“Heal the Hill”
- Livable El Cerrito
- 3 days ago
- 5 min read
Updated: 22 hours ago
About 35 people, including six people who intend to run for the El Cerrito City Council, turned out Sunday (July 26) to talk with neighbors about city issues at a “Heal the Hill” event at Canyon Trail Park.
The event was organized and promoted online by Megan Steffen, a supporter of the failed ‘Yes on C’ library tax measure, who said her goal was to help people in the community move beyond the contentious campaign as the City Council election nears.
Two Council Seats Are Up
Two of the current five council members – Carolyn Wysinger and Mayor Gabe Quinto -- are up for re-election this year. They have both taken out papers to run for new four-year terms. Neither incumbent attended “Heal the Hill.”
Seven other people have taken out nomination papers. None of the nine candidates had completed all documentation by July 26, according to the city website. Candidates have until Aug. 7 to complete the process.
Seven Likely Challengers to the Incumbents
The seven likely candidates are: Rahul Iyer, Mary Ann Jawili, Michael McDougall, Wally Nowinski, Megan Steffen, Gaia Sonatina, and Kimberly White. Six of them were present Sunday.
“It was really great to have so many candidates here,” Steffen said. “We wanted to get people out here face to face chatting about the things that affect our city. It was hard for me to know what to expect even though I planned this event.”
Several people said they came because they wanted to discuss ideas and opinions with fellow residents and possible candidates. Besides talking informally, attendees were able to provide written comments.
Beyond the ‘Fishbowl’ of Social Media
Rosemary Clark, who is not a candidate, brought a fishbowl decorated with aquatic plants and asked people to write comments and post them on the bowl. Clark said her fishbowl was inspired by a comment posted on Nextdoor by Betty Buginas.
Buginas wrote: “There is a bit of a trend showing up on Nextdoor of suggesting that people meet personally rather than continuing the conversation online.”
Buginas wrote that Nextdoor functions like a “fishbowl.” In this strategy, which is sometimes used in education, a small group of people has a conversation while the rest of the group circles farther back, listening in on the conversations.
Clark was enthusiastic about the strategy of meeting in person.
She recalled, “I was having a conversation with Wally on Nextdoor and I was critical. He said, ‘’Do you want to have coffee?’ Then we talked in person.”
“There is a benefit of talking one to one,” Clark said. “On social media people with the loudest voices tend to dominate.”
A Few Words From Candidates
Likely council candidates at “Heal the Hill” seemed eager to talk with neighbors and potential voters.
Sonatina, a bicycle advocate, said she will run for City Council because “I feel like El Cerrito really is at this pivotal moment where we could choose to go down a more conservative route with some of the candidates and I feel like that would be detrimental to the growth of the city.”
McDougall, a member of the city’s Financial Advisory Board, set up a table inviting people to talk with him about money.
“I’ve been paying close attention to city finances,” he said. “I know I can help out.”
Iyer set up a table labeled ‘Our History of Collective Action’ and talked at length about his view of city finances.
Jawili, who lives on Richmond Street, said she is a supporter of the “complete streets” project because she thinks it will make the street safer. She credited her friend Steffen with persuading her to come to “Heal the Hill.”
“I want to make El Cerrito a better place for everyone,” Jawili said. “I want everyone to feel like they belong and like the city is meeting their needs.”
Unlike the other probable candidates at Sunday’s event, Nowinski was a leader in the successful ‘No on C’ campaign.
“While the voters were overwhelmingly unified in rejecting Measure C, there are still some strong feelings about it,” Nowinski said. “I am always happy to talk with anyone, particularly those who I have disagreed with in the past. It was a nice event and I was happy to meet a lot of supporters there.”
Steffen said she invited every potential council candidate listed on the city’s website, including the incumbents.
A Few Words from Residents
Among those who were not running for office, most people said they came to talk, listen, and learn more. Most said they were not committed to any candidates.
An exception was Brian, a determined opponent of Flock cameras. Brian and Megan Steffen were among a group of residents who came to council meetings this spring to persuade the City Council not to renew the city’s contract with Flock for license plate reading cameras. That position is why he supports Steffen, Brian said.
Brian said he’s concerned that although the City Council voted not to renew their contract with Flock which expired June 7th, the 40 cameras around El Cerrito have not yet been removed and continue to collect surveillance data.
(On Monday, council member William Ktsanes told Livable El Cerrito that he spoke with City Manager Karen Pinkos about removal of the cameras. He said Pinkos acknowledged that there have been delays in taking them down but that she’s received confirmation from Flock that a work order is in place to have it done shortly. Pinkos added that the city is contractually prohibited from having its own workers remove the cameras.)
(On Wednesday, El Cerrito Police Captain Lauren Caputo sent the following community update about removal of the Flock cameras: “Flock has advised the Police Department that maintenance work orders have been issued for the removal of all cameras between July 30 and August 18. While this is the anticipated timeframe provided by Flock, the Police Department will continue to monitor the progress to ensure the removal process is completed.”)
Paula Burch said she’s concerned about the Ohlone Greenway and how to safely manage the growing use of e-bikes, particularly by young people and at high speeds. A neighbor was hit by an 8th grader on an e-bike last year, she said.
Because the greenway is an intercity trail, any policy about e-bike use would need to be a collective action among cities, she said.
“I don’t know what the answer is, to be honest,” Burch added.
For Sherry Drobner, the reason to drop by was simple.
“I just wanted to meet the new candidates and see what’s going on,” she said.
Thank you for your coverage of this. I’ve been curious since seeing the posts on Nextdoor prior to the event.