A packed audience in the Gilroy Grange Hall welcomed California Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas and Santa Clara County Supervisor Sylvia Arenas, who urged voters to support two Nov. 4 ballot measures they say are necessary to counter hostile federal policies and preserve local healthcare services.
The event, organized by grassroots activism group Indivisible South County, filled the Grange Hall to capacity Oct. 4 as members of the community gathered to hear their state and regional representatives speak on Proposition 50, a statewide redistricting measure, and Measure A, a county sales tax increase to fund healthcare services.
Rivas framed Prop. 50 as a counter-offensive against what he characterized as unprecedented federal overreach by the Trump administration.
“Consider some of the Trump administration actions that they have done this year,” he said. “Unilaterally federalizing and deploying our own National Guard under the false pretense of public safety… conducting sweeping, unprecedented immigration raids on our neighborhoods that tore families apart without due process. They have blocked disaster relief from fire victims in the Palisades and Eaton, the worst natural disasters I have ever witnessed.”…