James "Faygo" Clark 2020
"For a green Sacramento"
Me And My Campaign
Many may have seen me around town with Kozmo, my furry companion. I grew up here in Sacramento, living in poverty the whole time. As is true with many living in poverty, this influenced the way I behaved as a youth. As I got older and began studying more, and becoming more observant, I began to see the suffering around me. This led me to look closer at the systems that run our lives and how they impact people. Being unhoused gave me the ability to see things many people choose to ignore, because of the “it’s not happening to me” mindset.
In 2011, I joined the Occupy Wall Street movement in Sacramento, where I started by helping at food tables. My thoughts at the time were that it was "The 99%" who had helped me survive, so I should do what I could to help while they fought for economic equality. I soon became the food organizer. The people had helped me eat, so I felt this was the best way to give back. I became familiar with some of the movements organizers and began helping organize events. Once the occupiers moved to the front lawn of City Hall, after being kicked out of Cesar Chavez Plaza, I coordinated efforts to hold the lawn and get “24-Hour Work Group” members to other events.
The first event I organized was a march About against police brutality. Only five people attended, but we still made noise! I then organized “Sleeping Bag Day,” a march against the criminalization of the unhoused and confiscation of survival gear. Next I joined the organizing team for the "Anti-Monsanto Project" and helped organize the annual "March Against Monsanto" locally, as well as several shutdowns of Monsanto facilities to protest their unjust, and deadly, business practices. I was also several times an organizer for the "National Day Against Police Brutality" and the "Crunch Nestle Alliance." I founded the "Community Dinner Project" and assisted in several actions to support workers' rights and many more socioeconomic causes.
I am running for office because our city council has continually disregard of the community's concerns, while regularly catering to the interests of large corporations, developers, business districts, and investors, often to the detriment of local residents. My campaign aims to address the epidemic of police brutality (especially towards black, brown, and poor residents), protect the environment, and promote economic reforms that help raise people above the poverty line.
On Social Justice
With people being murdered by police at an alarming rate, as well as other abuses of authority, with zero accountability, we must do something so residents can feel safe. I plan to restructure the police oversight commission to be more effective at curbing violence from police. The commission must have full power of subpoena, full authority to independently investigate any and all use-of-force cases, and the power to indict officers who’ve unjustly brutalized someone. My campaign also aims to demand immediate drug testing for any officers involved in a use-of-force situation, as well as a psychiatric evaluation, to ensure they were of sound mind when the situation occurred. This would also include randomized drug testing for all local law enforcement officers. Another component I intend to advocate is a civilian-run licensing board for law enforcement with a strict code of conduct, much like any other profession. Violations of the code of conduct would result in fines or loss of licensing to be a law enforcement officer.
My campaign also aims to address the exploding number of individuals experiencing homelessness, through a robust set of policies and services that help them obtain essential services specific to their needs, increase access to shelter and housing options, and employ trauma-informed staff to help maintain a dignified atmosphere. Concepts include tiny-home villages attached to a business that employs those living there at a living wage. A portion of the pay for such employment would be put into a savings account for the individual to help them build a start-up fund before exiting the program. Another way to help is to create sanctioned camping zones with access to restrooms, potable water, safe barbecue pits, and trash cans. These sites would rotate periodically to minimize environmental impacts. Other options include safe parking areas for people living in their cars, and multiple small-scale (20-30 people) shelters spread around the city. Add to that a REAL housing-first approach, where we give incentives to property owners to offer 1-2 units per complex to house people, and couple this with services and a trauma-informed social worker to help navigate them.
On the Environment
We stand on the brink of a climate catastrophe. The current emergency demands immediate action if we are to have a survivable planet for future generations. Sacramento needs to adopt a localized Green New Deal that transforms our power structure into one that works WITH the environment. We could be using areas where the city owns the water rights along our beautiful rivers to install underwater turbines that generate power, and include a filtration system to help pull toxins out of the water. We could install solar panel canopies over sunny walkways and portions of bike trails throughout the city. Banning the use of toxic pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers would also be a huge step toward helping preserve the ecosystem.
Our current city council continues to waive environmental impact reports on new developments, a practice that needs to be ended. Environmental impact reports should be mandatory for ALL new development projects to proceed, except temporary emergency shelter projects when necessary. Planting more indigenous plants and trees to help preserve the environment, and transitioning away from petroleum-based forms of transportation, are also essential to addressing the climate emergency. We as a city have the power to create living-wage jobs as we shift to renewable energy sources (wind, water, and sun) and move away from unsustainable sources.
On Economic Justice
We live in a city where the wage gap has increased, rents have skyrocketed, wages remain low, and gentrification has taken over many neighborhoods, especially in predominantly low-income communities and communities of color. This campaign plans to enact policies that revitalize communities without displacing longtime residents, by instead helping them rise out of poverty. One such set of policies would bring back the "Big Box Ordinance" (repealed at the request of Steve Hansen), which made it difficult for large corporations to open new locations in certain parts of Sacramento. This would be coupled with a tax on large corporations doing business in the city, which would fund one-year subsidies for long-time residents to open their own businesses in their communities. The program would be set up to prioritize underserved communities in a way that reflects the diversity of that community.
