This is an abbreviated version of an interview with Alejandro Galicia. For the full story visit thestarnews.com. Incumbent Nora Vargas was not available.
Republican Alejandro Galicia is running for San Diego County Board of Supervisors District 1 against Supervisor Nora Vargas. Galicia, 56, owns VIP Plumbing in Chula Vista, and said he became politically involved when he became a small business owner, realizing how policies affected him for the better, and for the worst.
“One example that really bothered me is because I am not a union shop, I cannot bid on any school projects because they are union-only, which in my opinion is a favor by local politicians to their number one contributors,” he said. “Since 2020, I realized that the county supervisor seat plays an important role locally, and the people I see going through there are not people who do not want to do the right thing but are ladder climbers. They are going to do the supervisor seat for a few years and then climb on to bigger and better things. They do not really govern to make a positive impact. They are there to pay back favors to past and future supporters.”
Galicia said this year, with the January floods, the flood channels by 32nd street were not being maintained as San Diego was placing more emphasis on other areas.
“Nobody was going to bat for this part of the county. As a result, we had major floods, and those people had a double whammy. The flood control channels that were there to protect them were not maintained, and as a result, they severely damaged or completely lost their houses during the heavy rainfalls. They went months without getting much help. They were not a priority,” he said.
Galicia said the Tijuana River Valley is another example Galicia served in the U.S. Army and Navy for 24 years, and from 2006 to 2008, he was assigned to the Border Patrol as the environmental and safety officer.
“One of the things we did was very similar to the Tijuana River Valley. In the river in Imperial County, just south of El Centro, is a very polluted river with serious pollution issues, and our soldiers were expected to splash around in there. Not even the U.S. Border Patrol was expected to get a drop of that water on them. Nobody really cared about it because those are not neighborhoods with a lot of money or political power. Through the Army, we did water, air, and soil quality. As a result of that study, the political process in Mexico, forced them to act, and they built a sewage plant. We have the same thing going on here. It is not new and has been going on for years and years. It was an issue when I attended Montgomery High School, graduating in 1985, and I remember back then that this was an issue. They would close the beaches after too much rain. It has never been a priority, so here we are in 2024, still having the same conversation,” he said.
Galicia said he thought with Vargas having close connections in Baja, something would have been done to work together to solve this issue, but nothing has happened until she was “under the gun” to take some action. He said he took a trip to show some friends Friendship Park, and the smell was horrible. He said he is a plumber and is used to that smell but cannot imagine what it is like for residents who live with that smell all the time.
“She has done little. She is more on celebrating diversity. I am a minority, so I appreciate that, but it irks me,” he said. “The last thing that would be a priority for me is that I think much more can be done to combat homelessness. As businesses, we are surrounded by those people, and they are dealing with it is that they are criminalizing it. You kick them out of a certain area. How do you make that illegal. It does not solve the issue. It makes people feel better. There are no eyesores, but it annoys me that they are pulling federal grants for migrants. Can’t they pull federal grants for veterans who are living under bridges?”
Galicia said as a veteran, he has a special place in his heart for people who have served, and San Diego County is a stronghold of veterans.
Galicia said the Board of Supervisors has not handled the flood of immigrants and refugees coming into the county, but he does not blame the county.
“That is an issue that the federal government should have a much better grasp on. This thing where they let them all come in, and then street releases them at a random intersection in a city and lets them go, is abandoning people and their fate. It is a little out of their control and it is not normal for a county to have to deal with something like this,” he said. “It is a sad situation. People in Latin America were willing to abandon their lives because of corruption, crime, lack of opportunity, but right now people are risking their lives, and the federal government does not have a logical immigration policy.”
Galicia said if the BOS would set policies that are small business friendly, it will not only help the cheesemakers, and farmers out in East County, but it would make it easier for contractors, plumbing, electrical.
“Then we would be hiring people and putting food on their tables because we are able to work, rather than trying to figure out regulations. In many cases, the county supervisors pass legislation without understanding the full impact. That is the problem when you get transitory politicians. I do not know how many of them have ever owned and operated a business, and lost money because of a regulation, or they made a mistake. That has happened to me. I wake up at 3 a.m. in the morning wondering whether I will make payroll. So, I think I have a better idea than my opponent on what impact the county can have. I have always considered the county to be one of our best run government organizations. Supervisor Greg Cox was a great supervisor,” he said.
Galicia said he served on the city of Chula Vista’s Veterans Commission under Cheryl Cox, and it wrote an ordinance encouraging the city of Chula Vista to hire more disabled veterans to do work, and it passed. He said instead of hiring large corporations to do major jobs, why not hire unhoused veterans and pay them, so that they no longer have to live under bridges.
“Work needs to be done, and they are contracting them out to big companies. Some of them are not even based locally. We need to go straight to the roots, hire the people that are just struggling for money, and improve their lives,” he said.
As a minority, Galicia said one thing that keeps getting Vargas in trouble is that there has been a lot of news that she made many derogatory comments about Asians, a local African-American leader.
“I do not think she is racist, but she is being mentioned as biased and playing ethic games. I think her quests to hire a minority, or a woman, instead of hiring who is best qualified person, there is a fine line between racism and well-intentioned favoritism. She keeps getting in trouble and she is going to continue to get in trouble. The people who work for her are Latinas, and as a Latino, I do not think I fall under her priority radar if I were ever to apply for a job under her,” he said.
Galicia said it is great that the 1960s happened and that the Title 10 Civil Rights Act of 1064 passed.
“My dad is from Texas, where there were no dogs or Mexicans allowed, and that has gone away. You are never going to get rid of all racism. At the end of the day, all of us have some prejudice engrained in us. But I think that the pendulum has swung too far in the other direction, and we need to settle down. And she is going to be getting in trouble if that is her intent,” he said. “I know racism is part of our history, but we can learn from it. That is what I love about the military. You come into the world, and they say there are the Mexicans, there are the Blacks, but in the military, you cannot do that. You are forced to integrate with everybody, and before you know it, you find out they are humans just like you.”
