The People You’re Leaving Behind

(This blog was influenced by a social media post that raised important concerns about how leadership responds to residents.)

Mayor Wysinger,

Your handling of the Richmond Street project reflects a troubling disregard for the people who are most vulnerable in this city — the elderly, the disabled, and multigenerational families — and a pattern of dismissiveness that runs counter to the basic principles of ethical leadership.

A just leader listens most carefully to those who will be most affected by change. When longtime residents raise concerns about access, safety, or being cut off from their homes, that isn’t privilege — that’s lived reality. Dismissing those concerns with terms like “performative activism” or framing them as obstructionist doesn’t make you brave. It makes you careless with other people’s lives.

A truly just vision for the future never treats elders as disposable. It never builds policy on the assumption that walking farther, enduring more pain, or navigating inaccessible infrastructure is just something people should “tough out.” The measure of any community isn’t how sleek its plans are — it’s how it treats those whose bodies, needs, and histories aren’t convenient.

The rhetoric you’ve used — suggesting you “can’t find empathy,” brushing off the loss of curb access as irrelevant, implying that people in houses don’t represent the working class — shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the people you claim to serve. This city is full of homes with three or four generations under one roof. People with mobility impairments, caregivers doing double shifts, elders who raised children on these streets. If they’re not part of your vision, then your vision isn’t one of equity — it’s one of exclusion.

Leadership demands more than passion. It demands restraint, accountability, and the humility to serve those who are not politically useful. You have chosen to moralize instead of empathize — and that choice has consequences.

There is still time to show the residents of this city — all of them — that you are capable of leadership grounded in care, not contempt.

If you share these concerns, reach out to the El Cerrito City Council and make your voice heard:

• Mayor Carolyn Wysinger – cwysinger@ci.el-cerrito.ca.us
• Mayor Pro Tem Gabe Quinto – gquinto@ci.el-cerrito.ca.us
• Councilmember Lisa Motoyama – lmotoyama@ci.el-cerrito.ca.us
• Councilmember Rebecca Saltzman – rsaltzman@ci.el-cerrito.ca.us
• Councilmember William Ktsanes – wktsanes@ci.el-cerrito.ca.us
• City Clerk – cityclerk@ci.el-cerrito.ca.us