Written by Steve Stenberg
Former Business owner in Chula Vista and retired Firefighter/ Military Vet.
Our current council is becoming a poop show for anyone thinking of moving or relocating a business to Chula Vista. The now 4-1 “Non Partisan” Dem council and our one “ Non Partisan” Rep Mayor, will most likely not see eye to eye on anything for the next 3.9 years. All candidates state they will work in a Non Partisan role, but these four must have missed that “non partisan” paragraph.
Amar said it best back in the October CV Library Mayor forum (# 8 forum out of 9), that when the counsel is made up of four Democrats and a Republican Mayor, that the mayor will never get anything he asks for unless all 4 Dem Counsel agree. How he knew I was going to lose in Dist 2 by a mere 131 votes back in Oct is beyond me.
The counsel has also alluded back in 2022 that they have the power to change the charter and allow temporary under 2 year positions to run as incumbents in the following elections. We will see if they try to do this. “ For the good of the city”.
The former city counsel under Mayor Salas in Nov, voted 4-1 to allow $1.45 million in federal COVID 19 funds, that were to be used for individuals and businesses affected by COVID since 2020, to be allocated to building a new business in a vacant YMCA Administration building that had been vacant for the last 5 years, since 2018. That and they also allocated $700,000 from the Eucalyptus Tree Park rebuild fund to go to this building as well. That comes to $2.2 million.
No one except then Rep counselman McCann burped at the idea of taking Federal Grant money and using it to start a new Art Museum that hadn’t been a business since the YMCA vacated the building in 2018. “Before COVID”. And a second dedicated Salas project as she already has an Elementary school named after her.
The out going Attorney Glen Goggins is just waiting for his contract to end the end of Feb. He has been hired by a city up near San Jose and starts March 3. No legal recourse on any hiring Mis practice will take place most likely. It’s ok to lie on your political application in CV as long as your not caught before being hired.
The City Clerk said the counsel could move the City Attorney race up to May 2023 if they did so by Feb 5. They just have to find one breathing attorney this time to run against 2nd place, Dan Smith, a Rep. This isnt about saving CV the money. The Democratic Party, Mayor Mary Salas, Counsel Persons Paddila and Cardenas, the city attorney, all backed the deceased candidate Silva for Attorney BECAUSE he had a D after his title and not an R.
Silva was portrayed as a man of honor and integrity. A former Marine and Deputy Sheriff. To bad his campaign, the mayor, and his supporters didn’t have the same integrity and honor as they campaigned “Silva is our choice” even as he had been dead for 30-60 days. Collecting campaign donations and putting out yard signs.
They all knew this would cause a $2 mil race in 2023. But it wasn’t their money, so who cares right? They didn’t want an Attorney with an R. So much for CV Non Partisan races.
CV will instead hire an Interm Legal Company at $$$$ amount of dollars out of the general fund, to act in that position until the Nov election planned for now at $2 mil.
The Dist 3 election and city attorney elections could have been held together in May for the same cost, $2 mill for both combined. But the Dem Party hasn’t found an alive attorney yet. It is too late to nominate one from Glen Abby.
And as for the city counsel, they couldn’t wait to nominate another Dem with a shady past. What, there aren’t any Democrats or Republican runners with clean records in Dist 3? The Dem Counsel didn’t want to take a chance that Dist 3 might elect a Republican “ Non Partisan” canidate.
I pray Gonzales does a better job with our cities $530 million budget than he has done with his own finances.
Sincerely,
Steve Stenberg
Former Business owner in Chula Vista and retired Firefighter/ Military Vet.
Photo Cred: Third Avenue Village Association/ ABC 10
