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Neysa Fligor made history this year, becoming the first Black woman to become a county assessor in California. Courtesy Brandon Pho\/San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight.<\/p>\nNeysa Fligor made history this year, becoming the first Black woman to become a county assessor in California. Courtesy Brandon Pho\/San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight.<\/p>\n
Santa Clara County Assessor Neysa Fligor\u2019s election at the end of last year was a moment of simultaneous breakthroughs.<\/p>\n
Not only did Fligor become the first Black female county assessor in\u00a0California, she did so in Silicon Valley \u2014 a region notorious for pushing Black people, who\u00a0make up less than 3%<\/a>\u00a0of the county\u2019s population, to the\u00a0economic margins<\/a>.<\/p>\n Fligor was sworn in as the county\u2019s 23rd assessor last month after a\u00a0landslide victory<\/a>\u00a0in a December runoff election with 65% of the vote, succeeding her former boss and\u00a030-year predecessor Larry Stone<\/a>, who retired in July. She\u2019s entrusted with overseeing the valuation of more than 500,000 properties in Santa Clara County \u2014 from houses and office buildings to boats and aircraft \u2014 and submitting a $700 billion assessment roll that provides funding for public schools, community colleges and critical countywide services.<\/p>\n The significance is not lost on Fligor, who previously made history in Los Altos as the city\u2019s first Black councilmember in 2018.\u00a0Her new role as chief property taxer provides a front-row seat to the affordability issues that drive\u00a0working-class people of color out of the valley. But she said her identity was never a focus of her campaign.<\/p>\n \u201cMy focus was on my actual experience,\u201d Fligor told San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight. \u201cI was already working at the Assessor\u2019s Office and I was already doing the work.\u201d<\/p>\n Before her election, Fligor was credited for helping lead an overhaul of the department\u2019s outdated computer system as a high-ranking staffer. She was also a frequent source of input during high-level decision-making discussions under Stone\u2019s tenure.<\/p>\n County assessors are limited in a political sense. Their primary mandate is not to create policy like the Board of Supervisors, but to fairly and accurately assess all taxable property in the county, with no preferential application of the law.<\/p>\n But Fligor can still differentiate herself from her predecessors.<\/p>\n \u201cSome parts of the county aren\u2019t taking advantage of our services and processes as much as other parts of the county,\u201d Fligor said. \u201cYou\u2019re going to see us lean into community outreach a little more.\u201d<\/p>\n She said she also has new ideas for ways to use her platform.<\/p>\n \u201cWhether it\u2019s to make sure people are familiar with housing programs, or helping with outreach to identify causes of the community exodus from Silicon Valley and seeing if we can help support them staying locally and feeling welcome \u2014 that\u2019s outside my assessor role, but is something I can still uplift through my presence as a leader,\u201d Fligor said. \u201cI am there and ready to go.\u201d<\/p>\n San Jose Deputy City Manager Rosalynn Hughey, who also broke barriers as the only Black department head at City Hall, said Fligor\u2019s election is especially profound due to the way her office affects development in Silicon Valley.<\/p>\n \u201cLand, property and development shape opportunity and generational wealth,\u201d Hughey told San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight. \u201cHaving inclusive leadership in these roles strengthens public trust and helps ensure our institutions reflect the full diversity of our community. Milestones like this expand what\u2019s possible \u2014 both symbolically and structurally.\u201d<\/p>\n Chuck Cantrell is a San Jose planning commissioner,\u00a0San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight columnist<\/a>\u00a0and creator of \u201cDying to Stay Here<\/a>,\u201d a video and podcast series that explores economic and social barriers facing Black Silicon Valley residents. He said while Fligor was the only qualified contender, it isn\u2019t unusual for Black candidates to be held to unreasonably high standards. He was critical of the Santa Clara County Democratic Party\u2019s dual endorsement of Fligor and Saratoga Councilmember Yan Zhao in the race.<\/p>\n \u201cNeysa was the most experienced and likely candidate to win, yet still faced the same false equivalency during those endorsement discussions that Black people face every day when we vie for jobs,\u201d Cantrell told San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight. \u201cUltimately, it was her power and her strength that got her the election. She stood on her own and proved she was a viable candidate against significant odds.\u201d<\/p>\n Santa Clara County Democratic Party Chair Bill James defended the dual endorsement and said candidates endorsed by the party are subject to the same interviews, questionnaires and voting process by the party\u2019s Central Committee.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the race for county assessor, we were proud to endorse two well-qualified Democratic women of color, and we\u2019re delighted one of them was elected,\u201d James told San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight.<\/p>\n Milan Balinton, executive director of the African American Community Service Agency Family Resource Center in San Jose, said Fligor\u2019s election highlights how the region\u2019s Black community cannot be ignored.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re still in a time of \u2018firsts,\u2019\u201d Balinton told San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight. \u201cNeysa was the first. She definitely won\u2019t be the last.\u201d<\/p>\n