19 Dec San Pablo ‘Cop Campus’ Continues to Create Controversy and Discontent With Council

The San Pablo City Council appointed a new mayor and vice mayor at its last meeting of the year, solidifying who will oversee the implementation of a cannabis sales tax and the completion of a new police headquarters. (Screenshot captured by Samantha Kennedy / The CC Pulse)

By Samantha Kennedy

The San Pablo City Council appointed a new mayor and vice mayor at its last meeting of the year, solidifying who will oversee the implementation of a cannabis sales tax, the completion of a $44 million San Pablo Police Headquarters and Regional Training Center — and increasing calls to oust members.

Council members selected Arturo Cruz and Elizabeth Pabon-Alvarado to serve as mayor and vice mayor, respectively, throughout 2025. Cruz takes over the position Patricia Ponce held last year.

Local elected officials — including Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors District 1 Supervisor John Gioia and U.S. Rep. John Garamendi’s office — praised city officials on Monday, but most speakers were critical of their leadership, namely its greenlighting of the police facility and handling of opponents’ concerns. Some called for members to be recalled.

“Why are you actively complicit in silencing and misrepresenting your constituents?” one speaker asked Monday. “Whether it’s intentional disregard for your community or an alarming lack of scrutiny over the data shaping your decisions, we call to stop cop campus.”

The 42,000-square foot facility, which is located adjacent to the City Council’s chambers and dubbed “cop campus” by opponents, is the city’s largest public works project to date and plans to include classrooms, a 20-lane gun range and a virtual reality simulator for officers.

Local support for the project has been high, according to annual public safety surveys conducted by the city. In 2023, 80% percent of around 300 respondents approved of the facility, decreasing by 1% in overall support but increasing by 12% in “definitely” supporting the project from 2022.

Opponents say the surveys don’t properly represent residents, with respondents underrepresenting Latinos and overrepresenting seniors, and say the money should have been used elsewhere. At Monday’s meeting, activists continued their call for halting construction and repurposing the building for “other community needs.”

Opposition to the project comes from “outsiders with an extremist agenda,” according to correspondence between officials and staff obtained through a records request and made public by an activist group.

“We all know that our residents support this project and that is what is most important,” Cruz wrote in a May 23 text in response to a story covering a recent protest, “and these outsider (sic) are just criminals that have nothing better to do than try to disturb our peace.”

Refilwe Gqajela, a community organizer with the Anti Police-Terror Project, one of the organizations opposing the project, said the characterization that organizers are outsiders is “insulting to the people in San Pablo.”

“It dismisses all of the people who have been coming to their City Council meetings,” Gqajela told the Pulse on Tuesday.

She said there are plenty of local residents and Bay Area-wide organizations that oppose the project or have otherwise supported the movement, including Reimagine Richmond, CURYJ, the Muwekma Ohlone tribe and Tenants Against Policing.

Some concerns with the survey by local groups also drew the attention of some on the council.

“Due to issues of accountability and transparency, a team of researchers at Cal UCB has found that the results were skewed and only represented a small minority of residents,” Reimagine Richmond wrote in a Jan. 31 email calling for support to oppose the project.

The email was forwarded to City Manager Matt Rodriguez, who, again, noted community support.

Then-Mayor Ponce said she “100%” agreed with Rodriguez’s response but was concerned with Reimagine Richmond’s claim.

“Where are they getting this information from?” Ponce asked in an email then. “Are we sure there are no discrepancies in our survey’s/reports (sic) from the firm we hire?”

“These are political tactics and advocacy groups can use misinformation to discredit reliable sources or use inherent bias to ‘nudge’ others to support and suit their cause,” Rodriguez wrote to Ponce that same day.

Correspondences show that council members Rita Xavier, Cruz, Pabon-Alvarado and Ponce have all expressed frustration with protestors in the last year.

“I wish they would just go away,” Xavier wrote June 30 in response to a call-in campaign.

Council member Abel Pineda, however, was silent throughout the released correspondence.

At the last meeting where American Rescue Plan Act funding was allocated for the facility and placed on the consent calendar, Pineda said the item “maybe would have been good to also include in a future meeting.”

Opponents did not specify which council members were the target of recall attempts.

“This is not a failure in leadership,” the same speaker told the council on Monday. “This is a willful act of exclusion and suppression.”

Construction for the facility is slated to be complete by the summer of 2025, according to the city.