Hi neighbor! I’m Megan, and I’m running for City Council.
I am a local mom who has been organizing around issues related to safety, transparency, and public services. I decided to run because I want to help El Cerritans rebuild trust in their government and reconnect with their neighbors.
I love local politics. I believe that in a city of this size, the City Government is us. It belongs to all of us. It’s as good or bad as we are, and it works as well as we make it work. And it doesn’t feel like the City is working for a lot of us right now.
We’re lucky to live in a city as small as El Cerrito where we can and should influence decisions. The City has not made it easy to understand their actions and motivations. We need leaders who are committed to the processes, civility, and norms that allow El Cerritans to discuss and disagree without disenfranchising each other.
As your council member, I will look forward to listening to you and understanding what is working and what needs improvement in El Cerrito. You can read on to find out more about what I think our city’s issues are, but I want to hear from you—what’s the thing you care most about in El Cerrito? Tell me by emailing me at megan4elcerrito@gmail.com or reach out to me on Instagram! Talk soon.
El Cerrito needs more comprehensive policies.
Policies keep decisions efficient, transparent, and predictable. At City Council Meetings, I watch us waste valuable time digging into the specifics of each individual decision when we should do the deep thinking to develop policies that reflect our values and follow those. As your council member, I will pursue the creation of policies that
Protect residents privacy from surveillance intrusions like Flock, Peregrine, and Axon.
Prohibit the use of City property for environmentally damaging projects, like data centers or heavy commercial & industrial facilities in our residential areas and San Pablo.
Restore City pride by enhancing green spaces and incentivizing businesses to beautify their property
As your council member, I will engage with you and our neighbors to establish principles we can govern with.
El Cerrito needs better community engagement.
Community engagement keeps our city invested, healthy, and connected. As a busy mom, I can’t attend workshops or community engagement sessions held in person, during business hours. The City should do more to reach people and to let them know when their feedback has led to changes. As your council member, I will work to change the culture and make this feel like our city.
El Cerrito needs secure housing for all of our neighbors.
Unlike neighboring cities with robust tenant protections, El Cerrito has only a rental registry and no local protections outside of what state legislation mandates. When I first moved to El Cerrito, I was lucky to rent from two wonderful people who adjusted our rental agreement as needed when they wanted to move back into the house; El Cerritans who rent shouldn’t have to be lucky to feel secure in their homes. As your council member, I will advocate for renter’s rights because owning a house isn’t a prerequisite to being part of our community.
El Cerrito needs to reimagine public safety.
Keeping El Cerrito safe means preparing for natural disasters like wildfires, earthquakes, and landslides. It means supporting the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) and finding other ways to make us prepared broader risks that we can only tackle if we deal with them together, as a community. As your council member, I will pursue ways to help us improve our emergency preparedness.
When we moved to El Cerrito, we thought it had at least 60k people because it was “a two BART town.” Our BART stations are our greatest asset–they drive our real estate prices up, bring commerce into the city, and make it possible for residents to commute in a convenient, environmentally friendly way. As your council member, I will work with BART to make sure the trains keep running (mostly) on time.