15 Freeway near Fallbrook (District 5), Photo Courtesy Joe Wolf
www.growthesandiegoway.com This is part 4 of an ongoing series about the 2020 County Board of Supervisors race focusing on their land use and housing stances exclusively. Click here to start at the beginning.
With two termed out supervisors (Jacob and Cox) and one up for reelection (Gaspar), there will be three important seats up for grabs and Grow the San Diego Way will be paying close attention to the land use and housing policies of candidates. Not all candidates are going to come from a planning, land use or housing background, so we’ll need to learn more from them. Here is what we know so far:
District 1:
After 25 years, Supervisor Greg Cox’s seat in this South Bay district is up for grabs (more on this seat here) and at the moment there are two confirmed candidates and some rumors as well:
Rafael Castellanos
Rafael Castellanos is a member of the Board of Port Commissioners and is chair of the Port’s Environmental Advisory Committee. We are unclear on his stance (or knowledge of) land use and how it might impact the unincorporated County, but we’ll likely learn a lot more in the months to come. We’re reaching out to him and will be looking to find out more as the campaign proceeds.
Nora Vargas
Nora Vargas is a Vice President for governmental relations at Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest. She is also on the Southwestern Community College District Governing Board. So far, no hints as to her stances on land use and development, but we’ll surely find out more. Stay tuned.
Ben Hueso
Ben Hueso is the State Senator for District 40, the southernmost district in San Diego. He has started an exploratory committee for the 2020 race, but has not made an official announcement. Recently, he called for investigation of local democratic clubs in an attempt to stop the endorsement process, which could arguably be a sign that he is about to throw himself into the race. From a land use standpoint, he voted for SB35 which streamlines approvals of affordable housing projects in urban areas. He is a co-sponsor of the controversial SB50 by San Francisco Senator Weiner which focuses on increasing density statewide along transit rich and job-rich corridors. It effectively limits local land use authority in those areas and has been attacked by tenants rights groups and others as accelerating displacement and gentrification. He is also on the Environmental Legislative Caucus in the State Senate and has said that he is concerned with environmental justice when it comes to housing and land use. Of concern, recently, he sponsored a bill to weaken the Public Records Act which Grow the San Diego Way has used numerous times to get transparency and background on land use decisions. The local and statewide media was up in arms about this because it weakened the law considerably and would lead to less transparency in coverage of our elected officials. Luckily, just today, he pulled the bill but it is not clear if this has inflicted longterm damage to his brand.
Uncertain: David Alvarez, former City of San Diego Councilman, was raising money for a Supervisor run but appears to have backed away from running according to the very politically-astute Michael Smolens at the Union Tribune. The names of former San Diego Councilwoman Marti Emerald and former Sheriff Bejarano have also come up, but no confirmations at this point.
District 2:
Dianne Jacobs is termed out as well and so far only one candidate has declared. This is what we know:
Steve Vaus
Steve Vaus: The Republican, cowboy-hat-wearing Mayor of Poway has officially announced his candidacy. Of note, on his website he states his priorities will include “protecting and expanding open space, allowing development where appropriate” which may indicate a smart growth approach, but it is unclear. His candidate statement for Mayor in 2018 stated, as a priority “continue to increase our open space (we are currently #1 in the county) while protecting private property rights.” He has voted to approve the purchase of upwards of 600 acres of open space since August for the City of Poway. So, it appears that open space is important to him (as it is for his would-be constituents). In terms of affordable housing, he has voted against a veterans housing development but has put forth a proposal to subsidize ADUs in Poway in exchange for renting to lower income households, an interesting and innovative proposal that we support. Interestingly, Dianne Jacob has announced she has endorsed Vaus and she has been a strong supporter of the General Plan. Other notable (mostly Republican) endorsers include Supervisor Kristin Gaspar, Supervisor Jim Desmond, Mayor Hall of Carlsbad, Mayor Jones of San Marcos, Mayor Faulkner of San Diego.
