VISTA — Several candidates are contending for open seats on the Vista City Council, Vista Unified School District Board and Tri-City Healthcare District board in the upcoming November presidential election, and many got the chance to share their views at a community forum last week.
On Nov. 5, voters will be asked to elect two City Council members and three school board trustees, as well as four members to the Tri-City Medical Center Board. The filing period for all three races is Aug. 9 and may be extended to Aug. 14 in races where an incumbent does not file.
Marine veteran and activist Anthony White, business owner Jeff Fox, and Jess Jebrail are running for the City Council District 2 seat currently held by Joe Green, who is not seeking re-election. Business owner Denisse Barragan is running for the District 3 seat against incumbent Katie Melendez.
In Vista Unified, seven candidates are throwing their hat in the ring for three open trustee seats.
Parent and PTA leader Amanda Remmen and parent Michael Markov are running for the Area 1 seat currently held by Rosemary Smithfield, who is not seeking re-election; parent and community advocate Zulema Gomez and Frank Nuñez are challenging incumbent Cipriano Vargas for his Area 3 seat, and retired teacher Susan Martin and business owner Anthony “TJ” Crossman are running for Julie Kelly’s Area 5 seat (Kelly did not respond to an inquiry about whether she plans to seek re-election).
The seats for zones 1, 3, 5 and 7 on the Tri-City board are up for election this year. Allen Newsome has filed to run for Adela Irma Sanchez’s Zone 1 seat; Aaron Byzak has filed to run for Marvin Mizell’s Zone 5 seat; and Zone 3 incumbent Gigi Gleason is seeking re-election to her seat.
Community members heard from nearly a dozen new candidates in all three races during a forum hosted by the Latino American Political Association of San Diego on July 31.
City Council
At the forum on July 31, City Council candidates Barragan, Fox, and White discussed issues such as road safety, affordable housing, and public transportation.
Melendez was absent, stating in an email that she did not want to be at a forum hosted by the Latino American Political Association due to their support of Donald Trump on social media. Jebrall had not yet filed as a candidate.
Housing was a major topic of discussion. When asked what percentage of Vista’s housing should be subsidized for low-income families, White said there needs to be an overall increase in accessible and affordable housing to prevent people from being forced to leave the city.
“When we talk about what drives the cost of housing, it’s availability,” said White. “Promoting affordable, accessible housing in all ways is something I would promote.”
White also said it is important to ensure that the city can preserve its character and charm when new housing is built. He believes current rent control regulations on the state level are sufficient to protect renters from extortionary practices.
Barragan said she is opposed to adding more subsidized housing in the city and wants to see a focus on increasing homeownership opportunities, especially with the construction of single-family homes.
“I really believe that most families don’t want to live in 25-story buildings, in apartment units. I do believe families want ownership, so I do support projects that will bring those to our city,” she said.
Barragan also stated that she does not support the idea of a rent control ordinance, noting that many landlords invest their life savings in a home and should not be limited by rent control.
Fox, a business owner and marketing professional, believes rent control would lead to decreased housing construction in Vista. He also said there needs to be more housing options for the “missing middle” who cannot afford luxury housing or do not qualify for subsidized housing.
While Barragan advocated for homeownership opportunities, Fox emphasized that the majority of residents are in need of rentals.
“We need to promote rental opportunities where we can,” he said. “Not everybody’s going to be able to afford to buy a home.”
VUSD board
Six of the seven candidates for the Vista Unified school board, with the exception of incumbent Vargas, attended the July 31 forum and answered questions about school resource officers, academics, school choice, the LGBTQ+ community and critical race theory.
When asked about whether the district should fully fund school resource officers (SROs), candidates had varied reactions, with the majority being in support. The district defunded SROs in 2019 but resumed their funding in 2022 using COVID-19 funds.
Most candidates emphasized that SROs are crucial for keeping campuses safe and in order.
“If we don’t have someone there who can keep kids safe, deter people from bringing weapons and whatnot to school, we’re just gonna have insanity, we’re just gonna have absolute chaos,” said Crossman.
