Congressman Hosts Townhall at Lake Chabot
All photos courtesy of Darrell Lavin/ lavinphotos.com
A group of about 100 people from Castro Valley and surrounding cities walked along Lake Chabot this past Saturday to hear from their congressman—U.S. Representative Eric Swalwell—and how he is working on their issues and concerns back in Washington DC.
It was the seventh time Swalwell (Calif. District 14—Hayward, Pleasanton, Livermore, Union City, Castro Valley, and parts of Dublin and Fremont) invited the community to his “Hike with Your Rep.” event.
After a 30-minute trek, the crowd settled in for a discussion near Coots Landing where the park district stocks the lake with trout and catfish.
Among his recent congressional actions, Swalwell touted his bipartisan achievements with Puerto Rican Republican Jenniffer González-Colón on the “Preventing Our Next Natural Disaster Act” to help communities better prepare for, respond to, and recover from natural disasters. He said he was committed to preventing a government shutdown before congress fails to come to an agreement by the end of its fiscal year on September 30.
“When we get back to Washington next month, we have to make sure we commit to keeping the government open, pay our troops, keep communities safe, and helping address natural disaster relief, which Republicans are threatening to cut off if the government shuts down,” Swalwell said.
In a round-robin session of questions from the crowd, Swalwell said he continues to support women's reproductive rights, enforcing campaign finance reform, extending support for Ukraine, and protections for LGBTQ communities.
Addressing local issues, Swalwell said he continues to work on building public transit that would extend from Pleasanton to Manteca and working with local leaders like Hayward Mayor Mark Salinas on preventing poverty and improving housing for underprivileged residents.
“We have the 13th wealthiest area in the country, yet we have the 3rd highest cost of rent,” Swalwell said. “We have to do more to bring down the cost of housing.”
One issue that continues to flood the congressman’s mailbox is the number of requests by residents to help their loved ones emigrate or seek refuge in the United States.
We have the largest Afghanistan population in the country and we’re proud of that and we have to take care of the folks—especially those interpreters who served our country over in Afghanistan—and provide a pathway to citizenship. And we are not meeting that commitment right now.
Later that day, Swalwell met with members of the Afghanistan community in Union City to update them on his progress. The initial 65 cases last year have ballooned into thousands of people who are waiting for Visas to the United States, Swalwell said.
Among the crowd walking with Swalwell was a Scout Troop from Pleasanton learning firsthand about government.
“My father encouraged me to email the Representative as part of my Merrit badge and to ask questions about the federal debt ceiling because that was something my dad and I had been talking about. And I got an email back from Mr. Swalwell about what he was doing about it and how he was helping to resolve the issue. It’s all very interesting,” said Arun Reyes from Troop 948.