In the past year, since my unsuccessful run for Mayor of San Ramon in 2024, I saw the city’s mayor running unopposed.
Photo Credit: Registrar of Voters Contra Costa County
Later, when I researched more on unopposed races, I discovered how unopposed races can lead to a 25% decline in participation in democracy.
Since then, we have launched Open Governance initiative (OpGov.ai), a non-profit news outlet that covers hyper-local news and engages with people who speak at council meetings, highlighting their concerns and helping to make their voices heard.
One of the main priorities of OpGov.ai was to, at minimum, acknowledge the voices of the people. We now have journalists covering multiple cities. Our journalists are not only writing, but also questioning authorities, filing FOIA requests, and engaging with community members who speak at the podium, because those are the community members who are still making themselves heard even when they are not acknowledged by their local governments.
Photo Credit: Annotated from the San Ramon City Council Agenda Packet Oct 14, 2025
Recently, in the City of San Ramon, a voter-approved law was deleted, including the supermajority clause and the minimum three-meeting requirement, which was replaced by a regular majority. Three meetings were replaced by just one. Many of us protested (25 in person). There was absolutely no discussion; it was simply passed on the consent calendar.
This is when we reached out to our Assembly Member. We had also previously reached out, only to be completely ignored, despite the brutal suppression of voices in their own backyard.
Photo Credit: Email Screenshot from Chirag Kathrani (chirag@lead4earth.org account)
Much like this instance, we have brought many issues to the attention of our elected representatives, only to realize that independents are unrepresented.
I will be running as an independent to represent the common concerns of community members.
If you have any questions, please reach out to me at chirag@lead4earth.org or leave a comment below with your thoughts.
Anyone willing to volunteer or run for office feel free to connect with me and we can have a virtual meet https://calendly.com/chirag-lead4earth/30min
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