Sacramento keeps talking about “affordable housing,” which is often only affordable to what used to be the middle class. We need to build more low-income, very-low-income and extremely-low-income housing so that we meet the REAL demand for housing. Rent control and just-cause-eviction protections will also be essential to keeping people in their homes. Higher wages and better-paying green jobs, with wages indexed to cost of living, would also be a sound approach to begin closing the income gap. By Indexing wages to the cost of living, and creating green jobs that help make our infrastructure more environmentally friendly, we can ensure a better quality of life, and more stability for the residents of Sacramento.
We also aim for more economic accountability from our city council, which has been in the practice of waiving the competitive bidding process for city contracts, which in turn keep ending up going to a select few. A truly competitive bidding process is supposed to help ensure that the city is able to get both cost-effective contracts and high-quality work. Once elected, I plan to insist that all contracts (besides those for emergency shelters) go through such a process.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. I hope to see you at the ballot box!!
#Faygo2020
Sincerely,
James “Faygo” Clark
Platform
The Environment
We live in a time where our glacial ice sheets are melting at an alarming rate, weather patterns are being impacted, record breaking heat waves are plaguing people all over the world as the climate emergency continues to worsen. if we continue to fail to address this issue, we may not have long left on this planet. my campaign intends to work locally to help Sacramento do its part to fight the climate crisis! some of the ways i aim to do so are listed bellow.
1) Craft a localized Green New Deal to address the climate emergency on a local level.
2) make use of our local water rights to install multiple underwater turbines which would serve to both generate green energy, and help filter toxins out of our river system. It would also help create living wage jobs maintaining the turbines and filters.
3) create over head solar panel systems that also produce shade over long walk ways that currently offer little shade.
4) ban the use of harmful pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers within city limits.
5) plant more local plants that benefit pollinators
6) create policies that protect our trees while encouraging people to plant new trees
7) ensure that all new developments participate in an environmental impact study prior to moving forward, with exemptions only for emergency shelters
8) discourage the use of fossil fuel burning tools such as leaf blowers
9) improve our public transit systems and make Sacramento a more pedestrian and bicycle friendly city.
10) create more urban agriculture programs to help people have improved access to healthy foods, especially in areas known to be “food deserts”
Social Justice
As a long time social justice advocate, i will prioritize ensuring that Sacramento moves towards being a more just and equitable community. some of my platform is listed bellow!
1) strengthen police oversight commission to include the ability to indict officers who kill people, has the power to conduct a fully independent investigation on all cases involving law enforcement misconduct (including the power of subpoena)
2) establish a publicly run licensing agency for law enforcement officers in Sacramento that includes a strict code of conduct to maintain licensing rights for law enforcement. Violations of that code of conduct will result in fines, or loss of license to work in local law enforcement dependent on severity of the violation.
3) Mandatory drug test for officers anytime they are involved in a use of force case, especially excessive of fatal use of force. As well as mandatory randomized drug tests twice a month for all law enforcement officials in Sacramento.
4) Creating community driven policies that decriminalize people and work to address the root causes of “criminal” behavior
5) draft community driven policies to address implicit bias and profiling by law enforcement.
6) create policies that aim to reduce inequities caused by racism, sexism, ableism, classism etc.
Economic Justice
With 40% of Sacramento residents living at or bellow the poverty line, sky rocketing rents and stagnant wages, we must address the issue of economic inequality. bellow is some examples of how i plan to address this huge issue!!!
1) Establish rent control that is tied to wages, and includes just cause evictions
2) Ensure that new housing developments include more low income, very low income, and extremely low income housing in all mixed use/mixed income developments
3) bring back the big box ordinance and create a tax on large corporations doing business in the city of Sacramento based on the profits made. Use funds generated by the tax to create a subsidy program for individuals living in their community for ten years or longer to be able to open their own business in that community with the first year being subsidized. Prioritize individuals in undeserved communities that reflect the diversity of those communities for subsidy funds.
4) create a multifaceted approach to address the ever growing unhoused populations needs, while treating the unhoused with the dignity and respect all residents deserve. This would include decriminalization and several shelter types. Some types would be sanctioned camp grounds for the unhoused, tiny home villages, small shelters, work programs that offer housing as a part of the program, housing and shelter options for people suffering from mental illness that employs trauma informed staff, shelter options for the physically disabled/medically fragile individuals.
5) increase the minimum wage so that it takes no more than two low wage workers to afford a two bedroom apartment and index wages to the cost of rent for future increases.
6) discontinue our city councils practice of bypassing the competitive bidding process when negotiating city contracts to ensure that we get the highest quality work at the best prices.
