Mustang News October 27, 2020

C AL POLY SAN LUIS OBISPO ’S NE WS SOURCE

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VOTER GUIDE

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Cal Poly is in tiłhini, the Place of the Full Moon. We gratefully acknowledge, respect, and thank yak tityu tityu yak tiłhini, Northern Chumash Tribe of San Luis Obispo County and Region in whose homelands we are guests.

LEADERSHIP

Stephanie Zappelli

Lauryn Luescher

Sabrina Pascua

Solena Aguilar

Lauren Kozicki

Lauren Walike

Marcus Cocova

President, Mustang Media Group & Editor in Chief, Mustang News

Co-managing Editor, News Editor

Creative Director, Co-Digital Director

Co-Digital Director, Radio News Director

MUSTANG NEWS NEWS Stephanie Zappelli Editor Cameryn Oakes Assistant Editor Olivia Galván Maureen McNamara Ethan Telles Sophia McDevitt Grace Woelbing Sarah Banholzer Jenna Mollerus Ariel Lopez Lauren Boyer Catherine Allen

NEWS

MUSTANG NEWS

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2020

OPI N I ON Kiana Meagher Editor Raho Faraha Rahma Faraha Nicki Butler Izzy Ditztler Anya Popslavska Declan Molony Sophie Corbett Tessa Hughes Kate Inman SPO R TS Adam Birder Editor Garrett Brown Sports Video Editor Kyle Har Jack Clark Rafael Medina Gabe Arditti Diego Sandoval Griffin Kemp Eric Villalpando Pranathi Manga Derek Righetti Austin McLellan A R TS & ST U DENT LIF E Sydney Sherman Editor Kiana Hunziker Olivia Meis Elliot Peters Emily Tobiason Grace Kitayama Elissa Luce Samantha Riordan Alexis Bowlby D E SI G N Solena Aguilar Director Von Balanon Sophie Kroesche Grace Kitayama Marta Lukomska Nicole Herhusky Sydney Ozawa

V IDEO Lauren Kozicki Video Manager Daisy Kuenstler Blas Alvarado Anya Dimaio Jordana Ginsburg Sofia Silva Kelly Trinh Matthew Bornhorst Brady Caskey Ellie Spink PHOTO Kylie Kowalske Editor Connor Frost Kyle Calzia Kate Karson Shaelyn Ashamalla Rachel Arabia Andy Sherar Zachary Regner Emilie Johnson Emmy Scherer Faith Bruns CO PY Grace Power Smith Kyra Soares Brett Vollrath Sarah Banapour SO CI A L Lauryn Luescher Manager Chloe Chin Lauren Brown Brian Brennan Ashley Holly DATA Omar Rashad Jordy Roth Harrison Kirk Mason Ogden Owen Mastalir

KCPR M A R KETING & PR Mikaela Lincoln Director Hailey Honegger Social Media Manager Melissa Melton Madison McDonald Emily Brower DISC JO CKE YS Hailey Honegger Keagan Scott Liv Collom Zoe Boyd Kyle Himmelein

Social Media Director

Video Manager

Co-Digital Director

Justin Pioletti Melissa Melton Caroline Seibly Jaxon Silva Liam Reece KC PR NE W S Blas Alvarado Daytona Clarke Sophie Lincoln Katherine Lane Ruby Tincup Sierra Hickman Nicole Morgan Tessa Hughes Maya MacGregor Francisco Martinez Lily Dallow Logan Kimball Sean Galusha Jezzia Smith Tony Farias Jennifer Newton Miki Dubery Amanda Wernik Violet Maguire Marcus Cocova KCPR .ORG Alice Sukhostavskiy Lilly Leif Evan Gattuso Jenna McCarthy Sophia Pattison Gracie Walter Kallie Kidder Jonathon Crespin Spencer Egbert Jennifer Newton Lauren Boyer Trey Barbuto

MMG BUSINESS A DVE R TI SI NG & PR Justin Vermeltfoort Director Carley Epple Marketing Assistant Brynna Barton Advertising Manager Clare Giatzis Advertising Manager Von Balanon Design Manager Michelle Kang Ad Designer Elaine Do Ad Designer Katherine Olah Ad Designer A DVI SOR S Jon Schlitt General Manager Pat Howe Advisor Brady Teufel Advisor Patti Piburn Advisor

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MEET THE EIGHT CANDIDATES RUNNING FOR CITY COUNCIL Story by Arial Lopez, Lauren Boyer Designed by Sydney Ozawa

SAN LUIS OBISPO MAYOR CANDIDATES ON POLICE FUNDING Story by Omar Rashad, Owen Mastalir, & Jordy Roth Designed by Sophie Kroesche

FOUR YEARS OF HEIDI HARMON Story by Catherine Allen Designed by Nicole Herhusky

CALIFORNIA PROPOSITIONS Story by Mustang News Staff Designed by Nicole Herhusky

FOUR YEARS OF DONALD TRUMP Story by Mustang News Staff Designed by Von Balanon

AFFERMATIVE ACTION Story by Catherine Allen Designed by Sydney Ozawa

WHERE TO VOTE IN SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY

GR APHIC BY SYDNEY OZAWA

BY SYDNEY OZAWA

vote in a campus-wide email.

“By registering to vote ... you will have the opportunity to ‘Flex Your Right’ by weighing your opinion on local, state and federal issues,” Armstrong wrote in the email.

“This will impact not only your future but those of other college students in San Luis Obispo, Cali-

fornia and nationwide as well.”

Cal Poly students can vote on campus. Students can drop off mail-in ballots at the 24/7 Ballot Drop Box at Robert E. Kennedy Library until Nov. 3, and can vote in-person in the Performing Arts Center lobby starting Oct. 31.

A mail-in ballot will be delivered

“My voice does matter:” Cal Poly students get ready to vote Journalism sophomore Jillian Butler decided to fill out her ballot at home and then walk into a polling place where she would drop off her ballot.

“I trust that it is the safest way to ensure that my vote actually gets counted,” Butler said.

She said that she has seen media coverage about the Republican Party setting up fake ballot boxes, which makes her nervous to use a drop-box outside of a polling center.

Butler said she imagines that polling centers will have strict guidelines regarding COVID-19 safety.

“If Trader Joe’s can space out their lines, I’m sure polling places can,” Butler said.

Butler said that so much voter suppression occurs and has occurred in the United States and worldwide. Be-

cause of this, she considers her vote a privilege.

Women have fought so hard to gain suffrage and I feel like it would be a waste of all their efforts if I didn’t exercise my right to go out and vote JILLIAN BUTLER Journalism sophomore

NEWS

96.1 percent of students that were surveyed planned on voting during this election season, and 81.2 percent of students planned to vote-by-mail.

Computer science senior Bobby Boyd is one of the students who have planned to vote-by-mail.

“I don’t really want to go to a polling place due to COVID-19,” Boyd said.

Boyd said that there were record numbers of people voting through the mail this year, and for that reason, state election officials will have to figure out how to count them all in a timely manner.

“I’m fine with the result being a few weeks late if it means that everyone gets counted,” Boyd said.

Computer science senior Jack Kooley votes through the mail regularly because it gives him more time to research and make informed decisions.

“I get more time to research. I like doing a lot of research before I vote.

It’s just something that I personally believe in … actually understanding the policies you’re voting for and what the pros and cons of each would be,” Kooley said.

However, some students, like aerospace engineering senior Alexi Derkatsch, do not trust the vote-by-mail ballot process.

“I am not trusting any mail-in ballot,” Derkatsch said. “It seems like I need to be there.”

Only 14.9 percent of the students who responded to the survey planned to vote in-person this year.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2020

BY SAMANTHA RIORDAN AND JORDY ROTH

“Women have fought so hard to gain suffrage and I feel like it would be a waste of all their efforts if I didn’t exercise my right to go out and vote.”

Electrical engineering senior Sophia Stockburger said that it is important to participate in making the country a better place for people through voting.

“I’m someone whose basic human rights can be up for grabs in political situations,” Stockburger said.

The survey revealed that Cal Poly students are specifically passionate about climate change, racial inequality and COVID-19.

Although voting may seem different this year to some, this has not stopped students like Kooley from going out and making their voices heard.

“My voice does matter like everyone else’s voice does matter — your opinions matter,” Kooley said. “All of the things and the policies that get enacted affect me regardless of whether or not they seem like they do.”

MUSTANG NEWS

San Luis Obispo County will have 23 Voting Service Centers for in-person voting between Oct. 31 and Nov. 3, and 19 drop-off locations for mail-in ballots until Nov. 3, according to the County Clerk-Recorder.

At Voting Service Centers, residents can vote in-person, drop off mail-in ballots, receive a replacement mail-in ballot, conditionally register to vote, cast a provisional ballot if the registration deadline has passed and more.

Cal Poly President Jeffrey Armstrong asked students to register to

to all active registered voters. After sealing and signing mail-in ballots, the County Clerk-Recorder website said voters can drop off their completed ballots at the County Clerk-Recorder’s Office, VBM Ballot Drop Boxes, at Voting Service Centers or by mail.

Ballots submitted by mail must be postmarked before or on Election Day, Nov. 3. Mailed ballots will be accepted up to 17 days after Election Day. The United States Postal Service recommends mailing in ballots by Oct. 27 for ballots to arrive by Election Day, according to the County Clerk-Recorder.

The County of San Luis Obispo encourages voters to use mailin ballots to limit the spread of COVID-19. Voting Service Centers will implement safety precautions to protect voters and election workers, according to the office of the County Clerk-Recorder.

If voters choose to vote in person, County Clerk-Recorder Tommy Gong said he recommends they visit Voting Service Centers during the first three days of voting. It will be safer and there will be fewer people in line, Gong said.

Gong addressed those who question the security and integrity of mail-in ballots.

“We’ve been doing vote-by-mail ballots for over 20 years,” Gong said. “Almost 80 percent of voters in San Luis Obispo County used vote-by-mail ballots during the primaries in March. These numbers illustrate that SLO is ahead of the curve and voters are ready to use mail-in ballots.”

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HOW CAL POLY STUDENTS

These topics are mirrored on a national scale. When asked about national politics, polled students felt that climate change, racial justice, COVID-19 and healthcare were the most important to consider.

The challenge facing San Luis Obispo is twofold — voting for rep-

resentatives and voting for propositions — according to San Luis Obispo voter and Cal Poly English junior Renae Garcia-Pak. “When voting for representatives, I find issues related to health care, social justice, climate change, gun violence and housing the most important,” Garcia-Pak said. These topics are important to her because she believes they are a direct factor in people’s lives.

On the subject of representatives, Garcia-Pak said she was particularly interested in candidates Dawn Addis and John Laird.

“Both are proponents of protecting our environment, both are focused on housing needs and both are looking to improve health care,” Garcia-Pak said. “Their education and endorsements are also impressive.”

One of the city positions up for grabs this year is the mayoral seat.

Among those with a preference, Cal Poly students seem to be leaning towards Heidi Harmon as the preferred mayoral candidate, with 49% of responses in her favor. This lead could change, however, as 42% consider themselves undecided on the matter.

The second challenge is navigating the many propositions, Garcia-Pak said.

“When voting on propositions, I feel that it is better to look at how they will affect everyone, as well as who will be affected the most, and I believe that it is most important to vote for changes that will better society as a whole,” she said.

Among polled student responses, Propositions 22, 16 and 17 were the three most frequently discussed.

Proposition 22 is an initiative statute that “exempts app-based transportation and delivery companies from providing employee

benefits to certain drivers,” according to the official title and summary of Proposition 22 as found in the California Official Voter Information Guide.

Proposition 16 is a legislative constitutional amendment that “allows diversity as a factor in public employment, education, and contracting decisions,” according to the same source.

Among those speaking in favor of Prop. 16 is co-founder of the Black Lives Matter movement Patrisse Cullors, who officially endorsed the campaign for Yes on Prop 16.

Proposition 17 is a legislative constitutional amendment that “restores [the] right to vote after completion of prison term,” according to the California Official Voter Information Guide. This proposition was especially important to Garcia-Pak. “I believe that keeping people from voting after being thrown in prison is just another way to oppress certain populations, and it is not right,” she said.

On the other side of the argument is Ruth Weiss, Director of Legislative Oversight of the Election Integrity Project in Santa Clarita. “[Proposition 17] amends California’s Constitution to grant violent criminals the right to vote before completing their sentence including parole,” Weiss said in a statement prepared for the “arguments” section of the Official Voter Information Guide.

85% of poll respondents rated local politics either “extremely important” or “important” on a five-point scale, and 80% considered themselves generally well-informed voters.

of the pandemic but ... it feels like there’s more opportunity for ballots getting lost or miscounted now,” materials engineering junior Dylan Orsolini said.

Students voting by absentee ballot, whether it is out of state or a different California county, also run into issues of ballots running late or being delivered to their hometown.

“I remember my freshman year I found out I was registered to vote both in SLO and my hometown ... I kind of thought I might have committed voter fraud,” said Orsolini.

Many errors in ballot mailing have caused distrust of the U.S. Postal Service. Liberal studies junior Julia Pennington made sure to change her address months in advance but still received notification that her ballot had been sent to her old campus residence.

“I was freaking out,” Pennington said. “Like why is my ballot in SLO when I’m in San Diego. It was just unnecessary stress.”

Dr. Latner said he is studying how increased voting by mail is affecting the election.

“When you switch people from one method to another there’s always going to be a higher error rate,” Latner said.

In light of the pandemic and increases in voting by mail, Orsolini is wary of the impending election results.

“The fact that we’re adding another layer of bureaucracy between the voter and the election results is scary to me,” said Orsolini.

The notoriously busy schedules of college students also brings a challenge to voting. For many, it is not a matter of apathy; it is about taking

the time to self-educate.

“Being an informed voter is a big time commitment. As students it’s hard to cut out the time to read every proposition,” Pennington said.

Despite these difficulties, students are still determined to place their votes before Nov. 3. According to a Harvard Youth Poll, 63% of Americans aged 18-29 say they will “definitely be voting” in 2020. This number is up from 43% in 2016.

“The hype is voting right now, everyone wants to vote,” Pennington said.

According to Dr. Latner, “[t]here’s a lot of work to be done but I have all the confidence in the world that [young voters] can take us to the next level in our democracy.”

ARE VOTING

GR APHIC BY MARTA LUKOMSK A

NEWS

MUSTANG NEWS

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2020

BY ELLIOT PETERS AND JORDY ROTH

As the San Luis Obispo County local elections draw near, students are evaluating their options — and according to recent poll data collected by Mustang News, issues such as affordable housing, police

funding and homelessness are at the top of many lists.

Of a randomly selected sample group of 147 Cal Poly students polled for this story, these three issues, along with climate change and social justice, were the five most commonly discussed topics in reference to local politics.

Obstacles to voting for college students

BY SIERRA PARR

Changes of address, absentee ballots and long lines at the polls are just some of the difficulties college students face when placing their vote. And with COVID-19 still a part of our everyday lives, the voting landscape has changed dramatically in 2020.

“Young people have always been leading the way in our democracy and they’ve been in this fight for generations,” political science pro-

fessor Michael Latner said.

According to Latner, many states have a history of suppressing the student vote. Not putting polling places on college campuses, not accepting student I.D. and requiring proof of permanent residence are all active forms of voter suppression.

While all California voters are receiving their ballots by mail this year, this does not ease the frustration many Cal Poly students feel with the democratic process.

“I know it’s necessary because

ALL CAL POLY STUDENT-ATHLETES BECOME

REGISTERED TO VOTE

BY KYLE HAR

Block P, a student-athlete leadership council at Cal Poly, had their first meeting in September when Cal Poly athletic director Don Oberhelman introduced a goal to get all student-athletes on campus 100% registered to vote.

KIRSTY BROWN Senior women’s basketball player

the process of getting registered, according to Cooper.

“I was so proud of my teammates and thankful for all of them for participating and being a part of change,” Cooper said. “As a big team with 110 guys, being 100 per-

I was so proud of my teammates and thankful for all of them for participating and being a part of change. As a big team with 110 guys, being 100 percent registered to vote is a huge statement within the community.

AARON COOPER Junior football player

accomplish the goal of having 100 percent of their athletes registered to vote. Boehm said he feels the campaign had a big impact on his teammates.

“It’s been very impactful within the football team. We have a lot of first-time voters and that makes me very excited to see,” Boehm said. “I was very proud that with such a big team, we were able to achieve 100 percent [registration]. It shows how we can truly make a difference.”

“We all realized that this movement and campaign is bigger than sports, but athletics held us together,” Cooper said.

NEWS

“It was important to the athletics department that their athletes were student leaders on campus,” junior beach volleyball player Macy Gordon said. “It was important that we are leading by doing and... registering to vote so that all our voices are heard.”

The leadership council, which

Our team has been really active with all the protests and everything going on socially and politically this year, so they were all super excited to be able to vote.

cent registered to vote is a huge statement within the community.”

However, it was not just the student-athletes who got involved in this initiative. The coaches of the teams helped the players by keeping track of their progress and double-checking if they needed help on how to register to vote. Beach volleyball head coach Todd Rogers gave his team extra motivation by giving the players a surf day if the whole team was registered to vote.

“It definitely meant a lot to us just knowing that [our] coaches support student athletes trying to make change,” Cooper said.

