Results Over Resolutions
District 4 residents deserve quality parks and honest leadership about what’s achievable. After years of neglect, we’re finally seeing attention to our neighborhood parks. However, the March 24, 2026, City Council meeting raised serious questions about the process, competence, and political opportunism.
I asked our councilmember to simply do their homework — working within existing city processes and collaborating with city staff to achieve the goal of working parks.
This is exactly why I’m running to represent District 4. We need a representative who knows how to move from proclamation to implementation. Not someone who has a publicly recorded pattern of berating and belittling the efforts of our city staff.
Election-Year Urgency
Let’s be honest about the timing. Councilmember Soheila Bana’s term is nearing its end, and she is running for reelection. The sudden urgency around La Moine Park (“Cheese Park”) improvements raises an obvious question: If restrooms at La Moine Park were truly her top priority, why are we hearing about this at the END of her term rather than as a concrete, collaborative proposal at the START?
District 4 residents have been requesting improvements to La Moine Park, traffic calming on May Valley Road, and other vital infrastructure upgrades for years. When Councilmember Bana asked to meet with me, she told me she has aspirations to leave the City within the next four years. This is not a project she’s committed to seeing through. It’s a campaign talking point.
Resolutions introduced in the final stretch of a term are not results. They are press releases. As public commenter Don Gosney stated at the March 24 council meeting: “We’re seeing political alliances being made, pushing for things where it looks like nothing is being done for the people, just the people in a given district where the candidates are currying favor… this effort smacks of campaigning.”
Wrong Park, Wrong Priorities
Councilmember Bana doesn’t have a pulse on the actual needs of the Fairmede area. The reality is that nothing is broken at Cheese Park — it’s a functional neighborhood park serving its community. Simply put, Cheese Park is not the park in District 4 with the most needs. Some parks in our district don’t even have benches.
District 4 Has Most Green Space Access
What Councilmember Bana also doesn’t understand: according to Councilmember Cesar Zepeda at the March 24 meeting, “District 2 and District 4 have the most access to green space and parks” citywide. Districts 2 and 4 are not underserved in park access — they are among the most well-served. The communities in greatest need are in the core of Richmond, particularly Districts 1 and 3.
Councilmember Bana isn’t prioritizing the areas of her own district — or frankly, the city — that have the most need. This is about choosing a high-visibility project in a politically advantageous location, not about addressing the most pressing infrastructure gaps facing our residents.
Misunderstanding Equity vs. Equality
At the March 24 council meeting, Councilmember Bana repeatedly invoked “equity” as justification for her park proposal. But her framing reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of what equity actually means.
Equity is not about giving everyone the same thing based on the taxes they pay. If equity was the goal, there are parks in District 4 on the west side of 80 that are much more in need. Richmond already has an existing budgetary process that prioritizes neighborhoods with the most need. The City has a comprehensive parks assessment. According to Vice Mayor Doria Robinson, this has cost “hundreds of thousands of dollars” and evaluates which of Richmond’s communities need investment the most urgently.
Councilmember Bana’s approach ignores this process entirely. Her repeated statements that “District 4 pays taxes too” and deserves the same amenities is an equality argument, not an equity argument. True equity means investing first in the communities that have been most neglected, not jumping the queue for a district that already has among the most green space access in the city.
Not Understanding Basic City Processes
Perhaps most concerning is that Councilmember Bana, after three years in office, still doesn’t understand the basic processes for getting projects funded and completed.
Unaware of CIP Process
At the March 24 meeting, when asked about existing protocols for adding items to the Capital Improvement Project (CIP) list, Bana admitted she was “unaware of how to get items on the CIP list.” This is a fundamental responsibility of a councilmember. The city has established processes, scoring systems, and timelines for capital projects. Councilmember Bana either hasn’t learned them or has chosen to ignore them.
Failed to Research Her Own Agenda Item
She also hasn’t done her research on her own agenda item. At the meeting, Public Works Director Daniel Chavarria clarified that Cheese Park is not technically a “community park” by city definition. The small portion that the City of Richmond owns is classified as a neighborhood park. The larger adjacent area — which would be needed for amenities like a soccer field — is owned by the school district, not the city. Developing it would require negotiations, an MOU with the school district, and shared investment. “That doesn’t happen quickly,” Chavarria explained.
Misread the Parks Master Plan
Councilmember Bana also misread the 2010 Parks Master Plan. She claimed at the meeting that the plan says all community parks “MUST” (her emphasis) have certain amenities. The plan actually says community parks “should” have these features — a recommendation, not a mandate. This matters because she’s building her entire equity argument on a misreading of city planning documents.
