Attorney Dan Smith defends his clients in the court of law.
But come Nov. 4 he hopes the citizens of Chula Vista elect him to represent them at City Hall.
Smith, 57, said if elected, his main priority would be to bring more jobs to the county’s second largest city.
Born and raised in Cave Creek, Arizona, Smith learned early on about the importance of holding down a job.
“My parents had always taught me that to work is noble,” he said. “In any kind of work you should be proud that you’re working.”
Before his law career started, Smith worked several odd-end jobs.
Smith’s first job, at the age of 12, was cleaning out ditches in Arizona. Soon after he was a dishwasher at a French Restaurant.
From there he said he occasionally served as a bus boy at a restaurant.
Then in the summers he made ends meet as a farmer in Clovis, New Mexico.
As a student at Arizona State University, he sold residential real estate to get him through college.
Shortly after he earned his economics degree from ASU, Smith came to San Diego to enroll at California Western School of Law.
Smith has worked as a defense attorney for nearly 25 years and owns his own practice on Third Avenue.
Putting people to work is a concept Smith said he is familiar with.
In 1995, he created the Original Bike Cab Company, the first pedicab business in the Gas Lamp Quarter.
“I created hundreds of jobs doing that (creating pedicab business), hundreds,” he said.
Smith said he hired people who were living on public assistance that needed additional income.
“The beauty of it was that I took guys and gals off the street,” he said.
His employees also consisted of college students who needed extra cash to get through college.
The bike cab company started out with four pedicabs and rapidly boomed to 120 at the height of his business.
The business also expanded to San Francisco, Denver and Houston, until he sold his business in 2007.
Smith said he sold the business to focus more on his law practice. He also said “it was just time to move on.”
Smith is new to the political scene. He’s never run for city council or any elected office before. He said he wanted to run for city council because there aren’t enough jobs in Chula Vista for its citizens.
“I think adding more jobs is what the city of Chula Vista really needs to look at,” he said.
Smith said he envisions brining more fill-time service and assembly jobs to the city.
Smith said adding more jobs can increase Chula Vista’s quality of life.
First, Smith said more jobs in Chula Vista decreases the city’s carbon footprint, which he said is good for the environment.
He said citizens wouldn’t have to travel very far, thus reducing pollution and commuting time on the roadways.
According to U.S. Census data, nearly 83,000 residents commute to work outside the city.
“Everybody that’s fighting against jobs and job creation in Chula Vista is fighting against the environment as far as I am concerned,” he said.
“If you’re putting that much pollution because you don’t want to get behind jobs being created in Chula Vista to me you’re abusing the environment.”
Smith said as an attorney he has witnessed firsthand what a job can do for people.
“If you got jobs, you stay out of trouble,” he said. “If there are jobs here, parents can spend more time with their kids, what does that make? Better behaved kids. What does that do? Less juvenile crime, what does that do? Less adult crime, what does that do? Fewer divorces.” Smith said.
