The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board interviewed four of the candidates in the San Diego County Board of Supervisors District 1 race ahead of the March 3, 2020, primary election in which the top two vote-getters will advance to a runoff election in November. Below is the transcript of our Oct. 30, 2019, interview with Sophia Rodriguez, who is running to succeed Greg Cox in a district that represents residents in Coronado, Imperial Beach, Chula Vista and National City. This interview was transcribed using the digital transcription service Temi and checked for accuracy by a staffer. To call any errors to our attention or to ask any questions about our interviews, please email matthew.hall@sduniontribune.com with the subject line “election interviews.”
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Union-Tribune: So thanks for coming in, Sophia, tell us why you decided to run for supervisor.
Sophia Rodriguez: So I decided to run for myriad different reasons that culminated, uh, recently to this year. But for me personally it was, um, as a homeless survivor, as someone who survived experiencing homelessness for a period of time, I feel that there’s not enough input of those perspective and voices into our local policy making. I’m glad that, uh, now it’s be kind be finally becoming some mainstream issue where a lot of different community leaders and elected officials are putting input and I know the city of San Diego put in their 10 year action plan, the County a couple of years ago put in there a hope for all home for all program investing into homelessness. So I’m glad that they’re initiating those programs, but we still need voices that provide that perspective. And I feel that the South Bay is sometimes a little bit ignored in those situations. And I understand why downtown, uh, and a lot of the North County holds the bulk of people who identify as homelessness. But we need to bring in the South Bay and to, uh, and me personally, I believe that we have to remove this stereotype of what homelessness is. Um, the federal definition of homelessness is not just people who, you know, stereotypically live, live on the street. It’s people who spent more than 60% of their income on their mortgage or rent. It’s people who are forced to live in places that they’re not supposed, that’s not considered habitable. So renting a living room, that’s something I definitely did. Sleeping in your car or something. I definitely did. Uh, transitional homes, temporary shelters, you’re, even though you have a temporary roof over your head, it’s not stable. So we need to expand the narrative on how to address this crisis and as someone who’s lived through it and ultimately working for the county, I’m currently a county employee and I do eligibility with a lot of these services. I feel like I’m bringing a perspective that is desperately needed in these, uh, higher elected offices to make sure that it’s, it’s equitable, it’s actually getting done and hopefully, you know, speed the process up.
Meet other candidates in the race below.
Q: That your background’s really interesting. Tell us a little bit about what stages of your life you were homeless or had food insecurity and then how you kind of made it to the platform you’re at now.
A: Uh, so I lived in, uh, the South Bay my entire life. Born, raised, uh, graduated from Chula Vista High School — Go Spartans. Uh, so, um, and that was at the time, probably between 2003-2007 when we started hearing about the recession. I was fortunate enough to be accepted to UCSD. that was actually my first choice. I never wanted to leave San Diego, so I was very, that was one of my happiest days when I got the acceptance letter at UCSD. Um, but at that time my mom actually lost her job and were already facing food insecure, some type of food insecurity before I moved on campus to UCSD. Um, so I moved there after two years, I decided to move back and I was helping my mom use my financial aid to help pay rent, buy groceries, and then suddenly we were given a 30-day notice to leave. We were given no reason. We were even given our entire security deposit back with no questions. And that, for, you know, renters, that’s kind of rare. It’s for you to get your entire security deposit back without a review or anything. They just wanted us to leave. And 30 days is not enough time to find a new place. So my mom was actually forced to stay with some family in Tijuana, she crossed back and she told me, you know mija, come back, you know, you know, so you don’t have to struggle. And I said, no, I need to finish my education. This was my third year at UCSD and I didn’t want to risk dropping out, falling behind on my classes and I wanted to finish. So between my third year and it took me five years to graduate because of that transitional situation. Um, I was everywhere. I was, I have my, I, you know, right before the campaign started actually sold my Nissan and that was the, a Nissan Sentra that I spent a lot of nights in.
Q: That your background’s really interesting. Tell us a little bit about what stages of your life you were homeless or had food insecurity and then how you kind of made it to the platform you’re at now.
