PAJARO FLOODS
Two months after I took office, the community of Pajaro flooded. While state and federal resources flowed in over the next few weeks and months, nearly 3,000 people were immediately left homeless, many losing irreplaceable possessions overnight.
In the first months, aid arrived through the traditional emergency channels from California Office of Emergency Management and Federal Emergency Management Agency. That assistance was essential, but it quickly became clear that it would not come close to addressing the full scope of the damage in this long-neglected community.
Pajaro faced overlapping crises: displaced families, small businesses unable to reopen, and damaged infrastructure. Yet the incoming aid was designed for short-term emergency relief, not recovery or reinvestment. The risk was that Pajaro would stabilize just enough to be forgotten again.
Fortunately, the State provided $20 million in recovery funding. The usual approach would have been a top-down allocation, shaped by a small number of public hearings and staff recommendations. Instead, I wanted to try something different by engaging the community directly and trusting the people of Pajaro to help determine how those resources should be used.
Over the following months, we organized over a dozen community meetings, many with upwards of 200 residents attending each. These were not informational meetings. They were working sessions. Residents discussed needs, debated priorities, proposed projects, and weighed immediate relief against long-term investment. Farmworkers, renters, homeowners, nonprofit leaders, and business owners all had a seat at the table. At the final meeting, the community voted.
The decision was to split with $10 million for direct assistance for food, lost property and other individual relief. The remaining $10 million was focused on community projects from leadership training to beautification like the mural on Salinas Road. Money was allocated for streetlights, sidewalks, a new soccer field at Pajaro Park and other infrastructure needs. The business community also received reimbursements for damage and infrastructure improvements.
That process took time and trust, but it produced better decisions and real ownership. Pajaro’s recovery was shaped by the people who live there, not dictated from afar. It remains one of the clearest examples I’ve seen of what happens when government listens, empowers and partners with the community it serves.