Vallejo housing commissioner, Joey Carrizales, asked to resign over comments during debris removal

Vallejo Housing and Community Development Commissioner Joey Carrizales resigned from his position on Wednesday after Councilmember Peter Bregenzer requested the resignation due to comments Carrizales allegedly made to a sheriff’s deputy and a city worker that were captured on body camera video during an encampment debris removal on July 10.

According to Carrizales, the interaction with sheriff’s Deputy Dale Matsuoka occurred after a city worker present at the debris removal asked Carrizales if he was a city employee. When Carrizales said that he wasn't, the worker spoke with Matsuoka, who then approached Carrizales telling him that he had to leave and threatened him with arrest.

Carrizales said that he told Matsuoka to turn his body camera on before he told him how he felt about Matsuoka ordering him to leave.

Bregenzer told him that body camera footage showed him making comments that are inappropriate for a city commissioner, and gave him the option to resign or come before the City Council for a hearing over the allegations.

Carrizales said that he did “cuss out” Matsuoka, the sheriff’s homeless outreach coordinator, and called him a Three Percenter, a far right extremist group that believes in violently fighting the federal government. Carrizales said he feels that his statements were within the bounds of free speech.

An investigative report from 2021 revealed that Matsuoka had used an online alias to share posts and images supportive of the Three Percenter extremist movement on social media. Two other Solano County Sheriff’s sergeants were also found to have publicly supported the group, but Solano County Sheriff Tom Ferrara declined to discipline the deputies.

Carrizales also said that Bregenzer also accused him of using a Spanish derogatory expression for homosexual to refer to a city worker. Carrizales denies that the remark was intended for the city employee.

Bregenzer and the city of Vallejo did not respond to questions about the incident or a request to review the video footage from the Vallejo Sun. It was not clear how or why the city received the footage, which the Sun later obtained via a public records request.

But Carrizales said that he thought the request for his resignation was unjust. “I believe that this is a retaliation for my advocacy and for exposing how the city of Vallejo treats the unsheltered population,” he said.

Carrizales is an outspoken advocate for Vallejo’s unhoused population who was appointed to the Housing Commission by the City Council just over a year ago. He frequently observes city actions such as encampment removals and clean-ups to document the city’s treatment of homeless residents.