A: Uh, so I lived in, uh, the South Bay my entire life. Born, raised, uh, graduated from Chula Vista High School — Go Spartans. Uh, so, um, and that was at the time, probably between 2003-2007 when we started hearing about the recession. I was fortunate enough to be accepted to UCSD. that was actually my first choice. I never wanted to leave San Diego, so I was very, that was one of my happiest days when I got the acceptance letter at UCSD. Um, but at that time my mom actually lost her job and were already facing food insecure, some type of food insecurity before I moved on campus to UCSD. Um, so I moved there after two years, I decided to move back and I was helping my mom use my financial aid to help pay rent, buy groceries, and then suddenly we were given a 30-day notice to leave. We were given no reason. We were even given our entire security deposit back with no questions. And that, for, you know, renters, that’s kind of rare. It’s for you to get your entire security deposit back without a review or anything. They just wanted us to leave. And 30 days is not enough time to find a new place. So my mom was actually forced to stay with some family in Tijuana, she crossed back and she told me, you know mija, come back, you know, you know, so you don’t have to struggle. And I said, no, I need to finish my education. This was my third year at UCSD and I didn’t want to risk dropping out, falling behind on my classes and I wanted to finish. So between my third year and it took me five years to graduate because of that transitional situation. Um, I was everywhere. I was, I have my, I, you know, right before the campaign started actually sold my Nissan and that was the, a Nissan Sentra that I spent a lot of nights in. I would sneak into friends’ houses, um, cause they were still living with their parents. I would go over to their window, spend the night and leave, you know, almost in the crack of morning before they found me. I rented a living room once. Um, and that kind of challenges and struggle. It’s, and to be honest, it’s something that I still had. It took me a while to actually articulate it. Um, I identify as Mexican American and those types of situations in our culture, it’s kind of like hush hush. You don’t talk about it, you don’t share it. And I just live with it and I feel like we need to push that narrative forward. And, my story is not unique. And as I’m doing the circuit, everyone’s, Oh, you know, uh, I’m so proud of you for saying this. You know, it takes a lot of bravery to open up. And I say, thank you. How are, for one of my stories, I know there’s 10 more. So that’s why I’m running. We need these voices out in the front. If we’re planning on making long term solutions for homelessness, my, we need to bring up stories like mine and remove the stigma, remove the taboo in these conversations. Um, and yeah, that’s, that’s a little bit about me. And I just want to add real quick, when I was a student, I didn’t know what CalFresh was. I didn’t know what EBT was. And at that time I feel like the County wasn’t doing a lot of community outreach. Um, and the schools in La Jolla, there’s already kind of this protective view that, Oh, La Jolla, they’re fine. If you got accepted to UCSD, you’re already a middle. The higher level income student, they’ll, they’re fine. No, there’s a lot of food insecurity and I still see it now at UCSD campuses and something that as a county worker, I want to give out to students. It’s, it’s okay that you’re, it’s not okay that you’re feeling insecurity, but it’s okay for you to come in and ask for help. Um, so that’s a little bit about my background there.
Q: And then the other thing is, as you said, you worked for the county, you’re a human services specialist. So I, over the last time a County employee served on the board of supervisors. I don’t know, can you do that?
A: You know, um, you know what, I actually, um, I talked to Nick Macchione, so, um, you know, cause I’m, I’m an SEIU 221 member as well, a proud member. And during these events I kind of ran into, uh, Nick Macchione and he was actually very excited. He was very like, I don’t think we’ve ever had a county employee run for this office. And I, and I sat down and I reflected and as that’s really interesting that an outside person can come in and you know, I’m all for transparency and I feel like everyone should have an opportunity, but I feel like my me running is something unique. I actually know how to manage the services that the County deals with. That experience in, in and out of itself is very rare and very useful. I know the County culture, I know the different departments. As a, as an SEIU 221 member, I already work with different employees from different departments. We see each other, we have the monthly meetings and I feel like that makes me a really good qualified candidate. And I understand that this is the first time I’m running for public office, but I’m challenging what viability means. We need to get out of what traditional viability means and bring in new perspectives and new voices. And I think I’d be a great candidate or a great county supervisor in this race because of these unique experiences that I call mandated through my life.
Q: How, given your experiences, how would you tap into, or would you not tap into the reserves that so many people make so much out of the $2 billion in reserve, some of that is kind of tied down, but how would you tap into that?
A: The total is 6 billion. Uh, but 4 billion is restricted funds, which means that the County can’t really, you know, use it for other services. They’re in contracts with the federal and state government. Right now. The estimation is $2 billion. It’s not 100% sure that it’s 2 billion because you know, the county kind of has a little bit of a history of not being fully transparent. So I’m getting those numbers from local nonprofit organizations like the Invest in San Diego, which they say that there is a $2 billion reserves that we can access as far as me using it, housing, that’s my number one issue. And I actually read the 10-year action plan that the city of San Diego release and that, uh, the organization that made that study provided five different strategies. You know, one strategy is investing in the County and making sure it’s streamlining the homelessness applications. Another one is build more transitional housing. There was different strategies that I was reading on, but the one that stuck out to me the most, the fifth strategy was let’s focus those all those 10 years on building low-income housing or medium-income housing. Let’s focus on the housing shortage that there is. Let’s just use all the funds for that. I’m all on board for that. Uh, you know, I actually do evaluations for um, homelessness assistance. I’ve done, I’ve written checks for people who, you know, just lost her home and we give them 16 nights at a hotel, motel or Airbnb through the CalWORKs program. And these are all, uh, Band-aid solutions. The fact is we can have all eligible people applying for the assistance with deposits, assistance with the first month’s rent or even Section 8 under the San Diego housing commission. They give vouchers to help pay for their first month rent. When they find a place, we can get all the eligible people available on it, but there’s no units. Once you have that voucher, it’s up to the person to find an actual place that will accept those vouchers. And there’s, there’s very few available. And then on top of that, the units that do accept it don’t want Section 8 people. They don’t want low income communities. I know that, uh, you know, the voice of San Diego released an article where most of the lawsuits are one city, uh, one lawyer is already filing like 50 of the section 8 discrimination lawsuits. That’s how pervasive it is in San Diego. Um, but we need more units. So that’s something that I know it might sound repetitive and I apologize, but I, you can’t fix a problem without a product being, uh, available to the community.
