Mayoral Candidate Vinnie Bacon speaks at MSJ Civics Club

By Staff Writers Cham Yu & Vikram Mahajan

On October 4, former Fremont City Councilor and Mayoral Candidate Vinnie Bacon spoke at an MSJ Civics Club meeting during lunch in C120. Bacon laid out his major policy positions, described his political background, and fielded questions from the student audience.

Bacon began his presentation by outlining his core campaign priorities, which include affordable housing and environmental action, quickly prompting questions from the crowd. He then described his qualifications, including his leadership roles in the Sierra Club, a conservationist organization dedicated to protecting the environment. This has become an increasingly relevant mission amid recent record-high temperatures in the Bay Area due to global warming. Bacon also narrated his success in stopping a large residential development near Coyote Hills Regional Park, referencing his background as a city planner to answer student questions on public transit and urban development.

Although popular with some environmentalists, Bacon’s past opposition to additional housing construction drew allegations of NIMBYism, a colloquial term short for “Not In My Backyard” to describe an anti-development attitude towards new construction. In response to these concerns from Civics Club Activities Coordinator Junior Arsh Shah, Bacon elaborated on his record as a supporter of mixed-use housing developments while supporting regulations on developers, emphasizing that they had too much influence in local politics. “I did what I could [on City Council] to encourage more sustainable development … I was usually the one, in a 4-1 vote, against that development,” Bacon said.

After the event ended, officers handed out two dozen doughnuts to attendees in exchange for their thoughts on the event. “Some things I liked [about Bacon’s presentation] was that he supported mixed [use] housing and zoning … He wanted [new housing] next to BART stations like the Warm Springs BART,” Sophomore Gautham Ramkumar said.

The Civics Club was able to host Bacon at the event using pre-existing contact information provided by President Junior Vikram Mahajan combined with assistance from school administrators. The intensive discourse exchanged between Bacon and other candidates in recent weeks had also prompted club officers to reach out to both candidates for a speaking opportunity at MSJ. Meanwhile, the logistics involved timely communications with school administrators such as Assistant Principal Beth Bonomo. This enabled the event to take place at C120, which required a reservation, and facilitated a larger student audience and more formal speaker accommodations for Bacon.

Moving forward, Civics Club plans to offer opportunities for students to get involved with local politics by promoting voter registration. This includes sharing service opportunities with nonprofit organizations such as the League of Women Voters and screening an infomercial on voting pre-registration. After the success of their presentation with Vinnie Bacon as a guest speaker, the club also coordinated with the Raj Salwan campaign to host him as a guest speaker at MSJ on October 15, providing the community with a unique opportunity to hear from the two opposing perspectives in the mayoral campaign. Club officers reflected on the meeting, concluding that it  was a success. “I think it was a great meeting because it provided an immersive experience where students were able to interact with a political candidate who possesses the potential to bring about positive change for not only them, but society as a whole,”  Civics Club Secretary Junior Kevin Liu said.

 

Voices:

“I really liked [Bacon’s] presentation on solutions to homelessness, including sending them to homeless shelters. And that really resonated with me because there are a lot of people on the streets at the moment, and I want to help them get out of it. I would also be inclined to support him after this presentation, but my views haven’t exactly changed because I’m not very knowledgeable on the subject just yet.”  — Soham Kukday, 11

 

“Some things I liked [about Bacon’s presentation] was that he supported mixed [use] housing and zoning, for example. He wanted [new housing] next to BART stations, like the Warm Springs BART. He wanted a mix of residential and commercial buildings. But he didn’t really go over how he’s going to do that. He just went over it. I also think that he went over climate change a little too much as a mayoral candidate, because Fremont doesn’t really have any industry or much effect on climate change. In the end, I’m not very educated on the Fremont mayoral race. My family has always voted for Lily Mei but we will definitely look into [Bacon’s candidacy] this year after his inspiring presentation.” — Gautham Ramkumar, 10

 

“[I hope to] just tell people about my campaign and let them know why I’m running…I obviously will address youth [in particular].” — Former City Councilor Vinnie Bacon

 

“We were originally going to host Raj Salwan as our guest speaker, but he bailed on us just two days before the club meeting, which was a challenge because we weren’t sure what we were going to do and we didn’t want to disappoint our club attendees. Luckily, however, our club president Vikram was able to message Vinnie Bacon, another mayoral candidate, to ask him to come, and he agreed despite the very short notice. We were able to alert school staff that we had a guest speaker and that we wanted to use C120 to host them, which the staff graciously allowed. Within the next two to three weeks, MSJ Civics Club plans to host a meeting discussing the presidential election, the candidates, and the electoral college process. After Election Day, we might hold another meeting to talk about the future of our country under the winning candidate.  [In addition, we] are aiming to host Raj Salwan as a guest speaker within the next few weeks.” — Civics Club Secretary Junior Scarlett Xu

 

“The biggest challenge we faced in organizing this meeting was that our initial speaker canceled on us two days before the event, and we had to find a replacement with very little notice. We were able to reach out to Councilmember Bacon at the Fremont mayoral candidate forum, and he expressed interest in speaking at MSJ. Our club president Vikram Mahajan had Mr. Bacon’s contact information already, so he was able to quickly secure a time. Councilmember Raj Salwan was initially scheduled to speak at MSJ, but due to scheduling issues, we will have him speak in a few weeks. Regardless, we aim to reach out to and have as many candidates speak at MSJ as we can before the election.” — Civics Club Vice President Junior Ashwin Vaidyanathan