National City is electing its first new mayor in 12 years. Ron Morrison is terming out PBS reporter Pria Schriefer spoke with the four candidates hoping to replace him. The four candidates are city councilwoman Alejandro Sotelo Seleção city treasurer Mitch Beachum loan officer and real estate agent Daniel Perez and chairman of the National City Planning Commission detox Yamane who's focusing on affordable housing public safety and job growth in her campaign. We wanted to invite investors and businesses so our residents and our people in Nashua City they can find their jobs and can grow here in Nashua City and reinvest into our community. Yamane emigrated from the Philippines as a child and has been a business owner and resident and National City for over two decades. We have good executive staff we have good employees of National City because I work with them as a resident and as a business owner. But your name and you need to have that strong leadership that will that will make them execute Inaam in the directions that you have to give. Mitch Beachum currently serves as National City's treasurer so it makes sense that balancing the city's budget is one of his top priorities. We have a fiscal deficit of. 6 million. And the council just doesn't seem to get it. But as a treasurer I don't have the ability to. Line out items in a budget. So on the council I think I'll have more involvement with the way the budget is put together. Beachum has served on the council before and says reducing traffic congestion and addressing the growing homeless population are also major concerns. He's a self professed National City history buff and member of the San Diego Electric Railway Association the oldest transcontinental railway depot in the United States. My family came here in 1890 so I'm a part of the history of the history of National City is something I'm very concerned about and how we preserve those historic assets because you cannot replace Daniel Perez is a loan officer and real estate agent. He says his political aspirations came from simply being a concerned resident. I'm a concerned resident just like my neighbors. I know I'm approaching it like that just like that I want to be a voice for them to make sure they feel and they know that I have their back. Perez started attending city council meetings after getting frustrated with the traffic congestion in his neighborhood. He says his background in corporate finance will help him fix the city's deficit if elected. He also hopes to make national city more business friendly so people in National City don't go. Outside of National City to hang out. They're currently going in Chula Vista downtown our location is prime. We are smack dab in the middle. We should be we should have all those people coming to our city. Alejandro Sotelo Soliz was born and raised in National City and has been on the Council for 10 years. She's hoping to give up the final two years of her city council term to be mayor. When you're the mayor you have the ability to have that megaphone. And really amplify it amongst her colleagues countywide. And I think the fact of the matter is we've never had a female Latina in that position. One with a predominantly Latino community I think is going to make a difference. She says her top priorities for National City include Safe Neighborhoods economic development and an improved quality of life. We want to be able to afford an apartment. A condo or a single family home in National City. And it's really thinking beyond just oh we are only an affordable housing. Community but thinking we are making housing affordable for all. So leason fellow Councilwoman Mona Rios have consistently voted against many of Mayor Ron Morrison's positions. Whoever wins the mayor's race may have to work with Morrison. He's running for city council. Joining me is Kate PBS reporter Priya Schriefer prio welcome. Thank you. Why are there four candidates for mayor on National City's November ballot. Didn't they have a primary. So Maureen they didn't have a primary and this was pretty interesting back in the June ballot. There are actually two measures on the ballot measures B and C that were trying to potentially change the term limits for elected officials in National City. So the existing law that was on the books proposition t only put term limits on the actual mayor's office at three consecutive terms of four years. So that's where it stood right now. And Mayor Ron Morrison had completed his three terms four years. Measure B would have repealed proposition T and put two four year limits for all elected officials so the mayor and all the councillors. But what it would have done for Mayor Ron Morrison is it would have reset his clock. And so then he would have potentially been able to run again for the mayor's office and so that was part of the reason that there wasn't a primary because it was still uncertain at that point as to whether or not the current mayor could keep his name on the ballot which is why there are four candidates running in November. One of the candidates who spoke with says National City is a predominantly Latino city. Is that true. So according to the latest census numbers from 2016 actually 65 percent of the city is Hispanic. So it is a predominantly Hispanic city. And I think that's something that she's really trying to campaign on. Alejandro Sotelo the least you know obviously the current mayor is not Hispanic and so I think as we see in elections all over the country right now oftentimes a good strategy to win or try to tap into that large demographic is to point out the fact that you're similar to the people who live there and different than the person who has been holding the office for over a decade. Is there any way to gauge the level of support for each of these candidates. You know I've found different signs and flyers all over national city for all all of the candidates. And I tried to get a sense just from talking to residents there and it seemed like people were really not sure who they were going to vote for. And there isn't any sort of polling that's happened demitasse Amane actually did hire a independent consultant to do some polling but even that person according to her found that the numbers were really close and that a lot of people weren't decided National City voters also have measured W on the ballot. It would limit rent increases to 5 percent and restrict evictions. How do the candidates stand on measure w. So what's interesting is three of the four candidates are opposed to it and I think that's one of the things that makes this election almost a little bit confusing for some voters is because a lot of these candidates have a lot of the same views on these issues. Mitch