Around 25 protesters gathered outside of U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal’s first town hall of 2024, in a packed Arroyo Grande City Hall on Jan. 22.
Holding signs and chanting “cease-fire now,” the group of Palestinian supporters protested against the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine and demanded that Carbajal call for a cease-fire.
“This is democracy in action and that includes the protests going on outside,” SLO County 4th District Supervisor Jimmy Paulding said as he introduced Carbajal. “Salud has recently secured over $500,000 for our beloved swinging bridge here in Arroyo Grande, over $2 million for the city of AG through our Federal Transit Administration as part of the bipartisan infrastructure bill, $14 million in infrastructure funding for the Central Coast Blue water reclamation project, and millions of other dollars that he has brought to our region.”
Residents then questioned the congressman on several key topics.
Renewable energy
With an eye on climate change, resident Marcus Hicks asked Carbajal about renewable energy initiatives.
“People in my generation are looking at retirement, and there’s so many issues with more flooding, more fires, more droughts, and it’s so deeply concerning to young people that are Generation Z like myself,” he said.
Stating that his office has worked aggressively to push stronger green energy initiatives, such as selling more electric vehicles and investing in more public transportation, Carbajal said he’s especially focused on the Central Coast.
“I’ve put forward a carbon dividend program legislation that would be a pretty significant carbon free program for our nation,” Carbajal said. “That would incentivize industry to really move toward more innovative technology that doesn’t provide the emissions that we currently experience.”
In September 2023, Carbajal introduced the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act that would levy a carbon fee on fossil fuel emissions, incentivizing the transition to carbon-free production and supply chain through an escalating price of carbon to help meet the U.S. goal of carbon neutrality 2050.
For projects closer to home, Carbajal told New Times that he endorses the wind energy projects in the works for federal waters roughly 20 miles offshore from both Humboldt and Morro Bay, despite some critics who aren’t convinced the wind farms would be worth the potential loss of sea life.
“Regrettably, there’s no project that you do, whether it’s solar or wind, nothing is 100 percent free from any impacts,” he said. “So, the goal is to minimize the impacts and to find the best alternatives to be able to accomplish that, because that’s very concerning to me.”
Israel-Palestine
Questions about Carbajal’s stance on the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict took over the night. Tension seemed to reach a boiling point when a community member asked what his stance was regarding South Africa’s legal action against Israel in international court accusing the country of genocide and war crimes against the Palestinian people.
“I think there’s a long-standing definition of genocide. What happened, for example, in the Holocaust was the foundation of what an example of what genocide is. I don’t believe that the case that was brought forward by South Africa fits within that definition,” Carbajal said. “I think it’s important we don’t dilute what genocide means.”
One Palestinian man responded by telling Carbajal that he’s been unable to contact his family in Gaza as they have no food, water, electricity, or communication. Others shouted over the congressman, and one man was escorted out by Arroyo Grande police officers after spending around five minutes yelling at Carbajal, claiming he lacked “moral courage to call for a cease-fire.”
On Oct. 7, 2023, the political and military organization Hamas, which the U.S. considers a terrorist organization and has governed the Gaza Strip since 2007, bombed Israel and kidnapped 250 and killed at least 1,200 Israelis, according to the Associated Press (AP).
Israel responded to the attack with a bombing campaign and ground invasion, and as of Jan. 29, the AP reported, more than 26,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, while at least 62,000 have been wounded.
Carbajal told New Times while he doesn’t see what’s happening as a genocide, he also doesn’t believe that Israel is engaging as tactfully and surgically as it needs to.
“I’m glad that they’re changing course in how they’re prosecuting the war because the loss of life that we have seen is unacceptable,” he said.
Carbajal said Israel needs to start abiding by international law and if this same “reckless loss of life” continues, then it could reach a point where he would push for a cease-fire.
“I want a cease-fire, but you need to look at the release of the hostages, it would be one great step in that direction,” he said.
The day after Carbajal’s town hall, an anti-war protest was held outside Cal Poly’s Recreation Center during the university’s winter career fair, which ended with eight arrests. Bass Wehhab, who was present at both protests told New Times that the anti-war protest quickly turned violent.
“Things got out of hand, and there was no doubt of excessive police force and police brutality, it’s on video. I’ve seen a video of an officer giving several punches to a student while they were on the ground,” Wehhab said. “It was completely wrong, completely unethical, completely unnecessary, and they should be getting in trouble for this.”
Matt Lazier, Cal Poly’s vice president for Communications and Media Relations told New Times that several protesters were arrested after attempting to break into the career fair, which wasn’t open to the public.
Access to medical care
Concerned about the health care system in SLO County, an Arroyo Grande resident said she had exhausted every avenue to find her 95-year-old mother a doctor, claiming that not one primary care physician in SLO County is currently taking new patients.
So far, nothing has been able to fix health care challenges, Carbajal said.
“I wish I had a better answer for you, but I think you raise a very important question of when you call in and they say you can’t see somebody for half a year or they don’t have any openings, something has to happen,” he said. “I’m going to take this back and discuss it with my team to see what is being considered and what we might be able to do.”
SLO County Public Health Division Manager of Healthcare Access Michelle Shoresman told New Times that locals’ struggle to find a physician is something the department sees often as primary care providers are having difficulty hiring and retaining staff.
“One thing I would recommend to people who are looking for a primary care provider is to call or look up on their insurance company’s website, as each company is required to have a list of providers,” she said.
To help those looking for a doctor, Shoresman said that the county is working on events promoting the profession.
“We have a SLO health care workforce development partnership that has been meeting for about three months to develop a strategic plan to help increase the number of people going into health care and staying in health care on the Central Coast,” she said. Δ
Reach Staff Writer Samantha Herrera at sherrera@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Feb 1-11, 2024.