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South Bay Election Results: Highlights, Insider Information and Facts

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This year, I tried to cover elections for a region that often feels ignored: the South Bay — defined as everything south of the I-54 (including National City, Chula Vista, Imperial Beach and South San Diego). For Democrats and pro-labor, the overall results were quite positive in this region.

Here, I want to introduce you to the candidates based on my own coverage. During this election cycle, I have gotten to know many of the candidates and wish them all best of luck serving our communities.
  [Read more…]

Residents of Gateway Inn Sued. National City’s Mysterious Letter

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Rachel — who lives with her nine children at the Gateway Inn, along San Ysidro Boulevard — was served with a lawsuit yesterday. She is being evicted, but has nowhere to go. She is being told by other residents that the manager might turn off the lights and water soon.

You may remember how back in August, residents of the Gateway Inn received 60-day eviction notices. The building, which some have called an “abomination” due to its terrible conditions, had criminal misdemeanor charges filed against it in February 2015. The complaint cited five violations, including failure to keep the property free of waste.

The owner, listed in public documents as Francis Lin, submitted a permit to the City of San Diego to demolish the two-story hotel.

In a new phone interview, Rachel explained that many tenants are still living at the Gateway Inn, despite the eviction notices. She tried to give the managers her rent today, but he refused to take it.   [Read more…]

Kidnapping Crank Calls, Zika and Bad Report Card for Charter School

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For several moments she only heard a rattling, then crying. Someone sounded like they were in distress. Then she heard, “Help me! Help me!”

Jane asked, “Are you ok? Where are you?” Suddenly, a man came on the line and said, “Jane, we have your family member. Do you want to help your family member?”   [Read more…]

A Refugee from Nazi Germany Boo’ed, plus National City and San Ysidro Election Troubles

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Mayor Serge Dedina retracted the Welcoming City proclamation that had been issued in mid-August. The proclamation was meant to welcome immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers to IB. Why the change of heart?

Protestors at the September 21 IB City Council meeting booed the mayor’s father as he spoke about being a refugee from Nazi Germany and said the U.S. should let in more refugees. Many in the crowd held up “No ISIS” signs and one witness said there was a “riot” outside the council room, according to the San Diego Reader.   [Read more…]

Chula Vista City Council Elections: Candidates Tackle Homeless, Housing

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On Sept. 7, 2016, Chula Vista Chamber of Commerce and the Pacific Southwest Association of Realtors hosted a Candidates Forum at Southwestern College. Four candidates — two for District 3 and two for District 4 — debated each other in hopes of gaining your vote for Chula Vista City Council on November 8.

Less than 100 people attended the event.

New Districts For Chula Vista: As the second largest city in San Diego County, Chula Vista has approximately 250,000 residents. The eastern part of the City anticipates an influx of over 60,000 more people within the next two decades, in particular with the coming of a new University and the Millenia Project.   [Read more…]

Largest Elementary School District in the State: Chula Vista

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Chula Vista Elementary School District (CVESD) is the state’s largest elementary school district (K-6) and good news: the CVESD outperformed its county and state counterparts in 2016 with 62% of students meeting or exceeding the standards in English. In math CV students scored 49% on average compared to the county’s 44% and the state’s 37%.

However, you’ll still want to be careful. In May 2016, shortly before the election primary, Larry Breitfelder-Navas and consultant Kenneth Moser filed a complaint with the Fair Political Practices Commission saying that three trustees: Eduardo Reyes, Leslie Bunker and Francisco Tamayo made campaign violations connected to reporting donations and spending during the 2014 school board election. Now careful. Breitfelder-Navas only named three Democratic trustees and Breitfelder-Navas is a Republican who ran for Chula Vista City Council in 2012.   [Read more…]

Chula Vista’s Sales Tax Increase: It Actually Might Be a Good Idea

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Way back in February 2016 I attended a meeting of the GMOC, where a city employee said Chula Vista needs $600 million for infrastructure repairs. To address the crisis, the city considered either a half-cent sales tax hike that would bring $16 million per year, or a $200 million bond. Both would fall short of actual needs.

Bond money would come from property taxes. The half-cent sales tax would be paid at the time of the sale of goods and would not apply to certain items, such as groceries and prescription medicines. According to a survey conducted in English and Spanish, with about 880 participants, more residents supported the sales tax measure.

Thus, on our November 2016 ballot, Chula Vistans will have Measure P.   [Read more…]

South Bay School Districts and Elections, Part II: The Candidates Write In

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Do you know who your school district board members are?

By Barbara Zaragoza

I wrote to several of the candidates running in the various South Bay school districts and received quite a few responses. I have paired them with bond measures where appropriate.   [Read more…]

Avoid School Board Elections At Your Own Child’s Risk

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South Bay School Board Elections.

Much like the yawn-worthy water districts (because who really cares if we have safe, affordable drinking water anyway?), these “down-ballot” school board trustee names scream out one word:

BO-RINGGG.

And yet, when your child experiences something bad at school, who you gonna call? Who are principals, administrators and teachers gonna call? Probably, the trustees of your school board.   [Read more…]

Six Candidates Compete for National City Council Elections

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The First United Methodist Church of National City had planned to host a City Council Candidates Forum on Monday, September 26th. They wanted to have a meet-and-greet, allow candidates to give a presentation and then have time for questions & answers.

Unfortunately, First United had to cancel the event. They explained only two candidates had responded to the invitation, even though this forum was the only one planned for the entire city.

Last week, I emailed & called each candidate. I asked them to answer 5 questions relating to National City. Of the six candidates, Jerry Cano (currently Vice Mayor) and David Garcia did not respond.

Fortunately, four other candidates agreed to send their answers: Jose Rodriguez, Luis Natividad (former City Councilmember and also endorsed by the San Diego Democratic Party), Candy Morales and Alejandra Sotelo-Solis (currently city council member of National City and endorsed by the San Diego Democratic Party).   [Read more…]

Safe and Affordable Drinking Water: The Value of One Vote

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Water Board District Elections and Your Drinking Water

South Bay! Do you know where your drinking water comes from? Not from San Diego County, that’s for sure. This semi-arid, bone-dry environment has seen droughts since settlers came to the region in the early 1900s.

San Diego County must import about 85 percent of its water. Rainwater, in good years, only accounts for about 5-10 percent maximum of water supplies. As a consequence, water districts have been focusing on becoming more water independent while still keeping water rates low for customers. Instead of importing more water from the Sierra Mountains and the Colorado River, both of which are drying up, water districts are looking towards local recycling and desalination plants.   [Read more…]

Imperial Beach City Council Elections Heat Up

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As many of you may know, the Imperial Beach Mayor is Serge Dedina. He was elected to office in 2014 for a four year term. Two other city council members are not up for election this year: Mayor Pro Tem Ed Spriggs and Councilmember Lorie Bragg.

This week, Spriggs wrote in to explain his position on Prop 59, calling on IB candidates to decline any contributions by Super PACs.

Furthermore, two city council seats are open this November. Current council member Brian Bilbray will not be running for re-election, so the only incumbent in the race is Robert Patton. A total of six candidates are running for the two city council seats.

This week, I contacted the City of Imperial Beach for election information. The City Clerk, Jacqueline Hald, provided me with the following important numbers:   [Read more…]

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