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Sharon Quirk-Silva, Legislating for the Center When the Centre Cannot Hold

June 9, 2020 //
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Quirk-Silva BLM

Assemblywoman Sharon Quirk-Silva speaking to a Black Lives Matter demonstration, June 6, 2020.

Matthew Leslie

Turning and turning in the widening gyre

The falcon cannot hear the falconer;

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;…

From The Second Coming, W. B. Yeats, 1919*

Perhaps it is both banal, because it is done so often, and inappropriate because the author was white, to reference the Irish poem The Second Coming to comment on the words of a Latinx lawmaker about Black Lives Matter protests, but the poem was good enough for the Nigerian author Chinua Achebe to borrow a line for his landmark novel Things Fall Apart and, to the occupying English, the Irish weren’t exactly white, not like them, anyway.

Yesterday 65th Assembly District Representative Sharon Quirk-Silva (D, Fullerton)  posted a short essay to her official website Entitled Black Lives Matter and Police Officers?

Quirk-Silva BLM Essay

Quirk-Silva opens by asking “can you support #BLM and Police Officers at the same time?” and follows with her immediate answer “Some say no, but I say you can.” She qualifies her thanks to the “noble and honorable” “majority” of police officers with the observation that black men and women face “issues with enforcement or blatant, long-term oppression,” but then veers completely off the subject for most of the rest of the piece to address systemic racism in every other area of society than policing itself. “…activities such as jogging, going to the market, going to school, can all be everyday activities for most, but if you are a person of color, these activities are risky, depending on who you might encounter,” like the police, we might ask?

She continues, writing of her appearance at a June 6 demonstration on the lawn in front of Fullerton’s City Hall, where she herself had served two full terms on the city council. Speaking to a crowd estimated to be around 1,500 that day, she held a handmade sign reading “Protest and accountability = Policy Shift “ (the sign appears in an image accompanying her June 8 post). On that day, she recalled “Right here, twelve years ago (sic)** there was a death, how many of you remember Kelly Thomas?,” stating that there were similarities between that case and that of George Floyd, murdered in the streets by Minneapolis police this year.

Kelly Thomas was white. He was marginalized by society for his mental illness, but like George Floyd, he was suffocated in a street by police officers. In the aftermath of his killing, officials tried to shift attention from the brutality of police to the generally abysmal condition of homeless and mentally ill people. Similarly, Quirk-Silva’s essay shifts focus from police killings to other forms of intolerable institutional and societal racism.

There was a death…yes, there was, a brutal, prolonged, and unnecessary one at the hands of Fullerton police, but Quirk-Silva chose to speak of that killing in the passive voice, and not once during her brief comments that day did she utter the word “police,” even though she was addressing a demonstration against police brutality across the street from the headquarters of the Fullerton Police Department.

Tellingly, she recalled then-OC Human Relations Director Rusty Kennedy advising her twenty years ago when she was a teacher that standing by while people were being demeaned or bullied, or tolerating racism, made us all part of it. Wise words, but Rusty Kennedy later opposed efforts to institute a civilian police board in Fullerton in the wake of the killing of Kelly Thomas.

“We need to stop brutality, we need to stop looking the other way,” she said, not looking at the police station a couple of hundred feet to her left. She anticipated state bills within the next few weeks and promised to make the right vote on behalf of all of us, but declined to specify exactly what these bills would address. One can only hope they are substantial attempts to address the killings of people of color. Generalizing about institutional racism does little good when one refuses to take on the institutions that perpetuate it.

Two days later, she concluded her post about police and BLM by declaring “In no way do I want to defund police.” Her declaration flies squarely in the face of a central demand of the Black Lives Matter organization, who have been the driving force of nationwide protests: “We call for a national defunding of police. We demand investment in our communities and the resources to ensure Black people not only survive, but thrive.”

Sharon Quirk-Silva has described herself as someone who legislates from the center, avoiding extreme positions, but there comes a time when that center will not hold. There is no use in trying to occupy a middle ground that no longer exists. Either one stands for stopping unfettered brutality by police toward people of color—or anyone, or one stands by and becomes part of it.

 

 

* Written during the Irish rebellion and the great influenza pandemic.

** Kelly Thomas was killed on July 5, 2011

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Categories Fullerton Police Department, Kelly Thomas, Sharon Quirk-Silva, Uncategorized

Open Fullerton’s Only Bike Boulevard Back Up to Bicycles

June 5, 2020 //
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Go ahead, figure it out for yourself.

Matthew Leslie

On Friday, May 22, with virtually no warning, the City of Fullerton closed a short block of West Wilshire Avenue to vehicular traffic, including bicycles, to facilitate a new outdoor dining area in the middle of a public street. Signs and barricades close the street to cars, and, specifically, bicycles, even though the area of the closed street is a segment of the city’s official Wilshire Bicycle Boulevard. According to City Manager Ken Domer, the closure is “tentatively scheduled through November 2nd.”

