Voters in division five of the Sweetwater Authority had a mystery to solve last week: Who’s running to represent them at the water agency?
Sweetwater Authority supplies drinking water to roughly 200,000 people in southwestern San Diego County. Division five encompasses Bonita, the Sweetwater Valley and parts of northern Chula Vista.
Last week, district voters were startled to learn that their incumbent representative on the agency’s board, Josie Calderon-Scott, was ending her re-election campaign and endorsing her opponent. An Oct. 4 story in the local news publication La Prensa announced the campaign suspension and quoted Calderon-Scott saying, “Crucial family health matters precluded me from running a campaign.”
Except, wait — a few days later, Calderon-Scott announced she was not pulling out of the race. “That article is not accurate,” she told Voice of San Diego. “None of those words you saw in there were mine. None…I’m still on the ballot and I plan to serve all four years if elected.”
Calderon-Scott said she had been weighing whether to end her campaign because of caregiving obligations for several ailing family members. She had drafted a possible statement but hadn’t made a final decision. The La Prensa story, she said, quoted from that statement but did not reflect her current intentions.
Too late. Calderon-Scott’s opponent, Elizabeth Cox, posted an image of the La Prensa story on her campaign website and included it in an email to supporters. The president of the local Sweetwater Valley Civic Association also alerted members in an email.
After Calderon-Scott claimed she was running after all, there was mass confusion. The civic association president retracted her email. Cox called and texted Calderon-Scott: “If you are retracting your statement, I’d like to know directly from you so I can stop sharing the news.” Calderon-Scott said she asked Cox via email to take down the La Prensa story. Cox said she never got that email. Either way, she removed the article from her website and said she would stop repeating its claims.
Art Castañares, editor-in-chief of La Prensa, said he stands by his publication’s story. “Our article was accurate when we published it,” he said. “It seems Josie has changed her mind, but we have text messages and voice mails to back up our story.”
Bottom Line: Calderon-Scott is running, though she said her caregiving responsibilities prevent her from doing much active campaigning.
Fun additional fact: Calderon-Scott is friendly with Cox’s mother, Cheryl Cox, who was mayor of Chula Vista from 2006-14. Policy-wise, Calderon-Scott and Elizabeth Cox have a lot in common. Both told me they don’t want this campaign to come between them. Politics is a strange business.
National City Seeks More from Port
National City leaders say their city spends millions to provide police, fire and other services to Port of San Diego properties within city limits — and they want the port to shoulder more of the cost.
An Oct. 3 letter to port officials from city manager Benjamin Martinez calls the port’s current formula for reimbursing the city “flawed” and asks the port to renegotiate “as soon as possible.”
All five member cities of the port—San Diego, Chula Vista, National City, Imperial Beach and Coronado—provide various municipal services on port properties. The port pays each city a negotiated rate for those services.
National City’s current reimbursement formula was set in a nine-year agreement that took effect in 2021. Under the agreement, the port pays the city a base rate of $1.3 million.
In an Oct. 1 city council presentation, officials said National City spends more than $8 million on port police and fire services alone, plus more for outreach to homeless encampments, graffiti removal and other needs.
“The city of National City is uniquely getting lowballed and taken advantage of by the port,” said city Councilmember Marcus Bush. “There needs to be more of a balance…We are subsidizing the port’s safety.”
A port spokesperson referred to an Oct. 14 written response to the city from the port’s CEO, Randa Coniglio. The letter states that the port is “not interested in relitigating” the 2021 agreement but is open to considering “creative, data-driven approaches” to adjusting the base reimbursement amount beginning next year.
Meet the Candidates: Chula Vista District Three
Last week, I wrote about turmoil in Chula Vista’s district four city council race. This week, the focus is on neighboring district three, where the tone of the race could not be more different.
The candidates, Michael Inzunza and Leticia Munguia, mostly agree on their district’s top priorities. Neither wanted to go on the record criticizing their opponent.
Inzunza was born and raised in Chula Vista and said he has lived in district three for the past 12 years. He works for the California School Boards Association.
He said he has knocked on thousands of doors since starting his campaign and hears the same concerns from most voters: police response times; homelessness; job creation; and the need for more higher education opportunities.
If elected, Inzunza said he would seek to expand safe sleeping sites for homeless people and vigorously enforce the city’s ban on public camping. He also would seek to bring high-tech jobs to Chula Vista and fast-track plans for a public university on land earmarked for that purpose in district three.
Inzunza said his city is home to a rising Latino middle class and deserves the economic vitality and respect given to other parts of San Diego County. “Chula Vista is not a sleepy town anymore,” he said. “We need the same middle-class amenities [that are] offered in Scripps Ranch, Leucadia or Encinitas.”
Munguia was born and raised in southeastern San Diego and has lived in district three for the past 15 years. For much of her professional career, she was a union organizer representing classified employees in numerous California school districts.
Like Inzunza, she named homelessness as a top priority and said she supports the city’s current outreach-oriented approach, though she said she’d like to see more “wraparound services” for homeless residents.
She said another top priority is ensuring that parks are maintained and made available for more intramural youth sports activities. Veterans Park near her home is “not well maintained,” she said. “The restrooms are below standards…The tot lots are broken…We can do better.”
Munguia said that, after commuting for years on State Route 125, she wants to work with the San Diego Association of Governments to reduce or eliminate tolls on the highway. “Residents of district three have been footing the bill for this toll road and we have to have some relief,” she said.
Like Inzunza, Munguia said she wants to bring more advanced jobs to her district and fast-track plans for a four-year university. She also vowed to bring a long-promised middle school to the district.
“Our community has a severe level of need,” she said. “The community needs to come as a big priority.”
In Other News
In Case You Missed It: Earlier this week, I profiled a Chula Vista homeless woman whose recent death near Bayfront Park highlights the challenges cities face addressing this seemingly intractable issue. Stories about homelessness often focus on the nuts and bolts of policy. This story shows the human side. Read the full story here.
The Sweetwater Civic Association was in an uproar earlier this month after association president Judith Tieber abruptly canceled the organization’s annual governing board election. The association, which acts as a liaison between residents of the unincorporated Bonita area and elected representatives, has been in a protracted fight over how to conduct board elections, with factions backing opposing candidates and dueling over nominating processes. In an email to an association member, Tieber said she canceled the election because of “rude behavior” and a “planned hijack” by one faction. Now accusations are flying of power grabs and a cover-up. The association’s next meeting, scheduled for Nov. 6, could be interesting.
The Chula Vista city council is expected to vote Tuesday evening on spending $52 million to replace the 31-year-old steel and wood Heritage Road bridge over the Otay River with an expanded six-lane bridge with bike lanes, a sidewalk and a median. The existing two-lane bridge often backs up during events at nearby North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre. The new bridge will be built to withstand a 100-year flood on the river.