on at least two occasions has appointed staff or commission representatives with known volatile temperaments. Free speech is a cornerstone of our democracy, but when it crosses a line inside City Hall to the point of berating Valenzuela’s fellow council members during public comment periods, it reflects of Valenzuela to be associated with such speech. It has undoubtedly compromised Valenzuela’s ability to successfully advocate for her ideas and her district.

Endorsing in any race is always a leap of faith, a roll of the dice. If Pluckebaum lives up to his promise to represent his district and the city, he could bring stability to a city council that needs it. But if he operates within a comfort zone of limited interests, he will struggle and District 4 will become the council’s revolving door of voter discontent.

A lot of eyes around Sacramento are watching this race. A singular focus on progress rather than political factions would best serve the diverse residents of this district.

This story was originally published February 10, 2024 at 5:00 AM.