HOUSING, HEALTHCARE AND HIGHWAY UPGRADES ADDRESSED BY SUPERVISORIAL CANDIDATES IN FORUM

By Cecilie Shamanow 

WATCH FULL VIDEO HERE https://youtu.be/6cpLhfRzn1E?si=sHaKaOP2VCIITChb

October 28, 2023 (El Cajon) --- In a forum held Oct. 18 at Cuyamaca College, District 4 supervisorial candidates Monica Montgomery Steppe, a Democrat, and Republican Amy Reichert answered questions from the public ranging on health care, homelessness, housing, highway improvements, and diversity.

Steppe is an attorney and President Pro Tem of the San Diego City Council.  Reichert is a private investigator and founder of Reopen San Diego, a nonprofit founded to oppose COVID-19 mandates.

The Grossmont-Mount Helix Improvement Association and the Casa De Oro Alliance sponsored the forum, which was moderated by the League of Women Voters.  

 District Four residents should have already received their ballots for the November 7th election. For information on in-person voting options, visit www.SDVote.com. For highlights of the candidate forum, scroll down or click here to view video of the forum.

What is the most important role of the County Supervisor and how are you best fit to fill that position?

Steppe mentioned many roles she believed were important as a supervisor. “The main job of a County Board of Supervisors is to make sure that the people of San Diego have the resources and the social services that they need.” She added that she is an “independent voice” who will bring the community’s voice to the table, and use that voice to “cut through the bureaucracy.” When addressing how she is best fit for the position, Steppe cited her experience as the current representative for District Four on the San Diego City Council. “I truly believe that the experience that I would bring to this county seat will help us move forward and deal with a lot of the critical issues we are facing now,” she stated.

Reichert said, “The most important role of a county supervisor is to serve the people.” She named public health and public safety as priorities.  She indicated the Sheriff’s Department is understaffed and said understaffing in jails has led to a “crisis,” citing the high number of inmate deaths. She then touched on the mental health epidemic, speaking about her own personal struggles with depression after the death of her infant daughter and overcoming addiction. “I come into this role with a core lived experience issue regarding mental health and addiction.” 

The Grossmont/Mount Helix/Casa De Oro communities are the largest areas of the fourth district. How do you plan to remain in close contact with your constituents to represent their needs and desires to the full board of supervisors?

Reichert replied, “How I campaigned is how I will govern.” The response from supervisors to some constituent concerns has been “crickets or form letters.” She said when she was working with Celebrate Recovery through her church, she would be on the phone at midnight for hours helping people in need. “I look forward to more of your questions and hearing your heart about what you see as the vision and the future of San Diego County.”

Steppe spoke of her history running for city council and receiving little to no endorsements at first. It was the community that supported her and rallied for her. “Everyday I walked into that building I felt like I was carrying the 20,000 people who got me there,” she said. She related this to the how the unincorporated areas feel overlooked and “left out of the process.”  She said she has structured her office to have the staff and resources to put the community first. “I will never leave that work ,no matter how hard it gets,” she assured.

How do you plan to address health care access in San Diego County?

Steppe stated, “When we are talking about access, we are talking about reducing barriers for people.” As an example, she cited the recent opening of the Livewell Center which has public and mental health offices, and how more centers like this one are needed. She said the reimbursement structure is not benefiting the hospitals that provide care to homeless people. She plans to work with the state and the county so that that structure is not another barrier for people to access health care. 

Reichert would like to partner with existing health clinics and help them by getting state and federal grants. She mentioned the Crisis Stabilization Unit (CSU), which is a free urgent care for people experiencing a mental health crisis. She also mentions the Crisis Mobile Response Team which are not staffed with law enforcement and who go and help those in crisis – she would like to see the number of teams double. Her big point was the lack of psychiatric beds available and how she would implement a real time tracking system to let people know when beds are available. 

AB 1033 was passed this week which allows homeowners to sell and ADU (addition dwelling unit) built on their property. Communities in the county must opt in to put this law into effect. What is your position on AB 1033, opt in or out and if you have no opinion yet, what do you see as the pros and cons?

Reichert voiced concern about ADUs potentially being sold to large corporations and ruining neighborhoods. She compared this to SB 10, which is a similar development bill that counties can opt into. She worries that if AB 1033 in conjunction with SB 10 occurred, single family lots would turn into ten-unit apartment homes with no parking and push more residents out of the county.

Steppe said the intent of AB 1033l is to open up homeownership to more people, which is something she supports, but said she is not familiar yet with the details. Her goal is to help more people become homeowners and create more opportunities for people. She again states that she would have to do more research on the bill but supports the intent of the bill. 

AB 1033 would essentially allow the property owner to seperate the primary dwelling unit and accessory dwelling unit or units as condominiums in order to provide for the creation of accessory dwelling units in areas zoned for residential use.

