♪♪♪ Scott: 2024 feels like it's going to be a big year.

A national election that looks like a rematch and a local election that looks like the end of an era.

What are the issues and personalities that will dominate our headlines?

Joining us today is Sacramento Bee, California Opinion editor, Marcos Bretón.

Marcos, what one issue do you hope will get the focus it deserves in 2024?

Marcos: Well, locally, I would say that, um, [clears throat] it's not like homelessness doesn't get the attention it deserves.

But I think in Sacramento, what the election's going to settle is, um, whether elections will be decided locally because of homeless-- and more... to more to the point because of anger over homelessness.

We have a district attorney whos suing the city of Sacramento, tapping into the anger that people feel, the frustration that they feel, seeing, uh, the desperation of homelessness in their faces daily.

Um, and we've moved beyond any kind of, um, uniform empathy over the issue with where-- were... were-- we've reached the anger portion of our program.

And... and that anger could very well settle the mayor's race and... and... and some city council races, um, so... so my hope is, as a long-time resident of Sacramento, that anger won't be the deciding factor in those races, but they very well could be.

Scott: Well, let- let's talk about that a bit, because I think you're on to something.

It is almost as if there we are at a moment where you are being forced to choose a side-- Marcos: Yeah.

Scott: If you are a resident in this region and there is no more polite, kind of pushing the peas around the plate a-and... and making kind of like very generalized statements.

It's almost as if we're... we're not quite there, but almost like we're going to have a litmus test on are you with the Thien Hos of the world and, uh, homelessness is an issue that has to be dealt with and not necessarily dealt with in kind of a... a polite, progressive sort of way, which has dominated Sacramento's landscape for probably the past 25 years or so.

But, uh, but then on the other side, you've got people who say we need to double down on more of a social services and more progressive approach toward dealing with homelessness and the related housing types of issues.

How do you think that this does factor in to the local political races that we're going to witness?

Marcos: So my concern is that... our region, our city, uh, are going to make choices at the ballot box based on emotion [clears throat] and based on false choices.

For example, um... what I hear from my neighbors, from people around town, from elected officials, is that we need to do more.

We're not at this point right now because we haven't done anything.

Millions and millions of dollars have been spent on this issue.

Um, I would argue we're at this point because we haven't done enough.

But... right now, the way the issue is being framed is... that the solution that's being offered, is no solution at all.

It's just more enforcement on the social cost of homelessness and never getting to the underlying issues, which is a lack of housing capacity and a lack of drug and mental health treatment and we never quite seem to get there.

Scott: Let's go there then on that, because, uh- um, I hear from similar sets of people and one of the questions that-- or one of the statements that comes up increasingly right now is, “We don't think it can be fixed.

But, you know, I just don't want it where I'm at.

” And when you talk to a store owner who comes to their shop every day and has to clean up human waste in their doorway, or... who has been broken into multiple times and their insurance is going up and they're being threatened with not being able to get insurance.

They're just fed up and they don't want to hear about it anymore, about, you know, the ecosystem of the... of the complexity of the issue.

They just want something done.

And that's the reason that, uh, actions like Thien Hos, who I believe in your paper recently Ed- Edward- Edwin Chemerinsky, uh, very esteemed and respected law professor said what Ho is suing on is one, unenforceable.

But second, he doesn't even have standing, in his opinion-- Marcos: No.

Scott: Chemerinskys opinion, to even bring the suit.

But people are applaud- some people are applauding that because they just want somebody to take a stand.

How do you respond to that?

Marcos: Well, I certainly understand the frustration, um, that people feel.

And listen, I work in midtown.

It's... it's all around me.

It's right outside my window.

Um, and, uh, when I walk to lunch, I have to step over, step around it.

Uh, I understand all those things.

I've lived, um, I've lived in the city for 30 years at this point.

And what-- I have a front row seat for... for how we got here.

But ultimately, the anger that's driving public opinion doesn't have an answer either, except to move people around.

And, uh, and so if that's where we land as a community, we're still going to be, you know, if we- you... you and I can check in a year from today and people will still be dissatisfied because simply moving people around is-- or... or in some cases arresting people isnt gonna get us to where we want to go either.

Scott: Okay, but let-let- let's go all the way there.

