I attended as president of Glen Cove Community Association a second annual End of Summer event at Glen Cove Waterfront Park here in Vallejo. Our board worked very hard to put this together. The turnout was decent even though the weather was unusually hot for October. That may have affected turnout, but we had more to offer this year with the jumpy house for kids, lots of games, free wine for adults, a food truck, and live music courtesy of Mike and Tonya from Tara Hills. Under the shade of the eucalyptus trees, it was pleasant with a breeze, but still a hot one.
Videos include the Faceboook Live Streams and personal video we took at the event:
These pictures are courtesy of Bill Yuen and Neal Zimmerman:
Attended a Clean Air talk with various organizations and concerned citizens about the air quality in the San Francisco Bay Area. This one occurred at the JFK Library in Vallejo, where I was a few days ago for a mayoral candidate forum. While not specifically about tobacco, I introduced myself as someone who volunteers in the area of commercial tobacco control and indoor air quality, although outdoor public, tobacco use is a huge problem as well.
I attended the Vallejo Waterfront Festival yesterday before it got too hot, and got my flu shot at the booth next door when stopping by the Humane Society of the North Bay booth.
Filipino Martial Arts demonstration at the Vallejo Waterfront Festival:
Thank you to the Vallejo Waterfront Festival for making HSNB one of the beneficiaries this year!
Linda, Carlene, Mr. Wiggles, and I got to speak at this school in Benicia, asking for volunteers, donations, and foster/adoptions of the local homeless cats and dogs from Humane Society of the North Bay where we volunteer on the Board.
Saint Francis of Assisi is the first Friday in October. Chihuahua-Frenchie mix Mister Wiggles was a big hit!
As president of Glen Cove Community Association, I had the privilege of being asked to present a question to the mayoral candidates of Vallejo at the Alliance of Vallejo Neighborhood Associations, which took place at JFK Library near city hall.
You can find me in a few of these pictures taken by others at the event:
I had fun in general at Folsom Street Fair, but there was ZERO San Francisco Department of Health enforcement present and only a few pathetic signs like this one near the end of a street that was an offshoot from the main fair. Why aren’t the street fair licenses at least threatened to be revoked for the overall discomfort and health of attendees?
For those who cherish consent, how about for those who are forced to inhale cigars and other combustible devices in crowds, not to mention people sucking on vapes with huge plumes all day long? I did not consent to polluted air, so I had to spend my day attempting to avoid it in public from discourteous people. I hope the world gets some sense knocked into it someday. I actually love crowds, but not if I have to fight the ignorance.
As president of the Glen Cove Community Association, I had the honor of emceeing the Vallejo City Council District 3 and mayoral candidates forum tonight. Thank you to the participants, the rest of my Board including Christine who professionally kept the time, and Shea for taking the footage which streamed live.
Together with many other advocates, I spoke at Vallejo City Council again last night. I stumbled a few times, but it’s all good. They have heard many of these talking points from me before in one fashion or another, including the many side meetings that we’ve had on the subject with the coalition comprised of Bay Area Community Resources, LGBTQ Minus Tobacco and Tobacco Free Solano.
We’re getting closer to getting a Tobacco Retail License for Vallejo approved, but we knew there would not be an on-the-spot vote on it. The City staff needed more guidance from the councilmembers as to some of the outstanding issues, even though there is agreement on a large part of the ordinance between the health advocates on my coalition and the retailers who are worried about making as much money off of selling poison as they can. Despite all the efforts to communicate the urgency, there was still plenty of push-back by retailers and acquiescence from some of the city council, despite the original request to make this as robust a policy as possible to save as many young lives from addiction and miserable health consequences.
In law school, we learned that a “successful” mediation is when both parties walk away from the table disappointed. I don’t think this will be any different, despite this subject matter being a passion of mine to save lives. As a reminder, 8 million people a year die worldwide from tobacco-related illnesses, thanks to the colonial marketing of commercial tobacco that has nothing to do with the use by indigenous Americans. The United States alone has 480,000 of those annual deaths, and in California, it’s 40,000 of those. That is every year, and this scourge has been pushing tobacco, which has no medicinal purpose, for over five hundred years, as I mentioned. That’s a lot of death and misery of untold humans.
My speech was basically this:
Good evening city council. I’m Joseph Hayden, a Vallejo resident and volunteer with LGBTQ Minus Tobacco and Tobacco Free Solano. Last year, with our coalition and Vallejo youth activists, we presented the benefits of a Tobacco Retail License. I REMIND you all that immediately afterward from the dais, the mayor explicitly directed staff to develop a robust ordinance given Vallejo’s illegal underage sales being among the worst in the Bay Area.
The model policy from the Public Health Law Center includes best practices to prevent youth addiction to tobacco, particularly in food deserts. However, some of the policy terms are being challenged. As compromises are considered, please remember not to lose sight of the fact that with the right enforcement this COULD and SHOULD be the last generation Big Tobacco targets with their poisonous, deadly products. Five hundred years of exploitation is enough.
Vallejo can lead by example, leveraging SB 793 and Proposition 31, which forbids the sale of most flavored tobacco. Our coalition provided to you the survey results after SB 793 implementation highlighting high violation rates, as well as empirical evidence of higher smoking rates among marginalized groups, including LGBTQ people and people of color.
As another reminder, tobacco is a product that KILLS when used as intended.
As a board member of the local humane society I encourage everyone to ADOPT, not SHOP for pets. Every rescued pet is another one that breeders and puppy mills will not profit from. Mixed breeds are inherently healthier and make wonderful family members. Although HSNB is a no-kill shelter, many animals are still neglected and face euthanasia due to the lack of forever homes.
We all understand the laws of supply and demand. Let’s save as many animal lives as possible because these pets cannot speak for themselves. This is why I have been volunteering in this field for years. I typically foster and facilitate the adoption of designer dogs that come my way, allowing me to adopt senior and special needs dogs permanently. These decisions have brought me family members and love that fulfill my life.
