City Councilwoman Irma Carson and Sean Battle applaud after unveiling a mural at Stop the Violence, where Battle serves as executive director. Photo by Jennifer Baldwin

By Jennifer Baldwin

The executive director of Stop the Violence, Sean Battle, announced Tuesday afternoon at a public mural unveiling that he will not be running for the Ward 1 seat on the Bakersfield City Council afterall.

With Irma Carson, current councilwoman for Ward 1, in the audience in front of Stop the Violence’s headquarters, Battle credited her for being an inspiration and said he’d rather keep focused on the nonprofit organization.

Carson has not publicly stated whether she will run for re-election this year. She has held the post since 1994.

“I thank Mayor Harvey Hall for being here, and Irma for always being an inspiration,” Battle said during the press conference. “I love the things I do here at Stop the Violence and so, even though it’s unofficial, I’m taking my hat out of the city council race.”

Official nominations are not due until this summer. Battle had been one of eight potential candidates to file paperwork showing their intent to run for Carson’s seat, which enables them to begin fundraising, said Bakersfield City Clerk Roberta Gafford.

The other seven filers include: Wesley Crawford, Marvin Dean, Donald Vereen, Humberto Gomez, Wesley Davis, Rudy Salas and Jerry Shipman.

Typically, incumbents don’t file an intent to run, but rather wait to turn in their nomination papers during the official filing period, which this year is July 12 to Aug. 12, Gafford said. Ward 1 covers southeast Bakersfield, from California Avenue south to Pacheco Road, and bordered by Chester Avenue on the west.

Carson is the executive director of Ebony Counseling Center, which provides an outpatient substance abuse treatment for adults and two youth programs, one for gang prevention and one for teen pregnancy prevention. Her organization is part of Project 180, an anti-gang consortium that also includes Stop the Violence. Battle’s organization focuses on giving youth an alternative to violence, gangs and graffiti through after-school programs.

Carson said it’s too early to remark on the city council race or Battle’s announcement not to run.
“Who knows? He can change his mind,” she said. “I’m trying to wait and see who’s going to run. I have other things I’m doing. I’m talking to people.”

She also said she thinks Battle has “done a great job with Stop the Violence.”

Battle has been with Stop the Violence since its inception in 2005. He was the first staff person hired when the organization received funding from the county in 2006. The group is headquartered at Martin Luther King Jr. Park at the corner of East California Avenue and South Owens Street in east Bakersfield.

“We’re here to not only give kids a chance but to give them a different sense of what normal is,” Battle said. “Here, gangs are normal, drugs are normal, guns are normal. But in Rosedale, different things are normal. We want to give kids a choice.”

Battle said he may run for public office in the future, but for now his heart is 100 percent “in the trenches” with the kids at Stop the Violence.

“I believe our program is on the verge (of success) and to have the focus taken away from our programs wouldn’t be the best,” he said.