Despite being unable to meet in-person as a team, the members of Block P found other ways to communicate and spread the message to their teams. Brown used her team’s Zoom meetings to spread the message. The Women’s Basketball team were also able to learn about the intricacies of voting by participating in a Zoom presentation put on by the organization Athletes Vote, according to Brown.

“We have such a voice in our community. People are always looking to the athletes here,” Brown said.

“We’re kind of the spokespeople for the University and to be able to set that example... to get every single [athlete] registered that is eligible to vote, that’s pretty cool to be able to say that we were able to do that.”

Since their September meeting, Block P leaders said they saw incredible strides in the registration initiative as teams were able to

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2020

MACY GORDON Junior beach volleyball player

teammates.

Cooper is a safety and primarily focused on the safeties and linebackers. Meanwhile, redshirt junior defensive lineman Kain Su’a and redshirt senior defensive end Ryan Boehm focused on the defensive line, and redshirt freshman offensive lineman Payton Campisano focused on the offensive line. All four representatives reached out to other position groups who needed help, leadership and guidance with

MUSTANG NEWS

It was important to the athletics department that their athletes were student leaders on campus. It was important that we are leading by doing and... registering to vote so that all our voices are heard.

is made up of two representatives from each sports team, said they made it a priority to reach out to each of their individual teams about the importance of registering. The appointed leaders of each team made it a goal for all of their teammates to become registered to vote for the upcoming presidential election. The campaign to get all Cal Poly student-athletes 100 percent registered to vote was well-received by all 21 athletic programs as the teams treated it as a competition.

“It started with the swim team.

The swim team [said], ‘We are 100 percent registered to vote. Now we challenge men’s soccer to vote.’ It kept snowballing like that. I felt that we got a lot of positive responses by doing it that way,” redshirt junior football player Aaron Cooper said.

“Our team was super interested [in the voter registration initiative],” senior women’s basketball player Kirsty Brown said. “Our team has been really active with all the protests and everything going on socially and politically this year, so they were all super excited to be able to vote.”

Even though each team had a different path toward getting the whole squad registered to vote, every team was able to achieve that goal. Specifically, the 110-man football team took a divide-and-conquer strategy by splitting players up into their position groups so that the Block P representatives could focus on a smaller number of their

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MEET THE EIGHT CANDIDATES RUNNING FOR TWO CITY COUNCIL SEATS

BY ARIEL LOPEZ, LAUREN BOYER

NEWS

MUSTANG NEWS

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2020

OVERVIEW Two seats on the San Luis Obispo City Council are up for election Nov. 3.

City Council is composed of the elected mayor and four council members. The council sets the policies and legislation under which San Luis Obispo runs and operates. They have the authority to adopt ordinances and resolutions, appropriate funds, establish policies, and approve programs, budgets and contracts, according to the Mayor and City Council page.

The mayor is elected to a two-year term while the council members are elected to four-year terms.

There are eight candidates running for the two positions, and their terms will last from December 2020 through December 2024.

The candidates are Erik Long, Jan Marx, Andrea (Andy) Pease, Abrianna Torres, James Papp, Robin Wolf, Jeffery Specht and Kelly Evans.

Oct. 19 is the last day California residents can register to vote. Voting will take place at polling locations throughout the city on Nov. 3 or by ballots mailed by election day.

JEFFERY SPECHT Jeffery Specht was unavailable for comment.

ERIK LONG

ERIK LONG | COURTESY

Longtime San Luis Obispo resident and former Cal Poly professor Erik Long is running for City Council on a platform of dealing with homelessness, providing more affordable housing downtown and increasing downtown parking.

Long was born in Hollywood, CA and moved to Santa Maria with his family when he was 8 years old. He attended community college and transferred to the University of California, Santa Barabara, where he received a degree in political science.

From there, he moved to Washington D.C. to work as a Soviet intelligence analyst at the Federal Bureau of Investigation. After the Cold War ended, he eventually got his Master’s in Political Science from California State University, Chico. He taught political science at Cal Poly and various other universities until starting his current job as a security manager, supervisor and officer at various Fortune 500 companies.

His decision to run for City Council was prompted by his friends who also live in San Luis Obispo.

“About two or three months ago, a few of my friends told me I ought to run for City Council,” Long said. “I looked into it and decided to run.

I was skeptical at first, because I needed a reason to run.”

Long said he soon found his reason. He stood outside Whole Foods one day and asked every person who left what they felt the biggest longterm issues impacting San Luis Obispo were.

He also asked about 40 businesses downtown.

Everyone had a similar consensus: homelessness, housing and downtown parking.

Thus, Long’s campaign focus was born.

His policy ideas are influenced by his background in political science.

“We need a different way to address these issues, so I thought about how political scientists and world leaders do it,” Long said. “We hold summits to discuss important issues.”

If elected, he said he plans on holding three summits to address these three issues — when it is safe to do so. Long wants to invite experts in homelessness, housing and parking to hear what the citizens feel is a necessary course of action in these areas. He would like to hold them in Cal Poly’s Performing Arts Center when COVID-19 regulations permit.

When asked about what he feels is the best course of action to address the pandemic, Long

thinks back to World War I and World War II, specifically the rebuilding process. He said that the aftermath of WWI left power vacuums that allowed people such as Adolf Hitler to rise to power. After WWII however, he said he commends The Marshall Plan executed in Europe and the United States under President Harry Truman. He said this plan was very successful at re-stabilizing the world. Long said he wants to propose something similar for the city, but on a much smaller scale.

“We need to gather lots of intel to determine exactly where we’re at and we bring in some of the best minds in the area from the many different sectors in our community,” Long said.

“We’ll put together a very detailed post-pandemic recovery plan … something that will help people recover quickly and bring back our vibrant city to what it used to be.”

Recently, Long took time off work to visit every business downtown. After 22 hours of speaking with the owners and operators, he proposed that the city dedicates two police officers to roam around downtown on foot for 16 hours a day, seven days a week, as a means of answering questions citizens have and implement interactive policing.

In order to address and move forward with racial inequality in San Luis Obispo, Long proposes holding a series of town meetings to see and hear what the community feels is the best course of action.

“I’m really a believer in democracy and I like to involve people as much as possible in the democratic process,” Long said. “I’m not too big of … committees. Sometimes you miss things when you don’t involve people and when committees just start doing what they think is important, and I really want to hear what the people have to say.”

Long said he feels like the people of San Luis Obispo need a healthy turnover in City Council to promote new ideas and implement a fresh start, and he said that a lot of people seem unhappy with the situation downtown.

Long is an admirer of former President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and he said he appreciates how Roosevelt talked with “normal people” and tried to understand their feelings and viewpoints. Long’s emphasis on democracy and talking with the citizens emulate Roosevelt in this way.

JAN MARX

ANDY PEASE

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ANDY PEASE | COURTESY

HEATHER GRAY | COURTESY

NEWS

climate action investments that also support jobs and businesses,” Pease said.

Pease said she is proud of her past work on City Council and that her experience with programs and policy makes her a great candidate for re-election.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2020

is important and can amount to a lot of growth.

As a student, Marx participated in the civil rights movement. Today, she said she supports the right to peacefully protest and the philosophy behind the Black Lives Matter movement. She is also a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

She said she is concerned that tear gas was used in San Luis Obispo to curtail protestors, but she said she recognizes that it is hard to get all the facts about what exactly happened.

Marx said she is interested in establishing a police oversight committee as a way for citizens to have input on policies and procedures conducted by law enforcement.

Marx said she feels it is important the city reaches out to communities impacted by these racial issues and is interested in potentially collaborating with Cal Poly for a citywide multicultural center.

As a member of City Council during the 2008 recession, Marx said she feels like she possesses the budgetary skills to help get San Luis Obispo’s economy up and running again.

“If there are budget cuts that have to be made, I want to make sure they are done in a way that is guided by the values and priorities of residents, so whatever cuts are made don’t impact the quality of life of the people here,” Marx said.

Marx is in favor of mandating masks on the streets of San Luis Obispo, helping businesses open up to move the economy forward and safely opening the city’s schools — elementary through college.

With many plans for addressing the city’s issues, Marx said she has the experience and skills to implement these if elected to City Council again.

“I feel like I have a lot to offer the city in terms of my experience, my knowledge, my expertise and my ability to collaborate with people of all different backgrounds,” Marx said. “My motivation for running is that I want to help the city by doing everything I can do to help the residents.”

cal environmental group, for her climate action efforts.

To deal with COVID-19, Pease said she has helped the city normalize masks. If re-elected, she said she would focus more on implementing mask-wearing in bars, since she said that’s where a lot of transmission and infection occurs.

Pease said she is glad to see people outdoors and engaging in safe activities, but recognizes San Luis Obispo needs to find ways to keep active in the winter months while remaining socially distant.

Although initially lacking experience in social justice issues, Pease has now received endorsements from Black Lives Matter and supports the movement as well. She is also a supporter of R.A.C.E. Matters SLO, a local activist group that has organized many of the Black Lives Matter protests in the city.

“I support wanting to do the deep work as a community to address the historic policies, laws and structures that have led to systemic racism and that are absolutely in place today,” Pease said. “I appreciate all of the activism, especially from young people and students. Cal Poly students have been real leaders and I’m proud how the community has stepped up.”

Pease said the backlash these movements have received showcases a gap of understanding. She said the community can do more work of telling the facts better and listening to experiences from people of color.

Pease said she is proud of the work her council has accomplished and feels they have made progress.

If re-elected, she wants to focus on recovering the economy from the damages caused by COVID-19 while also looking at climate action and social justice through an “economic lens.”

This may mean providing incentives to businesses that comply with climate and social justice needs, according to Pease.

“If we are strategic as a city, we can invest in

MUSTANG NEWS

Former San Luis Obispo Mayor and Councilmember Jan Marx is running for City Council on a platform that consists of racial and diversity awareness and activism, climate change action and rebuilding San Luis Obispo’s economy.

Marx was born in Long Beach, California and attended Stanford University, Columbia University and University of Santa Clara Law School. Marx currently lives in San Luis Obispo with her husband and serves as the Campus Dean at San Luis Obispo College of Law. In 1998, Marx was elected to City Council where she served for four years. Afterward, Marx got involved in groups such as the Environmental Center of San Luis Obispo, where she said she put a lot of energy into preserving open space and helping bring Bishop’s Peak out of private ownership. She did this all while running her own law practice.

In 2008, Marx was elected to City Council again, and was then elected mayor in 2010.

Under her leadership, the city completed a skateboard park and replaced playground equipment, increased preservation of open space, increased transparency of the city budget, won regional funding for bike paths and much more, according to her campaign website.

In 2012 as well as initiated a decision to join a Community Choice Aggregate based in central California. This allows a city to purchase energy from alternate, non-polluting sources.

“If I’m elected I want to work to continue to implement these changes and updates,” Marx said.

Another facet of Marx’s campaign is expanding diversity and inclusion across the city.

“For Cuesta and Cal Poly students that come from urban areas, this might be the first time they’re in a community that is majorly white instead of having a more diverse population, and it’s hard,” Marx said. “If I’m on council, I want to make people from different areas and different backgrounds feel included.”

Marx includes college students as “residents,” saying that bridging the generational divide between students and older residents

Councilwoman Andy Pease is running to be re-elected for a second term.

Pease is a longtime San Luis Obispo resident who grew up in the Bay Area and attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she studied architecture. She moved to San Luis Obispo with her husband in 1997 and raised her daughters in the city.

Pease is a green-building architect and has a small business downtown called In Balance Green Consulting with a partner and a couple of employees. She splits her time in half with her business and position on City Council.

The first time Pease ran for City Council, she said there was knowledge she did not possess yet.

“Four years ago I ran for office and at the time, as a green-building consultant, I felt like I had a lot of ways to be effective in environmental sustainability,” Pease said. “But, I feel like I didn’t have the reach in terms of social justice issues and economic inequality.”

Since starting her term on City Council, Pease said she has come to realize how those three issues work together. She said she has taken initiative to improve San Luis Obispo’s problems surrounding the environment, social justice and income.

She said housing problems have aspects of these three issues embedded into it. Pease said she recognizes how expensive housing is in San Luis Obispo, especially downtown, and feels those who work downtown should be able to afford a home there.

“I’ve been proud of the work our council has done to put into place and build upon work of prior councils to put in new housing developments that will come online within the next several years,” Pease said.

This plan also includes a priority for people who live and work in town and sets up boundaries that prevent outside investors from buying up properties. She wants to build smaller housing units that are designed with a smaller floor plan in order to be more affordable.

For climate action, Pease and the council set a goal for the entire city to be carbon neutral by 2035. The council also funded a climate action plan and has invested in infrastructure, such as bike lanes, to encourage residents to take up more eco-friendly transportation. Pease has received endorsements from Sunrise SLO, a lo-

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CANIDATES CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7

If elected, this will be San Luis Obispo native Abrianna Torres’ first time on City Council.

Attending local public schools and running Division 1 Track & Field where she served as team captain, Torres returned back to San Luis Obispo after graduation to work as a Correctional Deputy for the San Luis Obispo Sheriff’s Department. She currently works locally as a small business consultant.

“My experience is pretty diverse, which gives me a sensible perspective on a variety of issues,” Torres said. “As a small business consultant, I’m aware of the economic challenges in SLO and prepared to address these. I know how the public sector works and I have insight on how to improve safety.”

One of the main platforms she’s running on is public safety and homelessness, which she said are coupled together. Torres said she recognizes that homelessness is growing as a result of COVID-19, as well as those struggling with addiction and mental illnesses, and has multiple ideas on combating it.

“When I’m talking to city government officials, the response has been, ‘Well good luck solving the homeless problem’ and if that’s our attitude, then nothing is going to get solved,” Torres said.

Torres proposed bringing in companies such as Chrysalis, a non-profit organization that helps homeless people find jobs. Individuals are paired with a social worker that helps them find jobs. This is a year-long program.

“This isn’t something one group can solve,” Torres said. “It’s not something the city can do on their own. It’s not something a non-profit

and private community members can do on their own. This is going to be a collective effort.”

Torres also said she recognizes how small and local businesses have been impacted by COVID-19 and wants to help businesses open up safely.

“It will never make sense on how we’re allowed to keep shopping at the big-box stores with large crowds of people present, while we force the mom-and-pop shops to close down,” Torres said. “If we had implemented better safety regulations sooner, we could’ve avoided the economic devastation we are seeing now.”

In response to the racial justice movements occurring locally and nationally, Torres said she recognizes the high emotions playing into the debate and that it is not normal to agree on everything. She also said she encourages people to reach out to her personally to learn her opinions and stances on these issues, saying that a lot of false narratives about her have been floating around.

She said that Tianna Arata, a local activist arrested during a Black Lives Matter protest, twisted her words about white privilege. The two have spoken a few times since Arata’s arrest.

“Tianna has made the claims that I said ‘white privilege does not exist and there’s no racism in SLO’ and things like that,” Torres said. “I never did say white privilege does not exist and I feel the way that white privilege has been used in the past couple of months is demeaning. I’ve had people come and apologize for their white privilege and what I hear is ‘I acknowledge my skin is better than yours I’m

NEWS

ABRIANNA TORRES | COURTESY

sorry about it.’”

She said that her denial that systems in San Luis Obispo are built on racism has put a “target on her back.”

In a subsequent interview with Mustang News, Tianna Arata said that both claims are false; she said she did not twist Torres’ words about white privilege, and she has not spoken with Torres since her arrest. Arata submitted a full statement to Mustang News on Oct. 19.

Torres said that law enforcement in San Luis Obispo has not been built on racism, and when looking at data provided by the police, she said that there’s no racial discrimination. She said she is speaking on a local scale and only from experience, recognizing that systems are different in other parts of California and the United States.

“I have not personally been a part of sys-

temic racism,” Torres said. “I couldn’t speak to that until recently, but what I am experiencing now is systemic racism.”

Torres is the only Black woman running for City Council, a trait she said she would not be recognized for if it were not for the current political climate.

“You can’t put blanket statements over public agencies,” Torres said. “If you are coming from a victim standpoint and looking for an issue, you’re going to find it.”

Instead, Torres encourages people to look at the opportunities in front of them. She said she feels she has a new perspective of looking at issues, something much needed on City Council, according to Torres.

JAMES PAPP

MUSTANG NEWS

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2020

ABRIANNA TORRES

JAMES PAPP | COURTESY

Former Chair of the Cultural Heritage Committee James Papp is running for City Council.

Papp has lived all over the world and has been in San Luis Obispo for six years.

He was involved in the Cultural Heritage Committee for five years and was elected chair three times. However, Papp was fired from the Committee in June. He was also involved in the historic Jack House and Gardens community for two years.

The platform that Papp is running on includes the addressing the pandemic, economy, civil rights, affordable housing, homelessness and the environment.

Papp decided to run for Council a year ago when City Council tried to pass a resolution that prevented monuments of people from being erected. The resolution was not passed, but it motivated him to run anyway.

Papp said that one of his biggest accomplish-

ments was saving a number of historic buildings in San Luis Obispo. A building was on the verge of being destroyed and Papp said he responded by “throwing [himself ] in front of the backhoe and saying ‘you cannot do this.’”

