High school students are a demographic often ignored by many politicians. However, in Brentwood, the mayoral candidates’ visions for the East Contra Costa County city directly and indirectly include this group.
Despite this, some teens say the candidates’ still fail to address many of their concerns.
“I feel like their visions target people who can vote,” said Rebecca Vincent, an 11th grader at Liberty High School. “So 16-year-olds or 15-year-olds or people in high school, they don’t take their opinions into account ‘cause they’re not voting members, so they don’t need to really target them.”
The view that local politicians focus on people of voting age is shared by Olivia Baluyut, a 12th grader at Heritage High School.
“In general, I think they focus more on, in my opinion, the vast majority of older voters,” Baluyut said.
Scott Warren, co-founder of Generation Citizen and author of “Generation Citizen: The Power of Youth in Politics,” wrote in a journal article about youth disenchantment with politics that, “political leaders and pundits tend to view youth politics almost exclusively through the lens of electoral politics.”
Warren explained how, since young voters engage with politics informally – usually through digital media – this creates a divide between local politicians and young voters.
“Young people turn away from formal politics, leading frustrated elected officials to deprioritize youth issues in favor of the issues of voters who do participate (who tend to be older and more affluent). When youth issues are deprioritized, young people feel unheard. The cycle continues – and worsens,” Warren wrote.
John Dodson, a government and economics teacher at Liberty, explained why local politicians should consider, and thus spend their time and/or money on, young voters.
“As an educator, I find that important,” Dodson said. “And as a father of two kids and somebody who cares about his community and its past, present and future, those things are important.”
The platforms and priorities
At the Brentwood City Council 2024 Candidates Forum on Oct. 14, the mayoral candidates, Gerald Johnson and Susannah Meyer, shared their professional experience and what their priorities as mayor would be.
Johnson has had senior roles at major corporations and is the founder of Sabacon Consulting, which helps other businesses grow through strategic planning, operational excellence and performance management. Johnson was the president of the Brentwood Chamber of Commerce during the COVID-19 pandemic and currently serves on the city’s Planning Commission.
Johnson’s platform is based on the principles of Thrive: Togetherness, Housing, Recreation and Culture, Inclusion and Engagement, Volunteerism and Economic Development.
“As mayor I have three priorities,” Johnson said during his opening statement at the forum. “First, creating a business-friendly environment for Brentwood. Second, build affordable housing and address the unhoused. And third, leading with a strong vision for the future.”
Meyer was elected to the Brentwood City Council in 2020 and voted in as vice mayor for a two-year term at the start of 2023. In 2022, Meyer became the executive director of Empowered Aging, a nonprofit that serves older adults and adults with disabilities.
Meyer’s platform emphasizes that she will continue supporting resident-driven initiatives, advocating for transparency and representation in government, promoting economic development, focusing on supporting local nonprofits, advocating for increased resources and recognizing Brentwood’s growing diversity.
“My priorities include economic development so that our people that commute over an hour each way – we have like 78%, have jobs that are closer to home – that we increase our affordable housing we’ve been working … and that we keep Brentwood, Brentwood,” Meyer said during her opening statement.
High school students’ concerns
Both candidates mentioned that they noticed how young adults don’t have much to do in Brentwood. When it came to student concerns about job opportunities and traffic, both candidates had similar responses.
“So my thing would be to try to create a more business-friendly atmosphere, create jobs so that young folks and older folks alike could have better jobs within Brentwood and not have to travel,” Johnson said.
Meyer brought up some of the retail job opportunities that will be available in the near future.
Both candidates acknowledged that due to Brentwood’s rapid growth, traffic has become an issue.
However, their responses differed when it came to students’ concerns about school safety.
Johnson mentioned how the city has the budgets for additional police officers, which would help in the case of school violence.
Although Meyer said that the City Council is part of the School Interagency Committee, she explained that violence in schools falls under the purview of the Board of Education, not the City Council.
“One of the most important things about local governments is school and education, and that’s what they have some leverage in and control over and can help the most with,” said Tanner Andersen, a 12th grader at Liberty. “I think some [local politicians] have their sight on that, but I also feel that a lot don’t really focus on that because they believe that that’s the school’s issue and not necessarily theirs.”
Additional concerns high school students have include equal rights and the environment.
Austin Hartman, a 12th grader at Liberty, thinks that local politicians don’t consider some of the issues high schoolers are most concerned with.
“There are probably a lot of other issues that they are trying to address and a lot of other, I guess, complaints that they would like to address instead of that,” Hartman said.
Andersen and Balyut said they want local politicians to begin considering the effects their decisions will have on younger generations.
“Don’t just think about having it there during your time as mayor, but think about, how is that going to impact even past that,” Baluyut said.
“I think just keeping us in their minds,” Andersen said. “When they make decisions, remember that it’s not just people of their age, people of their circles. Their decisions and their votes matter to the younger people, too.”
Loujain Habibi is a 12th grader at Liberty High School in Brentwood.