Joel Anderson
Joel Anderson: former State Senator, Republican, Joel Anderson (who recently suffered an embarrassing loss in the election for the Board of Equalization) had actually raised $290,000 for this seat but has yet to officially announce he is running.
Tom Lemmon
Tom Lemmon: Business Manager of the San Diego Building Trades Council and a well known labor leader, has told us that he is officially running for this seat and will be filing soon. His entry pits the established politicos, Vaus and Anderson (both Republicans) against a guy well known in political circles but new to running for office. Tom’s perspectives on land use are likely to be influenced by his labor affiliation. Labor has generally been pro infill construction and anti-sprawl (the former providing complex jobs using high paid, skilled union labor and the latter relying more on “stick-built” construction, traditionally non-union, unskilled laborers). The Building Trades have been fairly influential in San Diego as well as in Sacramento, opposing CEQA reform and have allied with environmental groups in pushing for sustainable infill. They also are involved in affordable housing development with their Family Housing Corporation (which Tom actually lived in as a child). Tom lives in the unincorporated area in District 2 and we will discussing land use and housing with him as the campaign progresses.
District 3:
Kristin Gaspar’s seat is up for re-election (more on her positions here). Two candidates have declared they would challenge that seat. Traditionally, incumbents have had no trouble getting reelected. The primary elections, with lower turnouts and higher percentage of Republican voters, typically favored Republicans and the mostly Republican incumbents in the County have been able to win outright in the primaries by getting more than 50% of the vote. This is no longer an option. Last November, voters approved the “Full Voter Participation Act” (Measure D) which basically requires all elections to be decided in the general election (not in the primary with a 50% plus 1 result). Incumbents still have advantages over newcomers, but not as much as before. The Measure was sponsored by the SEUI and, some argue, was intended to benefit Democrats who are more likely to vote in the general election. If true, this could impact Gaspar’s chances in a General Election with Democrats trending strongly in San Diego. Kristin Gaspar herself has not officially announced that she will be running for re-election and there are rumors that San Diego County City Councilmember, Mark Kersey, a Republican who was supported by the Building Industry Association, may make a run if she doesn’t. Here’s what we know so far about candidates (or potential candidates) running for District 3:
Olga Diaz
Olga Diaz: Ms. Diaz has been an Escondido City Councilperson for 3 terms. Until recently, she has been the only Democratic member of the Council, which has flipped from a majority Republican council (led by Mayor Sam Abed) to majority Democratic (led by Mayor Paul McNamara). She is on record opposing Safari Highlands, a luxury, sprawl-oriented GPA project opposed by environmentalists and smart growth advocates. In recent hearings at the City Council she advocated forcefully for a stronger Climate Action Plan. She opposed, then supported the County Club project that would convert a blighted golf course to a 430 housing development. The City Council had previously unanimously voted to declare it permanent open space. As an alternate on the Coastal Commission, she was the deciding vote on ousting a commissioner beloved by environmental groups which created some controversy in the environmental community. She is also on the Board of Voice of San Diego. We’ve reached out to Diaz to find out more about her stance on land use policy in the County and will report back what we find out.
Terra Lawson-Remer
Ms. Lawson-Remer declared her candidacy last month. She co-chaired the Flip the 49th committee which aimed to elect a Democrat to Daryl Issa’s congressional district. Her website makes reference to smart growth and “protecting open spaces” and, in a brief conversation with Grow the San Diego Way, stated that she was a proponent of making housing more affordable, manageable density in transit-oriented corridors, protecting the quality of life in our region and was against sprawl GPA projects. Her campaign literature also makes reference to expanding affordable housing, reducing sprawl and protecting the environment and open spaces. We’ll be watching her closely as well.
That’s about it for now. As we learn more about the candidates and reach out to them for more information we will post updates here throughout the campaign cycle. Stay tuned.
Please check back periodically for more analysis on the 2020 Board of Supervisor’s election if you want an analysis from a land use and housing standpoint. We plan on having sit downs with all the candidates to discuss their plans on land use and will post here what we find out. You can also click here to get notified of updates on the website.
Photo courtesy of Flickr User: Joe Wolf, used with Creative Commons license
