AMMAR CAMPA-NAJJAR: I HAVE A NEW, EXCITING AND HOMEGROWN VISION
Q: Rate outgoing Mayor Mary Casillas Salas. What was her biggest accomplishment? What did she most neglect? A:
As a third-generation
Chula Vistan who graduated from Eastlake High School and Southwestern College, I give Mayor Salas an incomplete rating. She successfully revitalized Third Avenue, but long-overdue projects like the bayfront and university, which have been 20 years in the making, remain incomplete. The administration has also left millions of federal dollars on the table and out of our city. As a result, our city had to raise taxes to cover costs. As mayor, I’ll use my federal experience serving in the Obama administration and U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and relationships with members of Congress to bring federal dollars to invest in our city.
A new day is dawning in Chula Vista. With our current mayor termed out and our economy starting to rebound from the pandemic, we have a once-in-ageneration opportunity to rebuild our city stronger than ever with new leadership. But we won’t get there by recycling the same career politicians who are leaving our city with a $10 million deficit. We can’t wait 20 more years for opportunities. We need a new mayor who has the energy to work hard, find common ground and meet this moment with a vision to renovate west Chula Vista and innovate east Chula Vista.
I have a new, exciting and homegrown vision for our city — that’s why I’m the only candidate endorsed by the Chula Vista firefighters, labor and business organizations like the Neighborhood Market Association.
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 give the department
high marks compared to the rest of the county and country. Chula Vista is consistently one of the safest cities every year.
The responsibility of ensuring public safety falls chiefly on the shoulders of our mayor and City Council. That’s why a few weeks ago, I met with Chief Roxana Kennedy and Capt. Eric Thunberg to discuss the department’s work, its unique strengths and challenges, and how we can work together to improve recruitment, training and retention.
We need to invest in public safety, and we need to do so in a way that ensures all Chula Vistans feel safe in our city. We are asking police officers to do too much without the resources they need to be able to do that, and that hurts our police and our community. That’s why I would hire additional police officers and also invest in mental health and other services.
I also joined Lt. Gino Grippo for a ride-along to witness Chula Vista’s finest at work and learn the use of its live 911 technology, which allows officers to listen to dispatchers in live time and arrive at the scene quicker and reduce wait time. While there is always a need to improve on ensuring all of our residents feel safe in Chula Vista, I’m glad we have a department that is constantly innovating and thinking about how it can better serve.
Q:
How would you approach police use of surveillance such as drones and license plate readers?
A:
As mayor, it would be
my responsibility to ensure we are responsibly balancing public safety and protecting individual privacy. I’m a firm believer that transparency and education should be guiding principles; that’s why I’m encouraged to see the Technology and Privacy Advisory Task Force was recently formed to oversee both programs.
Capt. Thunberg gave me a thorough rundown of the drone program, one of the top drone programs in the country. Like others, upon first hearing about the program, I was initially skeptical. However, after personally touring the drone and license plate readers program, I feel confident the Chula Vista Police Department is doing a better job at striking this balance than many are led to believe, so I would encourage others to take the tour and see for themselves. I saw footage of a man who had 911 called on him for holding a revolver outside a gas station. The drone was able to see the man was carrying a cigarette lighter in the shape of a gun; information captured by drone technology de-escalated the situation and changed the officers’ approach.
I especially appreciated the officers’ willingness to answer my tough questions. I found their answers enlightening, and I believe they are operating in good faith by embracing innovation and technology as tools to keep the community safe.
These innovations, coupled with live 911, allow patrolling officers to address calls quicker and improve the work quality of officers. As mayor, I would work to ensure the vendor we are using for these programs isn’t collecting and selling the private data of residents.
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:
My vision for Chula
Vista comes from seeing our city through the eyes of working families like mine. I was born in East San Diego County and raised in Chula Vista by my Latina mother. Growing up with a single parent, we lived on both sides of the 805, searching across west and east Chula Vista for housing we could afford.
As mayor of Chula Vista, I would be responsible, along with my colleagues, to ensure our housing inventory meets the needs of our city and that we are working towards reducing the cost of housing for middle and working-class families.
With that in mind, I see three main ways to address our city’s housing issue: Build more housing, impose rent control or increase the buying power of residents by attracting industries with good-paying jobs to our city. My agenda would focus on investing in the former and latter approaches.
We can increase housing inventory by continuing to build further east, repurposing ghost Metropolitan Transit System parking lots into middle-income housing that is affordable, turning duplex two-story apartments into denser residential mid-rises and high rises, lowering costs for accessory dwelling units, and building more workforce housing for teachers, police, firefighters and other public workers so they can have a more personal stake in the communities they serve. With respect to jobs, getting the bayfront and university over the finish line will attract new industries, jobs and housing opportunities.