Is there a possibility that this is just a hopeless situation and, um, it's a fact of life?

And so therefore, um, you know, hey, residents, just deal with it.

Never going away-- Marcos: Well... Scott: Never getting better.

Move on to other priorities.

Marcos: So, I...

I would put the onus on the residents themselves, Scott, because, uh, the... the... the issue of, for example of having homeless encampments, which was a very unpopular idea in Sacramento a dozen years ago, uh, and as a... as a- when I was the columnist of the Bee, I was very anti that idea.

Now we're-- weve reached a poin where people uniformly support it because things have just gotten so bad.

[clears throat] But the reason that we don't have more encampments in the city or the county is precisely because everywhere you try to put one, people oppose it.

So if... if... if you... if you get a 100% opposition anywhere you go, well, what's the answer to that?

So I would put it back on the public.

Okay.

You're frustrated because there aren't enough places to put these folks.

And it's still a legal issue that hasn't been decided.

But the courts say that you have to have a place to put them to move them, but you can't move them someplace ‘cause everybody opposes where they can be moved.

Scott: I-I will...

I will tell you and this is impolitic to say, but I've heard, uh, on more occasions than I would have expected, people said, “Hey, um, you know, if they can't get it together, take the money and pull a Greg Abbott and s- put them all on busses and send them somewhere else.

” And I mean, it's... it's interesting that Sacramentans, who have tended to be very sort of compassionate and... and welcoming as a people, as a community, you're-- this consistent hardening doesn't look like it's abating at all.

So it'll be interesting... Le-let's turn though, to uh, someone who's been very involved in that issue, who's coming to the end of his time, Darrell Steinberg, Sacramento's mayor, who made conquering this issue a key plank in his platform.

He's going to be moving off the stage, at least, uh, in Sacramento, as the mayor in the coming months.

What is it that you think will be written about his tenure and the fact that he may have been very earnest and committed in addressing this issue?

But it- generally, the feeling is, is that homelessness is as bad as it ever was.

Marcos: Well, [clears throat] uh, I am in the camp where I believe that, uh... once he- once Mayor Steinberg is gone and some time elapses, uh, I think that he will be viewed favorably for being the one person in this region who consistently tried to take this issue on.

And my-- to me, the big riddle of this, and again I put this back on the public, the public and the business community led by the business community, by mutual friends of ours who are very smart people... have gotten so sideways on this issue that there are some folks who are s- should be smarter than this, who actually believe that this homeless issue in Sacramento is Darrell Steinberg's fault.

And anyone who believes that is either lying or is a moron.

Look around the West Coast.

Look around the world.

Have you been to the Bay Area lately?

I mean, you could make an argument that some of these cities are worse off than Sacramento.

And so.

Scott: Uh, well, I got to interject, though Look at the Bay Area, except in San Francisco, except when President Xi comes to town.

Except in downtown San Francisco.

Let me tell you, I was there during that time.

You could have eaten breakfast off those streets, they were so clean at that time.

And so cynics say it's not that the problem can't be addressed.

It's that the... the politicians have no will to address it.

Marcos: And well, so, but the... the one guy who has had the will has been Darrell Steinberg.

And... and so instead of punishing the do-nothings, the Phil Sernas, the Patrick Kennedys.

But, you know, most of the members of the Sacramento Board of Supervisors, they punish the one guy who has tried to do something.

Why did Darrell Steinberg get sideways with the supervisors?

Because they felt like he was moving too fast and too strong on this issue and they got their little feelings hurt.

So... so-- Scott: Which...

Which brings to mind the old adage that no good deed goes unpunished.

Marcos: No good deed goes unpunished.

No good deed-- so... so we're... were punishing the one guy who has tried to take this on and we're letting the people who have, like, you know, sat... sat to one side uh... uh, and without punishing them.

And this is an interesting dynamic.

I can't speak for other communities, but that's the way it's been in our community.

Scott: So with... with all that being said, we have uh, a contested mayor's race coming up.

How do you handicap the players and where they stand?

Marcos: Well, [clears throat] so, there are four primary candidates.

Um, uh... uh, Assemblyman Kevin McCarty, former city councilman Steve Hansen, former state Senator Richard Pan and Flojaune Cofer, who's an epidemiologist and... Um, and a, uh, someone very known to you.