Strange Bedfellows: When Principles Become Flexible
What makes this sudden park initiative even more revealing is who Councilmember Bana has chosen to partner with: Councilmember Claudia Jimenez, who is running for Richmond Mayor, and the Richmond Progressive Alliance (RPA).
In past elections, Councilmember Bana explicitly distanced herself from the RPA and positioned herself as an independent voice. Now, facing reelection, she’s suddenly collaborating closely with both Jimenez and the RPA on high-visibility park projects.
Jimenez has a documented history of championing park upgrades as an election tool — introducing feel-good resolutions for specific improvements in areas where candidates are running for office. These projects are designed to generate headlines and photo opportunities, not to navigate the multi-year capital improvement process required to actually complete them.
Berating City Staff and Fellow Councilmembers
When this item was raised at the March 24 council meeting, Councilmember Bana’s behavior was unprofessional and counterproductive.
During a March 3 city council meeting, she accused City Manager Shasa Curl of “whitewashing the problem” and publicly berated fellow councilmembers for not supporting her proposal. When Vice Mayor Doria Robinson raised concerns about jumping the project queue and bypassing the established scoring system, Bana responded: “I don’t expect Vice Mayor Robinson, who has endorsed my political opponent, to be supporting this… I’m an obstacle. I should get out of the way.”
She made repeated personal attacks, claiming she was being “targeted” and “accused” simply for advocating for her community. When Mayor Eduardo Martinez attempted to correct a statement, she talked over him and refused to acknowledge factual corrections.
This kind of combative, accusatory tone directed at professional city staff and elected colleagues is not how things get done. It doesn’t build relationships. It doesn’t get bathrooms built. It creates conflict where collaboration is needed.
Working Collaboratively with City Staff
I want to take a moment to genuinely thank Richmond’s Public Works, Community Services, and city staff who work hard to serve all areas of District 4. Our district spans a wide geography — from Hilltop Village and Fairmede to Carriage Hills, May Valley, El Sobrante Hills, and Greenbriar. Maintaining parks, responding to service requests, and keeping our public spaces functional across such a spread-out district is no small feat.
I am committed to working respectfully and collaboratively with city staff and City Manager Shasa Curl. Effective advocacy means building relationships, understanding budgets, working within systems, and pushing for change through partnership — not public confrontation.
The city is doing a strong job with capital improvement priorities. Richmond has developed a programmatic approach to addressing park needs across the city, using the comprehensive facilities and parks assessment to guide investment decisions. The process for how projects are identified, evaluated, and funded is more transparent than many residents may realize.
The Reality of Park Development
Here’s what residents need to know:
Park renovations in Richmond take 5-7 years from planning to completion. Capital improvements require dedicated funding sources, not just resolutions. Richmond already has an established scoring and ranking system for CIP projects. Collaborative advocacy with city staff produces better results than public confrontation.
The question isn’t whether District 4 deserves park improvements — we absolutely do. The question is: Where’s the funding to back up these promises? And why the sudden urgency now, in an election year, for a park that isn’t even the highest priority?
As Vice Mayor Robinson stated at the meeting: “We have a queue of projects that are moving forward… What I don’t like about this is that it’s trying to jump the queue. We created a system to give a rating to capital improvement projects. We should use that system. Why go through the trouble of creating a system to rank things and then not use it when it doesn’t get the result that we want? That feels disingenuous.”
Transparency: See for Yourself
If you’ve ever wondered why a certain project moves forward while another waits, or how the city decides where to invest limited dollars, there’s a resource for that.
Check out the City of Richmond Capital Improvement Projects Dashboard at https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/86362b12585448b583b74a3a2ae32745/.
I’d encourage every District 4 resident to take a look. It’s a tool built for transparency, and it tells a very different story than the one being spun at City Council meetings.
District 4 Deserves Better
District 4 needs a councilmember who delivers results, not resolutions.
We deserve leadership that:
Understands city processes and works within established systems to get projects completed. Works collaboratively with city staff to get projects done. Treats every city employee and colleague with respect. Proposes solutions early enough in their term to see them through. Is transparent about timelines, funding, and what’s actually achievable. Understands the difference between equity and equality. Prioritizes the areas with the greatest need, not just the most politically visible. Stands by their principles instead of shifting alliances when politically convenient.
That’s the kind of representation I’m committed to providing.