Papp said that affordable housing can not be built in California. He instead discusses plans to help the homeless community such as an eviction moratorium, help with security deposits, and supportive living for those with mental health or drug problems.

He also said that housing is influenced by the number of vacation homes in San Luis Obispo. He said this increases housing prices and replaces affordable housing with unaffordable housing.

Papp said that City Council is no longer listening to its citizens and is now only listening to big businesses. He said he can change this by being elected.

ROBIN WOLF

ROBIN WOLF | COURTESY

Born and raised in San Luis Obispo, Robin Wolf is running for City Council for her first government election The main issues that Wolf’s campaign is focusing on are the hospitality industry, civil rights, affordable housing and renting, environmental and health and safety.

Wolf has lived in San Luis Obispo for a majority of her life. She has worked in the hospitality, tourism and public-facing industry for two decades.

A newcomer to government, Wolf said she’s

running to represent people like herself “I am running for City Council, because I don’t see people like me on City Council,” Wolf said “I think that there is a big missing element of representation there.”

Wolf said that as a worker and renter in San Luis Obispo, her perspective could help the council on issues related to this. She also said she has many other qualities that can aid City Council.

“I think that one of the great things that I bring to the table is the ability to bring together

people whose positions and perspectives may differ and work towards common sense and productive solutions,” Wolf said. “Our city is full of diverse people with diverse perspectives. So I think that someone who can work well with people they disagree with is a very valuable asset.”

Wolf said she is extremely involved and passionate about her past work in the arts. She has served on many arts related boards, including serving on the Central Coast Board of Directors for the Shakespeare festival for five years.

Wolf said that some of her other priorities include COVID-19 health and economic recovery.

“There is no other issue that we face that is not touched by that,” Wolf said. “It touches our health, homelessness, housing, which is a key priority for me.”

Wolf said there needs to be more support for mask enforcement by the city in order to “work together to combat this virus.”

The said she has a fierce passion for the service and restaurant industry and said that she is an “activist and advocate” for those in the industries.

“We need someone on Council who understands the inner-workings of these businesses and has been on the ground like myself since day one,” Wolf said.

Her advocacy also extends to the hospitality

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and tourism industry, which is another main focus of her campaign.

“I believe that I bring a very practical perspective of how our hospitality and tourism and visitor economy works,” Wolf said. “It is the biggest part of our economy here in San Luis Obispo. It is something that we need to protect and support as much as possible.”

As she’s running to represent people she said lack representation in City Council, she also said that engagement is an extremely important aspect of government.

“I want to see people from every corner of our community engaged,” Wolf said. “I want everyone to realize that their vote counts just as much as every single person. People’s access to information and their ability to participate in our democracy is key to the health of our community and the health of our government.”

In regards to civil rights issues, Wolf said that the diversity, equity and inclusion task force is a great step forward.

When asked what her favorite thing about San Luis Obispo, Wolf said it is the city’s charm and atmosphere for her “While San Luis Obispo has that charm and kind of nostalgic of a small town, we also have people with new and amazing ideas, and different perspectives,” Wolf said.“We are a college town; we have people who come to live here and bring new perspectives and new ideas.”

KELLY EVANS

KELLY EVANS | COURTESY

Obispo association. The association’s goal is to create an economically vibrant downtown. The organization is made of downtown businesses in San Luis Obispo.

Evans also said that masks need to be worn and talked about more. She said that the pandemic is not yet over.

Although she’s lived in San Luis Obispo for five years, she said she loves the city.

“I have lived a lot of different places and I have never felt so immediately attached as I did here,” Evans said.

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physical bus passes and a central app, which would help to increase use of public transit in San Luis Obispo.

Evans said she wants to decrease the police budget because the department has the biggest budget of all the city departments.

“It is likely that our police budget does not have to be as high as it is,” Evans said.

The way that she said she would combat decreasing the police budget is by getting funding from the state to hire another social worker for San Luis Obispo and moving some of the bike officer budgets to the downtown San Luis

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2020

ture needs are. How much housing you have and where it is affects your jobs, affects diversity, affects houselessness.”

When asked why people should vote for her, Evans said it is to represent people who are not typically represented at City Council meetings.

“People who can show up on a Tuesday night are typically your retired, wealthy homeowners and if they are also all of the votes on council, then it’s almost going to be impossible for the other 60 percent of SLO residents to get their needs out there,” Evans said.

Evans said that she is someone who could advocate for those who can’t voice their concerns at City Council meetings.

Additionally, Evans said the most important thing for citizens is how they can access government.

“I think if I was able to single out one thing, it would probably be the accessibility of government to its constituents,” Evans said. “I think that everything else that we need to focus on naturally should arise from that; that is how democracy works.”

Two issues that Evans would aim to fix immediately is the ticket system for San Luis Obispo buses and the police budget.

With the ticket system, Evans said that it is currently flawed. Residents are limited in the number of days that they can have a bus pass and the transit app to pay for the bus is different from the one to track the bus.

To fix this, she would have the city provide

MUSTANG NEWS

Kelly Evans is running for City Council, and if elected, this would be her first time in an official government position.

Evans has been a resident of San Luis Obispo for about five years. Throughout the course of her life, she has always been knowledgeable of politics.

“My grandmother has been a poll worker every single year since I was born that there have been polls to work in,” Evans said. “I think I was in preschool when I heard my parents talk about how important voting is.”

She said she specifically decided to run for council after the recent movements for racial justice in San Luis Obispo.

“In June, the city sort of struggled to respond to the concept that racism does exist in our cute little town,” Evans said. “I started thinking about [running for City Council] seriously in May.” Evans also said that she always wanted to run for City Council wherever she decided to live.

Some of the issues Evans said are the most important are the environment, affordable housing and diversity.

When discussing Evans’ priorities, she said that all issues intersect and must be addressed in that way, not separately.

“You take something as housing, for example, the way you build housing has to be done in a sustainable way,” Evans said. “Where we can build housing is affected by where infrastructure is and what the coding for our infrastruc-

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MEET THE FOUR CANDIDATES FOR

BY CAMERYN OAKES

NEWS

MUSTANG NEWS

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2020

The seat for San Luis Obispo’s mayor is up for election, with four candidates fighting for the spot.

San Luis Obispo residents can vote for a mayoral candidate in the upcoming Nov. 3 election. Students can vote in this election if they are registered to vote with an off-campus San Luis Obispo address.

The election of mayor is non-partisan, meaning that candidates are not running under a preferred party.

Mayors serve two-year terms and are limited to serving up to four terms.

The mayor’s role is to preside over city council meetings, vote when present at meeting, and they do not have the ability to veto any items. Any policy City Council enacts will be communicated to the city manager by the mayor. The mayor must also be the head of the city for any ceremonial purposes, according to the San Luis Obispo’s charter.

The candidates running for the office of the mayor are incumbent Mayor Heidi Harmon, Donald Hedrick, Cherisse Sweeney and Sandra Marshall-Eminger.

HEIDI HARMON | COURTESY

Mayor Heidi Harmon Incumbent Heidi Harmon is seeking a third term as San Luis Obispo’s mayor.

Prior to being elected for mayor in 2016, Harmon had no electoral experience. Rather, she was engaged in the community as a community organizer, predominantly for climate action, for more than a decade.

During her last four years as mayor, Harmon lead city council in switching to the carbon-free energy provider Community Choice Energy — formerly known as Monterey Bay Community Power — approved affordable housing units and developed an economic recovery and resiliency plan to counter the effects of COVID-19 on the economy, according to her campaign website.

I’m going to continue to fight to be part of the solutions to what I see as the defining issue of our time.

HEIDI HARMON MAYOR INCUMBENT

“It’s a time to have experienced leadership at this time of crisis when we face so many challenges,” Harmon said.

She said she is continuing to address some of these issues in her current

campaign, as she said these are issues that still need work to be done.

This election, her campaign is focusing on three issues: COVID-19 recovery, climate action and diversity and equity.

Harmon said that the city’s goals of housing, sustainable transportation, climate action and fiscal responsibility and downtown vitality are still important, but need to be reevaluated under the need for COVID-19 recovery.

Harmon said these past few months have been especially challenging as she has worked to help the city recover from COVID-19 restrictions.

The best self-care of all is not necessarily to escape, but to be a part of creating a world where people don’t have to escape it.

HEIDI HARMON MAYOR INCUMBENT

The local movement for racial justice has also added to the challenge. She said she is proud to stand up for racial justice, and it is a main priority for the city in wake of their new Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Task Force.

Although these are issues Harmon is addressing for the city, she said she still has students in mind.

Local students have been leading racial justice and climate action movements in San Luis Obispo, and Harmon said she will continue to fight alongside them.

“I’m going to continue to fight to be part of the solutions to what I see as the defining issue of our time,” Harmon said.

As Harmon is running for a third term, she said her experience as mayor has taught her many things. One of the main skills she learned is how to connect and communicate with people to find solutions. However, she said she has seen divisions in the community

widen and has felt disappointed by the politicization of issues like racial justice.

“Those are not partisan, political issues; those are issues about human rights and our very survival,” Harmon said.

Harmon also said that housing affordability is a main concern for students which she has addressed and will continue to work on by establishing more affordable housing in the city.

Unlike her predecessors, Harmon said that she has worked to bridge the gap between the city and Cal Poly and has a great relationship with the student community, as she has learned from and worked with them she said.

Although she said she is proud of her communication skills as mayor, what she said she would like to work on if reelected is a gap in her communication. Harmon said there is a common misconception that she does not do enough, so she wants to communicate more of what she is doing that is not publicized.

“Yes, I ride my bike, and yes, I’m at some of the protests, and yes, I’m doing some of the things that translate better on social media and yes, I’m also doing the very serious work of policy creation and communication with the community,” Harmon said. “And so I think I need to do a different job in communicating that out to the public.”

When asked what she does in her free time, she said she has very little of it as she is a “workaholic” and her job as mayor consumes much of her time. But, self-care through actions like healthy eating, exercise and even doing her hair and makeup are ways she enjoys life outside of the office.

Although self-care in these ways are important for her, she sees her work as a sort of self-care as well.

“The best self-care of all is not necessarily to escape but to be part of creating a world where people don’t have to escape it,” Harmon said.

Although students living on-campus are unable to vote in the city’s election, Harmon urges any student that is living in this community to vote here as “the policies that [the city enacts] will impact you.”

KYLIE KOWALSKE | MUSTANG NEWS

Donald Hedrick Hedrick is a local artisan, recycler and harbinger who is well-known for his sculpture “The Homeless Whale” in San Luis Obispo. He is an avid attendee at City Council meetings and is known for speaking during public comment.

This is Hedrick’s sixth time running for mayor in San Luis Obispo.

“I will run for mayor for the rest of my life,” Hedrick said.

Three issues that Hedrick is addressing in his campaign are localizing electricity, preserving the city and making Laguna Lake deeper.

His campaign platform is also focused on anti-corruption, which he believes is prevalent in the city’s government.

“We seem to be under assault by outside interests,” Hedrick said.

If elected as mayor, he said he wants to see a greater diversity of voices in City Council to prevent unanimous decision making.

He also said that the city is leaning too socialist and is influenced by external interests. There is no evidence that supports whether this claim is true.

Under his goal of preserving San Luis Obispo, he said he wants to prevent it from becoming a “Gotham City.” Hendrick also said that the city is developing too much at too fast of a rate.

“I think we need to be addressing the destruction of our favorite town before our eyes,” Hedrick said.

As for localizing electricity, Hedrick said that electricity needs to be generated from homes through solar batteries, allowing the city to supply their own energy.

Although Hedrick has not been successful thus far, his goal to become mayor is greatly influenced by his devotion to this city, he said.

SAN LUIS OBISPO MAYOR

CHERISSE SWEENEY | COURTESY

Cherisse Sweeney

I do believe that we’re at a place where we could use some leadership in our city, not just on City Council, but as a mayor and leading through compassion and unity.

CHERISSE SWEENEY MAYORAL CANDIDATE

SANDRA MARSHALL-EMINGER | COURTESY

Sandra MarshallEminger Marshall-Eminger moved to San Luis Obispo in 1974. Here, she has raised her family, been engaged with the community and has been an activist addressing climate action and nuclear power in San Luis Obispo.

“I’ve always, whatever I do, been working for the community,” Marshall-Eminger said.

Every year, Marshall-Eminger has coordinated the Earth Day Fair, as environmental issues are a top priority for her she said.

Marshall-Eminger said she is a progressive Democrat and was a member of the San Luis Obispo County Democratic Party central committee from 2003 to 2012. Through this involvement, Marshall-Eminger said she gained experience working with elected officials and government.

Although Marshall-Eminger has no elected experience, she said there is no way to prepare, and voters need to be open to letting anyone run.

She said the reason she has decided to run for mayor is because she disagrees with Harmon’s mayoral policies and wants to represent the people in the community who feel misrepresented.

Marshall-Eminger said the top three issues her campaign is addressing are downtown preservation, the environment and housing affordability.

One of her main concerns about the environment is preserving open space.

She said it will be the “next new frontier” and is at risk of exploitation. “[Open space] is where a lot of natural life lives, and it’s very important to our area,” Marshall-Eminger said.

“That’s what helped make [San Luis Obispo] so lovely.”

As for the preservation of downtown, Marshall-Eminger said she is concerned about San Luis Obispo becoming a different city than the one she loves. She is a member of Save Our Downtown, a group of San Luis Obispo residents that are aiming to preserve what makes San Luis Obispo unique according to their website.

Marshall-Eminger said she is not supportive of the 75-foot-tall housing development downtown as it will diminish the city’s charm. Although this development will provide affordable housing, she said that it is not adequate enough.

As for housing, Marshall-Eminger said this is an issue that she has students in mind for. She wants to ensure students are living in safe and afford-

Our decision in voting is just to be careful that we have enough representatives that everyone is heard.

SANDRA MARSHALL-EMINGER MAYORAL CANDIDATE

able homes.

Although she supports more affordable housing, she also wants to ensure that new developments are backed by enough jobs to support new residents, according to her campaign website.

Marshall-Eminger said her campaign is fueled by her desire to represent the community.

“Our decision in voting is just to be careful that we have enough representatives that everyone is heard,” Marshall-Eminger said.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2020

part of the ingenuity and the creativeness and what makes San Luis Obispo special,” Sweeney said.

Although Sweeney has no electoral experience, she has worked with city and local governments in Southern California while working for an architectural firm. She said she has worked

on multiple public works projects and learned how city level government works.

When she moved back to the Central Coast in the early 2000s, she helped her dad with his concrete-ready mix business which required working with San Luis Obispo County on concrete projects.

One project Sweeney is most proud of is her work on a mining operation in Santa Barbara County. She worked with geologists, biologists and environmental consultants to mine renewable resources for concrete. This also strengthened her understanding of government.

When she is not campaigning and working for her business, Sweeney said she loves spending time with her family. Although COVID-19 lockdowns have been hard for her and her business, one perk is the way it has reconnected her family.

Sweeney has recently been accused on social media of moving to San Luis Obispo solely to run for mayor. The city requires candidates to live in the city for at least 30 days before the election.

Social media accounts have accused Sweeney of moving to San Luis Obispo in August.

“I know what I signed up for and I know the nature of running for an elected seat, and in campaigning, and I have faith in our community,” Sweeney said. “I know that for anyone to believe for a moment that I would run the risk of doing this and lose on a technicality, I think people will see through that.”

In response to those claims, Sweeney said her main concern is keeping her family and home safe.

Although she has received criticism on social media, she said she wants people to actually get to know her beyond the accusations.

“I want people to make their judgment and make their decisions based on getting to know me, talking to me, coming to visit with me,” Sweeney said.

MUSTANG NEWS

Sweeney is the owner of Basalt Interiors, a local business downtown that offers interior design services. As a local business owner, Sweeney said she has felt the impact of COVID-19 on the economy. She said she may have to close her store if restrictions on local businesses are not loosened.

Her decision to run for mayor is not in response to this, but because she wants to be a leader for the community, she said.

“I think we’re at a pivotal point in our city,” Sweeney said. “I do believe that we’re at a place where we could use some leadership in our city, not just on City Council, but as a mayor and leading through compassion and unity and bringing people together and some pragmatic approaches to addressing the challenges that we have ahead of us.”

Sweeney’s campaign is focusing on three issues: public health and safety, economic vitality and inclusivity.

Sweeney said these issues are interwoven in a harmonious circle.

“If we’re not healthy, we’re not safe, we can’t have that vitality,” Sweeney said.

Under the issue of public health and safety, Sweeney said that homelessness is an issue that is greatly affecting the city. “[Homelessness is] creating a very unsafe environment,” Sweeney said.

“And it’s not just isolated to downtown; it’s really kind of bleeding into our communities and neighborhoods as well.”

Sweeney’s solution is private-public partnerships and resource development, according to her campaign website.

As for her focus on inclusivity, Sweeney said the community is facing a lot of divisiveness right now, and people need to work together and communicate better.

She sees Cal Poly as a relationship the city needs to foster as the campus is a beacon of light, according to Sweeney.

“We need to embrace what Cal Poly brings to our communities, especially now,” Sweeney said. “It’s so vital to our growth and our survival right now.”

As a mother with two children ages 11 and 14, she sees how inspiring Cal Poly students are to kids in the community and wants to strengthen that bond.

