RUDY RAMIREZ: I WOULD END THE CITY'S NEGLECT OF NEIGHBORHOODS
Q:Rate outgoing Mayor Mary Casillas Salas. What was her biggest accomplishment? What did she most neglect?
A:
I don’t want to rate or
criticize the outgoing mayor. Although probably good political fodder, how could this exercise benefit Chula Vista? Let citizens and history decide that. I can tell you that I would have done things differently. Most neglected by this City Council as a whole have been neighborhoods. City Hall has been focused inward and not out towards the community. The effects of homelessness on the west side and the lack of police patrols on the east side are a couple of glaring examples. In any case, Salas can’t take all the blame. She’s sat with a group of checked-out council members more concerned with their political future than the residents of Chula Vista.
Q:
How would you rate
the Chula Vista Police Department? What are its strengths and/or weaknesses? Would you favor increasing or decreasing its budget and why?
A:
I think Chula Vista
has a great Police Department with a great chief. I have to admit to a bias, however; my brother is a sergeant in the department. It’s family for us.
We have a well-trained and highly professional
force. The weakness does not lay within the department but with the political leadership that should precede some of the department’s work. One example is the drone program. The political leadership needs to pave the way for new technology by balancing competing community values and then allowing the department to do its job within the framework created. I would install cameras in our more crime-ridden parks. Is that OK with our citizens? Under what conditions?
Q:
How would you approach police use of surveillance such as drones and license plate readers?
A:
I would initiate a
robust civic engagement process to better pinpoint the limits to the competing community values of privacy and security. I would then move forward within the framework established with the technology to help prevent crime and/or hold responsible parties accountable. Law enforcement technology should never be used for revenue generation. This has the potential to pervert government motives and lead us down the wrong path.
Q:
The median home
price in Chula Vista is $732,500. How would you approach housing development in Chula Vista and encourage affordability amid the housing crisis?
A:
Greenfield development appears to be on track on the east side with some already dense development in the Millenia project. The real challenge and the real opportunity will be on the west side as commercial corridors continue to evolve towards a more urban landscape. We’ll need to start by working with existing communities to build trust so this can move forward with a degree of community-wide consensus. We’ll also have to ensure the preservation and support of stable single-family residential neighborhoods with balanced code enforcement and programs to clean up the trash and graffiti. If we’re successful with this first phase, then we can move forward with building quality, dense, residential development offering opportunities to first-time home buyers with more affordability.