Rudy Ramirez has always focused beyond borders. The Chula Vista native got his college degree in international studies. He brought that sensibility to his eight-year tenure on the Chula Vista City Council, which came to an end when he termed out this year.
“I think our economic future is tied to the economy of the border region, and we ought to give it the importance it deserves,” he said.
“I think [a] bit of my contribution is to look south and to think of the opportunities there. I mean, we know that, for example, our retail is successful to the degree it is because of that Mexican market … a lot of the homes in Chula Vista are sold to middle-class and upper-class Mexicans. It’s a big part of who we are and we ought to understand it and make the most of it, for the sake of our community,” said Ramirez.
To that end, Ramirez focused on the international aspects of South County. He sat on the San Diego Association of Governments’ Borders Committee and created the International Friendship Games, an annual event for young students in the U.S. and Mexico featuring competitions from soccer games to battles of the bands.
“I really have no regrets, except for little internal politics stuff. As far as the work — I think things worked out the way they needed to work out,” said Ramirez.
“The work that we had to do as a council got done, to some degree — I mean, we were in crisis mode a lot of the time that I was in office … it’s really only been maybe the last two years that we were relatively stable.”
Ramirez said that when he first came into office, the council was besieged by budget cuts and labor negotiations, which left little time or money for innovation or new programs.
One of the things he’s most proud of, he said, was helping the city apply “lean principles” widely used by Toyota in their manufacturing philosophy to reduce waste and costs and promote better flow in the workplace.
Ramirez, whose background outside politics is in welding and manufacturing, said the city partnered with Goodrich Aerostructures to implement the program and help train staffers to be more efficient.
“It has been bringing back real and tangible results, where certain activities used to take us – whatever it was, a hundred minutes to complete, are now being reduced by 20 or 30 percent in a whole assortment of city operations,” Ramirez said.
Ramirez made a run for the Chula Vista Elementary School Board this year, ultimately losing the seat to Leslie Ray Bunker, but he says he’s not done with politics. He says given the opportunity, he’d be open to running for public office again in the future.
“It’s not an easy transition, leaving public office. I’ve found the work to be very rewarding, something I really enjoyed, and you identify yourself with the work and so to end that, it’s heartbreaking, a little bit.
“But it’s OK also. I feel good about the work over the last eight years and I feel like I’m still going to be involved in a lot of ways, so I’m looking forward to the new chapter.”
He remains as an alternate member of the Metropolitan Transit System board; whether he will fill the seat recently vacated by Chula Vista’s new mayor Mary Salas depends on the board’s decision.