“I want [Cal Poly students] to be a

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12

MAYORAL CANDIDATES ON SAN LUIS OBISPO POLICE FUNDING

BY OMAR RASHAD, OWEN MASTALIR, & JORDY ROTH

Ever since the killing of George Floyd in May, a summer of protests, armed responses from San Luis Obispo’s city police and District Attorney Dan Dow charging prominent activists with misdemeanors have all spurred conversations about policing and police funding in San Luis Obispo.

Since protests began in June, the city has made strides to combat racial inequality in San Luis Obispo. Last month, the city council approved a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Task Force. In addition, SLO City updated its Use of Force and Policy FAQs following the arrest of Arata. The city listed nine new provisions, including the banning of tear gas, rubber bullets, pepper spray or other violent tactics against peaceful protesters, as well as an establishment of a Civilian Review Board.

Mustang News reached out to all four candidates running for mayor in San Luis Obispo for their policy proposals and sentiments toward the state of policing in San Luis Obispo.

Breaking down the police budget

Are you in favor of reducing

police funding or increasing it? the officers who, the more I educate myself on this issue, the more frustrated I feel not only for people of color and Black people in particular.

But for the officers to honestly like it we have a system that has set up, everybody, for failure. You know, these guys and gals, these people aren’t really trained for a lot of the things that they’re dealing with.”

HEIDI HARMON | COURTESY

take some really close focused meetings and sessions to talk about what their needs are and what our community needs are right now.”

“I think it’s important to make educated decisions when it comes to decreasing or increasing any funding. If it didn’t mean putting our community in danger, I think we need to do the right thing that is in the best interest of our community with keeping us safe.”

Heidi Harmon: “We will definitely be having what I would hope to be a very public, engaged, robust conversation about what I’m going to call public safety as a broader category. And it’s clear that there is a lot of concern about policing, specific to this community, and of course, at a national level. And so, regardless of whether that amount is appropriate at this moment or not, we’re going to be looking at that budget and asking ourselves.”

“When I look at reallocating funding for policing. I think it’s a conversation that ends up being really positive, all the way around, including and perhaps even, especially for

CHERISSE SWEENEY | COURTESY

Cherisse Sweeney: “It’d be really reckless for me to say we need to increase or decrease it without really diving into it with the police department and dissecting what areas would be responsible to increase or decrease. That’s gonna

SANDRA MARSHALL-EMINGER | COURTESY

Sandra MarshallEminger: “They need to all be trying to trim back. We don’t need to keep charging people more taxes. We need to find out what we can do, what is in that budget that we can cut back on. Especially after what happened with the Black Lives Matters situation, I believe a wise investment would be in training our police about non-violence, and that we have ‘truly’ peace officers.”

MUSTANG NEWS

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2020

Every June, San Luis Obispo’s city budget for the following fiscal year is approved by city officials. In the last three years, San Luis Obispo’s police

department budget has increased by 2 million dollars, a 12% jump overall.

This past June, city council members approved the 2020 to 2021 fiscal year city budget, which allotts $18.6 million for the police department.

That comprises 27% of San Luis Obispo’s entire operating budget’s general fund, which also finances other city government functions including the fire department, city administration and community development.

In terms of overall spending, a Mustang News review of police budgets per capita found that the City of San Luis Obispo spends roughly $393.37 per resident in San Luis Obispo, which is similar to neighboring cities.

Within the police department’s $18.6 million budget, costs toward police patrol, investigations and police support services comprise the top three expenses.

Incumbent Mayor Heidi Harmon, Sandra Marshall-Eminger, Donald Hedrick, and Cherisse Sweeney all agreed to talk with Mustang News regarding policing in San Luis Obispo. None of the candidates had set policy proposals regarding police funding and alternatives to policing. However, they said they would be open to looking into police reform if elected mayor.

KYLIE KOWALSKE | MUSTANG NEWS

THE HILL

Donald Hedrick: “They can’t enforce the laws even if we have too many laws. They need to do a better job of enforcing less laws.”

What are your thoughts on the Black Lives Matter protests, as well as sentiments like “Abolish the Police?”

Heidi Harmon: “San Luis Obispo is like a lunch table during grammar school that not everyone is invited to sit down at. It is. We have to have the courage to look at the mirror and reflect, and do better, and not look around the mirror and attack the mirror holders.

That is what is happening now, and that is very disappointing to me.”

“I recognize that I have dropped the ball. I’ve known Tianna for four years. I met her at a Black Lives Matter action four years ago. And what has happened in San Luis between that time and now? Nothing. I am never letting nothing happen again.

As long as I am in a position to do something about it, I am committed to doing something about it. If we drop this ball now, that will be the biggest moral failure since we took this land from Indegenous People in San Luis Obispo.”

Cherisse Sweeney:

Sandra MarshallEminger: “My biggest concern [of the Tianna-led protest] was that someone would get hurt. I actually thought because the hospital exits are closed, if somebody’s going to the doctor or if there’s an emergency, we need to think about those things. I’ve been part of organizing protests that are non-violent protests, that we did break the law, but we understood we were going to break the law.”

Donald Hedrick: “That sounds like the socialist communists that are trying to take our country away [from us]... I’m on the side of sovereignty and sanctuary cities.”

“This is a totally sick concept of people that want to tear your governments down, tear police down and carry the world down and turn everybody into a third world country.

But somehow the communist wants to turn this country into a wreck.”

SHAE ASHAMALLA | MUSTANG NEWS

Mayoral candidates provide their opinions on the future of SLO Police Department funding.

What are your thoughts on defunding the police in order to allocate money towards other city government programs?

Heidi Harmon: “I hear it, and I feel it too, it feels like it makes sense to take money from policing directly and put it into social services, and maybe in the end that is the thing that makes the most sense. But maybe in the end, that’s not quite it. So that’s what I need to educate myself more about, because we also want to be careful about unintended consequences. We don’t want to defund...a department, to the extent where we have even worse outcomes for whatever reason. I don’t know that that would be an outcome but I, and one of the things his job has taught me the most is that you need to be really thoughtful about unintended consequences.”

“What’s absolutely clear to me is that we need to put more resources in helping people in a way that actually helps people and it is clear where that money comes from. I think we need to be really thoughtful and creative about coming from all kinds of

different areas. We need more social workers, essentially, and less armed officers, that would be my simple kind of basic plan”

Cherisse Sweeney: “As a mayor and on city council, I’m just hoping to bridge these gaps of communication resources where there’s so many voices and people that don’t have advocates, and I’m just trying to help be an advocate for them. So whether I’m elected or not.

In November, if I can at least help bridge those gaps of resources. I’ve done my job.”

“I’m going to tap into any resources [for mental health crisis] I can possibly find public, private, regional city, county, state federal. I don’t care, [I’m] going to find it. And we’re going to make sure it gets to the right people.”

Sandra MarshallEminger: “The way I understand defunding is that it’s not really ‘defunding’ the police, it is to be spent in other directions. One of my things again is I would be funding that people are trained better, that we need to understand this is a peace officer.

Maybe it shouldn’t be called policing because that seems to be following people and finding out what’s wrong, but instead how can we make things right, happy, healthy, and hopeful for people in our community.”

Donald Hedrick: “We need the police...to enforce the laws better…[funds] should be diverted to other activities…we wouldn’t need police to do things done by other agencies that… already have something in place.”

MUSTANG NEWS

“I’ve been on those calls for 9-11’s that have happened in their life or death situations, and there isn’t anything in place yet to beat that. So until there is something, then we can start talking about it. But while there are people’s lives at stake, to make sure that we’re keeping them safe.

And then we can try when there are other systems and protocols in place that might be able to replace those, then we can talk about it. But right now, they’re not there.”

13

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2020

THE HILL

DIEGO RIVERA | MUSTANG NEWS

Police activity in SLO has been brought to attention by recent protests.

FOUR YEARS

14

A LOOK AT HOW HARMON AND

LOCAL BUSINESSES

NEWS

MUSTANG NEWS

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2020

BY CATHERINE ALLEN For Mayor Heidi Harmon, part of representing San Luis Obispo residents has meant advocating for her constituents’ jobs and creating a robust local economy. After four years as mayor, Harmon and local business owners reflect on what’s been done, and what needs to be done following the Nov. 3 election.

Harmon said she’s built relationships with non-profit leaders, business owners and the Cal Poly community which has formed a social infrastructure that she said will be the “underpinning” of the COVID-19 pandemic recovery effort moving forward. Some business owners are in full support.

“I’ve got nothing but praise for the current administration and how hard they’ve worked to make it super business-friendly for the downtown,” Boo Boo Records owner Mike White said.

On enacting COVID-19 economic recovery policies such as the Small Business Relief Fund, Harmon said the city didn’t make business owners go through permitting or any of the typical procedures, which has allowed for “fast and fluid” business support. Harmon cited the $5,000 small business relief grants that the city gave to 52 businesses, which don’t need to be paid back. But the work isn’t done she said.

“The list of needs is going on and on and deepening every day,” Harmon said.

Harmon said the city hopes to set up a system for small businesses to receive low-interest loans from a local bank amid the pandemic.

Harmon also emphasized the need to carry out more infrastructure projects in the city, which would be completed by local workers.

For White, the loss of sales tax due to COVID-19 travel restrictions has been especially “brutal.” Historically, over 70% of all sales tax in the city of San Luis Obispo is paid by tourists.

But there’s a measure that may be able to help, and Harmon said she fully supports it.

The Measure G-20 sales tax would provide approximately $20 million a year to the city, which Harmon said would “support us at a time when we needed the most.”

“I’m not a big raised taxes guy, but I think this one is is crucial,” White said.

Some residents and mayoral candidates have painted the Black Lives Matter protests as harmful to downtown San Luis Obispo businesses, but Harmon deems this rhetoric a “racially-oriented false choice.”

“We all just need to be really clear about what’s going on here in the election,” Harmon said. “You have people that never once have attended a city council meeting, that never once have considered even getting civically engaged at all, until Black people walk down their street.”

Harmon spoke with Giuseppe’s and Mo’s Smokehouse BBQ— restaurants that have especially been affected by the Black Lives Matter protests. Both restaurants said they aren’t against the protests. Boo Boo Records agrees.

“For me, I’ve never felt there was any danger from that at all,” White said. “We completely support Black Lives Matter and their peaceful protests.”

Though the city faces pre-pandemic challenges, with the additional obstacles of COVID-19, White said the city should “keep doing what they’re doing.”

K YLIE KOWALSKE | MUSTANG NEWS

COVID-19 RESPONSE

BY ETHAN TELLES

Mayor Heidi Harmon said the COVID-19 pandemic has been on her mind since March, and she said she will continue to prioritize helping the community stay safe and healthy, in addition to recovering from the economic impact of COVID-19.

As of Oct. 22, there have been 4,121 county residents infected with COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, and 32 people have died of the virus. On Thursday, Oct. 22, there were 214 people actively sick with the virus.

Harmon said that the rise in cases and the death toll is tragic, but the city can get through it with the correct guidance.

“I think we have done a really good job. I mean, one death is too many deaths, but I think our numbers are still relatively good,” Harmon said.

“I know there is a concern with students coming back, but I think we’re doing well.”

The mayor and city council do not have a lot of governance over what protocol and action can be taken in the course of COVID-19, as the county Public Health Department and Board of Supervisors are the leading force in expanded testing efforts and county recovery, according to Harmon.

“The Board of Supervisors has not been as ambitious or aggressive in terms of public health and safety,” Harmon said. “[But] we’ve always prioritized health and safety even if

that means having to strike down on our own.”

For example, the city decided to close bars on the Fourth of July to prevent a spike in COVID-19 cases before the county did.

“I was trying to encourage the county to close down all of the bars heading into that weekend, and they were not trying to do that,” Harmon said. “So, we decided to close our bars ... and right after that the county decided to follow suit and close bars countywide.”

The city also doubled party-related fines in early April to prevent people from congregating in large groups and spreading the virus.

“We want to … use a local tool that we already have in place to deal with social activities that we think, in this particular case, can be the catalyst and cause for the spread of COVID-19,” City Manager Derek Johnson said at an April city council meeting.

Harmon has five major goals in her campaign to be reelected: climate action, housing — especially affordable housing — sustainable transportation, fiscal responsibility and downtown vitality.

“As we face the health and economic challenges of COVID-19, San Luis Obispo needs proven leadership, creativity and collaboration to move us forward,” Harmon said.

OF HEIDI HARMON

15

THE CURRENT CITY COUNCIL IMPACTED SLO

ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY

BY STEPHANIE ZAPPELLI

DIEGO RIVER A | MUSTANG NEWS

BLACK LIVES MATTER

BY SOPHIA MCDEVITT

HOUSING

BY ARIEL LOPEZ

NEWS

Mayor Heidi Harmon said housing and its affordability are two of her top priorities.

During her four-year term, Harmon repealed the Rental Housing Inspection Program. The inspection program entailed a routine health and safety inspection of all rental units in the area, but was seen as an invasion of privacy by renters and landlords alike. Harmon said this policy would have forced people out of their rentals and caused landlords to make improvements that did not relate to the California Health and Safety Code.

Harmon said the community disliked the policy, and she voted to repeal it as a “direct response of listening to the community.”

Mayor Harmon also touched on her future goals if reelected. She

said she would want to increase messaging about renter’s rights for those entering the market for the first time.

During her time as mayor, Harmon gave out the city’s first legal tiny home permit and created policies that incentivized smaller housing units.

“We create more access for people, especially working families, young professionals and students,” Harmon said about smaller housing units.

Harmon is a renter herself and said she essentially cannot afford to live here.

“I understand the problem deeply,” Harmon said. “It is a struggle and it’s frustrating to be so far behind in terms of creating affordability, but we are doing the best we can to create at least some more affordability and more access.”

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2020

establishing a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Task Force on the city council.

“It is very clear that the lack of diversity in this town is not an accident,” Harmon said. “The willingness on the part of many, especially people in positions of established power in this community, to not only ignore but in many ways shut out, smash down, and deny the voices of people of color who are telling us over and over and over and over again they do not feel ... welcome here.”

Harmon said that addressing the racism within the community is a top priority for her, and she hopes that other residents feel the same way.

As an activist, Harmon said she was concerned with the safety of some of the tactics used during the Black Lives Matter protests.

However, she thinks the more important concern is why a 20-yearold girl, Tianna Arata, felt strongly enough to risk her life by going on the freeway.

Harmon recalls seeing Arata at a Black Lives Matter protest four years ago. She regrets that no action has been taken within the local government since then.

“I am never letting nothing happen again,” Harmon says.

by half, and by 2030 — have 40% of transportation within the city done by electric vehicles, and 50% done by alternative transportation, like walking, biking and bussing.

“It’s an ambitious goal,” City Sustainability Manager Chris Read said. “But also probably the most viable path for us to thrive as a community.”

Read said the city would like to build more protected bike lanes and build more bus stops, so residents feel safe using alternative transportation.

The city is also working on installing more public charging stations for electric cars, Read said.

MUSTANG NEWS

Local Black Lives Matter activists have called for the San Luis Obispo community to address racism towards black people.

Harmon said she is frustrated for both Black residents and San Luis Obispo Police Department (SLOPD) officers.

“We have a system that has set up everybody for failure,” Harmon said.

She said she plans to address police funding, police responsibility and racism within the community in a way that is beneficial to everyone.

Harmon said that the police force is not adequately trained for many of the problems they are called upon to handle. In recent decades, social services have been scaled back, according to Harmon. Instead of having access to mental health experts, people call 911 because there are no other options.

The result is an unprepared, overworked and overexerted police force, where mistakes are more likely to occur, according to Harmon.

One solution to this problem that Harmon has employed was to hire a social worker for the police department.

Although just one social worker has been hired so far, they have been successful, according to Harmon.

She said that ideally there would be about 10 social workers to more meaningfully engage with the community.

Harmon said she has a three-point plan relating to the reallocation of police funds that would benefit community members and officers Harmon aims to: » Invest in a civilian review board. » Invest in supportive crisis responders. » Improve data collection and transparency.

Harmon says she wants to reevaluate the SLOPD budget, which was $18.5 million last year, and focus on public safety as a whole.

She wants to develop a better understanding of who the public is and what it means to be safe to them.

Harmon says that these definitions vary for everyone, and therefore she strives to achieve the best outcome for as many residents as possible.

Regarding conversations about race and racial tensions in the community, Harmon said that she and the city council have had productive conversations already.

One recent accomplishment was

Under the governance of Mayor Heidi Harmon and the current city council, San Luis Obispo switched to using only renewable and carbon free energy.

The city now gets its energy from Central Coast Community Energy, a not-for-profit organization that provides only renewable and carbon free energy to their customers.

The new energy provider obtains energy generated by renewable sources, and then PG&E delivers the energy to customers and manages customer service.

The energy provider is “locally controlled,”

as elected officials from cities and counties sit on the governing boards of the agency, according to the energy provider’s website. Harmon sits on the policy board.

“I think something like a utility should be owned and regulated by the people,” Harmon said to Mustang News in January. “There’s a lot at stake. There’s people’s lives at stake, there’s the climate crisis itself at stake.”

Harmon and the current city council also passed a Climate Action Plan in August 2020, with the goal of the city becoming carbon neutral by 2035.

