Petaluma Council Candidates Talk Latino Representation, Housing at Los Cien Forum

In the wake of the Trump campaign’s derogatory comments about Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans, Latino representation has increasingly become part of the national election debate.

It is also a topic of discussion at the local level.

With one in four people in Petaluma being Hispanic, the county’s largest Latino professional organization addressed representation and other topics at a recent City Council candidate forum.

Neither candidate addressed specific Petaluma businesses or organizations that are important to the city’s Latino community.

Instead, they spoke mostly in generalizations about outreach, encouraging participation and leadership.

Here’s what they discussed.

About helping Latinos get elected

The first question, from Los Cien board member Eliot Enriquez, focused on how to encourage Latino representation in office. A recent Democratic Press review of elected officials found that no member of the Petaluma City Council is of Latin heritage.

Frank Quint (District 4): He suggested the need to work with nonprofits like Los Cien and “other leadership groups” to “encourage and guide” those interested in serving.

JJ Jay (District 4): “I don’t know all the issues they have to deal with,” he said, adding that he hasn’t had the dialogue to encourage people to step into leadership roles.

Blake Hooper (District 5): Latinos live in pockets in the city and “we have to meet people where they are.” He wanted to ensure that information related to civic engagement and participation was shared in multiple languages.

Alex DeCarli (District 5): He praised the diversity he has witnessed in his business dealings and said he believes in working with people to develop their skills. “It would be a great thing” if host Enriquez or Los Cien executive director Herman G. Hernandez “stepped up,” he said, and encouraged “to give people opportunities.”

Both Enriquez and Hernandez live outside Petaluma city limits and would not be eligible for public office in Petaluma.

Brian Barnacle (District 6): “Ultimately, it takes a community to get someone elected, and I’m committed … after I win this election to making sure that the person who replaces me in four years is a person of color,” he said.

The president said it’s part of an effort to bring translation services to City Council meetings.

Lance Kuehne (District 6): He drew on his experience as a high school teacher, saying “it’s hard to keep people from being in their own cliques” and wanted to find ways to bring people together. He wanted to see bilingual information made more widely available and wanted to identify nonprofit organizations to engage black people and others in civic participation.

“This is a very white town, so it’s very hard to do outreach,” he said.

Mike Healy (6th District) did not attend the forum because he was at the League of California Cities annual conference in Long Beach.

Tenant Protections

Most candidates supported tenant protections.

Jay: He said he’s not familiar with the city’s ordinance, but “I know they’re in favor of strong protections for tenants, especially renters,” who can be asked to move out for no reason. He favors protections for landlords to provide funds to move in such situations.

Quint: “I support rent and tenant protection. We absolutely must try to help our working class in Petaluma as we continue to build housing stock to help balance supply.”

Barnacle: He called for strengthening existing regulations to protect against health hazards and hoped future policy could consider protections to prevent a family from being evicted during the school year.

Kuehne: He also said he’s not familiar with the details of current tenant protections, but supports policies that could include limits on rent increases, proper notices and making sure landlords take care of properties.

DeCarli: He’s a proponent of “company towns” where companies take the lead to house employees.

“I think rent control has unintended consequences,” he said, adding that it squeezes landlords, causing them to sell properties, forcing rents to rise.

Hooper: Tenant protection is not an issue and he hoped the policies could protect both tenants and tenants.

Affordable housing

Candidates responded similarly when it came to affordable housing.

Jay: He wants an increase in housing types in the city and also supports infill and mixed-use developments.

Quint: “We need to address zoning where it needs to happen,” he said, adding that the city needs to encourage building small, multi-unit homes.

DeCarli: He wants to channel affordable housing by promoting small businesses and industries.

Hooper: He hopes to see an increase in duplexes, quadplexes and cottage units through updated zoning and planning policies.

Kuehne: Wants to ‘change’ development fees to spur affordable housing development.

Barnacle: The city has already taken steps to reduce development fees. The bigger issues involve bringing in more capital to accelerate projects and not voting against affordable housing projects.

Mobile home

Quint, Jay, Hooper, Barnacle, Kuehne praised the city’s efforts to protect mobile home residents — what Hooper called “the last bastion of affordable housing.”

Empathizing with landlords and property owners, DeCarli said the city needs to find a middle ground between mobile home park owners and mobile home residents.

School Resource Officers

Quint, Jay, Hooper, Barnacle opposed SRO at local schools but wanted to see other types of support on campuses. All candidates emphasized the need to increase campus safety.

“I don’t support SROs — I support psychologists, counselors, mental health resources for our campuses,” Hooper said.

Kuehne supported restorative justice efforts without criminalizing students, although he did seek off-campus officers “close by.”

DeCarli, who, according to its website attended high school St. Vincent, said he doesn’t recall issues with campus officers, but “actually never read much into them, so it’s hard for me to say one way or the other if it’s something Petaluma needs.” .

You can reach writer Jennifer Sawhney at 707-521-5346 or [email protected]. On X (Twitter) @sawhney_media.