And... uh, and also uh, an advocate in town.

And so... so, in Hansen and Pan you have the establishment candidates although the establishment endorsements have been going to Hansen.

And McCarty... you have a legislator who is sort of on the progressive side, but not as progressive as Flojaune Cofer.

And so I don't know if anybody expects that this issue, that this race will be settled in March, that will probably go to November.

Two people will emerge.

And so the question is which two?

And I know all four and I...

I know you're trying to get me to predict things in January, and you've been doing that for years now.

I hesitate to predict because I haven't seen any reliable polling on this to see how people are feeling.

But I...

I would say do not sleep on Flojaune Cofer.

She has raised a lot of money and she has a lot of support.

Scott: Well, let me... let me give you something to react to.

When I look at Hansen and I look at Pan, I see two, uh... uh, very skilled politicians who are in sort of the Obama-esque technocrat sort of mold.

Where it is that they understand the... the levers of government.

They know how to move them.

They are looking for pragmatic solutions that they think will kind of bridge the center.

When I look at McCarty and I look at Cofer, I see two progressives one in the vantage of being very, very pro-labor and very much in... in sort of the mainstream of the progressive left of the Democratic Party.

And then in Cofer... Cofer represents kind of a... a sort of element that you say is kind of an X factor because Cofer, w-will state that she represents the people who do not speak but who live within the community, who the political consultants completely write off because they're not considered to be, uh, dependable voters.

But she calls them the silent majority, and she believes that she can mobilize them.

But her platform flies in the face of all of the conventional wisdom solutions.

And the question is, is that like Trump, only an opposite in 2016?

Does Flojaune Cofer represent a movement that the smart people don't even know exists?

Marcos: Well, the city has elected a young progressive before, but for a city council race in a... in a district, uh, the city... city wide, I would argue that we've never really elected a true progressive.

Now, Darrell Steinberg will say he is, and particularly the young folks will vehemently disagree with him.

But we tend to be, city-wide, a... a very-- and we have been any way a very centrist, sensible kind of technocratic, business friendly, uh, even though the business folks would disagree with that, uh, city.

And... and so, Flojaune Cofer would be the first black woman ever elected if she were elected mayor, but she's also the youngest of the four running.

And she's definitely, on the political spectrum, is to the left of anyone who's ever been elected to the mayor of Sacramento before.

Scott: It's quite true.

And a related issue with her is, and she has been... she is well known for bringing up this issue, is her, uh, platform really goes after some of the sacred cows on how the city and frankly, the region have been run.

For instance, she attacks the police and fire budget and considers the... uh, um, the focus on law enforcement to be one that is overzealous and doesn't deal with the root issues of the reason that there is so much crime.

What's interesting about her stand on that is that she is doing that at a time when crime and law and order are on the ascendancy, p-post George Floyd.

And she's really out there all by herself on that one.

And it'll be interesting as to whether or not that stand pays off or whether it ends up working to the benefit of her opponents.

Marcos: Yes.

And the voters will... will decide it.

Scott: Let's go...

Lets...

Lets...

Lets go to the state, though.

We're facing a $68 billion budget deficit.

Gavin Newsom has cleaned himself up in order to prepare himself either for 2028 or to step in, to, you know, lightning strike and Joe Biden decide to, uh step backwards for running for reelection.

How do you think he gets out of this jam?

Marcos: Yeah, it's going to be tough for the governor because he rode into office, um, just with a-- California had a ton of money.

He may have had the easiest path, uh, to the governorship of anyone who's ever run uh, for California, because he was lucky enough to get a Republican, uh, challenger for the... the general, which means that he didn't even have to name that Republican, and he didnt it.

Um, but the-- all the economic forecasts show deficits for the remainder of his time and he very well could own the lack of housing in California and the homelessness issue, uh, before he's done all of that may fall, uh, at his feet before he's done.

Scott: Well, you know, it's funny you... you mention that, because there are some who say that he was elected, to use a baseball analogy, on third base and walked home.

Marcos: Yes.

Scott: Because... Marcos: He was born on third base.

Scott: -- the largesse... Because of the largesse that Jerry Brown left him.