Through this plan, the city intends to cut building emissions

16

A BREAKDOWN OF

15

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2020

19

21

BY FRANCISCO MARTINEZ

BY OLIVIA GALVAN

BY ASHLEY HOLLY

BY KIANA MEAGER

VOTING “YES”

VOTING “YES”

VOTING “YES”

VOTING “YES”

VOTING “YES”

Voting “yes” means those on parole with felony convictions regain the right to vote. Under California’s current constitution, those who are convicted of felonies are disqualified from voting until their prison sentence and parole are completed. Imprisoned felons would still be disqualified from voting in California, but a “yes” vote amends California’s constitution to let paroled felons vote. Supporters argue parole is meant to be the beginning to reintegration into society; they argue restoring voting rights does that. Prominent supporters include Gov. Gavin Newsom, Democratic vice presidential candidate and Sen. Kamala Harris and Rep. Ro Khanna.

Voting “yes” will allow 17-year-olds in California who will be 18 by the next general election to vote in both primary and special elections.

A “yes” vote on this measure would allow all homeowners older than 55, people with disabilities and wildfire and disaster victims who use their inherited properties as primary homes to be eligible for property tax savings. Supporters say it will provide increased tax revenue to schools, fire protection services and local government.

Voting “yes” enacts rent control on most all-rental housing older than 15 years. This can postpone gentrification by not raising the already-high rent prices, allowing residents to stay in their respective communities. Proponents for this proposition argue it will combat and prevent homelessness in California.

VOTING “NO”

MUSTANG NEWS

18

BY SOPHIA MCDEVITT

A “yes” on Prop. 15 means that increasing property taxes on commercial properties worth more than $3 million will go towards funding local governments and schools. Prop. 15 aims to close corporate loopholes by requiring corporations to pay taxes on the market value of their properties.

Doing so would raise the cost of living on everyday items such as food, gas, day care and health care.

NEWS

17

CALIFORNIA

A “no” on Prop. 15 means that property taxes on commercial properties will remain the same.

Opponents of Prop. 15 argue that small business owners and farmers will feel the impacts of passing Prop.

15 because most small business owners rent their properties.

Landlords will increase rent to compensate for the higher taxes that this proposition requires them to pay and the financial burden will fall on small business renters.

PEOPLE AFFECTED Small business owners who rent commercial property, corporations and farmers will be affected. Students will be affected due to increased cost of living and increased funding to schools.

VOTING “NO” Voting “no” means those on parole with felony convictions will have to wait until their parole ends for their voting rights to be restored.

California’s constitution, which prohibits convicted felons on parole from voting, would not be changed.

Opponents say those on parole with felony convictions should wait until their parole ends to have their vote restored. The state Republican Party is opposed to Prop 17.

PEOPLE AFFECTED The California Department for Corrections and Rehabilitations reported 50,822 people were on parole as of 2019 in its spring 2020 population projections. The state projects 51,553 parolees in 2020. If Prop 17 passes, the state projects in its voter information guide to spend a one-time cost in the hundreds of thousands of dollars range to update voter registration cards and web forms to account for the change. County costs would also go up to account for processing voter registration forms and mailing out more ballot material to voters made eligible under Prop 17.

VOTING “NO” Voting “no” would continue to prohibit 17-year-olds in California who will turn 18 by the next general election to vote in primary and special elections.

PEOPLE AFFECTED Young, first-time voters who will be 18 by the next general election would be impacted by this proposition.

County election officials would also be affected. This proposition would increase the number of voters, therefore increasing the amount of time needed to send out voter information and count ballots.

County election officials would spend more time working and may need to hire additional employees.

VOTING “NO” Voting “no” would continue to allow all inherited properties of those over 55, or those who meet the other qualifications, to be eligible for property tax savings. Opponents argue that Prop 19 will be a billiondollar tax increase on families. It would take away the right of parents to pass down their home to their children without any increase in property taxes.

PEOPLE AFFECTED The proposition would affect seniors over 55, those who are severely disabled and wildfire and disaster victims. This proposition would also affect all California taxpayers as well as people who inherit property from their family.

VOTING “NO” Voting “no” maintains current state law, keeping the current limits on rent control. This proposition eliminates homeowner’s protections for renters, seniors, veterans and the disabled. Home values may reduce and new housing may be prevented from being built. Proponents against this proposition argue this will make the housing crisis worse.

PEOPLE AFFECTED Renters, seniors, veterans and the disabled may be affected by rent control as well as the homeless population of California.

STATE PROPOSITIONS 23

24

25

BY OLIVIA GALVAN

BY FRANCISCO MARTINEZ

VOTING “YES”

VOTING “YES”

VOTING “NO”

VOTING “YES”

VOTING “NO”

Voting “yes” supports requiring chronic dialysis clinics to have a physician, nurse practitioner or physician assistant on site during patients’ treatments, reporting dialysis-related infections data, obtaining consent from the state health department prior to closing a clinic and not discriminating against patients for their source of payment.

Voting “yes” would expand the state’s current data laws on consumer privacy. This expansion includes changing the state’s current privacy laws and existing penalties, providing consumers new privacy rights and establishing a new state agency that oversees California consumer privacy. Supporters say Prop 24 increases child privacy on the internet as it triples fines for companies that collect children’s data and limits the access companies have to personal data, including your location. Former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang, United States Rep. Ro Khanna and Common Sense Media have all backed a “yes” vote on Prop 24.

Voting “no” means California would not expand its current consumer privacy data laws or establish a consumer privacy agency. Opponents say Prop 24 expands “pay for privacy” schemes that allow businesses to charge consumers seeking privacy, grants greater power to deny a consumer’s request to have their data deleted, and gives companies the chance to collect data if you leave California.

Prop 24 opponents include Dolores Huerta, the American Civil Liberties Union and the California Nurses Association. The state’s Green, Libertarian and Republican parties are also opposed to Prop 24.

Voting “yes” would uphold the contested legislation for Senate Bill 10 (SB 10), which would replace cash bail with new “risk assessments” for detained people awaiting a trial date.

As of now, the bail bond industry in California sells approximately $6 billion in bonds and collects $560 million in fees. Supporters of the proposition say that not only does the cash bail industry favor wealthy recipients who are more able to pay their bail, but it disproportionately discriminates against lower-income and communities of color. The amount of time it takes to receive a court date now can often exceed the constitutional right to a speedy trial and possibly take up to a year to just be seen, and if someone can’t afford bail, they receive detainment for the period of time before their trial.

Voting “no” would not uphold the contested legislation for Senate Bill 10 and keep the current cash bail system for detained people awaiting trial. Opponents’ most prominent problem with the proposition is the system in which the new “risk assessments” are run. The assessments are computer-based, where a system based on algorithms will assess a profile’s list of crimes and reason for detainment and judge whether they should stay in custody or not. Opponents have found these algorithm to potentially cause more harm to minority and lowincome communities as computer algorithms have been proven to be racially-based. According to Alice Huffman, President of the California State Conference of the NAACP, she states that the proposition “will be even more-discriminatory against African-Americans, Latinos and other minorities. Computer models may be good for recommending songs and movies, but using these profiling methods to decide who gets released from jail or who gets a loan has been proven to hurt communities of color.”

VOTING “NO” Voting “no” would oppose this initiative to mandate chronic dialysis clinics to have a physician, nurse practitioner or physician assistant during patients’ treatments, reporting dialysis-related infections data, obtaining consent from the state health department prior to closing a clinic and not discriminating against patients for their source of payment.

PEOPLE AFFECTED

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a non-profit group focused on digital rights, is not supporting or opposing Prop 24. The EFF calls Prop 24 “a mixed bag of partial steps backwards and forwards,” saying it only has a few privacy regulations that are recommended by security experts.

BY ETHAN TELLES

PEOPLE AFFECTED All Californians who access the internet will be impacted by this proposition.

DON’T FORGET TO

PEOPLE AFFECTED

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2020

Depending on who you ask, a vote for yes will affect the annual income of the bail bond industry and insurance companies that make their money off of detainee post-bail charges and collateral. A vote against will sustain the current bail system and keep those unable to afford bail still in custody and allow only those who can afford it to remain in the free community.

MUSTANG NEWS

This proposition would affect dialysis patients, people who may need dialysis and dialysis clinic employees.

ON PROP 24

17

NEWS

18

FOUR YEARS OF PRESIDENT

DONALD TRUMP PHOTO OF TRUMP: MICHAEL VADON | COURTSEY, CAROLYNE SYSMANS, CONNOR FROST, JACK SANN, VON BALANON | MUSTANG NEWS

HEALTH CARE

COVID-19 RESPONSE JAN. 21

BY HAILEY NAGMA

First confirmed case of coronavirus in the United States — a man in Washington state in his 30s who traveled back to the states from Wuhan, China.

Since the first positive test for coronavirus in the United States in January, the country has dealt with adjusting to the “new normal” — masks, sanitation and six feet of social distance are just a few of the changes made to daily life.

BY GRACE KITAYAMA

JAN. 31 President Donald Trump suspends entry to the U.S. from the People’s Republic of China, with exceptions.

JAN. 30

FEB. 29

The World Health Organization declares coronavirus a global health emergency.

The first coronavirus-related death is reported in the US. A man in Washington state with no history of travel to Wuhan dies of COVID-19.

MAR. 27 MAR. 19

MAR. 13

California is the first state to issue a general stay-at-home order.

President Trump declares a national emergency.

MAR. 13

FOUR YEARS

MUSTANG NEWS

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2020

The federal government approves a commercial test so U.S. labs can process as many as 4,000 samples a day, and introduces an emergency hotline for laboratories.

APR. 29 The U.S. hits 1 million in coronavirus cases.

President Trump signs a $2 billion stimulus bill, which was expected to supply $1,200 checks to many Americans and provide hundreds of billions of dollars so that companies could maintain payroll.

APR. 16 The White House releases reopening guidelines for states, which includes a three-phase reopening plan.

MAR. 26

APR. 2

The U.S. leads the world in confirmed COVID-19 cases with 81,321 reported cases.

President Trump orders a 100 percent federal cost-share to aid the governors of ten states and the U.S. Virgin Islands territory in emergency assistance activities.

JUNE 30

MAY 22 President Trump issues a proclamation to honor the Americans who died of COVID-19.

The EU announces the reopening of its borders to 14 countries not including the U.S., due to the rising number of cases in the states.

JULY 31 The $600 per week pandemic aid expires for unemployed Americans.

APR. 22

MAY 27

JULY 7

AUG. 5

Trump limits the entry of certain categories of immigrants to the U.S. for 60 days.

COVID-19 related deaths in the U.S. surpass 100,000.

The Trump Administration submits a formal notice of withdrawal from the W.H.O. which goes into effect July 2021.

U.S. confirmed cases surpasses 5 million.

OCT. 1 President Trump tweets that he and the First Lady tested positive for coronavirus. The couple is taken to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for care and monitoring.

OCT. 4 President Trump surprises supporters by waving at the crowd through a closed window as his motorcade takes him for a short drive and then back to the hospital.

OCT. 6 President Trump halts negotiations over an additional coronavirus relief package until after the general election.

OCT. 2

OCT. 5

OCT. 11

Mike Lee, Kellyanne Conway, Thom Tillis and Bill Stepien all announce they have tested positive for coronavirus.

The President and First Lady leave the hospital.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows call on Congress to pass a coronavirus relief bill using leftover funds from the small business loan program.

AFFORDABLE CARE ACT Since being sworn into office in 2016, Trump has planned on repealing the Affordable Care Act (ACA), yet has still has not done so.

“Replacing Obamacare will force insurance companies to compete for their customers with lower costs and higher-quality service,” the White House wrote in their official website. “In the meantime, the President is using his executive authority to reduce barriers to more affordable options for Americans and U.S. businesses.”

According to Healthcare.gov, the ACA has three goals. To make healthcare more accessible, to expand the medicaid program to cover all adults an income below 138% of the federal poverty level, to work to lower

the cost of medication. Repealing the ACA would mean that the more than 20 millions who gained health insurance would no longer have access to healthcare.

ABORTIONS Trump promised to sign an executive order to “require health care providers to provide medical care to all babies born alive,” the Associated Press reported in September.

Many believe that Trump will make this possible if Justice Amy Coney Barret is sworn into the Supreme Court.

The Senate Judiciary Committee approved Barrett’s nomination to the court. Next, the Senate must vote to approve her as a Supreme Court Justice, according to CBS news.

Some are concerned that Barrett will allow Trump to ban abortion.

ECONOMY ANDY SHERAR | MUSTANG NEWS

BY SARAH BANHOLZER In 2017, President Donald Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. According to economics professor Corey White, this law provided large tax cuts to the wealthy, smaller tax cuts to the middle class, and practically no tax cuts to those Americans with the lowest incomes.

“Taxes are actually expected to increase for the lowest-income Americans in the longer run,” White said.

Pre-COVID-19, the top 1% held approximately 30% of the nation’s wealth, whereas the bottom 50% only held approximately 2%, White said.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in the spring of this year, and social distancing mandates were put into order, Americans began shopping,

eating out, and traveling less. This decrease of consumerism took a toll on businesses nation-wide, causing mass amounts of employees to be laid off, increasing unemployment, according to White.

Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act in March. This $2.2 trillion economic stimulus bill provided support to people and businesses affected by the pandemic.

According to White, as of now the support of the CARES Act is running out without a new stimulus bill to replace it.

“Without additional stimulus, personal income will almost certainly fall, with potentially devastating effects across the economy as a whole,” White said.

19

DACA

BY SARAH BANHOLZER In September 2017, the Acting Secretary of Homeland Security announced the rescindment of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).

According to the Cal Poly Dream Center coordinator, Vania Agama Ramirez, DACA grants relief from deportations, social security and employment status to more than 650,000 undocumented immigrants in the country including roughly 200 Cal Poly students who were brought to the U.S. as children.

As of October 2017, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services stopped accepting first-time DACA applications.

However, the statuses of those who had been previously granted DACA status were kept valid and were able to be renewed, according to Ramirez.

The repeal of DACA led to law-

suits across the nation in opposition to the decision of the Trump Administration, according to the Cal Poly Dream Center website.

In January 2019, President Trump’s demand for $5.7 billion to fund his Mexico border wall in exchange for temporary protection for DACA recipients led to the longest government shutdown in history — 35 days long. The shutdown ended without either the border funding or DACA legislation.

In June of 2019, the lawsuits on the legality of the Trump Administration’s termination of DACA reached the Supreme Court in the case of the Department of Homeland Security v. Regents of the University of California.

In June 2020, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the removal of DACA in 2017 was in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act. However, the Supreme Court did not rule on the legality of the DACA program and therefore

FILE PHOTO | MUSTANG NEWS

BY LAUREN BOYER

Little, if any, good for the environment would come from another four years of the current administration.

not approved. Helete said this failure can be attributed to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad-

BY KIANA HUZINKER On May 25, 2020, George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, was killed

by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who knelt on Floyd’s neck for nearly eight minutes.

Floyd’s death sparked a resurgence in the Black Lives Matter movement, prompting global protests against police brutality and racial inequality.

tear gas protestors in order to clear Lafayette Square, allowing him to walk from the White House to St. John’s Episcopal Church and pose for a photo op with a Bible in hand.

JULY 2020

President Trump acknowledges Floyd’s death in a tweet, writing that the FBI and Department of Justice are investigating “the very sad and tragic death in Minnesota of George Floyd.”

The Trump administration deploys federal officers in Portland to protect federal property from vandalism.

The camouflaged officers, who were not trained in riot control, according to the Department of Homeland Security, bore no identification and arrested and tear-gassed protestors, pulling some into unmarked vans.

Trump threatens to send additional officers to other cities “run by liberal Democrats.”

THURSDAY, MAY 28, 2020

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2020

Trump tweets about the protesting and riots occurring in Minneapolis, threatening to send in the National Guard if Mayor Jacob Frey does not “bring the City under control.”

Trump tweets a reply claiming that the protestors are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and writes “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.” Twitter subsequently hides the reply, claiming it violates Twitter policies against glorifying violence.

At a “Blacks for Trump” rally in Atlanta, President Trump claims that the BLM movement is “destroying many Black lives” and calls on corporations donating to the movement to instead spend money “helping Black families rebuild from these horrible left-wing riots.”

WEDNESDAY, MAY 27, 2020

MONDAY, JUNE 1, 2020 During ongoing Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests in Washington D.C. Trump orders law enforcement to

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2020 During the first 2020 presidential debate, when asked to denounce violence committed by white supremacists and militia groups in response to BLM, President Trump called for the Proud Boys, a far-right group, to “stand back and stand by.”

JACK SANN | MUSTANG NEWS

FOUR YEARS

GRANT HELETE Community Organizer at ECOSLO

ministration’s (NOAA) shift away from conservation work, which is a direct result of the Trump administration’s stance on preservation and the environment.

The current administration also approved drilling in the Carrizo Plain in San Luis Obispo County, which would be the first drilling since 2001 when that area was given National Monument Status. Though drilling in the Carrizo Plain was approved, it hasn’t started.

“It would worsen climate change and pose a danger to sensitive wildlife,” Helete said.

Trump and his administration’s actions helped Sentinel Peak Resources circumvent the Safe Drinking Water Act, created by the EPA in 1996, by supporting the proposed expansion of Price Canyon Oil Field near Arroyo Grande.

