South San Francisco December 21, 2022 by Marty Romero
This is SSF City Council politics at its worst.
Nagales just served as Mayor for District 2 in 2022. It is unfair for District 2 to have him serve as Mayor once again in 2024, which will disenfranchise thousands of residents in District 4 and other Districts from having representation as Mayor until at least 2025.
If in 2024 Councilman Coleman is not elected or does not run for reelection, in 2025 District 4 will again be disenfranchised from having Mayoral representation. Knowing this as a possibility and having just served as Mayor, Nagales could have refused the nomination for Vice-Mayor. This would have been the right and honorable thing to do, to ensure that all members of City Council have an equal opportunity to serve as Mayor.
District elections were implemented so that all Districts in SSF would have “equal representation” in South San Francisco. What Nagales has accomplished with this type of political maneuvering is to ensure that equality in District representation will not occur. Regardless of the “rules” mentioned above, this is a power grab plain and simple. Nagales should be ashamed to think that this type of conduct is something that residents in other Districts within SSF will condone as acceptable conduct in our City.
Nagales should immediately resign as Vice Mayor and allow others who could have and should have been nominated, be appointed to this position.
This is an interesting point however Coleman does not have the experience to take on VM responsibilities – or Mayorship next year.
How can the voters in the City of South San Francisco change the way a mayor and vice mayor get to be chosen. For so many years with city wide candidates it’s been relatively fair since all were ‘at large’ and were sharing the care of all the city. Now we have a group of district only members. This means the appointed mayor/v-m must divide duties. This is unfair. Let the voters decide. How can we begin this change?
**EDITOR: please replace this version from my previous submission.***
No need to look for ethics on the whole council, ’cause there isn’t any.
It’s the People’s fault, because we grew complacent and too afraid to speak, cowed
from years of council put-downs, and their style of governance.
The council admits to deliberations behind closed doors – a Brown Act violation for decades.It was the way they conducted the People’s business and after, came out to tells us what they decided blatantly breaking Open Meeting laws, that hits at the heart of democracy. They represent you and me, but that no longer applies.
Local residents shouldn’t be surprised. Local government are weak willed bullies. They won’t do the the right thing and support young council member Coleman, despite agreeing with him on some of the other things he worked on during the campaign and succeeded–the housing initiative. Even as a youngster fresh out of college, he wasn’t coddled like the other councilmember that started as young. The majority of the council went against a childcare citizen initiative yet they act, talk about cultures united, equity, blah, blah.
You cannot mention ethics and honor in the same sentence as this council.
But agree, mayor is a title and a figurehead.
Even, Your Neighbor, if the Mayor is a title and figurehead, it’s the same with the President of the USA.
But, this is downright wrong, and Mr. Nagales cannot remain as Vice Mayor, he must step down.
Ridiculous, first off being “Mayor” is nothing more than a title. There are 5 on the council and all are equal. Each gets a vote on things the “Mayor” carries no more weight than any other. Secondly if you were at the last council meeting (at the conference center) you would have heard the explanation of how this happens and understand it. The way I see it getting the most votes counts for something. If you are worried about representation I would recommend talking to your council member, I’m sure he or she can assure you they have as much say as the 4 others on the council.
Please understand that being Mayor is more than just a title. The Mayor controls the meetings and the agenda. The Mayor has duties and responsibilities that the other four do not have. I fully understand what happened. Nagales did not complete his term in office and ran for a “District” election. They are applying the old rules for city wide elections to District elections, so he gets to slip in twice in two years to serve as Mayor. What I was talking about is integrity and equality for each District in SSF. What happened is not fair or reasonable, primarily to District 4. The regular rotation was compromised because of the switch from City wide to District elections. If anyone does not agree with this that’s fine but that does not make it fair.
It is NOT just a title and a vote.
Mayor is decision maker on how Council meetings are run (I.e. public speaking during meetings is a huge factor – minutes allowed, whether comments are read out loud, etc…believe primary reason and deciding factor on why Councilmember Coleman decided to run for Council.
Mayor also influences community events in their District, i.e. Westborough area.
Believe mayoral position is also a huge influencer and visionary pertaining to amenities and new construction projects amongst different neighborhoods.
Voting amongst Council is most likely a colleague support system.
Mayor has the same vote as any other member bottom line, all can be heard and bring issues to the forefront. As far as Coleman why should he even be considered? He was not on the council one year and tried to leave for another position didn’t he? He as well as Flores are not in this for their constituents they are in it for their own personal reasons. Flores was elected to the school board and abandoned that position just like Coleman wanted to do. Any person who is voted in should serve the term, at least their first term in my own personal opinion. Loyalty means something to some of us I guess
Wow, very proud of my dad for writing this article yes vice mayor Mark nagles should be impeached well said!! Our quality of life is at stake and too many homeless people on the streets. I Thank my pops for the write up. This needs to be shared- local south city based celebrity chef ava marie
Marty, trust me, this action has not escaped the attention of many SSF residents. This is a direct result of replacing our theoretical democracy with what appears to be a monarchy. To compound this insult to our community, some of our salaried and elected officials see SSF not as a city of residents and peaceful living but as a chunk of dirt to use as a springboard for future political aspirations. Nothing could be more evident of this than in the departure of our city manager who surrendered our city to the biotech/life science industries and developers in a nine year, slow moving “hit and run.” The damage is done and he’s “outahere.”
Couldn’t have said it better!!