Q: But California Democrats have traditionally said that the way to answer this problem is by building subsidized housing units. There’s no evidence this works. In 2004 The Public Policy Institute of California put out a study that said this just as about process. It’s not about actually helping people because they put out so few that it amounts to a lottery. 2015, Jerry Brown said, we’re crazy if we think subsidized housing solves a problem when you’d have far, far, far, far, far more housing, yet Toni Atkins and other San Diego Democrats by and large, buy this idea that subsidized housing is the way to go. They’re going to double or triple or quadruple the amount of money to go. So instead of having one person, 1% benefit, we’ll have 4% benefits. So what do you say of the idea that California Democrats have completely blown this issue today with their approach?
A: I, first of all, I’ll say who’s, where that news source came from.
Q: The Public Policy Institute of California. Governor Jerry Brown.
A: Okay, well I’m not 100% well luckily he’s not the governor anymore, but I wasn’t a very big fan of Jerry Brown, especially his work on the, he did some social improvements back when he was first governor back in the ’80s. I read some policies about that, but um, but I’m just glad we have a new governor and new perspective. Uh, as far as the lottery issue goes, this is my personal experience with that. So I’ll just use an example. In Santa CGO, they built a low income housing, subsidized for 100 individuals or families. The application for that to get into those was 800 applicants. We have 800 people vying for those 100 spots. What does that tell? That means there’s a huge shortage. Of course it’s going to be a lottery system. What other way is there to kind of equally accommodate the sheer magnitude of the people that are applying for these low income housing. Um, and I feel that if you build it, it will put in a dent. There’s uh, too much neglect on addressing that. We need new units and not luxury, high income housing sprawl project. No high density near transit because guess what? Also the new senior citizens that are coming in, they want something easy to live in. So I would challenge that notion and we just need to build it.
Q: Democrats are dominant in the state and we have a horrible housing crisis. How are California Democrats not responsible?
A: Well, because I would say that the community hasn’t been put into, if you look at the general county plan that was in 2011, if you actually look at how they got community input, it was very few people…
Q: But this is focusing on process. We’re still focusing on process. That’s the big problem with affordable housing. Things we focus on process. Why don’t we focus on results? We need far more housing and affordable. subsidized housing hasn’t solved the problem in California, and yet why do we continue this approach?
A: Me as someone who’s low income, I, I hear that and I find it a little worrisome because maybe someone who’s already well established might believe that. But if someone who’s low income, someone who lives within communities that live paycheck to paycheck, I would argue against that. We need low income housing. And you know what? I’m on the board.
Q: You don’t need to look at houses. But the obvious thing is to follow what’s worked elsewhere. In Japan, they have dormitory style units where young adults happily don’t line sharing kitchens and bathrooms. In Japan and in great Britain, they have of an emphasis on prefab housing, which costs one fifth regular housing costs, which is much safer than it used to be. So when I hear a defense of the status quo in California, I lose my mind. It’s not working in California. And who is behind the status quo on housing? Democrats who say that affordable housing programs, that amount to lotteries are the answer. They’re not the answer. The answer is far more housing.
A: No, and that’s why I’m running. I’m, I’m on the same boat you are. We need new voices and new progressive ideas and I think that Supervisor Nathan Fletcher right now is doing a great job. He’s approving projects for more housing units, but he can’t do it alone. We need more, more input and especially more community. What that I again, I feel that the South Bay hasn’t been very much invited into these processes. Uh, we definitely need that because like I said, homelessness is pervasive and access to low income, affordable housing, affordable housing, which by the way, by the federal definition is only 30% of your income is used for your shelter at your rent. That’s not the reality that’s going on in San Diego. So I totally, I completely agree with that and that’s why I’m running for this seat.
Q: I have to step out, You’re doing great. Keep at it.
A: Thank you.
Q: Uh, homelessness, obviously you have experience with that. What, what, what solutions do you have, uh, for what the County should be doing to make that easier for folks?
