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.
Pictures taken by others:
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.
Thank you for your time and attention.
Today is Puppy Mill Awareness Day
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.
Shea, the dogs, and I visited Quarters Cafe on Mare Island to meet up with some activist locals.
I think at the Humane Society of the North Bay‘s Pawtoberfest I shocked Shea when during the live auction I bid (and won) a good deal on a one-week stay on the Big Island! I can’t wait to aloha! I’ve been meaning to get back to Hawaii and this way I know it’s helping the homeless dogs and cats in our area.
HSNB’s biggest gala of the year aligned with Oktoberfest.
Please visit and donate at Humane Society of the North Bay’s website. The Pawtoberfest Gala which was held in Benicia’s gorgeous Clocktower building. We had German caterers and Austro-Bavarian dancers, as you’ll see. We love being able to support our area’s homeless cats and dogs who cannot speak for themselves.
Pictures that other folks took:
We came to the venue early to help set up while wearing our HSNB volunteer t-shirts, but then we had time to go home and doll ourselves up in time for the event. Some of these external pictures are with us after we got cleaned up.
