Bee endorsement: Choosing the best among two superb candidates for Modesto council

In a debate before The Modesto Bee Editorial Board, candidates for Modesto City Council were asked about diversity. Naramsen Goriel took a moment to reflect on the fact that no matter which candidate voters elect Nov. 8, either a Black or an Assyrian-American will win the seat.

Taking that thought a step or two further, whichever man wins — Goriel or Jeremiah Williams — the Modesto council will have gained someone extraordinarily committed to Modesto’s future, an excellent example of someone who has selflessly given time and energy to improve community. Someone who loves Modesto at his very core.

Goriel and Williams both like the idea of restoring Modesto’s “American Graffiti” heritage of cruising, by slowly reintroducing a cultural phenomenon important to low riders and hot rodders alike. Both men support both police and police reform.

Both want to bring better-paying jobs, to boost affordable housing, and to get rid of blight and homelessness. Both respect and get along with current council members, and either will be an excellent addition to the city’s highest elected office, representing north-central Modesto’s District 5.

Faced with a choice between candidates of such high caliber, The Bee’s nod goes to Williams, who is among Modesto’s most knowledgeable and dedicated volunteers of all time.

For 32 years, Williams has not been content to sit on the sidelines. Of the city’s 52 nonprofit organizations, he has served with 25 — an astounding number, and testament to uncommon devotion. His most visible involvement includes chairing Modesto’s Fourth of July Parade for Kiwanis for 12 years, and he has been on the Stanislaus County Fair board since 2015.

“I’ve been a community servant for a long time, and now it’s time to be a public servant,” Williams said at the debate.

Not content just to talk the talk, Williams is going the extra mile to advance affordable housing. Downtown property housing his cabinet business, Oak Crafts by Jeremiah, is zoned to accommodate residential use as well as commercial, so he submitted plans for eight tiny homes approved at City Hall, he said.

“I’m the only one doing something like this,” Williams said, noting that “tiny homes are the way of the future.”

Throwing weight behind sales tax

Williams gains an extra edge with his enthusiastic support for Measures H and L on the same November ballot. The first would bump Modesto’s sales tax 1 percent, bringing about $39 million which is desperately needed for police, fire, trees and parks, and is particularly relevant to the office he seeks; the latter is a property value-based bond benefiting Modesto City Schools’ high schools — important to students and our quality of life.

“We don’t have a spending problem in the city of Modesto; we have an income problem,” he said, accurately.

While Williams willingly worked that enthusiasm into his opening statement at the debate, Goriel waited to be asked, then said he’s still examining both measures. Some of our most conservative leaders, including Stanislaus County Supervisor Terry Withrow and Modesto Councilman David Wright, have gone out on limbs with Measure H endorsements because they know the revenue is crucial to our well-being. Modesto deserves leaders who boldly look first at what’s best for our people, not at hedges calculated to help get them elected.

Speaking of getting elected, two others didn’t have to do that to join the Modesto City Council. Eric Alvarez and Nick Bavaro will appear on the ballot, but both are running unopposed and will be sworn in later this year. Alvarez and Bavaro respectively will represent Districts 2 and 4; the first covers west and south Modesto, and the second, southeast Modesto. The Bee wishes them well.

Goriel, born and raised in Modesto and a Beyer High graduate, gets high marks for his own civic engagement, including five years on the Board of Zoning Adjustment and the Landmark Preservation Commission — both appointed city government offices — and he serves on the McHenry Museum & Historical Society board. All are excellent training grounds and have prepared him for greater things. And, his ideas on reaching out to the elderly and disabled are commendable.

So District 5 voters are faced with a really good problem — choosing between two superb candidates.

The Bee recommends Jeremiah Williams for Modesto City Council.

This story was originally published September 30, 2022 at 4:00 AM.