Remarks by Alexander Matias
68 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 3 of 3
- Play at 4:23:51
“I think it goes without saying, outstanding interviews, outstanding applicants. I know my colleagues probably have an opportunity to review those interviews recently and just makes these decisions incredibly more difficult.”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 4:24:28
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 5:05:03
“Yeah, no, thanks. So I'll be quick because we got to go, but I also put a call in to the city manager. I don't remember if it was today or yesterday. I've lost track of time, but, you know, I don't really talk about my – personal life or any of that but I was sharing with him just on a very personal level that there was a moment in time where I received that benefit and you know for you to get notices that you're gonna lose that benefit and you're gonna lose housing when you're just getting by, $5 gas, rising groceries, job loss at a scale we haven't seen because of disruptive technology is…”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 5:20:16
“SO I TALKED ABOUT THIS EARLIER WHEN WE WERE GETTING THE PUBLIC SAFETY UPDATE, COUNCIL. I DON'T THERE'S A LINE IN THIS REPORT THAT SPEAKS TO THE ELIMINATION OF POSITIONS THAT I JUST DISAGREE WITH. IT'S NOT ACCURATE. WE CLEARLY GOT A RESPONSE FROM CITY STAFF TODAY. AND SO I WOULD JUST WANT US TO MOVE TO APPROVE THAT REPORT STRIKING OUT THAT SENTENCE THAT SPEAKS TO THE ELIMINATION OF POSITIONS.”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 5:23:39
“Yeah, I mean, I don't know if you guys read that, but that was a pretty damning report, and we didn't even get to talk about it as a council. So right away I thought about, are we making a contribution to this board or this entity? Where's the report out from our appointed member? who isn't here and what responses are we making as a city because it called out all the jurisdictions and said we're all sort of culpable in whatever dysfunction is happening on that board and that affects rate payers it's also tied to service delivery so I don't think we should approve that unless the city attorney…”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 5:25:40
“yeah it's this tight tight time frame um uh what's what are the questions what are the concerns i'm sorry i was out in the lobby i mean there's a lot in there my friend uh they're talking about folks not showing up um folks uh people not having the expertise necessary uh you know there's stuff about finances. We also make a financial contribution, I'm assuming as a city to that board. So like, that's a lot to unpack. And we didn't as a board get to talk about what that means. And I do feel like we need to have a conversation because I don't want to be contributing to that problem. It seems…”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 5:28:42
“I think for me it's more about the specific responses without hearing from our appointee, without hearing from, like, How do we contribute? What do we expect to get out of it? What service are folks getting out of it? Like, there's also a lot of high insensitivity right now around, like, PG&E and generally, and this is not PG&E, but I think they have a structure by which they purchase electricity off the grid. So, like, again, going back to the housing, this is very timely, and we don't want to be just like, yeah, sure, send in the report and not really talk about what does that really mean…”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 5:46:50
“I asked them when they presented a few months ago to attend goal setting, but they didn't show up.”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 5:54:52
“No, I had a question for the city manager or the assistant city manager.”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 6:01:31
“Go ahead. City Manager Black, not yet off the hook, roads. What is happening this month? Just any updates you wanna give the city residents around our roads?”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 6:02:03
“Completely. Yeah, I was throwing that at you, Bob. That's a trick question. Yeah, I mean.”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 6:02:10
“yeah so uh i blew it i'm sorry it's 1 00 a.m yeah generally there's been um a lot of ada uh curve replacements that have taken place over the past couple months i think over the next couple weeks the city should see additional deep rotary pavement along some of our corridors mainly tennessee street which sits in councilmember braganza's district which we're all very excited And in your District 2 and District 6, we have some road repavement. So this phase will be less ADA cuts and more real rehabilitation. So I hope you guys are able to experience some smoother roads in October.”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 19:36
“Thank you, Vice Mayor. Just to get us underway here, my first question is around the finances. So you guys had a slide in the presentation, and this is one of the reasons why I voted no the last time. So I want this to be explained in layman's terms. If you can go back on the presentation where you guys sort of outlined cost recovery for each of your programs. uh just gonna wait until that goes up on screen can you pull up slide 10 please manny so to the um general manager part of the concern that the council had you know just having this conversation over the better part of the year was that…”
City Council · Jun 30, 2026
- Play at 25:40
“So let me, I guess, reframe the question in a different way. So let's take the pool, for example, right? If Vallejo family right now has to pay $100 to access it over the summer, are you telling me this evening that this investment that the city council is making would make... pool access over the summer free or are you just saying that the subsidy would remain at the same level but we would just be covering it for more kiddos across the city to be able to access it?”
City Council · Jun 30, 2026
- Play at 26:45
“And then the second question I have for now has to do with the, there was a slide towards the end where you had a breakdown of what the investment would be going towards, the $100,000. So I saw that There it is. Got 20,000 going to Blue Rock Springs and Dan Foley. I mean, that's great that you guys are expanding that to a park in my district. I think I have a little bit of a concern, though, because if you're thinking about making the park accessible to kiddos in the zero to five range, what I'm gathering just from this slide is that you're not putting as much funding to the Children's…”
City Council · Jun 30, 2026
- Play at 59:45
“Please vote. Vice Mayor, I have a quick question. Sure, go ahead, Council Member Matias. Can we add a friendly amendment to the motion that there be a report shared out with the Vallejo Unified School District on a quarterly basis? So whenever the report is issued for Measure P, I would like them to also issue a report to the school district on the activities and the usage of the funds.”
City Council · Jun 30, 2026
- Play at 1:18:52
“Council Member Matias. Thank you, Vice Mayor. So I'm just going to make a general comment. I'm supportive of the approval this evening. But in the same token, I will say my hope is that this is the last time I have to vote on this contract. And I'm going to tell you why. Ever since I was sworn in, I've been advocating for the creation of an Office of Neighborhood Safety and Renewal that sits out of the city manager's office. Every community that's really addressing gun violence head on has a model set up in the city manager's office that is adequately staffed and is doing the work that your…”
City Council · Jun 30, 2026
- Play at 1:24:36
“I mean, in an ideal world, I'm just going to keep it at 100, yes. I would like that team to just be directly reporting to the city manager's office. I don't know why we have to pay that kind of money to Felton. They're already doing the work. They've been in the community for years. So I'm not suggesting through this action that we do that this evening. I'm just asking for his team to explore what that may look like by mid-year.”
City Council · Jun 30, 2026