A: I, uh, so Supervisor Greg Cox done a lot of work, especially in foster care. Um, I respect that he did a lot of great work, but one of the things that I would challenge him on is community outreach. I as an SEIU 221 member. Um, sometimes I attend the forums that Supervisor Nathan Fletcher does and big hubs in the district that he’s, he’s in. Uh, we don’t see that in the South Bay at all. If you look at nonprofit organizations, they have their own town hall meetings, they have their own informative sessions and I know that they advised the county and I’ve been to a few of those and I don’t see any county representatives or county departments the same way that they go to Nathan Fletcher’s forums. Um, we desperately need that. And I know that Supervisor Greg Cox does sometimes, but it’s usually always held in Bonita. I think he hails from Bonita, he just loves that area. But we need someone in San Ysidro. We need someone in Imperial Beach. We need someone in Barrio Logan. These historically ignore areas. And that’s something that I actually pride myself in having a lot of experience even with county services. Um, right now I’m stationed in, uh, Lemon Grove and I volunteer a lot of the outreach communities that they’re, so for example, I’ve done, uh, health info sessions at Bancroft Elementary. I’ve done those. I’ve done health fairs at campuses at SDSU and UCSD, um, it’s, it does wonders, just by the fact that you’re there? I’m not even a county supervisor and just by the fact that a county workers is there advocating for services trying to remove the stigma improving enrollment rates, which is abysmal right now in the, in San Diego, in California. Um, it makes a world of a difference. Now imagine a County supervisor actually going down, doing the groundwork, doing the trench work that will just revolutionize everything. Uh, we need to remove that hands off approach and do a hands on approach. Um, and so, and I think that includes not just housing. I know the focus is housing, but especially transit. Um, I’m a advocate of public transportation. When I was going to UCSD, I would take two buses, the blue line transfer off at old town, take the one 50 express, go up to La Jolla. That in itself is two hours. Then you have to go back. I literally plan my classes around the bus and trolley schedule as a student at UCSD. The South Bay has one of the highest ridership’s of MTS and yet we don’t have the District One county supervisor on the board of SANDAG. So, uh, I, you know, traditionally one of those County supervisors seats is safe for one of the larger districts, which is why a Jim Desmond’s on there, I guess supervisor Kristin Gaspar really loves public transportation. Maybe that’s why she’s there, but I’m actually buying when I become a County supervisor to be one of those on the board we need, I’m a huge proponent of if you’re making policy for public transportation, at least tell me you’ve taken public transportation before. If you’re making policies on how to best serve CalFresh or Medical or all these servers tell me that if you had at least applied and gone through the interview process because a lot of people apply and then they don’t follow through with the interview process that’s already challenging in and out of itself. Um, so that’s something that I would definitely bring up to the table and I think it would facilitate a lot of, uh, communications policies and everything’s open when policies are made it’s during the board meetings. So it’s something that I would definitely bring up and invite community members. Um, and then one last thing is I just want to add, I would push for evening hearings. Um, every time I’ve gone to, you know, the board meetings, which are usually between 10 and 3. Most people work during that time. Most people go to school during that time and I think it’s too much to ask for public input during peak work hours or student hours. Um, a great example was the evening budget hearing that happened earlier this year in June. Uh, they had two, they had one in, in the, at noon the day before. And then the following from I think 6 p.m. To whenever they had the last person speak. The participation in the evening budget hearing way far past the ones that happened during, in the middle of the day. We, we, it’s the county we need to serve the community. We have, uh, we have to serve, uh, when they’re most convenient, when they’re most available. Um, so we need that type of, uh, to advocate for those types of services and those times.
Q: So you spoke of the EBT and the CalFresh program, I assume, maybe you’ve been through these programs…
A: You know what, it’s, well, first off I do the evaluations for it. Um, but we’ve done it through Medical. Um, I actually help some families apply for CalFresh, um, with, and just going back to what I said earlier, I didn’t know about the CalFresh program when I was eligible for it. I didn’t hear about CalFresh until I started applying for the county. Um, but once I became a, a county employee and they found out what I did, Oh, how do you, how do you do it? Like, what do I need to turn in? What’s the renewal process, et cetera. I’ve helped family members kind of tell them, not coach them, but tell them how to do it, how to be on top of it, how to ask the right questions. Um, and you know, community members want these services. They just don’t know how, aside from the stigma of what social services is to begin with, they don’t know how to start the application process.
Q: Well, that, that is my question therein lies my question. The county has almost been proud of its low numbers of CalFresh subscribers. Uh, like I’ve actually heard people say, look how, look how we’ve lowered the number of people that are now getting CalFresh as if giving away fewer of your CalFresh dollars is a positive. So what would you do to fix this process? Which, I mean, why does a family need someone like you to help them? It should be a much easier process.