Portions of Sentinel Peak’s aquifer are exempt from the Safe Drinking Water Act, which can potentially turn these areas into a dumping ground for oil-waste fluid and would “endanger numerous local aquifers and drinking-water wells,” Helete said.

Similar environmental rollbacks and impacts will happen if Trump is elected for another four years, according to Helete.

“This would include the continued rollback of already-existing environmental protections,” Helete said. “Little, if any, good for the environment would come from another four years of the current

JACK SANN | MUSTANG NEWS

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2020

During his four years in office, President Trump and his administration have scaled back on environmental regulations, which has had numerous local impacts.

The most noticeable impact has been in regards to the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary and oil drilling in San Luis Obispo County, according to Grant Helete, Community Organizer at Environmental Center of San Luis Obispo (ECOSLO).

“Any deregulation regarding greenhouse gas emissions, air quality, emergency management, land and cleanup, pesticides, toxic substances, waste and water quality is likely to be felt on a local level,” Helete said.

The plan for the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary, which would span from the south

end of Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary in Cambria to Gaviota Creek near Santa Barbara, was

GRACE KITAYAMA MUSTANG NEWS

BLACK LIVES MATTER / LAW AND ORDER

MUSTANG NEWS

ENVIRONMENT

the Trump Administration could once again repeal DACA if they follow the correct procedures, according to Ramirez.

The effects of anti-immigration policies can be seen in the increase of hate crimes and violence against the undocumented community during recent years as well as systemic violence including the militarization of the border and enforced family separation, according to Ramirez.

Note from the Dream Center: The Dream Center is an inclusive space for undocumented students, members from mixed-status families, and allies. The center provides resources and services open to all student, staff, and faculty. The Dream Center has not endorsed any political candidates.

20

A BREAKDOWN OF TRUMP AND BIDEN

BY LAUREN BOYER

service providers. He also signed a Congressional Review Act that allows states to restrict Planned Parenthood funding.

THE ECONOMY

UNSPLASH | COURTESEY

Current President Donald Trump is running against Demomcrat Joe Biden.

TRUMP

MUSTANG NEWS

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2020

COLLEGE AFFORDABILITY The Trump administration implemented a year-round distribution of Pell Grants. Previously, these grants could only be received during the fall and spring semesters. According to the Trump campaign’s website, his administration has reformed FAFSA to make it more accessible to students and improved the student loan service to improve customer experience and lower costs.

THE ENVIRONMENT President Trump supports oil and gas production, as seen in his approval of the Dakota Access Pipeline.

In his four years as president, Trump has left the Paris Climate Agreement and rolled back Obama-era policies and regulations on the environment such as the Clean Power Plan. He replaced this plan with the proposed Affordable Clean Energy Rule, which his campaign website states will “reduce greenhouse gasses, empower states, promote energy independence, and facilitate economic growth and job creation.” He said he does not believe that climate change is caused by human activity.

CANNABIS

NEWS

Trump said he believes that the decision to legalize the sale and use of marijuana should be left up to states.

POLICE REFORM & BLACK LIVES MATTER

Trump does not have a tab on his campaign website that addresses his official opinion and action with the Black Lives Matter movement.

In a press conference, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said that Trump agrees that “all Black lives do matter, especially those of police officers that have lost their lives in these riots,” but that he does not agree with harsh words against law enforcement that are on the streets “protecting us each and every day.” He said in Atlanta, Georgia that the “goal of Black Lives Matter people is to achieve the destruction of the nuclear family, abolish the police, abolish prisons, abolish border security, abolish capitalism and abolish school choice.”

HEALTH CARE As a part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, Trump repealed the individual mandate, a facet of Obamacare that required Americans to obtain health insurance or pay a tax penalty. He also signed a six-year extension of the Children’s Healthcare Insurance Program. Trump declared the opioid crisis a national public health emergency, allowing grant money to be utilized in the fight, and signed the International Narcotics Trafficking Emergency Response by Detecting Incoming Contraband with Technology Act, which would authorize $9 million worth of screening tools.

Under Trump, the largest number of generic drugs have been approved by the FDA. Trump worked with Congress to sign a bill overturning an Obama-era policy that prohibited states from defunding abortion

The Tax Cuts and Job Act under Trump is the first major tax reform signed in 30 years, and provided tax relief for 82% of middle class families, according to his campaign website.

It also cut taxes for small businesses by 20%, resulting in $415 million in tax relief. The U.S. gross domestic product topped 3 percent for four quarters under the Trump Administration. Trump’s policies created more manufacturing and construction jobs, according to his campaign website. In September, California had the third highest unemployment rate of all the states at 11%, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The Trump Administration launched the Women’s Global Development and Prosperity (W-GDP) Initiative, the “first-ever full governmental ap-

BIDEN COLLEGE AFFORDABILITY If elected, Biden proposes investing in community colleges, allowing students to attend for up to two years without paying tuition. He said he recognizes that college tuitions have skyrocketed since the mid1990s, and proposes making public universities tuition-free for individuals whose families make less than $125,000 a year. For student loans, under Biden, individuals making less than $25,000 will not owe any payment on loans and will not accrue interest. He wants to also offer loan forgiveness for public servants.

THE ENVIRONMENT Biden said he believes that the environment and economy are connected, two facets of the Green New Deal. Biden’s plan consists of ensuring America achieves a 100% clean energy economy and net-zero emissions by 2050, and bolstering regulations on companies whose actions contribute to climate change, which can disproportionately impact communities of color and low income communities. Biden has not accepted campaign contributions from oil, coal, and gas companies or their executives.

CANNABIS Biden said he believes in legalizing medical marijuana, decriminalizing recreational marijuana use at the federal level and automatically expunging prior convictions for mar-

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS CAROLYNE SYSMANS | COURTESEY

Democratic nominee Joe Biden is running against incumbent Trump

ijuana possession. He believes in rehabilitation instead of jail time for drug offenses.

POLICE REFORM & BLACK LIVES MATTER Biden supports Black Lives Matter and has multiple ideas on how to improve racial issues impacting America and its citizens. On the topic of justice, his campaign website states, “Our criminal justice system cannot be just unless we root out the racial, gender, and income-based disparities in the system.” He calls for the immediate passage of the SAFE Justice Act, a comprehensive bill that aims to reform the justice system.

Biden also plans to invest in African-American businesses and entrepreneurs in order to improve their economic mobility. He also plans on encouraging diverse hiring practices, fighting for equal pay, tackling racial inequality in school systems, ensuring accessible healthcare — especially during the ongoing pandemic — and eliminating local and state housing regulations that perpetuate discrimination.

HEALTH CARE As vice president in the Obama administration when the Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010, Biden has promised to protect this act as well as “build on the Affordable Care Act by giving Americans more choice, reducing health care costs, and making our health care system less complex to navigate,” according to his campaign site. He plans on giving Americans a new choice in healthcare similar to Medicare,

which he said will give people more choices and help smaller businesses that struggle to provide healthcare to their workers. Middle-class families will get a premium tax credit to help them pay for coverage. Partnering with the health care workforce will lower costs and improve health outcomes, according to his website.

Biden also plans on expanding contraception access and protecting access to abortions.

THE ECONOMY Biden recognizes the economic struggles the pandemic has brought, and instead of rebuilding the previous economy, believes that “this is the moment to imagine and build a new American economy for our families and the next generation,” according to his campaign website.

His vision starts with providing “immediate relief” to working families, small businesses and communities, which includes extending COVID-19 crisis unemployment insurance and providing comeback packages for Main Street businesses and entrepreneurs. He also has a plan to mobilize the United States in four areas: manufacturing and innovation, infrastructure and clean energy, caregiving and education workforce and advancing racial equity. If elected, he also plans on reversing some Trump tax cuts for corporations and will impose tax reforms on the wealthy so they will “pay their fair share.”

PROPOSITION 22: THE FUTURE OF RIDESHARE AND FOOD DELIVERY SERVICES

BY SOPHIA MCDEVITT

NO ON PROPOSITION 22 The official opposition argument from the Voter Information Guide says that Prop. 22 creates a special exemption for a small list of companies who seek to replace workplace benefits with lower payments designed to save the company money.

The opposition argument in the Voter Information Guide says that current law requires these companies to provide workers with benefits

YES ON PROPOSITION 22 Proposition 22 would consider appbased drivers independent contractors instead of employees. Therefore, state employment-related labor laws, such as minimum wage, overtime, unemployment insurance and worker’s compensation, would not cover app-based drivers.

Independent contractors are entitled to compensation including minimum earnings, healthcare subsidies and vehicle insurance. Prop.

22 would enact wage and labor laws specific to app-based drivers.

The CEO of Uber, Dara Khosrowshahi, explained her argument in support of Prop. 22 in an opinion piece in the New York Times.

“Uber would only have full-time jobs for a small fraction of our current drivers and only be able to operate in many fewer cities than today,” Khosrowshahi told the New York Times. “Rides would be more expensive, which would significantly reduce the number of rides people could take and, in turn, the number of drivers needed to provide those trips. Uber would not be as widely available to riders, and drivers would lose the flexibility they have today if they became employees.”

Essentially, supporters of Prop.

22 argue that classifying app-based workers as employees would significantly alter the current business model and services that are currently offered. According to the Voter Information Guide, many app-based employees rely on the flexibility of being an independent contractor in order to accommodate health issues, other jobs or family obligations.

Consumers will also be affected by drivers being classified as employees because of longer wait times, higher prices and elimination of services offered in many cities across the U.S., according to the Voter Information Guide.

Yes on Prop. 22 also seeks to address the concern of company responsibility. It calls for greater benefits for workers, including guaranteed minimum earnings, health benefits and medical and disability coverage for on-the-job injuries. It also requires ongoing background checks for drivers and other safety precautions to better protect passengers, according

to the Voter Information Guide.

Supporters of Prop. 22 include Uber, Lyft, Doordash, Instacart, Postmates, California Chamber of Commerce, National Taxpayers Union, California Small Businesses Association and more, according to the campaign’s support list. As of Sept.

23, the Yes on Prop. 22 campaign has received $184.3 million. Contributions include: $50 million from Uber $48 million from Lyft $47 million from Doordash $28 million from Instacart $11 million from Postmates

IMPLICATIONS Porter said that all of these companies have been lobbying in Sacramento in order to achieve their desired legislative outcome.

“The thing that offends me is that $180 million is being spent to buy a law by an industry.” Porter said. “It is the most expensive proposition in California’s history ever. Special interest and money can literally buy laws through spending.”

He said that by allowing these companies to classify their workers as independent contractors, California is missing out on approximately $8 billion annually on tax revenue, funds that would go towards schools, including Cal Poly.

However, classifying these workers as employees would potentially increase the cost of services because consumers will be paying for drivers to be protected under the law as employees, Porter said.

NEWS

Proposition (Prop.) 22 is a state statute that will appear on ballots for the Nov. 3 election. Prop. 22 considers whether app-based drivers for food delivery and transportation services are independent contractors or employees.

Passing Prop. 22 would override Assembly Bill 5 (AB 5) on the question of whether or not app-based delivery drivers are independent contractors or employees. Right now, AB 5 includes a three-part test to determine the status of workers as either employees or independent contractors. According to AB 5, the current

such as healthcare, unemployment and minimum wage. The No on Prop.

22 campaign said that these companies do not want to treat their workers fairly and have been avoiding responsibility for years, even after being sued by the Attorney General.

“These drivers, 78% of whom are people of color, are ESSENTIAL,” states the Voter Information Guide.

“They’ve helped California through the pandemic, and they deserve better. We believe app drivers, many Latino, Black, or from other communities of color, SHOULD have sick leave, healthcare, unemployment benefits, AND flexibility in their scheduling. So don’t let Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash confuse the issue.

They claim this is about “flexibility” for “part-time” drivers. However, current law in no way limits driver flexibility.”

Opponents of Prop. 22 include Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, California Teachers Association and more, according to the No on Prop. 22 website. The opposition of Prop. 22 has generated $10.7 million, according to Ballotpedia.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2020

BACKGROUND

CAROLYNE SYSMANS | MUSTANG NEWS

Prop 22 has potential to change the future of not online rideshare, but food delivery companies as well.

MUSTANG NEWS

This November, voters must address whether app-based workers should be classified as independent contractors or employees, consequently determining the future trajectory of rideshare and food delivery services.

Companies such as Uber, Lyft and Doordash are pushing to pass Proposition 22, a state statute that would classify app-based workers as independent contractors, according to Ballotpedia.

This means that state employment-related labor laws would not apply to rideshare workers, and therefore workers would not receive certain employment benefits.

Supporters of the campaign say that classifying workers as independent contractors allows for lower prices for services, greater flexibility for employees and greater availability of services, according to the Voter Information Guide.

Presidential nominee Joe Biden, Vice-Presidential nominee Kamala Harris and U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren are some of the politicians who oppose the proposition.

The opposition says that Prop. 22 is funded by a handful of companies who seek to avoid providing sufficient employment benefits for workers in order to increase company profits, according to Ballotpedia.

No on Prop. 22 seeks to uphold the Superior Court of San Francisco’s ruling that app-based workers are employees.

Opponents also say that the Yes on Prop. 22 campaign is manipulating people of color, who make up a majority of rideshare workers. Opponents say that Prop. 22 supporters are convincing workers that Prop. 22 is an issue of driver flexibility when it truly relates to workplace benefits, according to the Voter Information Guide.

three-factor test is: 1. While performing work, the worker is free from the control and direction of the hiring company.

2. The worker is performing work that is outside of the hiring company’s usual business.

3. The individual is engaged in an independently established trade or occupation that is the same nature as the work performed for the hiring company.

According to Ballotpedia, the proposition would only override this test for app-based workers, not other types of workers.

On Aug. 10, the Superior Court of San Francisco ruled that Uber and Lyft misclassified their workers as independent contractors and therefore violated AB 5. In response, the companies threatened to shut down operations in California unless the ruling was postponed. On Aug. 20, the California First District Court of Appeal postponed the ruling from taking effect, according to the case docket on the court’s website.

Political science professor and practicing attorney Todd Porter said that although rideshare services have threatened to vacate California, that would “never actually happen.”

Porter said the strength of the company is in the market share, and if these companies left California, other companies would come in to replace them, resulting in major economic damage to the existing companies.

Political science professor and former San Luis Obispo mayor Allen Settle said that a result of passing Prop. 22 would be litigation throughout California because of how the proposition conflicts with the current classification standard, AB 5.

“It will give those student [drivers] more flexibility in transportation or driving for a short time until the courts decide the issue,” Settle said regarding the passing of Prop. 22. “It will have little impact on the county until again the courts determine the legitimacy of the proposition and we will not know that until 2021.”

21

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BREAKDOWN OF

STATE SENATE CANDIDATES DAWN ADDIS (D) DAWNADDIS.ORG | COURTESY

JORDAN CUNNINGHAM (R) JORDANCUNNINGHAM.ORG | COURTESY

BREAKDOWN OF

STATE ASSEMBLY JOHN LAIRD

VICKI NOHRDEN

OBAMA WHITE HOUSE | COURTESY

VICKI4SENATE | COURTESY

BY ALICE SUKHOSTAVSKIY

MUSTANG NEWS

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2020

With current District 17 (SD-17) State Senator Bill Monning leaving office this year after reaching the three-term limit, SD-17 is up for re-election. Here is your guide to understanding the state senate race.

There are currently two candidates running to replace incumbent Democrat Monning in SD-17, which encompasses California’s Central Coast. The candidates are Democrat John Laird and Republican Vicki Nohrden.

JOHN LAIRD Laird served in the California State Assembly for District 27 from 2002-2008 and also as Secretary for Natural Resources under Governor Jerry Brown from 2011-2019. Laird describes himself as one of the first openly gay mayors in America, from his time serving as mayor of Santa Cruz in the 1980s.

Laird’s campaign is based on the issues of funding for public education, affordable health care, climate change, affordable housing and diversity.

EDUCATION

Laird’s campaign website states that one of his top priorities will be to protect K-14 education, higher education systems and reduce “financial barriers” for students.

NEWS

HEALTH CARE

Laird vows to protect Californians who recently secured health care, along with ensuring that everyone is able to get covered. Laird’s campaign website also states that Laird co-authored single-payer health care while in the legislature and advocated for health coverage for all children.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING Laird said he commits to partnering with the local government, housing non-profits and the private sector to provide more affordable housing on the central coast. Laird also worked on the 2006 affordable housing bond during his time in the State Assembly, according to his campaign website.

CLIMATE CHANGE/ ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS Laird is running on a platform of lowering carbon emissions, controlling and preventing wildfires and protecting California’s leadership in ocean policy, according to his campaign website.

Some of Laird’s notable endorsements include Governor Gavin Newsom, U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein and SD-17 incumbent Bill Monning.

VICKI NOHRDEN

Nohrden, a self-described “family advocate and community leader,” is challenging Laird as the Republican candidate for SD-17. Nohrden started her career as a realtor but expanded her career into public service as a court-appointed special advocate for children. She also served as a member of the Civil Grand Jury for a term and a half, according to her campaign website.

Nohrden is running on a platform of supporting small businesses and families, supporting community safety, supporting Prop 13 and repealing Assembly Bill Five, according to her website.

