Races set in Rohnert Park’s first district elections

The upcoming election for the Rohnert Park City Council will test how committed residents are to change.

Three seats are on the ballot this November, when the county’s third-largest city finds itself in the midst of its response to charges of systemic racism while tending to a major budget shortfall because of the coronavirus pandemic. The election also is Rohnert Park’s first with candidates in a district-based system, a transition brought about after an attorney accused the city of historic underrepresentation of people of color on the five-member council.

Although the city rejected allegations that its prior at-large voting process uniquely disadvantaged minority groups, including its nearly 29% Latino population, the all-white City Council sliced its population of about 43,000 people into five equally sized voting districts. The boundaries protected several incumbents from having to face each other in head-to-head races — a process that Mayor Joe Callinan confirmed at the time involved the review of maps by the council with a consultant behind closed doors.

A public uproar ensued, even as the council created a new district with the largest population of Latinos in the city’s oldest part of town and selected it as one of the three districts in the election cycle this November. Two other districts were held off the ballot, allowing two existing council members to serve out the two years remaining on their at-large seats.

The decision and mapping process also left longtime Councilwoman Gina Belforte unable to seek reelection, because the district where she lives was not included among the three in the 2020 election. Instead, the final map safeguarded four-term councilwoman Pam Stafford, who was spared from deciding whether to run against another council member before her term expires in 2022. The boundaries also offered Callinan and Jake Mackenzie, the council’s longest-serving member, clearer paths to retaining seats.

The two incumbents will be challenged by a pair of candidates who brand themselves as voices of change in the city, where public calls for reforms to the city’s public safety department grew to a crescendo this spring during the height of the local Black Lives Matter movement. Meanwhile, the battle to represent the most heavily Latino district, where no current council member lives, pits a lifelong resident against a newcomer who seeks to bring more diversity to the council.

Ultimately, voters will decide whether to shake up the council by replacing three of its five members or keeping incumbents in the majority.

District 1

Two political newcomers square off in the district in the southwestern part of the city that encompasses Rohnert Park’s A and B section neighborhoods, vying to be its first councilman.

Willy Linares, 35, a member of the Rohnert Park-Cotati Latino Alliance who works in marketing, said he’s running to increase representation for people of color on the City Council. His opponent, Dave Soldavini, 59, a business sales manager, has long had interest in extending his decades of local volunteerism to city government, and he said the new district-based voting opened up that chance.

Linares relocated from Sacramento to Rohnert Park’s B Section about two years ago with his wife and young daughter but is no stranger to Sonoma County. He attended Hanna Boys Center, where he is now a board member, and graduated from Sonoma Valley High School in 2002 before Santa Rosa Junior College and going on to earn upper-level college degrees. Linares said his experiences as a person of Guatemalan descent and growing up in a low-income family make him uniquely prepared to speak up for his neighbors.

“For me, it’s pretty simple: representation matters. My hope is to bring diversity into City Hall,” Linares said. “Residents have been loud and clear that they’re ready for a change in Rohnert Park. I can at least come in and have a cultural lens on certain topics. Having a different perspective is important to me, and I think I can be the guy, especially after talking to so many people in our community.”

Soldavini, a 1979 graduate of Rancho Cotate High School and 54-year city resident, including the last 23 years with his wife at their home in the A Section, raised three children in the community. He said he’s ready to apply his quarter-century of experience as a youth football coach to bring people together in elected city leadership.

“I’m very passionate about Rohnert Park. For me, giving back is something I bleed,” Soldavini said. “It’s just the opportunity to listen to the people and hopefully be a voice of the people. I genuinely care about the city and about everybody in all the sections of Rohnert Park.”

District 3

Callinan, 60, is facing his first contested race since he was elected to the council in 2008. His challenger is Gerard Giudice, 58, a local restaurateur and city planning commissioner of a dozen years, who unsuccessfully ran for City Council in 2018.

Callinan, who owns and operates a residential and light commercial construction firm, said he still has work to do in his hometown and wants to see several projects through, including a long-desired downtown center. The D Section resident seeks one more term in office to finish those tasks, and said his time in office will be an asset to guiding the city through the pandemic and the associated economic difficulties ahead.

“To leave this year when everything is shut down, it does not sit well with me. I just feel like there are some things left undone,” Callinan said. “This has been such tailspin with the COVID.

“It’s a different world we live in, now with Black Lives Matter, throughout the state and the world,” he added. “I want to take a look at doing our part to make sure everybody is taken care of.”

Giudice, a 20-year resident of the city’s C Section, is the co-owner of Sally Tomatoes and Heirloom Cafe in the city’s expanding Sonoma Mountain Village area. He’s also been a longtime member of the local Rotary club and remains a board member for the Social Advocates for Youth nonprofit. He said his track record of service to the community speaks for itself.

“I think the people need steady, experienced leadership who are willing to engage, and engage in respectful dialogue,” Giudice said. “This is about proving to the citizens of Rohnert Park that there’s a different way, and that way includes collaboration, it includes fresh ideas, it includes listening, and it includes embracing diversity. A rising tide lifts all boats, and we can’t afford to leave anyone behind.”

District 4

Mackenzie, 80, also faces his first challenge on the City Council since 2008 in seeking his seventh term. Jackie Elward, 41, his opponent to represent the city’s northeastern corner, grew up in the Democratic Republic of Congo and has been active as an organizer in local Black Lives Matter demonstrations. She is making her second bid for a seat on the council after coming up short in 2018.

Mackenzie, who is currently serving as the city’s vice mayor, is poised to become mayor of Rohnert Park for a record sixth time if reelected. The 35-year resident, who lives with his wife in the city’s G Section neighborhood, remains active as an appointee to several regional transportation boards. He emphasized his quarter century in city governance as vital to overcoming a number of approaching challenges — managing the city’s budget, updating the general plan and navigating employee contract negotiations, among them.

“The wisdom of the years is not to be cast aside. I bring a wealth of experience to the task,” Mackenzie said. “I think I’ve brought great benefit to the city of Rohnert Park and believe I can continue to offer that. I still have fire in my belly.”

Elward, a seven-year resident of the H Section with her husband and three adolescent children, runs a nonprofit for at-risk boys in her home nation, and works as a recess supervisor at the French-American Charter School in Santa Rosa. She highlighted the need to add diversity to the City Council while continuing to push for changes to the city’s police force as priorities.

“We have a lot of mixed (race) families here, we have a lot of families that don’t know how to relate with our elected officials, and that cannot be denied,” Elward said. “We need another voice, and should be able to make room for that newer voice and that newer perspective, and being in touch with the reality of the moment. I believe that I can bring us to that future path that is so needed. I’m ready to fight for the people of Rohnert Park.”

You can reach Staff Writer Kevin Fixler at 707-521-5336 or kevin.fixler@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @kfixler.