S1: Welcome in San Diego. It's Jade Hindman on today's show. The needs in National City are great. The budget not so much. We hear from two mayoral candidates to find out how they can meet the needs of residents with a city budget deficit. This is KPBS Midday Edition. Connecting our communities through conversation. So Election day is just over one week away , and now San Diegans across the county can vote in person as the first set of vote centers are now open. Remaining vote centers open on Saturday. National city is among the cities across the county who will be choosing a new mayor in this midterm election. Now , San Diego County , second oldest city , will be choosing a replacement for Mayor Ron Morrison , who is finishing up his second stint in that role 16 years total there. I'm joined now by two of the candidates vying to be National City's next mayor. Marcus Bush is a Democrat and member of National City's city city council. He was first elected to the council in 2020. Also joining me is Democrat Jose Rodriguez. He , too is a city council member and was elected in 2020 as well. Marcus Jose , welcome to you both.
S2: Thank you. Thank you for having us.
S1: Glad to have you both here. So National City is facing a roughly $12.7 million deficit , as I mentioned earlier. How do you plan to address it , Marcus? Sure.
S3: Sure. Well , first of all , thank you , KPBS , for hosting. It's really exciting to be here , and I look forward to a truthful , honest and transparent discussion about the budget. It's great to just be back here in this area and on campus. You know , I graduated from San Diego State University in 2010 , worked across the street from at Student Health Services and San Diego State is really major majoring in city planning. And this is really where my foundation for government and for budgets , where it really set in. And so for our budget deficit , it is big , it's real , it's a concern. And I think that we can solve it. But we have to be honest about what were the root causes of it. And we have to be proactive about how we solve it , because at the end of the day , a lot of what caused it the foundation is dishonesty. It's , um , us not looking inward and not being accountable as an organization about what some of the department issues were. For example , we've had expensive lawsuits that were a result of us on council not being properly informed in decisions that we made based on , uh , not the right information. Um , we've had , um , series of , uh , mismanagement of our employees. We have some great employees , but there needs to be some more efficiency in our personnel , and we need to raise more revenue. So it's a combination of all of these things. We have a plan to do that with our business license tax that I'm really happy to. There's been progress on working with our small business community and making that happen and finding a compromise. And so there's some other solutions out there. And but we need to look at what is the root causes of our budget deficit. A lot of it is over overspending , lack of accountability. And we need to move forward. And I have confidence that we're already doing that with our new city manager and just making changes , and we're going to continue that forward.
S1: As mayor Jose , what do you see as solutions? Yeah.
S2: Yeah. So it's important to realize there's multiple solutions to this. So we actually had a plan last year. We ended up providing wage increases to all of our employees , which would bring them up to the median average. So our firefighters are no longer the lowest paid in the county that are now at median. And there was an understanding that after we passed all of these measures and we passed last year's budget that we were going to do multiple things. We were going to make sure that we stopped new hiring within our city , except for emergency personnel , which is something we're doing now. And we are expected to stop anywhere from 4 to $5 million in additional expenditures , as well as pass a updated business license fee. And we went to the work last year. We actually appropriated $50,000 to help do research , fund a poll , and get an initiative on the ballot for this year , this November , that would have brought in upwards of 7.5 million. And that was initially the plan. So the plan was to make sure we don't bring any new hires and to bring in additional revenue with an updated business license fee and combined 4 million plus , um , 5 million is anywhere from 9 to 11 million , which we were going to be saving. And that is essentially the , um , the budget shortfall that we have right now. So that was the plan and unfortunately it didn't happen. We could not get the four votes to put the initiative on the ballot , and it's become abundantly clear why that's the case. The individuals that lobbied the to kill the initiative were the chamber. And , you know , not a week later , they opened up a committee and started funding council member Bush's campaign. Now it's upwards to $90,000 for for their campaigns. So it was it was very evident that there's businesses within the community that do not want to pay an updated business license fee and did everything they could to help kill the initiative this November. And now they form a coalition , a committee to help bring some ideas on , on , on an updated business license fee. But I think what we're asking for is nothing out of the ordinary. It's what we it's what the city of Carlsbad and Oceanside actually do. So we want to make sure that we have bigger businesses to help our community and national city residents are very generous. We've actually voted multiple times to increase our own sales taxes. We want that generosity to extend to the business community as well.
S1: Marcus , do you want to respond on on the business tax fee? Yes.