Gomez and Remmen said they would like to see parents and community members more involved in the discussion about SROs.
“My specific talent is in bringing the community together to come up with solutions together,” Gomez said.
Several candidates emphasized that the community, families and teachers have lost trust in district leaders in recent years, a sentiment echoed by some current school board members.
At the school board’s July 11 meeting, two of the five trustees voted against placing a proposed bond on the November ballot, preventing it from moving forward without the needed supermajority. Rena Marrocco, one of the two dissenting trustees, claimed that the district “cannot be trusted” with hundreds of millions of dollars.
“One thing we need to do is rebuild trust in this school district,” said Martin, a retired Vista teacher of 24 years. “One of my biggest concerns is the lack of transparency in this district. Our superintendent uses that word every other word, and he doesn’t know the meaning of it.”
Remmen agreed that the district is in need of better leadership.
“Our job is oversight, and I don’t believe our current trustees are giving our district the oversight that is needed, and the ones suffering are our students,” she said.
Another large area of focus was the need to improve academics in VUSD and make it a more attractive school district for families overall. Markov and Nuñez said it is important to go back to the basics, looking at lower grade levels and the initial curriculum.
“I would love to see Vista Unified be competitive,” said Markov. “ I want Vista to be a place where people want to send their kids.”
Nuñez also claimed that the teachers union and other groups are pulling the focus away from education.
“I believe that teachers unions and special interests are involved, and some of the school board members need to focus on the education of the students, rather than getting the vote or being influenced in a certain way,” Nuñez said.
The Latino American Political Association also asked candidates about critical race theory, or CRT, in schools and the topic of disclosing students’ sexual orientation or gender identity, two hot-button topics in the educational sphere.
Martin, Gomez, and Remmen stated that CRT is not being taught in K-12 schools, with Remmen noting that this has become a topic that distracts students from themselves. Markov claimed that CRT is antithetical to his beliefs, and Nuñez and Crossman emphasized that “we are all Americans.”
The forum also discussed Assembly Bill 1955, which was recently approved by Gov. Gavin Newsom. It prohibits school districts and other educational entities from enacting or enforcing policies that require personnel to disclose a student’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression to another person, including their parents, without the student’s permission.
Remmen and Gomez said they supported protecting students’ privacy, and Crossman and Markov said they opposed the law. Martin said the situation depends on the age of the student and that teenagers need to be treated differently than students in elementary school. Nuñez said districts need to get back to the core of education, which includes parent involvement.
Tri-City Health Care District
Four of the seven seats on the Tri-City Health Care District Board are up for election, and Newsome and Byzak were present at the forum.
Newsome is running for Zone 1, which represents the district’s northeastern area, and Byzak is running for Zone 5, which covers the central portion of the district.
Newsome is a health care professional who runs multiple businesses, including a mobility aid company in Carlsbad. Byzak is a longtime health care executive and serves as chief strategist and lead consultant for Galvanized Strategies.
Both candidates said they are focused on restoring community trust in Tri-City and improving its financial situation. The hospital has had to make several cuts to its services, such as labor and delivery, and as of 2023, it was experiencing an annual loss of $3.5 million.
“I believe it’s instrumental that we have a hospital that is functioning at a high level for our community. If we have inefficiencies in our local hospitals, that can literally mean the difference between life and death,” Newsome said.
Byzak was asked about the failed partnership negotiations between UC San Diego Health and Tri-City, which collapsed in July after nine months of negotiations.
According to Tri-City leaders, UC San Diego Health had initially proposed expanding its services in North County by taking over the hospital’s property, debt and staff. As negotiations continued, however, UC San Diego Health was pushing to take over management while leaving Tri-City with all the financial risk and responsibility during a five-year transition period.
Byzak, who was the chief strategy officer at Tri-City, said he agreed with Tri-City’s decision to step away from UC San Diego Health.
“I’m pretty confident there will be an affiliation in future. The question is, what form will it take?” Byzak said.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was updated to correct the spelling of Jess Jebrail’s name.