A: Yeah, I totally agree. Um, I think right now, uh, yeah, that, that statistic really hurt me when I, and this was years ago before the new board of super, right before Jim Desmond and, uh, Nathan Fletcher joined, I remember hearing about that. And that’s not a good statistic. And what most people don’t know is even if you are working, you’re eligible to CalFresh. It’s income-based. You’re, if you’re under a certain income threshold, even if you’re working, even if you’re getting Social Security, even if you’re getting SSI or some other type of fixed income, you’re most likely going to be eligible for CalFresh. Uh, health fairs are a great way. I see that the county is starting to participate in local events. Um, I know that, that, that’s a great way to start. They’ve been targeting, uh, schools like elementary schools and just going back, we need, and to tell you the truth, the team that does the outreach program for the county, it’s a really small team and they’re expected to go throughout the entire county to advocate for this services. They need more expansive, more specific funding. And I think it’s very powerful to hear a leader say, I’ve, I know I’ve applied for these services. I, you know, my immediate family has applied for these services. I think that’s really powerful in and out of itself. Representation matters. Um, and we need to get people out of that fear. And, and you know, I’m just gonna mention something else that really impacted me was, uh, with the new, it’s not even solidified yet, but those new threats that if you are on social services, it can affect your immigration status. That was a route. And that was earlier this year. That was a period where was almost very traumatic to me because I’ve lived working at these centers, live wall centers. I’ve literally had people come in who are legal permanent residents asking for their services to cut, be cut off. And most of the time these legal permanent residents, they’re getting these services for their children, their U.S.-born children. And I say, you know, speak to an attorney, a law attorney, a immigration attorney. I don’t think this is a, and she’s like, no, we don’t want to risk it. There’s already that fear factor in itself within the immigrant community that’s receiving social services. We’ll remove your citizenship. And I saw people by the dozens coming in asking for their services to be closed. So just going back, if you’re proud that your citizens aren’t receiving social services, I challenge you to look at the reason why. I know enrollment rates dropped when the federal government announced that it can affect your citizenship. I challenge you to look more into detailed why your enrollment rates decreased. Um, and I have that perspective that I can definitely provide as a county supervisor. I would definitely push back challenge that notion, challenge these traditional traditionalist ways of viewing social services. And the fact is this money is from the state. If it’s not used, it’s just going to sit there. We need to use those funds. And that in itself can create more county jobs. Cause I know that there’s a shortage of county workers right now going on, especially in the health and human services agency.
Q: I get the fact that, uh, you say that having a perspective of coming from poverty would be powerful and effective and helpful for a supervisor, but what specific things would you do differently on homelessness or on some of these other big issues that are informed by this background? Cause it’s one thing to say, I have this background and gives me insight, but what would you do differently as a result?
A: That’s why I’m so excited about this race. We have three new county supervisors potentially coming in and that’ll change the face of the county. What the board actually looks like. I’m actually very proud to be part of this specific race in the South Bay. Uh, I’m one of four. Uh, I feel very qualified candidates. All four of us identify as LatinX. So, uh, whatever the results are from the March primary, I think we’re definitely winning in the South Bay. If one of the four of us gets, uh, uh, uh, goes up to the runoff and then gets elected in November. Um, so I’m, I’m very proud of that. What I would do different is, uh, again I feel like there’s this notion that our, this viewpoint where the County supervisors kind of do a lot of backdoor dealings and like, you know, some mysterious rogue handshaking in the back. Uh, when policies are made, it’s actually during their monthly or bimonthly board meetings, all they have their, what they want to propose and put it out and then it’s put to a vote. I’m only one of five. So I would definitely always try to put something that will not just benefit the South Bay but benefit other districts as well. Um, we need to get this mentality that even though I want to bring the South Bay up to the table, I just want to say that I’m, I’m concerned about all San Diego County, all my online positions, all, all my policymaking is for what I feel is for the greater betterment of the county. Um, and I think something that I would also do different is bring, because I am just one leader, I cannot ignore all the hard work that other organizations have put in before me. There’s so many organizations that were so hard to support a new voice on the County supervisor, which is Nathan Fletcher. I can’t ignore them. They are the backbone of community involvement. I would definitely pull them up, make sure they’re involved, make sure their voices are heard, um, and that they have an ally. So, uh, especially with my union [inaudible] uh, I really important that they know that they have someone who has their back.
Q: I don’t mean to be mean, but I asked you any specific thing that you would do differently and I continue to ask that because this, this is not to say these things are not offering specifics. You’re running for county supervisor report a powerful job. What specifically would you do different than the current one is doing?
A: I would, I mean he’s, I look, I think supervisor Greg Cox is doing a really good job. Maybe I’m confused about your question.
Q: What specifically would you do different on homelessness? You say all the time and you’ve got a good point that you’ve got a great background to give you a different kind of perspective on things. But it’s one thing to say to that it’s nothing just to offer actually specifics about what you do differently. What would you do differently on homelessness?