Beachum believes that this could potentially be a step towards socialism. Daniel Perez has said that he believes that this could actually increase rent and National City which has historically had one of the lowest runs in Southern California and ditto Sihamoni thinks that the real solution here is to build more affordable housing. Alejandro Sotelo sillies who is currently a city council woman. She actually does favor this measure and she believes it's a step in the right direction for addressing the problem of lack of affordable housing in National City. But the other three candidates do oppose it. When you think of hotly contested races you usually think about big cities but apparently the candidates you spoke with are all really passionate about their vision for National City. They are you know it's been an interesting year in National City I think for a lot of us here in San Diego County one of the stories that comes to mind when you think of National City is everything that happened with Earl McNeil who was a young man who died in National City police custody. The other thing I think if people were you know attuned to this was the proposition to potentially change the term limits. So I think what all four of these candidates won is for National City to be on everyone's radars for more positive reasons. They really want to revitalize the waterfront. They really think that National City geographically is in such a prime location that you know if they are able to become more business friendly and are able to get businesses in this region to invest in their community that they can really become more of a destination that people hear about rather than some of these you know potentially more controversial stories. And what's this about soon to be former mayor Ron Morrison running for city council. Yes so you know we thought we had seen the end of Ron Morrison after he termed out with his 12 years as mayor but he's joking around right now that he's just going to be moving. I think I told you about this in the NEWSROOM he has a lot of animals taxidermy that he collects and so that's if anyone who knows the National City mayor's office you can see pictures online of all these stuffed animals and he says you know I'm just going to have to move them down the hall to my new city council office. Yes he is running for city council and then potentially he could run for mayor again in the future because the rule now is only three consecutive terms so if he could do a stint as city councilor and then perhaps go back for National City mayor again but he hasn't actually said that those are his aspirations right now he's just focusing on city council. I've been speaking with PBS reporter prio Schriefer. Priya thank you. Thank you.
Current National City mayor Ron Morrison has termed out after 12 years in office.
The four candidates running to replace him are City Councilwoman Alejandra Sotelo-Solis, City Treasurer Mitch Beauchamp, loan officer and real estate agent Daniel Perez and Chairman of the National City Planning Commission Ditas Yamane.
Yamane is focusing on affordable housing, public safety and job growth in her campaign.
"We want to invite investors and businesses so our residents and our people in National City can find their jobs and can grow here in National City and reinvest into our community," she said.
Yamane immigrated from the Philippines as a child and has been a business owner and resident in National City for over two decades.
"We have good executive staff, we have good employees of National City because I work with them as a resident and a business owner, but you need to have that strong leadership that will make them execute the directions that you have to give," she said.
Mitch Beauchamp currently serves as National City's treasurer, so it makes sense that balancing the city's budget is one of his top priorities.
"We have a fiscal deficit of $6 million and the council just doesn’t seem to get it, but as a treasurer I don’t have the ability to line up items in a budget, so on the council I think I’ll have more involvement with the way the budget is put together," he said.
Beauchamp has served on the council before and says reducing traffic congestion and addressing the growing homeless population are also major concerns. He's a self-professed National City history buff and member of the San Diego Electric Railway Association, the oldest transcontinental railway depot in the United States.
"My family came here in 1890 so I’m part of the history….so the history of National City is something I’m very concerned about and how we preserve those historic assets because you cannot replace them," he said.
Daniel Perez is a loan officer and real estate agent. He says his political aspirations came from simply being a concerned resident.
"I’m a concerned resident, just like my neighbors and I’m approaching it like that, just like that. I want to be a voice for them to make sure they feel and they know that I have their back," he said.
RELATED: National City Ballot Measure May Reset The Term Limit Clock For Mayor
Perez started attending city council meetings after getting frustrated with the traffic congestion in his neighborhood. He says his background in corporate finance will help him fix the city's deficit. If elected, he also hopes to make National City more business-friendly.
"People in National City don’t go outside of National City to hang out, they’re currently going to Chula Vista, downtown. Our location is prime, we’re smack dab in the middle, we should be, we should have all those people coming to our city," he said.
Alejandra Sotelo-Solis was born and raised in National City and has been on the council for ten years. She is hoping to give up the final two years of her city council term to be mayor.
"When you’re the mayor, you have the ability to have that megaphone and really amplify it amongst your colleagues countywide and the fact of the matter is we’ve never had a female Latina in that position, one with a predominantly Latina community I think is going to make a difference," she said.
She says her top priorities for National City include safe neighborhoods, economic development and an improved quality of life.
"We want you to be able to afford an apartment, a condo, or a single family home in National City and it's really thinking beyond, oh we’re only an affordable housing community, but we’re making housing affordable for all," she said.
Solis and fellow Councilwoman Mona Rios have consistently voted against many of Mayor Ron Morrison's positions. Whoever wins the mayor's race may have to work with Morrison, as he's running for city council after an unsuccessful campaign to reset term limits for city council members and the mayor.
