Concord City Councilmember Edi Birsan Must Be Removed From Office

Part 1: "I filed a police report with Concord PD... and took Mayor Birsan to court... seeking a restraining order. Mayor Birsan has made violent states threatening to choke and kill me." - Resident speaker at Concord city council meeting Oct 22.

Current Concord Mayor Edi Birsan threatened to kill an organizer with the Contra Costa County Democratic Party. The individual these threats were made to was not present at the time, but other members of the political party were concerned about Edi's increasingly violent statements. "I just want to put my hands around her neck and choke her to death." "I could ring her neck". The statements were become more frequent and more intense. Colleagues in the DP-Triple-C, raised attention about these statements out of concern.

The individual who was threatened took Edi to court. Edi did not not take the stand. Birsan hired an expensive lawyer, and in court stated he intended to seek restitution for his legal fees. The judge had to remind Edi and his lawyer that it would take a separate motion to seek monetary damages. Unfortunately, the judge in the case found that Edi was protected in his freedom of speech to make open threats. The person in question, a Mexican-Indiginous woman, must wait until Edi actual does physical harm to seek justice.

Part 2: "It’s long past time for Edi Birsan to go." - East Bay Times Editorial

Edi Birsan was directly involved in choosing the 2 failed master developers for the Concord Naval Weapons Station redevelopment project. The 3.5 sq-mile project has been the subject of political intrigue: including the death of the former city attorney, independent investigations, and a grand jury report. Edi Birsan pushed for the choosing of Lennar over Catellus. Catellus was favored by city residents, and city staff over Lennar. Edi told city staff and the city manager that Catellus should not be chosen, because it was secretly meeting with the Seeno Company, to give the Seeno's a piece of the action. This allegation was unfounded. Yet, Lennar got chosen by the city. The allegation against Catellus was ironic, as after Lennar dropped out of the project due to a dispute over a labor agreement, Edi pushed hard to get the Seeno Company chosen as the master developer. This too was a failure, as the Seeno Company did not meet the requirements for financial disclosures, and had other issues proving it could do the project. Years were wasted, as have been millions of dollars on this project. Because of the mishandling of the Concord Naval Weapons Station project, the East Bay Times is endorsing Pablo Benevente over Edi Birsan: "Concord dodged a bullet two years ago when voters unseated an incumbent and saved the city from a troubling development deal for the massive Concord Naval Weapons Station project."

Part 3: "There have been accusations of Birsan taking down Benevente’s signs" - Peggy Speer, reporter for The Pioneer

As stated in The Pioneer, the local paper for the Concord area, Edi Birsan has been accused of taking down the political signs of his primary opponent, Pablo Benevente. Along with the newspaper, residents themselves have also accused Edi Birsan of this action. A speaker at the October 22nd city council meeting said "it is well known in the community" that Birsan removed Benevente's political signage. Edi told The Pioneer that this was all just a "misunderstanding", but did not clarify what he meant by that, or how a "misunderstanding" could lead to his opponent's signs from being removed. If elected, Benevente would be Concord's first openly gay city council person, and the city's first Hispanic-American city council person.

Part 4: "They admitted to me that Edi Birsan had recruited Myles Burks to run." - A resident speaker at the October 22nd Concord city council meeting

As part of his political maneuvering to win Concord 4th District election, it is alleged that Edi Birsan recruited 2 individuals to run against Pablo Benevente. If Edi could split the oppositional vote, he would increase his chances to win. Edi allegedly nudged Myles Burks, the owner of the Concord Tap House, into running for office If it is true that Edi pushed Burks into running, it is unfortunate as Burks opposes rent control and is running a conservative campaign. Birsan also is said to have influenced Matthew Brown into running for office. After learning that Edi was just looking for people to run as to take votes away from Pablo, Brown stepped out of the race. Matthew Brown is a supporter of Pablo's campaign. This claim comes from a Concord activist, who says she was approached by two former Concord mayors, and received confirmation from Matthew Dashner. This activist spoke at this week's council meeting: "This is not clean politics, nor how democracy is supposed to function... And the purpose I've learned is to split votes so name recognition wins. That is some dirty politics." This is the same speaker who spoke about Birsan's tampering with Pablo's signs.

Part 5: Speak out and vote

More residents need to come forward about Edi's behavior. It is known that he is a political manipulator, aggressive, and tied into Concord's political corruption. City council meetings are for the people, not for the political machinations of people like Edi. Beyond speaking out, if those who live in the 4th District cast their vote for Pablo Benevente, Edi will be removed from office. Pablo will not be a perfect candidate, but Concord needs change.