National City District 2 Councilmember Jose Rodriguez is running for a second term on council against Randi Castle-Salgado. Rodriguez, 38, said his priority as councilmember is housing.
“Housing costs are exceedingly high in our city as they are regionally, and our city is no exception. I have been a big proponent of building more affordable housing. This fall, Community Housing Works, a nonprofit we have partnered with, are going to be opening a 145-unit affordable complex. We also partnered with Wakeland Development on 24th Street where we will be developing 95 affordable units as well. The groundbreaking took place a few weeks ago and hopefully it will be operational in about a year and a half. It is safe to say that we will be developing 240 units in National City, funded partially by the Housing Authority Fund. I was a big advocate for this and will continue to be,” the Democrat said.
In addition to building affordable housing, Rodriguez said he is advocating for protecting already built affordable housing.
“In that spirit we have passed a 10-year rent control agreement for mobile homes in National City. If a resident lives in a mobile home park where we have about 350 households in four different parks in the city, their rent is limited to 5% a year increase over the next 10 years. It was an agreement with the owners and tenants, so we need to do more of that to protect our renters. In addition, we desperately need more units for sale. We passed a policy last year to build more home ownership opportunities on city property. We will put our Requests for Proposals soon. The point is that we can build on city property about 150 to 200 units now with the idea that we can make those for sale for National City residents. We need to expand our ownership pool in National City,” he said. “It is something I am very proud of and an approach that encompasses a lot of different solutions because I think that is what our housing solutions need to look like. We do not have a silver bullet, so we need to have multiple approaches to ensure that housing is available in our community.”
Rodriguez said historically, National City has not gotten its fair share from the Port of San Diego.
“We are the only city in the county without access to our bayfront. That is unacceptable. We are also city in the county that does not get any revenue from Port site businesses in terms of fees or a tax. If you live in the cities of San Diego, Coronado, or Chula Vista, they get transit occupancy tax that brings revenue into their general fund that offsets the costs of business operations. We do not have such a mechanism in our city. Those are historical shortfalls in terms of the relationship between the city and the Port. Over the last couple of years, I am glad there has been a shift where we have a more of a collectively constructive relationship with the Port and port tenants to get our fair share for the city. An example of that is the partial funding of the National City Balanced Plan, where the Port put in money to help us to get to that point. That means we will have enough funding to expand Pepper Park. That is a monumental shift in the relationship between us, and one I look forward to continuing to foster. They have also expressed willingness to work with us with our master service agreement which is up next year. We had port members at Council listening to our presentation on the MSA, and how we feel we have not gotten our fair share from the port. They were very receptive, and they want to continue to work with us, and Port commissioners from other cities also want to work with us in having a constructive working relationship. I look forward to having this productive working relationship bear many good fruits for National City and its residents,” he said.
Rodriguez said the Port has been leading the way on electrification when it comes to the tugboats, cranes, and a good move forward in lowering emissions and a start in helping the air quality in National City.
“They are now presenting a plan for the electrification of 18-wheeler trucks, which will reduce the emissions in the city on the west side. There are some safety concerns, but ultimately, I think we are heading in the right direction. I am hopeful and optimistic, but we must keep pushing. Something we do not talk about is that one of the highest reasons for high emissions in our city is our train tracks that come through move vehicles or lumber. We need to make sure that we have that in mind, making sure that it runs on cleaner energy. We need to work on multiple things. We need to work on the industry that is already here, we need to work on electrification for a host of operations, but we also have to keep in mind that the train runs there and is one of the largest contributors of greenhouse emissions on the west side,” he said.
Rodriguez said its point in time count this year registered and increased in unhoused individuals in the city, with figures showing around 160, so he supported the city’s encampment ban for multiple reasons.
“Over the last few years, we have invested in a homeless outreach team that is constantly reaching out to residents and offering them services. We have also worked with the San Diego Rescue Mission for two years now and recently opened a transitional center called The Lighthouse here in National City that accommodates over 150 individuals. Those are men, women, and children, and families who we can accommodate up to 30 days, sometimes extended up to 90 days. It is an emergency situation to get people off the streets while we help them find permanent housing. We have actively been doing that and I am in support of continuing that,” he said.
Rodriguez said there has also been an increase in dealing with individuals with mental health issues, and oftentimes, it is around public spaces and has caused safety concerns.
“Everybody deserves to feel safe in our community, and our residents that use our parks are no different. At the same time, everybody deserves a place to call home. That is why we are working hard to get this facility off the ground. Not surprisingly, from our homeless outreach team we had a list of about 50 National City residents who were immediately interested in utilizing the center. We need to continue to do more of this to make a dent of the issue of homeless individuals living on the streets. It is not okay for them, and it is not okay for us, and we need to continue to work on it,” he said.
Rodriguez said the past four years have seen much progress internally.
“The large reason I ran for office was to make sure that government works for all of us, and I think that in that spirit, we have had a leadership change in the city. We have a new city manager, new directors, new management, and overall leading to a change in culture where we are much more responsive as a city than we used to be. It is not the end, but it is the beginning of a city that is now more transparent, more accountable to our residents,” he said.
Rodriguez said his family eats out often and patronizes local businesses.
“I am really glad that we have an ethically and culturally diverse group of businesses. Especially our restaurants. You can go anywhere in our city and find a local owned steakhouse, the best sushi, great Chinese food, Vietnamese food, or great Mexican food in a span of seven square miles. That is extremely unique in the region. I am happy that many businesses are here, and that the diversity is so rich, and that I absolutely love it. I also passed a food ordinance this year that allows for food vendors that operate in National City to have the proper permits. We have many food vendors that operate on Highland Avenue attaching themselves to an existing business. When you see people coming together and sharing food, that is what it is all about. I am really happy with the city continuing to see how these types of policies positively impact our community and seeing residents coming together around food and culture. I am excited about what the future holds these food vendors and food vendor ordinances in the city. I love the environment, and the residents love them. That is something I am proud of and will continue to support,” he said.
Rodriguez said he believes that National City can benefit from the Chula Vista Bayfront expansion.
“Mom and pop establishments are not open past 10-11 p.m. I am glad that we have an active nightlife driven around food vendors. That is something I want to continue to push through and something that will be relevant with the expansion happening in South Bay. Once the Gaylord project finalizes and brings in many more individuals, I want to lift all of our local businesses so that we can have more of the population that comes from around the world to do business in National City, and taste a little bit of what National City is about and how beautiful and diverse our community is,” he said.
Rodriguez said now if a resident calls the city, a representative, or elected official on a problem, such a tree ready to fall on a powerline, or problems at a crosswalk, it needs to be resolved immediately.
“We are now fixing those issues as soon as possible and that was not the case a few years ago.”