SB 10 would allow ordinances if approved and adopted by a city to zone any parcel for up to 10 units of residential density per parcel, at a height specified in the ordinance, if the parcel is located in a transit-rich area or an urban infill site. Existing law requires an attached housing development to be a permitted use, and not subject to a conditional use permit, on any parcel zoned for multifamily housing if at least certain percentages of the units are available at affordable housing costs to very low income, lower income, and moderate-income households for at least 30 years and if the project meets specified conditions relating to location and being subject to a discretionary decision other than a conditional use permit. Existing law provides for various incentives intended to facilitate and expedite the construction of affordable housing.

What is your plan to clean up our neighborhoods and get rid of trash, graffiti, homelessness, and people living in RVs?

Steppe has partnered with EDCO and other companies to do a quarterly community cleanup, where residents can bring items like mattresses, tires, electronics to dump for free. She would like to bring this service to the unincorporated areas. When it comes to graffiti, she believes the faster they can clean it up, the better. When it comes to waste produced by the homeless community, she mentioned other cities that have implemented special camping areas for homeless people where they would have ways to dispose of their trash. She ends by saying that she believes anti-loitering campaigns would be successful.

Reichert noticed that while participating in trash clean ups around the community, that a lot of debris is not on public property but on private property owned by businesses. She believes these businesses should be held accountable for cleaning up this mess. When it comes to homelessness. Reichert has a plan called “Shelter First with Treatment.” There needs to be more shelters and to not allow encampments to remain in parks and in front of schools. “I think it perfectly fine, and an act of love to say, ‘no you cannot camp here.’”

Will you support efforts to find funding and expedite construction of the SR-94/125 interchange?

Both candidates said they have driven this interchange regularly and that traffic congestion is a problem.

Reichert said that this issue is a “failure of SANDAG.” She stated that voters passed the TransNet tax thinking that the money would go to infrastructure, when instead it has gone to bike lanes and public transportation. While she believes these projects are important, if elected Supervisor, she would hold SANDAG accountable and not allow “one more dime” to be spent until they begin to put money into our roads. 

Steppe acknowledges that this plan has been in the works and that the/125 interchange upgrades need to be done, since this was promised to taxpayers. However, she points out that according to research, creating more lanes will only create more congestion on the roads. Steppe thinks it is also important to create other ways of convenient transportation. She is looking to the future to reduce greenhouse gases and keep our air clean and our city beautiful so that people will continue to live here. 

What is your experience in working with, engaging diverse communities, and solving community problems?

Steppe “the people who are closest to the pain, are closest to the solution.” spoke of her work history, working with different homeowners fighting against banks, working as a staff member for three different elected officials on both sides of the aisles, and worked at the ACLU to help break the cycle of poverty. “I have been community centered, and always looking to solving problems.” She championed the program “No Shots Fired” that paired up law enforcement and former gang members to help reduce violence.

Reichert talks about her involvement with the different cultural groups around the county. “Our diversity needs to be celebrated in San Diego…it’s time for the political culture wars to end and it’s time for people to come together.” Reichert believes District Four needs to have a Spanish speaker on staff to represent the Latino community, she believes that the Arab and Filipino communities need to be represented as well. She co-founded the nonprofit ReOpen San Diego that she says brought together people from all walks of life.

How do you plan to maintain the semi-rural lifestyles of these (Grossmont/Mount Helix/Casa De Oro) unincorporated communities?

Reichert has made this issue a part of her platform. She has heard the community when they said they want to be making the decisions for their own neighborhoods. “I believe that it is the community that should decide what the community should look like.” She talked about SB 9 and how it will affect the rural communities and that we need to find other locations to build sensibly that would benefit the environment, so that San Diego does not become like Los Angeles or San Fransisco.  

Steppe went on record against sprawl development. The more urban areas would as a result have more density, leaving the more rural areas largely as is. The County Board of Supervisor makes the land use decisions for the unincorporated areas and so it is going to be a “continued fight” since there is more land to build in the unincorporated areas. There is a housing goal of approximately 171,000 units every ten years that needs to be met. The goal is to find a way to meet that quota while still protecting the rural neighborhoods. 

Closing Remarks

Steppe concluded, “I understand what it takes to fight against a bureaucracy for the people and it is not easy, and you do need someone with the experience and the proven track record to do that.” She talked about the struggles she has overcome. When she was 20, she was diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder while working days and going to school at night; her family was struggling financially and she eventually had to move back home, when she became unable to care for herself and was helped through county services. “I am just here to serve, and my story personally and professionally shows that I am a fighter, and I will fight for you.”

Reichert concluded, “I am not a politician; I am a successful small businesswoman.” She talked about her nonprofit and how it saved 2,000 jobs for police and firefighters after her nonprofit won a lawsuit challenging the county’s vaccine mandates for first responders. She believes San Diego has declined over the past five years, with rising homelessness and  crime. She pledged to come at the issues with a fresh perspective and will stand up for what is right.