Dreamtown: The Story of Adelanto · Dreamtown: The Story of Adelanto

Chapter 7: The Joy of Politics

July 12, 2023·37 min·2 clips

Adelanto's police captain ran a chop shop behind the station and then drove Mayor Reyes' grandmother's stolen Cadillac through her neighborhood to taunt the family.

1. Dreamtown Chapter 7 covers Adelanto City Councilmember Stivana Evans' complicated political alliance with Joy Jeanette and her decision to run for mayor against Gabriel Reyes. 2. Stivana Evans is the most progressive member of the nonpartisan Adelanto City Council; Joy Jeanette is an 80-year-old conservative council member who previously ran prison programs at Soledad Men's Prison and served as chaplain at Santa Cruz Jail for women. 3. The episode's central question is whether Stivana can make political progress in a city council where she is routinely outvoted as a lone dissenting voice. 4. The episode opens with the ongoing controversy over Joy's 'Kix Cafe Senior Club,' whose name uses three K's — a pattern that drew repeated public protests at council meetings from Black residents who found it evocative of the KKK. 5. Joy explains the name came from the Kix Diner on Route 66 in Victorville, and that a colleague suggested spelling it with K's to be 'catchy,' insisting her mixed-race family background makes the association impossible. 6. After attending the African American Caucus event at the 2021 League of California Cities conference in Sacramento, Joy changed the spelling — but only replaced one of the three K's, a compromise that did not fully satisfy critics. 7. At the Sacramento conference, Stivana rolled her eyes when Joy arrived uninvited at the African American Caucus session, and later described her private conversations with Joy about 'white privilege' with the line, 'no shit, Joy, you don't see it.' 8. At a Black caucus cocktail reception in Sacramento, Joy told the reporter — unprompted — 'my son loves oriental ladies,' then explained her son married an Asian woman, an exchange the reporter describes as disorienting. 9. Back in Adelanto, Stivana's main policy priority was renegotiating the city's sheriff's contract: she argued Adelanto paid $6.7 million (later $6.9 million) for only three officers on shift at a time, while Barstow paid $9 million for 42 officers. 10. Adelanto abolished its own police department in 2002 after the captain was found to be running a chop shop behind the station; Mayor Gabriel Reyes describes how officers stole his grandmother's Cadillac and drove it through her neighborhood to taunt the family. 11. Stivana wanted the sheriff's contract to include body camera requirements and a lower rate, but says city staff failed to provide comparative research after years of requests. 12. Joy Jeanette — a self-described pro-law-enforcement council member — independently visited the Barstow police chief to research contract comparisons, telling the council, 'I thought it was outrageous when it was said that it was $4 million. Now they're getting $7 million.' 13. At an initial meeting with only four council members (following Jerry Hernandez's resignation due to COVID-19 complications), Stivana and Joy voted together to block the sheriff's contract renewal, deadlocking the vote 2-2. 14. At the official vote, Joy delivered a lengthy recap of her research and the community's desire for its own police department, leading Stivana and the public to expect a no vote — then voted yes, passing the contract 3-1. 15. Joy's reasoning was that forming a new police department could take years, and the city should not go without law enforcement coverage in the interim. 16. Stivana's post-vote assessment of Joy shifted: 'What I respect about Joy is I don't think any of us know what she's going to vote on a particular item. I don't think I could do that with 85% of the items with Joy.' 17. The episode uses direct council meeting audio and recorded conversations to document both the public debate and the private dynamics between council members. 18. The tone alternates between dry political observation and moments of character study, with the reporter narrating scenes he witnessed directly, including cocktail receptions and hallway conversations. 19. Listeners interested in local government dysfunction, small-city political alliances, or the legacy of police abolition in California will find this episode particularly relevant. 20. Those expecting a straightforward political narrative or resolution to Stivana's policy goals will be frustrated — the episode ends with the contract renewed and the mayor race still ahead.

As heard by us

A city hall fight that widens into a story about trust, memory, and power.

Stevonna Evans is left carrying the blame for a city council mess, then has to keep pressing changes in Adelanto while the same people on the council turn on her.

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Why you'd press play

For when you want city politics with real scars, not slogan-level drama.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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