Vinnie Bacon for Mayor of Fremont

I’m Vinnie Bacon and I’m running to be the next Mayor of Fremont.

Fremont needs a mayor that is not beholden to special interests, specifically developer / real estate money that has dominated Fremont politics for far too long. I was the first Fremont City Council candidate who refused to take campaign donations from developers. In my eight years on the Fremont City Council I took on these special interests always arguing for responsible development.

I was usually out-voted in my efforts on the Council. Fremont has continued developing in a way that prioritized real estate industry profits over the interests of the community. We made some inroads and even had a majority of candidates who refused developer money. Sadly, that majority was lost and we are now back to a developer-friendly City Council.

This must change! We need to focus on creating a sense of community with a government that is responsible to its people. I have a proven track record of fighting for the residents of Fremont and will do so again if elected to be your next mayor.

Vinnie

UPDATE!! – NBC Bay Area investigated this race and found out some shocking things about my main opponent in this race Raj Salwan. They found out:

  • Poor conditions at his rental properties: There have been at least seven lawsuits against Raj for substandard living conditions at his apartment buildings. Incredibly, Raj denies any responsibility for the poor conditions at his properties, blaming his 80-year-old father who he says is the one who manages his apartment buildings.
  • Cited by the Veterinary Medical Board: In 2022, Raj’s vet hospital was fined the maximum amount noting that “all animal cages were deemed unsanitary” and that the surgery suite was deemed “unsanitary“, and that these conditions existed for four years. Again, Raj blames his father, saying that he is the one “responsible for the upkeep of the premises.”
  •  Attempts to hide his bad Yelp reviews: On at least two occasions the Yelp reviews for Raj’s vet business were moved to fictitious businesses in an effort to hide the large number of extremely negative reviews. Yelp investigated and determined that the owner of the business “attempted to mislead customers.”

How did Raj respond when NBC asked him about this? He denied any knowledge of this even though Yelp said only a verified business owner could do this. He said, “I don’t really understand the Internet or exactly how this works, but we didn’t make any changes.” 

Read some of the scathing reviews of his business via. You’ll understand why there was a concerted effort to hide them.

We should also note Raj Salwan is a major land owner and a developer. He owns over $100 million in real estate in Alameda County, including over 250 rental units. 40% of these assets are in Fremont. We believe it is a conflict of interest to own so much land and also be in a position to make land use decisions.