Next week voters will choose two Chula Vista Councilmembers. I will soon leave the Council after eight years. Looking back over my time in office I realize how special it has been and feel a little like time is running out and there’s still work to do.
Elections are messy yet decisive events. Voters must select their leaders from a small pool of candidates they know little about. The prospect of navigating campaign laws, fundraising, public self-promotion and courting voters is daunting. The grueling campaign process intimidates many potential great leaders. It limits candidates to those who are crazy or driven enough to sign up for at least a year of nonstop campaigning, putting one’s life on hold for entirely uncertain results.
Perhaps it was events of the sixties that shaped my psyche and drove me to wonder forty years later if I could make a positive difference. Wouldn’t an earnest but failed campaign be at least a noble undertaking? I had witnessed the Poor People’s March in Washington DC, People’s Park in Berkeley, UFW lettuce boycotts and much more. I attended college in Oakland alongside Black Panthers and student activists. At some point I acquired a lasting respect for those who worked (albeit sometimes misguidedly) to improve the world, and years later in an idealistic mood, I joined the Democratic Party.
With the help of very devoted friends, I won my first campaign by a mere 46 votes, and was soon to be tested. Keenly aware that terms are not open-ended, I wanted to use my time wisely and not waste even a minute. I had lofty goals such as approval of our Bayfront Masterplan, closure of South Bay Power Plant, adoption of a Historic Preservation ordinance, a comprehensive Climate Change Plan and revitalization of Western Chula Vista. These goals, challenging by any standard, could easily take much longer than a single four-year term!
Very shortly after assuming office, I sat down with then Mayor Cox. Clueless, I exclaimed that “We are not likely to agree on many issues but I will always respect you…”. Eight years ago I naively thought that me being a Democrat and she a Republican, we would always be at odds. But there is good reason that local government is non-partisan. Partisanship really gets in the way of good decision-making and has nothing to do with issues addressed on the local level. I quickly figured this out. Mayor Cox, a wise woman, put aside any apprehensiveness and preconceptions about me in order to begin our relationship as colleagues with a blank slate.
A decade spent on various commissions served me well. Already possessing an understanding of planning, zoning, and regulatory process, I called upon my inner strength – or was it foolhardiness – to tackle the big goals without missing a beat. I quickly learned, much to my surprise, that I actually had a friend and ally in Mayor Cox. She shared many of my goals but had to juggle running a city in crisis while advancing those goals.
It hit me hard from my first meeting in 2008 and nothing had prepared me for it. Our city was in the midst of a deep economic crisis – indeed we soon declared a fiscal state of emergency! Chula Vista had changed city managers five times in about as many years and we needed stable leadership more than anything. Lofty goals aside, I was now in the middle of a struggle to right the ship. Much to their credit, decisions made by then newly appointed City Manager Jim Sandoval, Mayor Cox, and sacrifices made by the City’s workforce, enabled us to weather the storm. We must have cut the budget that first year by $25,000,000! Major cuts continued in subsequent years shrinking our workforce by 30%.
Faced with having to do more with less, the City Manager began a lean reorganization of departments, helping us survive more years of belt tightening. Throughout this uneasy atmosphere of living on a precipice, we managed to make steady progress towards our major goals. Indeed the fact that Chula Vista had such a promising future – with our Bayfront redevelopment, plans for a major university and eastern urban core – was perhaps a source of the City’s strength. If we could only get through this downturn!
Well the City survived; we even managed to celebrate our Centennial Anniversary in 2011, and I survived breast cancer that same year. I can’t say the process didn’t change my perspective about what matters in life.
Nearing the end of my second term, I’m glad to have had this experience. I know change happens first at the local level and I’m happy that we’re growing and changing.
Chula Vista led by City Manager Gary Halbert and Mayor Casillas Salas is growing in a good way. Running for office or getting involved in the community is sharing in the shaping of that growth. The City is close to realizing its tremendous potential. With your help we’ll get there. It’s not about being Democrat or Republican, but working for a better future. It begins with exercising our responsibility to vote.
