{"id":10341,"date":"2023-12-04T10:58:59","date_gmt":"2023-12-04T17:58:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?p=10341"},"modified":"2023-12-04T10:58:59","modified_gmt":"2023-12-04T17:58:59","slug":"chula-vista-crisis-press-release-an-open-letter-to-the-mayor-and-city-council-of-chula-vista","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?p=10341","title":{"rendered":"CHULA VISTA CRISIS PRESS RELEASE: AN OPEN LETTER TO THE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL OF CHULA VISTA"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Russ Hall<\/p>\n

Chula Vista – On November 7, 2023\u00a0a press conference was held on the steps of City Hall in order to\u00a0address the crisis of confidence created by the recent criminal indictments of Councilmember Andrea Cardenas and the potential legal jeopardy the City may face if Member Cardendas\u00a0continues to hold her District Four council seat.<\/p>\n

The press conference was lead\u00a0by longtime Chula Vista community and civic affairs community activist0 members Russ Hall, Jesse Navarro\u00a0and John Acosta.\u00a0 The following points are a review of the main points of the discussion with local San Diego media members and the public in general that attended:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The voters and taxpayers of Chula Vista demand the immediate resignation of Member Cardenas.\u00a0 The charges coming from the District Attorney are serious felonies that not only cause unnecessary and\u00a0unwanted distraction from doing the business of the people of Chula Vista, most importantly the TRUST that our leaders must maintain\u00a0at all times\u00a0has now been broken.\u00a0 This current crisis has a negative effect on the entire City Council.\u00a0 As long as\u00a0 Member\u00a0Cardenas remains\u00a0on the Council, clouds of doubt will follow every Council action from this point forward.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The opportunity to serve one\u2019s community is a privilege not a right.\u00a0 Member Cardenas can not\u00a0effectively serve District Four and the City until the clouds of doubt and wrong doing\u00a0are adjudicated.\u00a0 By stepping aside Member Cardenas will provide\u00a0great relief to this City.\u00a0 If Member Cardenas is cleared of the alleged crimes she can always run again for office.<\/li>\n
  2. The City Attorney must be directed to conduct a thorough investigation and review of all votes and actions that Member Cardenas has taken to determine\u00a0if there are any other legal jeopardies that the City may face due to any and all\u00a0conflicts of interest or any other legal issues associated with the criminal allegations\u00a0 surrounding this crisis.\u00a0 The City Attorney shall conduct this investigation with complete public transparency to the greatest extent possible in a report back to the Council within the next 30 days.\u00a0The potential for other legal jeopardy and exposure to the City because of this crisis can not\u00a0be understated and needs to be thoroughly examined and investgigated.<\/li>\n
  3. We call on the0 Mayor, City Council and City Attorney candidates Meisfeld and Verdugo to adopt and support the creation of\u00a0a PUBLIC INTEGRITY UNIT to be established\u00a0in the office of the City Attorney no later than December 31,2024.\u00a0 There have been far too many violations of public trust by individuals in City office and running for office ranging from overt Brown Act violations,\u00a0 campaign\u00a0finance issues, residency issues just to name a few.\u00a0 The PIU will have complete investigative authority and all necessary legal tools of investigation and enforcement.<\/li>\n
  4. The Mayor and City Council must make as a top issue\u00a0 the priority to form\u00a0a seven member\u00a0citizen committee tasked with the complete overhaul of all city codes and ordinances related to city campaigns and candidates.\u00a0 The entire system of law and regulation is outdated, ambiguous, and lacks any viable\u00a0means of enforcement.\u00a0 In essence, the\u00a0codes and ordinances are based on an honor system that no longer is followed by the current generation of those seeking public office.\u00a0 This citizens\u00a0committee should not be back loaded\u00a0with those who have political ties to the Council.<\/li>\n
  5. We call on current City Attorney staff and City staff in general that may know of other details of wrong doing\u00a0or intentional lack of enforcement concerning Member Cardenas or any other Council member\u00a0 by\u00a0the previous\u00a0City Attorney, Glen Googins, to come forward.\u00a0 We call on the District Attorney to privately meet with all City Attorney staff\u00a0to allow them the opportunity to reveal what they may know as\u00a0wrong doing\u00a0with the appropriate whistleblower\u00a0protections.<\/li>\n
  6. \u00a0If\u00a0Member Cardenas refuses to resign we ask in the strongest terms possible that the Mayor and Council immediately\u00a0move to censure Cardenas and remove her from all committees and assignments that represent\u00a0the people and Council of Chula Vista.\u00a0 This city can ill afford to have a compromised representative.\u00a0 The ramifications and effects by\u00a0the continuation of Member Cardenas sends a very negative\u00a0signal to the region and any prospective business attraction efforts that are crucial for future economic viability of Chula Vista.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Image Credit: Canva<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    By Russ Hall Chula Vista – On November 7, 2023\u00a0a press conference was held on the steps of City Hall in order to\u00a0address the crisis of confidence created by the recent criminal indictments of Councilmember Andrea Cardenas and the potential legal jeopardy the City may face if Member Cardendas\u00a0continues to hold her District Four council…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":10311,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press-releases"],"yoast_head":"\nCHULA VISTA CRISIS PRESS RELEASE: AN OPEN LETTER TO THE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL OF CHULA VISTA - San Diego News Desk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?p=10341\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"CHULA VISTA CRISIS PRESS RELEASE: AN OPEN LETTER TO THE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL OF CHULA VISTA - 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