The closure was attributed by city staff to a desire by the Fullerton City Council for amended outdoor dining plans that would allow restaurants to utilize additional city property for expanded seating areas large enough to accommodate social distancing guidelines. But, according to City Manager Domer, “No specific street or public right of way locations were designated by the City Council.“ Domer himself authorized the closure, “not specifically to close it to bicycles,” but for outdoor dining because of the area’s high concentration of restaurants.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led the state to issue strict guidelines for how restaurants may open, including social distancing requirements that make it difficult to seat enough patrons in side their establishments to make opening worthwhile financially. The city’s solution is to allow restaurants to utilized public spaces like sidewalks and parking lots for outdoor dining.

Orange directional detour signs posted on either side of Harbor Blvd. direct  bicyclists north or south on Harbor, not the safest route for many cyclists. Asked if the city recommended that riders use Harbor Blvd. as a detour route, Domer responded “All bicyclists should always use caution on any street they choose to use.”

In response to concerns about the closure, Public Works Director Meg McWade wrote “The intent of the closure is not to hurt the bicycling community.  We are trying to work as quickly as possible to help save the downtown businesses due to Covid impacts – and closing Wilshire quickly is an attempt to do so.” After consulting a map, another city staff member suggested that cyclists use Pomona Ave. east of Harbor, but that isn’t where the detour signs are located.

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Your tax dollars at work creating confusion.

Domer confirmed that the city’s Active Transportation Committee (formerly the Bicycle Users Subcommittee), which has not met since February, was not consulted about the street closure. At least one of its members, Prof. Vince Buck, has expressed concerns with the closure, writing to Domer that he learned about it only from reading it in the Fullerton Observer.

The Wilshire Bicycle Boulevard begins at the 600 block of West Wilshire, at Woods Ave., east of Euclid Ave., and extends east over two miles to Annin Ave., just west of Acacia, and is a central feature of Fullerton’s Bicycle Master Plan. It connects to other streets officially designated and signed as bike routes, providing safer bicycle passage laterally across most of the city without riders having to use major traffic thoroughfares.

The $ 3.2 million boulevard project was years in planning, and funded primarily with a federal grant through the Orange County Transportation Agency (OCTA), with just $ 300,000 from the City of Fullerton for street paving along the route. Fullerton’s closure of even a small portion of the street calls into question whether the city could be accused of misusing the funds awarded to it by OCTA. The grant funded planning for the boulevard, as well as replacing intersection stop signs with permanent traffic roundabouts, adding directional bicycle “sharrow” markings to the street pavement, and posting permanent signs advising that bicycles may use full traffic lanes on the two lane street.

Under ordinary circumstances, the entire block of East Wilshire between Harbor Blvd. and Pomona Ave. is closed to traffic nearly all Thursday evenings between the months of April and November for the Downtown Fullerton Market, but even then cyclists can walk their bikes through the market, and there is frequently bicycle parking provided near the Fullerton Museum’s beer garden, along with permanent bike racks in the area.

In response to questions raised about the Bicycle Boulevard closure days after it went into effect, Domer indicated that he would have the “no bikes” signs removed, and that bicyclists would be allowed to walk their bicycles through the closed area. Nearly two weeks later, the “no bikes” signs remain.

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Cyclists now just ride on the sidewalk, posing a danger to pedestrians.

Although removing the signs might accommodate causal cyclists, it runs counter to the boulevard’s purpose of providing an uninterrupted route for commuters and other riders. A center lane for bicycling, which would restore continuity to the route, is not provided, according to Domer for the safety of pedestrians and diners. Absurdly, what could easily be a center lane, is now a space filled with potted trees in what appears to be a feeble effort to beautify a dining area located in the middle of a street. Cyclists encountering the barricades can easily be observed simply riding their bikes around the closure signs and on the sidewalk instead of in the street, making redundant the city’s excuse that a bicycle lane would endanger pedestrians.

The city needs to rectify the confusing and dangerous situation it created by opening the street back up to cycling now. While other cities are opening their streets up to cycling and pedestrians, Fullerton has closed one off with ugly orange barricades and metal signs. Restore the Bicycle Boulevard with a central travel lane now, or get rid of the tables and potted trees and make turn it back into a public street again.

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Categories Bicycling, Fullerton City Council, Fullerton Planning, Ken Domer, Uncategorized

Ranked Choice Voting Should Be Adopted for Fullerton’s Elections

December 26, 2018 //
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CCD_Grid

Matthew Leslie

In November Fullerton held its first ever City Council elections by district. Three candidates appeared on the ballot for 3rd District voters, where Jesus Silva prevailed with 53.5%, a majority of the vote.

But in the 5th District, as in many past city-wide council elections with many candidates running, the winner had only a plurality of support. Ahmad Zahra fin- ished first in a field of five candidates with 33.1% of the vote.