SUPPORTING SMALL BUSINESSES

Nohrden said that “the weight of taxes and regulations falls heavy on small

and medium businesses,” and wants smarter taxation of businesses, according to her website.

COMMUNITY SAFETY

Nohrden is running on a platform of implementing “programs to help our kids grow and learn.” She also said she advocates for integrated solutions for mental health and substance abuse, as well as a transparent and accountable police force. On her campaign website, she said she does not support defund-

The weight of taxes and regulations falls heavy on small and medium businesses.

VICKI NOHRDEN State senate candidate

ing the police.

BY KIANA MEAGHER AND ASHLEY HOLLY

Candidates Steve Benett and Charles Cole will be running for the California State Assembly in District 37, while Dawn Addis and Jordan Cunningham will be running in District 35 in the Nov. 3 general election.

The California State Assembly makes up the lower house of the California State Legislature, while the California State Senate makes up the upper house. Together, they form the legislative branch of the California state government.

The California State Assembly is composed of 80 members who meet in Sacramento at the state capitol building. They are responsible for passing bills on public policy matters, raising and lowering taxes, voting to uphold or override gubernatorial vetoes and creating levels for state spending.

The California State Assembly District 37 covers Santa Barbara and Ventura County, while District 35 covers San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara.

California state citizens will be able to vote for Assembly Candidates Nov. 3.

CALIFORNIA ASSEMBLY DISTRICT 35 - SAN LUIS OBISPO AND SANTA BARBARA

SUPPORT OF PROP 13

DAWN ADDIS (D)

Nohrden said that the repeal of Prop 13 will be expensive to enforce and that costs will trickle down to small businesses, according to her campaign website.

Nohrden’s notable endorsements include State Senate Minority Leader Shannon Grove, State Senator Mike Morrell and Ventura County GOP Chair Mike Osborn.

To vote for these candidates, vote at your local polling location on Nov. 3 or mail in your ballot before.

Addis is a Morro Bay councilmember and was the co-founder of the SLO Women’s March. She has more than 20 years of leadership experience in the central coast including her involvement in the Morro Bay Chamber of Commerce and Rotary Club. Addis has been both a classroom teacher and education program developer for the San Luis Coastal School District as mentioned on her campaign website.

Her platform for assembly in-

cludes improving health care by making prescription drugs more affordable, expanding senior health services and giving better health insurance options for families, according to her site.

With a background in teaching, Addis said she is also passionate about public education. Her website states she hopes to increase funding for public school programs and is looking to lower costs for students in higher education.

JORDAN CUNNINGHAM (R) Incumbent Cunningham is a former prosecutor born and raised on the Central Coast in Atascadero, according to his campaign website.

After working in Washington, D.C. Cunningham and his family returned to the Central Coast and he became Deputy District Attorney for San Luis Obispo. He also served on the Board of the Templeton Unified School District from 2014 until his election into the Assembly. He still practices law as the co-founder of the Cunningham Law Group, according to his campaign website.

Cunningham, a father of four, said on his website that he hopes to focus on combatting human trafficking in San Luis Obispo County. He has passed legislation expanding background checks for all law enforcement employees to prevent human trafficking within law enforcement.

Cunningham also said he hopes to empower small businesses along the Central Coast, according to his website.

ELECTION The winner of the general election will serve a two-year term in the California State Assembly.

To vote for these candidates, go to your local polling location on Nov. 3 or mail in your ballot before.

MEET YOUR CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATES

SALUD CARBAJAL

ANDY CALDWELL ANDYCALDWELL2020.ORG | COURTESY

JACK SANN | MUSTANG NEWS

BY ETHAN TELLES

SALUD CARBAJAL

CARBAJAL’S PLATFORM Carbajal is now running on ten main priorities: defense, education, environment and energy, health, immigra-

SALUD CARBA JAL SLO Congressional Incumbent

In his official statement in the county voter guide, he said his aim to continue a bipartisan plan of action is of utmost importance to him.

“I will continue to work for Republicans and Democrats on solutions for the Central Coast and nation,” Carbajal wrote. “I will keep fighting to create jobs, increase support for veterans, address racial inequality, and promote common sense gun-safety measures.”

ANDY CALDWELL Andy Caldwell is running to represent

CALDWELL’S PLATFORM Caldwell wrote on his website that he is running on a platform to help support the common working people who run small businesses in the community.

“Growing up poor after the death of my father taught me that the world doesn’t owe us anything — that if you want something you have to work for it,” Caldwell wrote. “For most of my

WHY HE’S RUNNING Caldwell said he plans to join committees dealing with agriculture, education, the environment, small business, healthcare and military and veteran affairs, according to Caldwell’s answers to Ballotpedia’s candidate connection survey.

“We can protect our homes and our

For most of my youth, I worked two jobs, seven days a week. It made me a better person who appreciated the opportunities this country has to offer.

I want to restore the same opportunities to others.

ANDY CALDWELL Congressional Candidate

liberty, expand education choices, and rebuild our economy to create more jobs and prosperity for everyone in San Luis Obispo County,” said Caldwell in his official statement in the county’s voter information guide.

“However, we will need to work together.”

NEWS

tion, jobs and economic development, prevention of gun violence, transportation and infrastructure, veterans and military family support and voting and civil rights, according to his campaign website.

His defense efforts have not only supported military defense bases and the responsible allocation of funds to programs to train troops and climate change to maintain

WHY HE’S RUNNING

San Luis Obispo in Congress against incumbent Salud Carbajal, on a California-based on a mission to “Restore the American Dream.”

As the son of an immigrant, Caldwell grew up poor and worked since the age of nine to see his way into the agricultural industry at Stinton & Brown Feedlot after college. He graduated from the University of California, San Diego in 1980 with a bachelor’s degree. He now raises his seven children alongside his wife of 32 years, his campaign website said.

For the past 30 years, Caldwell has focused on advocating for small businesses and government transparency, he said on his campaign website.

He established the Coalition of Labor, Agriculture and Business (COLAB) in San Luis Obispo County to promote business efforts and education within the realm of business and agriculture, according to the COLAB website.

“San Luis Obispo County, like many counties in California, has a disproportionate lack of representation for the interests of agriculture, business and labor in county government,” COLAB wrote on their website. “These voters often times lack an understanding and appreciation for the relationship between agriculture, business and labor and the overall economic growth of the county.”

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2020

I will continue to work for Republicans and Democrats on solutions for the Central Coast and nation. I will keep fighting to create jobs, increase support for veterans, address racial inequality, and promote common sense gun-safety measures.

global responsibility — including educational association with Cal Poly’s High-Performance Computing Lab and the Electrical and Micro Propulsion Lab. He set aside $5 million dollars to funding Cal Poly’s Defense Department Educational Partnership Agreement.

He also focuses on school funding.

In his environmental platform, he said he will continue promoting acts like the Infrastructure Resiliency and Sustainability Act that protects and prepares for instances such as natural disasters.

For immigration, he said he will co-sponsor the Dream Act to permanently benefit DACA, his campaign website said.

He is the Vice Chair for the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. With a state home to more than 1,300 structurally deficient bridges, 678 high-hazard dams and about half of the 200,000 miles of public road are damaged, his campaign website said. He plans to fund these projects to start rebuilding with the Regional Infrastructure Accelerator Act that will begin investmenting in infrastructure.

23

MUSTANG NEWS

Incumbent Salud Carbajal is running against Republican nominee Andy Caldwell to represent San Luis Obispo in Congress. His first term began on Jan. 3, 2017 and his current term ends on Jan. 3, 2021.

He is a father, husband and ex-Marine Corps veteran that served for eight years, including active duty service during the Gulf War of 1992. He graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara while working two jobs to become his family’s first college graduate, according to his campaign website.

He is a longtime advocate for many areas throughout the county including the environment, healthcare, job creation and veteran relief. He is currently on the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, the Committee on Agriculture and the Committee on Armed Services.

One of his first acts in Congress was the California Clean Coast Act, which banned future offshore oil and gas drilling on the California coast.

He also funded infrastructure and rebuilt areas that suffered from natural disasters, according to his campaign website.

For veteran relief he put $1 million for the Santa Barbara Veterans Treatment Courts and enacted veteran legislation to help veteran homelessness, his website said.

As a chair in the Committee on Armed Services he helped create the National Defense Authorization Act, which allows Congress to oversee the defense budget in which agencies will look over defense, allocation of funds and how it will be spent.

In healthcare he said he has made sure to make it “accessible and af-

fordable,” especially during the pandemic. He secured $77 million to fund Central Coast hospitals, clinics and frontline workers, according to Carbajal’s official statement in the county’s official voter guide.

youth, I worked two jobs, seven days a week. It made me a better person who appreciated the opportunities this country has to offer. I want to restore the same opportunities to others.”

Caldwell is running on the platform of seven core issues: ending corruption, healthcare reform, homelessness, national debt, water restoration, traffic and infrastructure and immigration.

Ending corruption entails the fight to reallocate resources and money to “better citizens’ lives, not enrich elected officials or their families,” according to Caldwell’s official website.

Caldwell also plans to oppose efforts to ban private insurance plans and push to lower prescription and healthcare costs by creating a “safety-net” and protect insurance like Medicare, according to Caldwell.

He looks at water restoration through the lense of agriculture. He wants to create an affordable increase in water storage to reduce cost of water for farms and increase drought prevention.

He said he will “speed up legal immigration, enforce our laws and secure our borders,” according to Caldwell’s official campaign website.

24

KATE KARSON | MUSTANG NEWS

Affirmative action prohibits discrimination or preferential treatment on the basis of race, gender, ethnicity and national origin.

AFFIRMATIVE ACTION

NEWS

MUSTANG NEWS

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2020

BY CATHERINE ALLEN

This year, California voters have an opportunity to revive affirmative action in the state. With the growing push for diversity on campus, the Cal Poly community is weighing whether or not it’s an opportunity worth taking.

In 1996, Californians passed Proposition 209, a ban on affirmative action in public employment and education, which prohibited discrimination or preferential treatment on the basis of race, gender, ethnicity and national origin. The 2020 ballot’s Proposition 16 would reverse that ban.

In a Mustang News poll posted on Instagram and Facebook, 52.3% of respondents said they were against Prop. 16 out of 478 responses total.

“As a person of color and a female, I find that opportunities for me aren’t exactly equal compared to everyone else,” economics sophomore Emily Ye said. “Prop. 16 seemed like it would give people like me and other people of color more opportunities … Because without prompting it, it’s likely that we won’t have these chances.”

Business administration junior Juan Cuevas said the diversity that would be achieved by affirmative action would benefit the school overall.

As a predominantly white university, the perspectives are very much the same since the majority of students grew up in similar cultures, according to Cuevas. With a more diverse student body, Cuevas said there’d be new perspectives to hear from, in and out of the classroom, because

the individuals who would benefit from affirmative action would “bring something different to the table.”

According to Cal Poly’s Office of Institutional Research fall 2019 data that was self-reported by students, the least represented ethnicities are African American, represented by only .84% of students, and Native American, accounting for .14% of students. About 54% of students are white, which Cal Poly Media Relations Director Matt Lazier says is a record low.

Males make up approximately 52% of Cal Poly students, though there was a 2.6% increase in female students from 2018 to 2019. Three students reported they were non-binary.

People may agree that Cal Poly needs more diversity, but how to achieve this tends to be contested.

Civil engineering junior Kaila Bishop says affirmative action shouldn’t be the go-to solution for colleges.

While Prop. 16 would improve the hiring process for government contract workers whose backgrounds aren’t fully captured in the hiring interviews, Bishop says universities could instead simply provide an essay platform for applicants to share their story because “people are more than their race.”

“We need to fix the actual foundation of the problem, rather than just putting affirmative action,” Bishop said.

Cuevas said allowing affirmative action could still result in discrimination, and to him, giving priority to one student over the other is the op-

posite of equality.

“It’s kind of like a step backwards,” Cuevas said.

For computer science senior Sanjana Gundala, affirmative action is a way of “understanding that not everyone grew up with the same opportunity” and providing a way to level the playing field.

She’s referring to the lack of resources in schools across the state, which disproportionately affects students of color. This could mean not being able to afford SAT prep courses or even not having quality teachers, class sizes or curriculum.

According to the research organization Brookings Institution, the wealthiest 10% of school districts in the U.S. spend about 10 times more funding than the poorest 10%, and “many schools serving low-income and minority students do not even offer the math and science courses needed for college.”

“It doesn’t mean you’re less qualified to attend university, it just means you didn’t have those resources that can give you an advantage,” Gundala said. “Well deserving students still are admitted into colleges.”

But civil engineering junior Mason Dambacher says that while more diversity is good, a concern is that if an applicant is accepted based on race or gender, yet has a low GPA or test score, “that’s putting that student in a much worse position coming into Cal Poly.”

Even if Prop. 16 passes, the next hurdle would be figuring out how to implement it. According to Lazier, not only can the proposition face

legal challenges even after being passed, but the California State University would also need to determine exactly how affirmative action would change the admissions process.

Cal Poly currently relies on Multi Criteria Admissions (MCA), which calculates acceptance based on points for different categories, such as GPA, SAT scores and, if the student held a job, the number of hours worked.

But the Supreme Court ruled in 2003 that affirmative action could not be implemented by granting points to students based on race, gender or other qualities. Similarly, the Supreme Court ruled in the case of UC Regents v. Bakke that using racial quotas to reserve a specific number of seats for each ethnicity was also unconstitutional, so that’s not a possibility if Prop. 16 passes.

With these complexities and more, Lazier says it’s too early to tell how Cal Poly will tie affirmative action into admissions.

Still, the admissions decision process alone doesn’t acknowledge that many students of color may not even have Cal Poly on their radar or be interested in applying to a predominantly white school at all. As Ethnic Studies Professor Dr. Grace Yeh put it, “Cal Poly has a certain reputation that might inhibit people from thinking, ‘that’s a school for me.’”

According to Bishop’s talks with Dr. Jamie Patton, Cal Poly’s Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs, diversity and inclusion, “we just aren’t getting enough applications.”

“For me personally, what scared me off is just seeing the less-than-1% Black rate,” Bishop said.

But that’s why affirmative action can often be used before decision time. According to Yeh, affirmative action could be incorporated into Cal Poly’s outreach to prospective students as well, which could include rethinking what schools or regions admissions dedicates their recruitment efforts to.

Even at the national level, the U.S. Department of Labor states that for federal contractors, “affirmative actions include training programs, outreach efforts and other positive steps.”

Gundala, who’s met with College of Engineering Dean Dr. Amy Fleischer to discuss creating a more inclusive environment, added that students of color sometimes choose not to come to Cal Poly even if accepted.

“Having affirmative action would 100% help colleges like Cal Poly because it would just expand the recruitment efforts to kind of focus more on students of color and encourage them more to attend Cal Poly and make them feel supported here,” Gundala said.

Lazier said that with the affirmative action ban, “diversifying the campus community is not a simple process.”

Still, Cal Poly has already begun tap-

ping into other avenues: outreach and recruitment.

This could be a more effective approach to affirmative action as a way of securing a diverse applicant pool before it’s even time to make admission decisions. So far, Lazier said it’s been able to start diversifying campus, while still being in compliance with the affirmative action ban.

According to Lazier, Cal Poly’s current initiatives include the Scholars program, which works to attract “lower-income and first-generation students who are academically qualified,” then grant them significant financial aid. The program’s revenue comes from the school’s Opportunity Fee that has been placed on out-ofstate students since fall 2019.

“These are academically qualified under-represented students, who were more likely to turn down the university’s offer of admissions because they can obtain greater financial aid at other campuses,” Lazier said.

Four years ago, Cal Poly also eliminated Early Decision Enrollment, which harmed low-income students who didn’t know their full financial aid package before the early decision deadline. Lazier says eliminating early decisions “immediately yielded the most diverse incoming class in Cal Poly’s history in Fall 2017.”

Even the small programs run by student organizations can make a big difference. For Gundala, those welcome programs and recruitment efforts served as a deciding factor in committing to Cal Poly. But if those efforts were instead run by the university under affirmative action, Gundala said she thinks they could have a much bigger impact.

Still, from blackface incidents to the lack of diversity in Greek life, Ye said Cal Poly isn’t doing enough to not only stand for diversity, but also stand against racism. When asked if she thinks Cal Poly is genuinely working to increase diversity and inclusion, Ye said, “to be completely honest, I don’t think so.”

“As a person who came here thinking that there’s going to be a lot of change, there isn’t much Cal Poly has done,” Ye said.

When students are weighing whether or not affirmative action is Cal Poly’s missing ingredient, Yeh said students need to “do their homework,” explaining that the swarm of misinformation surrounding affirmative action mostly comes from not understanding what is and isn’t constitutional based on past Supreme Court decisions, such as the ban of the quota system.

“As an instructor, I want to make sure people go into any decision basically with their eyes open,” Yeh said.

25

MEASURE G

BY GRACE POWER SMITH

EMILIE JOHNSON | MUSTANG NEWS

After tax, Measure G would raise the cost of a $10.00 order of coffee and a bagel from $10.75 to $10.88.

“This is a mechanism and a vehicle and a tool to continue to enhance this place that we all love. Without having resources you can’t address problems, you can’t make improvements, you can’t build for the future,” Richardson said.

