Supervisor, Distrito 5 — Condado de San Diego

No.  The reserves are right where they should be.

The County's annual budget is $5billion a year, or $13million per day.  The County has approximately $700million in unencumbered (rainy day) reserves which will fund 53 days of normal operations at $13millon/day.  If there is a major fire or earthquake requiring extra services and overtime that leaves a little over a month of normal operations dollars. 

No. See previous answer.  

One third of the $5billion annual budget is already spent on Health and Human Services.  I think those monies should be prioritized eah year to deal with current Health and Human Services issues.

I will support programs that help people willing to get back on their feet and functioning in society.

Depends on the project.

I support projects that fit with the character of the community, mitigates impacts and provides the necessary infrastructure.  For increased densities the project must also provide added benefits to the existing community such as; schools, fire houses, parks, enhanced emergency egress and infrastructure.

I am ok with medical marijuana if it was dispensed was a pharmacy and perscribed by real doctors. I am against the retail sales (dispensaries) of recreational marijuana.

I would support an approved County Climate Action Plan.

Yes.

Increased access to health and human services is one of the many reasons I decided to run for County Supervisor. 

San Diego County currently holds a $2 billion (approximately 49%) reserve when most county's function at peak performance with approximately 15-20%. This excessive hoarding of reserves is the primary cause of the recent Hepatitis A outbreak, which was allowed to spread unchecked and ended up killing almost two dozen people while infecting hundreds more. That our current Supervisors allowed such a public health crisis to transpire in order to keep more money in the bank is unconscionable.

We need to utilize these reserves in an efficient and effective manner in order to improve the quality of life for all county residents. These funds should be used to provide affordable and attainable housing, combat our growing homelessness crisis, improve mental health services and create jobs and employ more in home healthcare workers for our aging demographic.  

Yes.

Increasing access to affordable housing should be priority one when it comes to considering how to best utilize our budget surplus. San Diego County currently has the sixth highest homeless population in the country and 1 in 6 of that number is children. 

If only 10% of our current 2 billion dollar excess were put to work to fund housing development, either through the Innovative Housing Trust Fund, Community Development Block Grants or HOME Investment Partnership which all share access to the same funding source it would improve the situation several times over. These funds could be put to work facilitating construction, acquisition, rehabilitation and also loan repayment for affordable multi-family rental housing for extremely low, very-low and low-income households by providing gap financing.

Yes. Homelessness is not a crime. It is a symptom of societal failures and flawed policymaking. Rather than criminalizing the counties many homeless, including families, veterans, and students, we should be providing increased access to social and mental health services, substance abuse facilities, and job training and placement services. The County must do more to provide adequate housing for our homeless population, as well as provide public sanitation facilities, including mobile shower options in order to protect public health.

No.

Our county has a devastating housing shortage that much is clear.  Housing has to be built somewhere, but where exactly is always the burning question. It seems that nobody wants new housing built in their backyard. 

My approach is to honor the county's General Plan, which suggests that new housing in the unincorporated areas be placed in the Western regions of the county nearer to services, and infrastructure that can support the new influx of residents. This notion is especially prudent when considering new affordable housing developments. Working families want to live near to where they work in order to save time and money commuting. They want to live near parks and schools, not out in the middle of nowhere causing them to have to drive more for family functions, to say nothing of their daily commutes.

On the other side of that coin, you have residents in rural areas who purchased homes in those areas because they wish to be away from urban density. Placing developments on top of them not only robs them of their solitude, but also poses a problem for the sensitive wildlife and ecosystems that will be impacted. We must protect our pristine countryside from overdevelopment because once it's gone, it’s gone forever.

Yes.

I strongly support efforts to regulate, permit, and tax the cannabis industry businesses in the unincorporated areas because patients deserve safe access to the cannabis-based medications that are improving and in some cases, saving their lives. They need to be able to access dispensaries and delivery options in their area. Moreover, struggling family farms could once again be made solvent by adopting this crop were they allowed to. Jobs could be created in the growth, delivery, transfer, testing, and sale of a well-regulated cannabis industry. This would be a boon to our economy without consideration to the possible income from taxation.

Laws regarding cannabis have changed and our attitudes and practices need to adapt to the times. Regardless of anyone's personal feelings on cannabis, medical marijuana has been legal in California for over 20 years and with the passage of the Adult Use of Marijuana Act (Prop 64) in 2016, recreational adult use is now legal as well. It is time we get our arms around this as a county in order to ensure public safety concerns that include keeping cannabis products out of the hands of children and to thwart the black market, which will only continue to thrive in the absence of solid regulations.

I have spoken with many cannabis industry leaders, informed and engaged professionals, who are eager to work within whatever legal framework emerges. They share my passion for keeping children safe, and despise black market bad actors that have left their taint on an industry who is working hard to prove their dedication to observing the law.

No, I do not support the County’s Climate Action Plan in its current form. I believe greater emphasis is necessary regarding efficiency and the reduction of greenhouse gasses, which has disastrous effects on our planet. We must place greater emphasis on the portion of the plan that speaks to Greenhouse Gas reduction from automobile traffic by providing alternatives to mass transportation and by building future homes in places that enable residents to reduce their use of personal automobile travel. We must also address sea level rise because it will have dramatic negative impacts on our region and our economy if we fail to act. I believe we should place greater emphasis on clean energy, including solar and wind as well. Finally, I would like to see the Climate Action Plan expanded to include Community Choice Energy (CCE) programs, which promise to reduce emissions by focusing on renewable energy sources. Because CCE takes the power out of the hands out of the energy monopolies working families will also benefit from reduced rates.