Chula Vista City Council candidate Patricia Aguilar says she has a 20-year history of defending residents’ rights.
“It’s very easy to talk about what you’re going to do, I have a record of having done things,” she said.
A retiree, Aguilar is a full-time volunteer and former president and co-founder of Crossroads II, a community group.
The 64-year-old Democrat said she has a proven track record of accomplishments serving on numerous committees, boards and commissions.
Some of her activism includes saving Friendship Park, being active in Citizens Against Retail Expansion and speaking out on bayfront development and land issues.
Aguilar said public safety should be the city’s first priority for public service.
“What is very clear is that in the next term, our resources are going to diminish … the most important thing (is) to preserve safe streets,” she said.
Aguilar said the fundamental problem in Chula Vista is too much housing and not enough employment.
“In order to correct that imbalance we need to bring quality, clean jobs to Chula Vista,” she said.
Aguilar’s vision is to strategically position Chula Vista as a regional center for clean industries, such as health care and the biotech industry, making Chula Vista the health care hub for South County.
“Small businesses are America’s number one source of jobs,” Aguilar said. “Chula Vista has an untapped wealth of small businesses … we must help them thrive.”
Aguilar said streamlining city regulations is extremely important for the success of small businesses.
“I’ve been talking to people all over the city and what I hear over and over again is that there’s too much red tape involved with anything.”
Aguilar said city leadership needs to take on a rebranding of Chula Vista.
“I can tell you that the image people outside of Chula Vista have is not very good – they think it’s a low-income suburb of San Diego,” she said.
A strong proponent of revitalizing western Chula Vista, Aguilar said the city should support smart, sustainable redevelopment that improves city neighborhoods and respects their character.
According to Aguilar, redevelopment in Chula Vista has historically been a source of contention and the expansion of the redevelopment zones into residential neighborhoods should not be considered until the city’s Redevelopment Agency can demonstrate a record of success in improving existing redevelopment areas.
She said building a four-year university here will create jobs.
“I don’t think there’s anybody who thinks this is a bad idea,” she said, adding real estate surrounding colleges and universities increases in value.
Aguilar said she will vote against Prop. H, a measure that taxes Internet communications and cell phone use.
“This is a time when people are hurting (financially),” Aguilar said. “Chula Vista is ground zero for foreclosures.”
Allowing medical marijuana dispensaries is a complicated issue for Aguilar.
“In principle it makes sense to be able to control it since it’s happening anyway,” she said. “On the other hand, some dispensaries in San Diego have created problems … if we are going to have these dispensaries, we need to have very, very strict regulations surrounding them. The other advantage is that we can tax it,” she said.
Aguilar said that San Diego and Tijuana are economically important for Chula Vista.
“I think it’s very important to have an efficient border crossing,” Aguilar said. “If people have to wait, it will hurt businesses on both sides of the border. People are more likely to spend their money, the more efficient it is.”