He said he believes the city needs this tax now because 2023 is “right around the corner.”

“There’s never a good time for tax increases, in my opinion, but there’s also a massive need in the community on a lot of levels,” Richardson said.

Cal Poly economics professor Jon James said that a sales tax increase is the only option for the city to increase its revenue. He said a property tax would not be possible because of state laws.

“It’s odd to be increasing taxes during such uncertain times, but on the other hand, if the government really does have shortages in the budget, there’s really nothing else they can do if the federal government’s not going to support them,” James said.

Financial advisor Lance Parker, who opposes Measure G, said that he believes the city would not need this money if the local government managed it responsibly.

“It’s a way of allowing the city to continue their fiscal irresponsibility,” Parker said.

He said he thinks city executives

are paid too much, and that “taking care of people is not the role of the city.”

James confirmed that people with lower incomes do typically face a higher burden from a sales tax, but that even those who pay 10.25% in some areas of Los Angeles are probably not facing financial insecurity from that sales tax.

“I think this tax is reasonably fair in the sense that our taxes are way lower than most cities in the state of California. I don’t think this tax creates huge equity problems,” James said.

James also said that this measure should not be thought of as a 1.5% increase, but a 1% increase. He said he believes it is unlikely the city will drop down to a 7.25% sales tax because there will likely be a similar measure proposed in the future.

“There’s always a next election. The game’s not over after Nov. 3,” James said.

Paso Robles, Atascadero, Grover Beach and Morro Bay also have a similar measure on their ballot this year, according to a San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce news release. Arroyo Grande City Council did not approve the measure to be put on the ballot.

NEWS

tax runs its course.

Jenkins said he doesn’t believe tourists will be paying 70% of sales taxes right now because there are fewer people traveling to the city. He added that he is concerned the money will be used to fund the salaries of city officials, as the revenue from the tax goes into the city’s general fund.

“This is not a dedicated tax. It’s not dedicated to any of the purposes that it lists. The tax that they’re adopting can be used on anything,” Jenkins said.

According to a 2019 financial report, money from the general fund that year was spent mostly on repaving roads and implementing bike lanes, and funding for the San Luis Obispo Police Department and emergency vehicles. Parks and recreation, flood protection, open space preservation, pedestrian improvements and traffic congestion each received less than 11% of the general fund money.

Stewart said a group of community members who represent voters in the city work with officials to ensure that city money is spent responsibly.

Chris Richardson, president of local real estate business Richardson Properties, said he supports Measure G because it would help build up the community by maintaining parks and creeks and providing loans for small businesses.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2020

three tourists in line behind them.

It is not clear whether Cal Poly students align with locals or visitors in terms of spending.

Residents who oppose Measure G do so because a sales tax is considered a regressive tax, meaning everyone is taxed at the same rate, regardless of income. Many also believe it is too soon to renew a tax set to expire in 2023.

Real Estate Attorney Stewart D. Jenkins said he believes the best option right now is to wait and see how the economy recovers.

“There’s nothing wrong with taxes, they’re what we pay for a civilized society. But the most regressive tax that hits poor people and working people the hardest is the sales tax,” Jenkins said.

He said there are other taxes the city could implement to increase revenue, such as a property tax. He also said voters should wait until after this election to vote on a sales tax, as 60% of the revenue from Proposition 15 would be allocated to local California governments if it passes. However, most commercial business owners would not be paying the increased property taxes until 2025, according to the California Legislative Analyst’s office.

There will be two more local elections, in March and November of 2022, before the current 0.5% sales

MUSTANG NEWS

This year, San Luis Obispo City Council proposed a 1% sales tax increase.

The tax, called Measure G-20, would produce more than $21 million annually and would filter into the city’s general fund.

After tax, Measure G would raise the cost of a $10 shirt from $10.75 to $10.88.

The city currently has a 7.75% sales tax. If residents vote “yes” on the measure, sales tax would increase to 8.75% in April 2021.

According to Councilmember Erica A. Stewart, the city staff introduced the measure after residents said in a survey what they want city money to fund. The city made a list of items that the tax revenue would fund, such as infrastructure, homeless services, natural disaster protection and support for local businesses.

The base California sales tax is 7.25%, and the city of San Luis Obispo currently has a 0.5% sales tax that is set to expire in March 2023. The 0.5% city sales tax was introduced back in 2006 as Measure Y and renewed by voters in 2014 as Measure G-14.

This year, Measure G would do two things. First, it would renew the 0.5% sales tax that would expire in 2023.

Second, the measure would increase the city sales tax by 1%, bringing the total sales tax to 8.75%.

There is no sunset clause, or date that the tax would run through, however voters may petition to put the measure back on the ballot during the appropriate election year, according to Stewart.

Sales taxes in California cities range from 7.25% to 10.25%, according to the California state website.

If voters vote “no” on Measure G, the city sales tax will remain at 7.75% until March 2023, and will then drop to 7.25%, the base California sales tax rate, unless another sales tax is introduced to and passed by voters.

Measure G was not introduced as a direct result of COVID-19, but after the pandemic hit, the city lost $8.6 million of revenue, according to Stewart.

The city receives most of its revenue from tourists who spend money in the city and at hotels. Tourists pay about 70% of sales tax in San Luis Obispo, according to city documents.

This means that for every local who buys a cup of coffee, there are two or

26

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

CHERISSE SWEENEY AND ABRIANNA TORRES ARE WOLVES IN SHEEPS’ CLOTHING

BY ETHAN STAN

Ethan Stan is a city and regional planning graduate student. The views expressed in this letter do not necessarily reflect those of Mustang News.

In the upcoming local election, San Luis Obispo voters will see a long list of candidates for Mayor and City Council.

Two prominent candidates, Cherisse Sweeney for Mayor and Abrianna Torres for City Council, have names that have been plastered all over San Luis Obispo. They are presenting themselves as neutral, non-partisan candidates who stand for unity and bringing people together. But they are lying and are counting on misleading public statements to deceive the voters of San Luis Obispo.

Sweeney and Torres are supported by out-of-town conservative political lobbyists and relying on these connections to get cash from big-money donors. Both of their campaigns are retaining the services of Political Fi-

nance Solutions, Inc. (PFS), a West Sacramento based firm. Both candidates also list Bryan Burch of PFS as their campaign treasurer.

PFS is a longtime Republican consulting firm that lists, among others, the California Republican Party and the SLO County Republican Party as clients.

On PFS’ website, Bryan Burch’s bio claims, “Bryan has worked in politics for over a decade handling compliance for the California Republican Party.” This is publicly available information on their campaign filing documents.

Both candidates also retained the services of Pacific Coast Strategies, LLC. (PCS), a political consulting firm owned by registered Republican and oil and gas consultant Amber Johnson.

Johnson, according to the SLO Chamber of Commerce website, is the sole proprietor of PCS and managed the defeat of the anti-oil Measure G initiative.

“Amber is a delegate for the California Republican Party and has served as an RNC delegate and alternate

at the ‘04, ‘08 and ‘16 conventions,” the website said. “She is an elected member of the Republican Party of San Luis Obispo County.” According to their most recent filings, Sweeney and Torres have spent $1,500 each on PCS services.

Both candidates also maintain disturbing connections to right-wing private Facebook groups, where the messaging is very different from their public positions. They both announced their candidacies in the hidden “Take Back SLO” group before announcing them publicly and count members of these groups, many from outside the City of SLO (and even outside SLO County), as their core supporters. As far back as July 22, a group admin posted about the upcoming announcements of “their candidates,” though by Sept. 6, a fellow admin begged group members to stop their “cussing” and slandering of SLO residents as it threatened the chances of “the candidates I worked so hard to run.”

Beyond messaging for these candidates, other posts in “Take Back SLO” include mask burning rallies, denial

of the existence of the COVID-19 pandemic, pro-Trump rallies, mocking the existence of systemic racism, and outright threats – and celebration – of violence. Though explicitly formed as a group “formed to recruit leadership to the city council of San Luis Obispo,” it has become a dangerous echo chamber of dishonest and outright “fake” news. These are not the people or regressive views we want to influence our City Council.

That said, there is nothing inherently wrong with a candidate running as a Republican. But Sweeney and Torres clearly both realized it has been a long time since an open

Republican has won office in SLO and therefore decided they would try to bury their clear coordination with the Republican infrastructure in SLO County and statewide, all while hoping the fact they are not individually registered as Republicans would be enough to trick SLO voters.

This kind of dishonesty has no place in SLO politics and there are enough good, honest candidates running for SLO voters to reject this deception and keep it out of City leadership.

GR ACE KITAYAMA | MUSTANG NEWS Ethan Stan believes that Mayor and city council candidates are deceiving voters.

OPINION

MUSTANG NEWS

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2020

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

SWEENEY AND TORRES AREN’T ‘WOLVES,’ THEY’RE THE BREATH OF FRESH AIR SLO NEEDS

BY LUKE PEVREAL

Mustang News reached out to the Cal Poly College Republicans club for a letter to the editor about the election, and Luke Pevreal, a political science senior, wrote a rebuttal to “Letter to the Editor: Abrianna Torres and Cherisse Sweeney are wolves in sheeps clothing.” The views expressed in this letter do not necessarily reflect those of Mustang News.

Facts are stubborn things.

Yet today in 2020, it seems the word ‘fact’ itself has become somewhat of an abstraction, prone to be weaponized by anyone wishing to denigrate someone they believe to be wrong.

Unfortunately, in an era of information overload, it’s becoming increasingly hard to determine what is fact and what is false.

Still, we have a few guides to determine when someone is misleading us. There is, of course, outright fabri-

cation being the most blatant of lies, when someone simply makes something up to push whatever they’re trying to sell.

The most dangerous lies, however, are the little ones — the ones that wildly mischaracterize and distort reality, but do so through omission, exaggeration and minimization.

When I saw the alarmingly personal attacks levied by establishment voices against SLO City Council and Mayoral candidates Abrianna Torres and Cherisse Sweeney, respectively, it was immediately clear what tactics were at play: deflection, omission, and minimization.

We all love SLO, and despite being a British-Australian international student myself, I immediately felt at home when I arrived on the Central Coast freshman year. But it would be naive to suggest it doesn’t have its problems.

Do we want to talk about the $175 million in unfunded pension liabilities SLO owes to CalPERS, or do

we want to smear two bright business-women who want to fix it? Do we want to discuss the erosion of community safety, or publicly share the home address of a candidate with two grade school-aged children? Do we want to reflect on the alarming and, frankly, heartbreaking number of homeless people on the streets, or do we want to promote spurious conspiracy theories about hidden agendas and silent coups being orchestrated through municipal elections?

The North Korean justice system is built on a principle known as ‘three generations of punishment.’ If you’re related to a dissident or enemy of the state within three generations of your position in the family, you too are guilty, and will be sent to a forced labor camp to repay the state for a family member’s crimes – even if you’re innocent. In America, we, thankfully, have no such standard, and judge each individual by their own actions.

But for the sake of argument, if

Abrianna and Cherisse’s affiliations give away who they are, then let’s dive a little deeper. Abrianna’s website says she’s pro-choice and endorsed by Rick Stollmeyer, founder of MindBody, a registered Democrat who’s also an endorser of, oh — the incumbent Mayor. If we visit Cherisse Sweeney’s website, we see an endorsement from Blake Beltram, another prominent businessman who claims to “have never NOT voted Democrat.” Weird, ‘closet Republicans’ don’t usually have such grassroots bipartisan support behind them.

Furthermore, if we insist on judging each person by who they’re connected to, why not apply this logic to all sides? The incumbent Mayor and several members of the City Council are affiliated with or endorsed by the SLO Democratic Socialists of America, a group that dismisses the 100 million+ people murdered by socialism during the 20th century, many of whom were people of color. Should we assume the mayor is a Communist plant sent personally by the ghost of Chairman Mao to lead a Marxist revolution in the United States? Of course not, nor should we.

I’m sure the Mayor and every City

Councillor simply want the best for their families and their community.

I think everyone else does, too. So wouldn’t it be better to debate policy, rather than personality?

The fact is the personal, incendiary attacks on Abrianna and Cherisse are simply a deflection to distract voters from the current leadership’s inability to solve the city’s problems. These two candidates are experienced, inclusive and innovative thinkers who bring real solutions to the table. Whether it’s restoring economic vitality, cutting red tape to allow more affordable home building or their sincere commitment to unifying our community, Abrianna Torres and Cherisse Sweeney are the best choice for students and soon-to-be graduates who wish to live affordably in the town we love. The status quo isn’t working. In a time of economic uncertainty and political polarization, let’s take a chance on some fresh ideas.

Facts are stubborn things, and it’s time for a change. Vote for Abrianna Torres and Cherisse Sweeney for SLO

by Nov. 3.

VOTE:

BY SOPHIA CORBETT

Sophie Corbett is a journalism sophomore and Mustang News opinion columnist. The views expressed in this letter do not necessarily reflect those of Mustang News.

Every day on social media, I see pictures of my peers at protests, posts about COVID-19, posts in support of Black Lives Matter and tributes to Ruth Bader Ginsburg. As a young person, this gives me hope that we are moving towards social and political change. It seems as if our generation is more politically involved now than ever. But at the same time, I fear it’s not enough and this perception is not reality.

According to the United States Census, voter turnout in the 2016 presidential election among 18-29-year-olds was 46.1 percent.

While this was a slight increase of 1.1 percent compared to the 2012 presidential election, that’s still less than half the people in that age group. Compared to the other age groups, the youth miserably fail. 30 to 44-year-olds had a voter turnout of 58.7 percent, 45 to 64-year-olds had a voter turnout of 66.6 percent,

The time to show up and demand change is now and citizens 65 years or older had a voter turnout of 70 percent.

This needs to change. If we want our politicians to care about the issues we’re passionate about, we need to vote.

Attending protests and spreading the word on social media is great and important. With that being said, the real change is going to come on Nov. 3.

If you felt outraged by George Floyd’s death, if you’ve been calling for Breonna Taylor’s killers to be arrested, if you are posting on social media that you’re concerned about a woman’s right to choose since RBG’s death, or if you’re upset by how the current administration has handled COVID-19, you need to bring that same energy to the polls.

If you were enraged by anything that has transpired over the last few months, the time to make your voice heard is now.

We need to elect politicians who are going to make positive changes and respond to the changing social and political climate in this country.

People have had enough — of racism, of sexism, of poor leadership at all levels of government — and we need to make that known on Nov. 3. If we want to see real change,

we need to elect people who share those same values and will fight for them.

I’m not just talking about the presidential election. The presidency is incredibly important, but I think people don’t realize real change occurs through all levels of government, whether that be local, state or federal. While California senators aren’t up for re-election in this upcoming election cycle, 35 Senate seats are. Many of these seats up for re-election are in neighboring states where many Cal Poly out-of-state students are from, like Colorado, Arizona and Oregon. Additionally, all 435 seats in the House of Representatives are up for reelection. Voting is not just about the presidency, it’s about our entire government.

While you might be wholeheartedly committed to casting your ballot in the 2020 election, I can guarantee you not all of your peers are, even those that seem politically “woke.” Talk to your friends and classmates. Ask them if they have a voting plan and if they’ve done their research. If we want young people to have a voice in this country, the time to show up and demand change is now.

A PLAYLIST FOR ELECTION SEASON

BY LILY LEIF

Looking for something to listen to while you turn your ballot in? Check these songs out.

1. “Talkin’ Bout a Revolution” by Tracy Chapman This anthem is emblematic of embracing revolution echoed by Chapman’s soulful voice.

2. “Freedom,” by Beyoncé ft Kendrick Lamar Beyoncé’s vocals in this track are enough to justify this being on the playlist but her message of liberation is what cements it here.

3. “The Guillotine” by The Coup I want to guillotine Jeff Bezos so bad.

4. “Liberty” by Amnesty This is the sample song Kanye ruined in his track “Lift Yourself.” The vocals in this track are beautiful and accompanied by the theme of liberation.

5. “I Hate the Capitalist System” by Barbara Dane Presenting the wealth inequality gap!

6. “Not Ready to Make Nice” by The Chicks

This is the track that essentially blacklisted The Chicks for speaking out against Bush’s push for the Iraq war, thus we need to up their streams for this masterpiece.

7. “Big Yellow Taxi” by Joni Mitchell Mitchell’s most iconic song should be listened to by anyone still doubting climate change and its crushing effects on our environment.

8. “Crisis” by ANOHI This is a song about U.S. imperialist-backed drone strikes killing civilians overseas.

9. “Womanarchist” by Bad Cop Bad Cop: three minutes of women yelling about sexism? Yes, please.

10. “Thanks, Bastards!” by Mischief Brew A fun little thank you to the people in power!

Bonus Track: “FDT,” by YG: self-explanatory.

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LOCAL INFORMING SHARP DETAILED VERSATILE UNCOVERING ON THE SCENE WE ARE THE FUTURE ADAPTING CREATIVE DEDICATED OPPORTUNISTIC

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TOGETHER DETERMINED PERSISTANT STUDENTS LISTENING HARD WORKING LOCAL INFORMING SHARP DETAILED VERSATILE UNCOVERING WE ARE ON THE SCENE THE FUTURE ADAPTING CREATIVE DEDICATED

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