S3: Yes. We didn't kill the initiative. We pushed it back so that there was proper community engagement with our small business community and the chamber and work with them on a compromise. So they actually pass about. You know , Jose , the thing is , you have some experience with ballot initiatives , but unfortunately , those ballot initiatives have failed like the 1 in 2024 that you brought forward. We don't want a repeat of that. We have to get revenue now. And the way that the city approached this. Yes. You're right. The city did a lot 50,000 last year and didn't start the engagement until , what about April or May? And even then , there needed to be time to properly outreach to all the different. We have so many businesses. We have hundreds of businesses here in National City , and we have to do our job and our work to listen. That's what we're here for as leaders , to listen to them too. So I'm proud that me and the majority of our colleagues bipartisan support on not killing the initiative , but actually making it successful and working with them. So what I did under my leadership is I proposed a committee of outreach there. We are close to a compromise. We're looking towards a 2027 special election , but that is the approach we should take working with our business community for support instead of them paying to kill it. And that's kind of leadership.
S1: I'll bring Jose , your brief response to that.
S2: Look , there was a lot of misinformation about what the business license fee was ultimately a business , let's say a bakery , were to earn $1 million. There was a compromise version that myself and Councilmember Yamani were supporting. They would have paid $500 in a business license fee , and the bigger impact were going to be the bigger businesses. So say that somebody owns a business on the mile of cars and they sell vehicles. They currently pay a business license fee of $1,700. But in the city of Carlsbad , that comparable business would have been paying 20 to $30,000 for a business license fee , a Walmart , same thing. They pay $3,000 or less for a business license fee. National City and Oceanside. They pay over 100,000. Target 3000. In National City. Oceanside over 100,000. Costco Optometry Center , National City less than 3000. In Oceanside over 150,000. So what we're asking is these big businesses to help our community out and be as generous as national city residents are with our own community , because we realize the 70% of our budget we actually utilize for public safety , PD and Fire and the rest are for senior centers , for our nutrition center , for after school activities , for our pool. All things that are essential to have a good quality of life. So all we're asking for is for this to be actually brought up to what other cities demand of their businesses , and it's not something unreasonable.
S1: From where you sit. I mean , why should voters trust that you'll be able to manage the current fiscal challenges the city faces today? Given. Given that , you know , I mean , you each of you were council members , um , making financial decisions that led to the current deficit. So. So , Jose , why? Why should folks have trust in you?
S2: Yeah , no , I think that trust and accountability are both very , very important. And we did have this plan and unfortunately it was railroaded and we did not follow through with the initiative to put it on the ballot. But I also , you know , in anticipation of this , over the last couple of weeks , my team and I have actually gone through all of our council expenditures over the last two years , as well as the mayor's expenditures. And one thing we did find out and talk about accountability and transparency is that Council Member Bush received an advance money for multiple MTS trips , and as far as we know , there has not been that money paid back. And so I think it's important that we are transparent , that we actually practice what we preach. And so that's something that I look forward to bringing in a national city , actually look at all of the receipts.
S1: Marcus , your response to that and and why you feel voters should trust that you'll be able to balance this? Sure.
S3: Sure. Well , let's talk about trust. Trust is important. How can we trust us as elected officials if we're not being honest about our budget deficit and the causes for it. So , Jose , the Union Tribune called you out for that. And some of the lies and the misinformation that came from you. It's not true that it's just big businesses that would be affected by this. It is the small businesses like Vallejo's Bake Shop. It is Nieder Frank's Ice Cream Cafe , la mesa. So these are the businesses that are core at our city that have been around for decades. They aren't opposed to a change. The structure , some of the rates you mentioned. Yes , they're open to that. But we needed to properly engage them. And it is not honest to say that we we haven't worked with that , that they that they're not supporting this or that we're killing it or it's being railroaded. No , they're working with us on a compromise. So and if we want to talk accountability , we can talk about that. We can talk about if you want to talk about the hundreds of dollars , which I'll be honest and I admit. Yes , EMTs reimbursed me over reimbursed me. So I'm actually on a payment plan that I've already set in motion that payment plan , have made payments for that over reimbursement , but that's hundreds of dollars. That's in the hundreds of dollars. Josie. Um. Uh , a little. Actually , around a thousand , I believe. But the real money issue , if we want to talk about trust , let's talk about the 50,000 that you gave politically to Cindy Lopez , a candidate for district one , to basically campaign for you yourself and her. That's real money. We can talk about that. We can talk about all the other mis spending that's been approved on things like banners on turkey giveaways that were not properly authorized by city council. This unfortunately , the council budgets became a slush fund. Exactly. Even though I proposed it , that's exactly what I didn't want. And so what I've done is been honest with the voters and said , look , I have made mistakes. I haven't heard that from Josie. I've made mistakes on what we spent on even personnel. For example , we approved historic raises. I think our employees , including Fire or MTA , they deserved it , but we didn't have a plan to pay for that. We just trusted that we would have a plan without the proper follow through on efficiencies , on revenues. So there is a lot that needs to be done , but we have to be honest about that.