A: I would, I mean, I feel like the topic, I mean, sorry, not the topic, but the policies just keeps continuously changing. I can say one thing and I’ll just, I mean I’ll, I’ll say it now. Invest county services into building low income housing. I, and you know, I know there’s other policies, maximizing bonds, uh, implementing increasing property taxes. I feel like that’s going to be a challenge because there’s already so many bond and tax increase measures on the November ballot. It’s going to be hard to convince the community to vote for another one. Um, I don’t think we should expand on bonds. That’s the common argument right now. Um, I don’t want to do that if we just became, we just recently became homeowners within two years ago and our assessor, our tax from the assessor’s office has like four different bond measures on it. I don’t think people would like to see additional more on that. So I would just advocate for more federal and state funding. The County supervisors go to Sacramento at least once a year to advocate for services. I would be on on the forefront. So right now I, like I said, I feel like this is a topic that I can say, I want to say this today, two weeks from now the county supervisors are going to be voting on something new. The city of San Diego is going to be implementing something new and then I’d have to revolutionize what I have to think of towards policy making. Um, I respect supervisor Greg Cox, he’s been doing this for a really, really long time. I think he’s doing a good job. There’s certain aspects where I wouldn’t, I don’t agree with, he’s very pro sprawl development. I’m not, I’m more towards high density. Um, and I mean I, that’s all I can say about that right now.
Q: Yeah. Let me ask about some specific, uh, ideas and concepts. Conservatorship. Do you think that that’s a good idea to, are you familiar with that? A conservatorship is where someone like the county for example, would come in and take a high risk individuals off the street. These are people who have had 5150 holds, which is means that they’re maybe not, uh, mentally competent and can’t take care of themselves. There’s a big debate about whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing. Where do you come down on the county involvement in there?
A: Um, I feel as long as it’s not forced, I don’t want encroach on people’s right to, you know, make their own choices. A lot of the times the reason why people are on the street is because they don’t want to be at the shelters or trans transitional housing. There’s not a lot of oversight. And I’m speaking just from my experience here in downtown. Um, there’s, I know and I’ve seen it because I’ve, when they come in and apply for the services, they’d rather sleep out on the street, then go to the shelter. I’ve seen situations where domestic abuse survivors would rather go back to their abuser’s homes, then visit one of the shelters in downtown. Um, and I think we need to expand on that. I know, uh, just recently, a couple of days ago, they’re just, uh, approving more hubs, uh, for transitional for 5150 members. Um, I was a huge impact of the Tri-City Oceanside facility was closed down and I know they’re trying to get funds to open it up again, but we need more of those. I’m a huge advocate for that, but I’m not an advocate of forcing these people to go to these centers. I don’t want to encroach on anyone’s constitutional rights. These are public spaces that if they want to stay in, we can encourage them politely. But just by the fact is that we need more of these transitional hubs for mental health for 5150s. And also I want to say train our, well this county supervisors can only manage the county sheriffs, make sure that they have proper training, make sure they have access to mental health, uh, accessibility as well. Uh, because it’s, it’s second hand trauma is something that’s very, very real. Um, and we want to make sure that the people enforcing these policies are well fit for that.
Q: And then the SOS ballot measure?
A: I’m against that. I’m against that. And you know why I’m against that because when it comes to, and I, as I said, I’m a lifetime a lifetime resident of the South Bay. I remember when the furthest street of Chula Vista the, was a Oleander and it was all hills. Um, and then the idea of housing opened up at the time and everything was streamlined for the sprawl construction. Everything was easy, it was voted on bing bang, boom. And they built all what is now Eastlake, Otay. The moment the conversation shifts towards high density, low income, all these words, all this language I should say, then that’s when, Oh, you know what? The County supervisors shouldn’t be handling these, uh, these development projects, let’s put it back on to the hands of the voters, which traditionally makes the process longer. Um, we’re, we’re on the cusp of getting a new new faces on the county supervisors. The way they were able to streamline those sprawl projects they can streamline high density housing projects. And I think it’s a little bit of the pushback of the language that we’re using. Uh, so they want to put it back on the voters hands and I can see the argument at the end of the day, what, however it gets voted on as a county supervisor, I would definitely work with that. Um, cause I do see why they want to put it back on the ballot and the citizens hands. But I just, I feel like it’s not, it’s not equitable. This communities, the individuals, the families that need these high density housing desperately now they have to wait until the public gets a vote on it. So that’s why I’m voting. I would say no on SOS, but whatever is decided, I would definitely work with it.
Q: What do you think the job of the sheriff has done?
A: Well, I mean, uh, well, you know, he’s done. He’s done good. Um, you know, to be honest, the county sheriffs, I’m speaking as a county, as a county employee. This is the county employee hat on. Uh, Sheriff’s kind of always had, we’re always been a little bit jealous of the county. Uh, the sheriff department, they get a lot of funding. If they want expansions on buildings, they get it. Um, I think they’re doing a good job. Um, they definitely didn’t make me personally, I would definitely oversight, make sure they have bias training, deescalation training, mental health training. Um, and the reason why I was hesitant to answer is because I just found out a little while ago that they’re probably gonna get an increase of salaries. And I’m like, Oh no, I, I don’t, I mean, I can see why, but at the same time, county employees have been asking for a comprehensive study on how we are with other counties of the same size and we’re not getting paid as much. So I think it’s not fair that the focus is on the share these elected offices where the county supervisors don’t want to look at their own bulk of employees and look at how much they should be earning based on other counties. Um, so that’s why, that’s why I had that hesitant to …
Q: Would you oppose those raises?