Congratulations are due to both candidates on their hard-fought campaign victories, but across the city, county and country many voters are asking whether or not a “winner take all system” where candidates are elected to office with less than half of the votes in a given election is the most democratic way to hold elections.

In some cities, candidates have been elected with small percentages of the vote—sometimes less than 10%—simply because there has been a crowded field of candidates in a race. Had there been more candidates in the District 3 election, it seems doubtful that any of them would have crossed the 50% threshold.

In 2016’s combined at-large election none of the three candidates who won seats on the City Council had even 20% of the vote. In a field of thirteen candidates, Jennifer Fitzgerald received 17.2%, Bruce Whitaker received 14.5%, and Jesus Silva 14.4%.

Some local voters have suggested that a runoff ought to be held to ensure that no one is elected without receiving a majority of the vote, but runoff elections are expensive, both for the city and the candidate, and simply extend the campaign season, making it even more costly to run for office.
How about an instant runoff built right into the voting process used for a single general election? It’s called Ranked Choice Voting (or sometimes Instant Runoff Voting), and it’s been used effectively by municipalities in countries around the world, by private organizations (like the Academy Awards), by many colleges and universities, and even, in some cases, by the U.S. military.
According to Fair Vote, Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) is currently used in some form for government elections in cities in six U.S. states, including Berkeley and Oakland, CA, Santa Fe, NM, Telluride, CO, and Minneapolis and St. Paul, MN. RCV has been adopted, and is awaiting implementation, in cities or counties in four additional states, including Memphis, TN, Las Cruces, NM, Amherst, MA, and Benton County, Oregon.

In 2018 Maine became the first state to use RCV for government elections statewide, includ- ing for U.S. Senate and Congress. Six other states use RCV for military and overseas voters.
RCV is being adopted by more and more municipalities because it offers a superior system to the winner- take-all elections we settle for now, where candidates can be elected with a small minority of support simply because so many candidates choose to enter a given race. The concept of ranking candidates is simple: instead of only getting to choose a single candidate from a list of several on a ballot, voters can rank their choices from “1” to however many candidates there are in the race (or stop at a lower number, if they choose).

If a single candidate is ranked “1” by more than half of the voters in the elec- tion, that candidate automatically wins, much like the current method used in Orange County primary elections.

But, if no candidate receives over half the vote, instead of having to schedule a separate runoff election RCV has a runoff built right into the system.

In an RCV election, the candidate with the least amount of number “1” rankings is eliminated from the race. Anyone who ranked that candidate as “1” will have their number “2” choice counted instead.

This process of eliminating candidates continues until a candidate has votes that total over half, or “50% plus one.”

Ultimately, the winner either has more than half of the electorate’s support out- right, or accrues it through rounds of counting votes where that candidate may have been the second, third, etc. choice of a voter whose first or second choice had little chance of prevailing in the end. (The threshold for winning can even be set at a higher or lower percentage of the vote, but for our purposes, over 50% is sufficient.)

A simple demonstration of how RCV works can be found at this link:

Ranked Choice Voting in Fullerton elections would be likely to result in:

 

•Better representation of the will of the voters. If voters are allowed to rank their candidates from best to worst, their votes will actually count for something, even if their most preferred candidate doesn’t fin- ish at the top of the list. It’s like having a runoff without an extra election.

 
•Less negative campaigning. Even though a candidate might know that some voters are likely to back one of their oppo- nents, they will still want those voters to consider them for their second or third choice, which will discourage candidates from running negative campaigns against one another, potentially alienating an opponent’s supporters.

 
•Eliminate the “spoiler factor.” With RCV there is less pressure to keep people from running for office for fear that they will “draw votes away” from another can- didate, and less incentive to intentionally run candidates for the same purpose. Voters can vote their consciences, even if they don’t think their first choice has the
best chance to win, because their second choice might be a candidate they don’t care for quite as much, but who they may think has a better chance of winning.

 
•Diversify funding by big donors. Big funders like the developers and the police and fire unions can’t afford to put all of their eggs in one basket, meaning they will have to spread their money around to support multiple candidates, leveling the playing field.

 
•Encouraging grassroots support of candidates by forcing them to appeal to a greater number of voters. Instead of settling for electing people with 40%, 30%, or even 20% or less support with our current system, Ranked Choice Voting would allow voters a more inclusive, more representative way of electing people to our City Council. The Fullerton City Council should place RCV on the ballot of the next election to allow voters to decide whether or not to adopt it for City Council elections in the future.

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Categories 2018 Elections, Ahmad Zahra, District Elections, Elections, Fullerton, Fullerton 5th District Election, Fullerton City Council, Fullerton District 3, Fullerton District 5, Instant Runoff Voting, Jesus Silva, Ranked Choice Voting, Uncategorized
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