Richard Mehlinger
Sunnyvale Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission
Candidate Statement
Friends,
It is an honor to be running to serve as an ADEM delegate for AD 24. I am chair of Livable Sunnyvale, a local organization that fights for housing, transportation and sustainability; chair of Sunnyvale’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee; and director-at-large of the Sunnyvale Democratic Club.* In those roles I’ve fought hard to build a more livable, equitable, sustainable Sunnyvale. Now, I’m asking for your vote as an ADEM delegate to bring that same leadership to our state Democratic Party.
I’m running to hold our party accountable. We have a Democratic governor and Democratic supermajorities in both houses of the legislature, but we’ve failed to deliver on the critical reforms California’s working people need to survive. It’s time to reboot our party, to prioritize equity, justice, and solidarity for hard-working Californians.
As your delegate, I will work to push our party to take real action to solve our state’s catastrophic housing crisis. That means more funding for low-income housing. It means stronger tenant protections, like statewide mobile home park rent control, backed by a statewide rental registry. It means desegregating our communities by legalizing multi-family housing in high-opportunity areas. And it means continuing the eviction moratorium, so that our residents don’t lose their homes in the middle of a pandemic.
I’ll also work to improve public and active transportation in our state. I’ll push the party to prioritize shifting funding from car infrastructure to public and active transportation, and to ensure that our public transportation systems are fully funded. And I’ll push the state to adopt governance reforms to ensure that large projects are delivered on time, on budget, and at the highest quality.
Finally, I’ll work to make our election system fairer. I support retiring first-past-the-post voting and the “jungle primary” in favor of ranked choice or approval voting, systems which better represent the preferences of voters. And I will work to require candidates to adopt a “no corporate money” pledge to be endorsed by the State Democratic Party.
To learn more about my campaign, please visit ad24.vote. Thank you for your consideration, and I hope to earn your vote.
* Organization names for identification purposes only
We proudly ENDORSE Richard Mehlinger for ADEM!
Our Revolution
Progressive Delegates Network
Peninsula for Everyone
Roots Action
Silicon Valley Young Democrats
Hon. Sally Lieber, Mountain View Council Member
Hon. Lenny Siegel, former Mountain View Mayor
Hon. Antonio Lopez, East Palo Alto Council Member
Hon. Alysa Cisneros, Sunnyvale Council Member
Hon. Omar Din, Sunnyvale Council Member
Hon. Essy Stone, Purissima Hills Water District Director
Hon. Cory Wolbach, former Council Member
Cari Templeton, Palo Alto Planning and Transportation Commissioner
Linda Sell, Sunnyvale Democratic Club VP
Dr. Meghan Fraley, Activist
Raven Malone, Activist
Dr. Forest Peterson, Activist
Steve Chessin, Activist
Kevin Ma, Activist
Partial list. Titles and organizations listed for identification purposes only.