And now all of a sudden, it looks like uh, his... his entire, uh, team has fallen apart, at least with regards to this budget.

How does this affect Sacramento?

Because, uh, this is... uh, this is still a government town.

And, um, those cuts you get, you can't slide that one around the plate and essentially make it go away.

Marcos: I'm actually very worried about our city.

Uh, and is it-- you know, you asked me at the top of the show if there's an issue that deserves more attention.

I know of one, that I didn't think of earlier, roughly 40 to 50% of the buildings downtown are owned by one government or another.

Uh, so there's no... there's no taxes coming in to the city based on those properties.

And before COVID, those... those buildings were full.

So there were customers and they were... they were spending money downtown.

Well, guess what?

Most of them are gone and it doesn't appear that they're coming back.

Uh, and so to me, if... if Gavin Newsom cares about his legacy, at least cares about his legacy as it relates to the city where he will work for eight years as governor, then he will do something to... to... to alleviate an issue that is choking the number one revenue generator for the city, which is downtown Sacramento.

And... and... and... that issue... there is an issue that deserves attention going forward.

Scott: Hmm, uh, some might cynically believe that he'd be more concerned about that very same issue in downtown, uh, D.C... Marcos: Sure.

Scott: where he looks to go than in downtown Sacramento, Marcos.

Marcos: But the other question there is if... is if a candidate like Gavin Newsom can play outside of California?

I'm not entirely convinced that the answer is yes.

Scott: Let me ask you this.

When you look to... when you look forward, who are the emerging voices that you think we're going to hear more from that maybe we haven't heard from in the past?

Marcos: You know, uh, I think that...

I think it's... it's time for a generational change in Sacramento.

I think we're seeing that.

I think even... even if, um, say an establishment candidate like Steve Hansen or... or Kevin McCarty, if they win for the mayor, for example, um, they're going to be of a different generation.

Steinberg... Steinberg's generation has been in power in Sacramento for 30 plus years.

Um, and so that's... that's about to change.

And even though you... you might have a candidate in Sacramento who has been on the council before, has been in the legislature, uh, it's still a younger generation, a different generation.

And I think that we're... we're poised to see that we're... we're... we're seeing new leaders emerge in some of the different business groups.

You know, I... uh, I certainly would keep an eye, uh, on Luke Wood, the new president at Sacramento State.

I think that, you know, he's in his early forties as well.

And I think that we're... we're seeing, uh, you know, and I'm...

I'm a...

I'm a person now in his early sixties and... and I'm no longer connected to the generation that's ascending anymore.

And... and it's just... it's just a reality.

And my friend, I would put you in that camp as well.

Uh, so...

So, I think that we're going to see that.

I think there's... there's a whole cadre of people in... in business, in politics, in academia, uh, in their mid... mid-thirties to... to... to late forties who... who are going to take over Sacramento and are... are in the process of doing so!

Scott: Well in talking about generational change in... in our final moments.

Recently, uh, you had, a little, um, hiccup, in terms of social media.

You published who you were going to, uh, vote for on the, uh, Baseball Hall of Fame ballot.

And just... just, in a few seconds, tell us what you learned from the experience of basically being swarmed, uh, in the social media environment.

Marcos: I didn't learn anything about Twitter that I didn't already know.

Uh, I broke all the rules.

I...

I...

I struck back at people who struck at me.

Uh, I wouldn't back down.

I doubled down, uh, and... and... and I ended up getting pilloried for... for... for days on end.

And I... and I just was... just reminded that, uh, social media profits from divisions.

Uh, and if it's just in the context of baseball, who cares, where it's dangerous is in politics.

Uh, and that's something that we have to be really aware of this year, that we don't allow fake news and fake divisions to influence us.

Uh, and its just something that we need to be aware of.

Scott: And I think we'll leave it there.

That's good advice.

Uh, thank you, Marcos, for... for sharing.

And, uh, we'll look to see how it all works out this year.

Marcos: Thank you.

Scott: All right.

And that's our show.

Thanks to our guests and thanks to you for watching Studio Sacramento, I'm Scott Syphax.

See you next time right here on KVIE.

♪♪♪ Scott: All episodes of Studio Sacramento, along with other KVIE programs, are available to watch online at KVIE.ORG/VIDEO