A: I would shelf them because this is actually one of the reasons why I ran for county supervisor. I, during the 2017 contract negotiations, Uh, I remember union members coming into the office I was working at and doing like a strike school, preparing the strike school, preparing you to strike because we were not getting the, we wanted higher increments of raises. Um, and when the county supervisors at the time didn’t want to meet with us, they were preparing us to strike. And I remember sitting in the office saying, okay, so probably two days, that’s two days of salary. I would to be giving up. What bill can I kind of push? Maybe I can lower my groceries this month. I was literally thinking of all of that. But then I’m like, wait, the county supervisors, if they’re treating their employees this way, how are we expecting them to treat the community? It’s their own employees and they don’t even want to do a comprehensive study for that. So, um, so that’s actually one of the reasons I was looking to make a bigger difference. And I would definitely invite them to the table. County supervisors can meet with union members, they can meet with other organizations. This last, last contract negotiation I feel was a really difficult one. And uh, I would definitely be open to meeting with county employees. We need to get that
Q: The state auditor just released a report that said 18 of the 20 largest cities in California and more than half overall face high or medium fiscal risk because of their compensation policies. So what about the other side? What about the taxpayers who look at the situation and say government employees, they get pensions. Why should they get big salaries? If they’re getting pensions, we don’t get pensions.
A: I would challenge that because as a, as a newer county employee, our pension is not as good as the very first wave. [inaudible]
Q: It’s five times as good as social security. You don’t have social security where you get 80% of your pay.
A: Yeah. Well, if you want, if you want quality county employees, quality government employees, you need to improve their retention rate. Right now, I barely escaped that Tier D pension plan, I’m on the one right before it. Um, but it’s, it’s abysmal compared to the other tier rates and I’ve already seen multiple times, uh, newly hired county employees come in, they do their two, three years so they can get that health and human services experience and then they move on to the state or they move out of state and get hired elsewhere. There is a shortage, we are overworked and coming looking from the outside, if you go into that, uh, any of the Louisville centers, if you feel like it’s, it’s, I know sometimes government employees get a bad rep kind of like the DMV that we don’t care. It’s not that we don’t care. We’re burnt out. I valuate up to six families a day in my eight hour shift and I hear it all. I’ve hear that they’re about to be evicted. I hear they don’t have anything to eat before the end of the day. I hear that they just got separated and they don’t know where they’re going to sleep. I hear that, uh, they just lost their job and they don’t know what to do. Hearing those stories, six times a day for four out of the five days of my work week, it’s set, I can’t stress enough. Second hand trauma is real. We need to make sure that these county employees want to stay and work because if and retirement is, is, you know, the retiring population is increasing and I see it all the time that all these talented experienced County workers, they’re moving on retirement and there’s…
Q: But the premise of my question is cities can’t afford compensation policies and you’re calling for more generous compensation. So are you for tax hikes? I mean they’re, they’re, they’re related. You can’t have a much more generous compensation structure without having much more revenue. So where’s it coming from?
A: It’s going to come. You know what? I would be open to, I know I don’t want to bring taxes up again, but it’s something that I would definitely look at. I just, I’m worried about bonds as someone as a Chula Vista resident. Bonds is always bringing up on the ballot. We’re always paying into these bond measures. If the tax is as an easier short term solution, I would definitely buy it for that. Cause you know, I mean Sweetwater, if you look at the Sweetwater union high school district, they’re uh, they’re short on on funds and they depended on bonds. So I’m hesitant towards bonds. I feel I’m not the only one who has that opinion. I would definitely vie for short term taxes for revenue versus bonds.
Q: How, um, last question from me, I’m wondering about, uh, economic development and jobs. Thoughts on what, what, what you talked about, you know, the economy of the South Bay in particular. How could they improve?
A: Um, I think it’s, well that’s the, a little bit of the challenges. There’s a lot of municipalities within the South Bay and the county can only influence unincorporated areas. But I know that a lot of the leaders there would love to be a part of, um, you know, looking at ways to improve small businesses. I know the county just started a program to improve small businesses. That’s one way to keep the money locally. I would definitely look into that. Um, but I feel like I, you know, as a Chula Vista resident and I remember seeing Third Avenue as this really depressing street where Fuddruckers was probably the only nicest thing on that, on that Avenue. But may or may, Mary Salas has done a wonderful job of revitalizing it. Imperial beach is revitalizing their, uh, their areas for tourism. And I know they have the Bayfront project. Uh, we can definitely learn from those local leaders. I would definitely reach out to them, talk to them, have an open rapport with them and see how we can expand that in the unincorporated areas and East Otay, there’s a lot of open land, a lot of development projects for businesses. We need to make sure that when it’s opened up for that to make sure that needs are addressed before you know, for those projects.
