Vallejo housing commissioner asked to resign over comments during debris removal

VALLEJO – Vallejo Housing and Community Development Commissioner Joey Carrizales resigned from his position on Wednesday after Councilmember Peter Bregenzer requested the resignation due to comments Carrizales allegedly made to a sheriff’s deputy and a city worker that were captured on body camera video during an encampment debris removal on July 10. 

According to Carrizales, the interaction with sheriff’s Deputy Dale Matsuoka occurred after a city worker present at the debris removal asked Carrizales if he was a city employee. When Carrizales said that he wasn't, the worker spoke with Matsuoka, who then approached Carrizales telling him that he had to leave and threatened him with arrest. 

Carrizales said that he told Matsuoka to turn his body camera on before he told him how he felt about Matsuoka ordering him to leave. 

Bregenzer told him that body camera footage showed him making comments that are inappropriate for a city commissioner and gave him the option to resign or come before the City Council for a hearing over the allegations.

Carrizales said that he did “cuss out” Matsuoka, the sheriff’s homeless outreach coordinator, and called him a Three Percenter, a far right extremist group that believes in violently fighting the federal government. Carrizales said he feels that his statements were within the bounds of free speech. 

An investigative report from 2021 revealed that Matsuoka had used an online alias to share posts and images supportive of the Three Percenter extremist movement on social media. Two other Solano County Sheriff’s sergeants were also found to have publicly supported the group, but Solano County Sheriff Tom Ferrara declined to discipline the deputies.

Carrizales also said that Bregenzer also accused him of using a Spanish derogatory expression for homosexual to refer to a city worker. Carrizales denies that the remark was intended for the city employee.

Bregenzer and the city of Vallejo did not respond to questions about the incident or a request to review the video footage from the Vallejo Sun. It was not clear how or why the city received the footage, which the Sun later obtained via a public records request.

But Carrizales said that he thought the request for his resignation was unjust. “I believe that this is a retaliation for my advocacy and for exposing how the city of Vallejo treats the unsheltered population,” he said. 

Carrizales is an outspoken advocate for Vallejo’s unhoused population who was appointed to the Housing Commission by the City Council just over a year ago. He frequently observes city actions such as encampment removals and clean-ups to document the city’s treatment of homeless residents.

In August, he suffered a mild heart attack after being arrested for obstructing Vallejo police officers who were towing RVs that sheltered a homeless family with four small children. Carrizales later filed a claim against the city saying that Vallejo police had delayed medical attention.

Carrizales said that he has had numerous interactions with Matsuoka when documenting the city’s treatment of homeless individuals. “He has had it in for me for a while now,” Carrizales said. “He arrested me on March 7 when I was advocating for members of an encampment in the old Kmart parking lot on Sonoma Boulevard and Redwood Street and again I had to go to the hospital with heart palpitations.”

The night before Carrizales got the call from Bregenzer asking him to resign, he interrupted Vice Mayor Mina Loera-Diaz during Tuesday’s council meeting when she refuted his public comments. 

That night several residents, many of whom were members of Vallejo Heights Neighborhood Association, expressed concerns with encampment fires that they say have become commonplace in their district. 

Darryl Connily, president of the neighborhood association, read a statement on behalf of the organization noting that homeowners have faced rising insurance rates and cancelation due to encampment fires in Los Angeles. 

“We have compiled a list of 22 fires, most of which have occurred since January of this year,” he said. “Not to forget we haven't made it through August and September yet.”

Many of the neighbors asked councilmembers to immediately establish safe camping sites and remove encampments from dangerous locations in their neighborhood. Some mentioned health concerns and rats attracted by accumulating garbage.

Carrizales dismissed the concerns, saying they were fear tactics that stand in the way of offering genuine assistance to homeless residents. “What about my unsheltered friends?” he said. “Who protects them when their stuff is taken by the city maintenance crews, who protects them when [a] wheelchair is taken from an elderly woman?”

A brief exchange erupted between Carrizales and Loera-Diaz when she said that she disagreed and that the neighbors’ concerns including the rat infestations are real. The back-and-forth ended quickly after Mayor Robert McConnell threatened to have Carrizales removed.

Loera-Diaz went on to say that the city is considering possible locations for a safe camping site. 

“Perhaps at some point in the near future we can start to move some of these folks from the encampments to a place where they could have the portable showers, the porta potties, bring in the medical professionals from the county to do wellness checks, have it be a clean area that is not causing any any further issues, have a nonprofit oversee it to make sure that people are cared for that it's clean,” Loera-Diaz said.

Councilmember Charles Palmares underscored the need to move quickly to address the issue. “The fire hazard enhances this level of urgency,” he said. “I do appreciate some of the commenters who spoke of dignified respectful solutions. I want the solution that works out for everyone. But I just want to be clear, I want this to be as expeditious as possible.” 

Since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last month in Grants Pass v. Johnson that cities could enforce bans on sleeping in public places even when no other shelter is available,  cities and counties now have much broader latitude to enforce ordinances that prohibit camping, though the full extent of their powers has not been tested. 

So far city officials have not indicated that there will be major policy changes in response to the Supreme Court ruling. But California Gov. Gavin Newsom recently issued an order for state agencies to begin removing encampments across the state. 

Editor's note July 31, 2024: This story has been updated to include body camera footage of the incident obtained through a public records request.