Chula Vista Mayor Mary Casillas Salas was elected as the city’s 40th mayor last November.
And with a little more than three months at the helm, Casillias Salas will outline her plans, goals and vision for the county’s second largest city at her first State of the City address on Tuesday, March 17, at City Hall.
“I’m going to be talking about where the city’s been and where we’re headed and all the wonderful possibilities that we have for 2015,” the mayor said.
David Danciu, president of the organized community land use group Crossroads II, said he doesn’t want to hear the mayor just talking about the good in the city.
“In the State of the City address, I want to hear her not only say how great everything is, I want her to say where the challenges lie and what we might be able to do about it as a city,” he said. “I guess this is what the leader of the city’s job is, to never sound negative, but I also like city leaders to tell you the truth.”
When voters elected Casillas Salas as mayor, they also approved Prop. B, which Casillas ran on and which allowed the City Council to make an appointment instead of a special election to fill a vacancy on the City Council.
One of Casillas Salas’s first task as mayor was to find her replacement on the City Council, which led to the appointment of Steve Miesen.
But the appointment as been marred by controversy from lawsuits alleging that the appointment process violated the Brown Act to ethics complaints about a possible conflict of interest with Miesen’s duties as a councilman.
Bernardo Vasquez, president of the Eastlake Business Association, said if Casillas Salas discusses the appointment, he expects her to err on the side of caution.
“She’s probably is going to be careful because there’s litigation against the city,” he said.
Danciu said in the mayor’s address he hopes Casillas Salas will detail a plan outlining where the city’s economic growth will come from, outside of the city’s two biggest developments in the bayfront and a four-year university.
“We are losing land that should be commercial and industrial, we are losing it more and more to housing,” he said. So where is the next bunch of jobs going to come from.”
One of Casillas Salas’s priorities in her campaign she said was to create more jobs, specifically through bayfront development and the proposed university.
He also said he is interested to hear Casillas Salas’s thoughts on the districting process.
Cindy Gompper-Graves, chief executive officer for the South County Economic Development Council, said Casillas
Salas should convey how the bayfront is moving forward, what needs to get done for the university to come to fruition.
“I also hope that there’s something in there about continuing to make Chula Vista business- friendly,” she said.
Gommper-Graves said the importance of the bayfont for the region is that it will attract more employment opportunities for the city. And the university, she said, is beneficial because it adds an educated work force that supports the jobs the South County Economic Development Council is creating all over the South Bay.
Vasquez said the mayor should express her ideas of how she will go about helping small businesses thrive in the city.
“I don’t know with that short time in office what she can do to either attract or help businesses,” he said. “I’m not aware of any policies that she’s talked about bringing forward that’s going to be harmful to business.”
He added that he would like to know how Casillas Salas plans to make the process for bringing a business easier, from obtaining a business license to city permits and approval of signage.
Lisa Cohen, CEO of the Chula Vista Chamber of Commerce, said issues that Casillas Salas should touch on that pertain to the chamber are economic growth for businesses.
“We’re looking forward to hearing about our No. 1 priority, which is economic development, and ensuring the quality of life for Chula Vista,” she said.
As a politician, Casillas Salas has delivered plenty of speeches. But she said she remains “nervous” about this one.
“There’s expectations about the quality of a State of a City address, the information that is going to be imparted to the community,” she said. “So yes, I definitely have butterflies in my stomach.”