Q: Thanks. Uh, any other questions? What did you study at UCSD?
A: I, so going back to my story, so I actually, uh, studied history, uh, and emphasis on social political movements across the United States. I minored in education. I actually was planning on being a teacher. Uh, I actually got accepted to uh, the SDSU credential program. Um, but at that time, again, that was my third year being homeless with no funds and when I got accepted to the program at SDSU, it’s a full time, uh, credential program. There’s really no wiggle room for a second job or there’s really few flexibility. It’s a very tight program and I looked at it and I was thinking, do I want to struggle for another two years or do I want a steady flow of income? And at that time I have put in multiple applications in different jobs. The one that answered me back was as a county, as an office assistant. That’s how I started at the county as an office assistant. So when you go to any of these county offices, the people who take in the paperwork, who answer like some general questions and I chose a steady income. I chose income because I was very exhausted from moving place to place. I was exhausted. I’m stretching out $10 for a week. That was probably one of my highlights that I was able to stretch $10 in a week. I was very exhausted. So I chose to work in the county then to continue my education at SDSU, and I have a student debt. I didn’t want to make that student debt bigger. I felt like it was time to use my talents in the now at that time, which was social services. And I feel like that’s why I have a really good way of articulating the knowledge that the county has. I studied pedagogy through the UCSD department of education. They’d have a great program that there. I did student teaching at a Silver Strand Elementary School, Chula Vista High School. My alma mater. I did Lincoln High School. So every choice that I made was for the betterment of my community. And the reason why there’s probably no, uh, official track record of what I’ve done is because all these choices I made wasn’t because I was running, I was planning on running for office. If you were to ask me five years ago, Oh, you know, are you planning on running for office? I’m, no, no, never, but things change and life events change and local events change. And I think that, I think that now we need more voices like me and I, I mean, I’ll say it, I was very inspired by these new freshman congresswoman that got elected in 2018. Uh, I definitely identified myself with AOC, Ayanna Presley. Um, if they can do it, I can too. Um, and that’s why I’m running and just me running already elevates certain voices that haven’t been heard before. So.
Q: I’m wondering about, um, you know, improving human services. Is there a way to improve it outside of sitting, you know, on the board as a County supervisor?
A: Well, the only job, uh, so the county supervisors have the, uh, they could be in a position to hire someone new. Uh, I mean, Helen Meyers has done, has done a lot of work for the County. Uh, but that position can, can someone new can be brought in. We, I don’t know. I mean, this is a very great hypothetical question that if that all department heads in the County should definitely be, I, I’m always, I’m always an optimist. They should be happy that a new face of the county, cause that means that they can expand their jobs and stretch it out and it’s a top to bottom approach. Um, but me being on the bottom, I want to bring the bottom up. So, yeah. I mean that’s a possibility. The county supervisors can’t, uh, appoint department heads except Helen’s position. That’s the only one that they can vote on. Uh, but yeah, I think there’ll be a definitely a rallying cry, uh, November. It’s going to be, it’s exciting. I’m personally excited. Um, and I know other people are excited too. This is a great race. I’m very proud to be part of this race. Um, and whatever happens, I think the South Bay is going to get a great leader, uh, that will be vying for their, their best interests. Yeah.
Q: Thanks again for coming in and give us your 30-second close. Thank you.
A: Um, I just want to say thank you for inviting me. Uh, this has been an eye-opening experience. Um, and this is, I mean, look, I’m speechless. I’m just like how amazing this experience is. I just want to thank all of you, the San Diego Union-Tribune for inviting me, uh, this newbie coming in, bringing in her radical ideas. Um, but I think this is what we need. We need a shakeup. Uh, the, this is the most important locally, this is one of the most important races in the South Bay. We haven’t had a chance to elect someone new for over 20 years. I actually remember, uh, the news when I was in elementary school, that supervisor Greg Cox, won the county supervisor sees little that I know that I’d be seeing him like throughout my entire life. But this is an exciting race. We need new voices. We desperately need the voices. And I’m currently the only millennial running and we’re used to getting underestimated, but we need to change that narrative. Uh, we need these types of ideas, these types of new ways of thinking, pulling in the community with us. Um, and I feel like this is going to be one of the highest, uh, out, uh, voter outcomes in the primary. Primaries, usually people don’t vote, but this is an exciting time. So, um, yeah, I hope this is a good interview. I hope people like what I’m saying, kind of resonate what I’m saying. Uh, I’ll be around. You’ll definitely see me around. Um, I’m waiting for the San Diego democratic party to hold a debate. I’m really excited for that one, and I think this definitely helped me out for the debate. So, um, but thank you so much. And yeah, I, I love being here. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you.