S1: Quick response. Josie.
S2: Look , we have a candidate running for mayor that owes a public entity money and that was not disclosed for over a year. It was just disclosed most recently. And for somebody running on a platform of accountability , accountability and transparency , I find that to be very hypocritical. And and so I think we have to be open and transparent and talk about this , not just when we're caught a year later , after not paying back a public agency money that is owed. And the public does not know this , we as council members did not know , I I realized that Mayor Morrison likely knew about this being the head of our department , but that information was not shared with anybody else. And so that kind of transparency is critical and important to have public trust.
S1: I want to turn now to housing affordability. How do you plan to address concerns over housing? Um , Josie , I'll start with you on that one. Yeah.
S2: Yeah. Housing is critical. So there's multiple things on one end. 70% of national city families rent. So I , a couple of years ago , led an effort to pass rent control on mobile homes because we realized that one of our , uh , owners were actually increasing rent 30% year to year , and that was unacceptable. So we passed a rent control ordinance in National City on mobile homes that would put maximum increase of 5%. I think that should extend to apartment complexes within National City as well. So that's that's on one end to try to make sure that we , um , control rent prices and we keep the already existing affordable , affordable. But on the long term , we need to make sure that we build more homeownership opportunities. In the last decade , we've only built a national city a thousand units , but out of 1000 units , 18 of them have been for sale. That is unacceptable. So Councilmember Yamani and I have formed a coalition to identify key needs within our city to help streamline approval processes and help work with the development community to make sure we build more homeownership in National City. Ultimately , nobody can gentrify our community if we own it , so it's critical for our community to build homeownership opportunities and have our residents be eligible to apply and be able to build generational wealth.
S1: And , Marcus , how would you address concerns over housing affordability? Sure.
S3: Sure. So it's a supply issue and it's so we need to build more. But we also need more regulations on protecting renters. National city we're 70% renters. I do support rent control , have always supported rent control. And I'm actually proud to be the candidate supported by the Building Industry Association. They actually are fiercely opposed to rent control. But what they appreciate is that I'm honest. I'm direct about that and that I also support reducing all of the regulatory burdens that are causing our housing to be so expensive. So on the development side of it , we've had a lot of issues within our own city staff internally about the length of time it takes , lack of accountability. Now it's moving in the right direction , but these costs thousands of dollars and often at times result in a loss of building permits , a loss of ability to build those apartments and build those affordable , um , excuse me , the home ownership , single family homes , because I have a project in my district , district four , that is being held up right outside of Plaza Bonita by some of these , uh , antiquated building policies and lack of just being proactive on our staff. So , again , that's changing , but we need to do better on the home ownership that is going to take longer. And that's a bigger effort. That's not just national city. That's a statewide issue that we still have an ability to address it is the construction defect insurance policies and laws statewide. We have to make statewide changes. But look , we've done that before in the city. We've taken the lead on advocacy issues and have worked with our Assembly to make sure that we're collaborating with industry and to to make that change. It's going to take some time. But the construction defect insurance that adds thousands , if not millions of cost , and it makes instead of our developers building condominiums and townhomes for homeownership , they're building rentals instead. So we need more homeownership opportunities. And also getting back to our budget deficit , we used to have homeownership programs that provided grants to residents for down payment assistance. We don't have that anymore because we're not spending our money efficiently at our city , so we need to address that in order to give more opportunities for homeownership.
S1: When I have conversations about affordability , I also think about wages and I think about the city's ability to to attract business and industry. So what is your plan for that? Um , Marcus , I'll start with you on that one. Where do you stand on maybe pushing forward a measure or something to raise the minimum wage in the city?
S3: So I'd be open to that. So what we would need is to make sure that we're studying that. Right. Just like we needed to study and take the time for the business license tax and learn about what are the unintended consequences. How would that impact the business community? We need to know how that would impact our businesses. What level would be appropriate for a minimum wage ordinance in an increase? So I would absolutely be supportive of looking into that and finding out what that threshold.
S1: How much does the cost of living impact what you would think that would be?
S3: So I think a good measure is 30%. So if you're paying more and this is a general industry standard , if you're paying more than 30% of your monthly income on housing , it's not affordable. So taking a look at that and then breaking it down mathematically I think is a good start. So and the other , um , piece that I didn't mention about adding more housing in our city is looking at building smaller units , looking at micro units that shared housing at accessory dwelling units. We as a city haven't even taken advantage of new state law so that we can take more advantage of building accessory dwelling units and making allowing that to be even though it's on the same parcel , allowing those to be separately owned. And.
S1: And.
S3: By the by the property.
S1: And Jose. Yeah.
S2: Yeah. No , I have a long track track record of actually fighting for increasing wages. So I've been on fights fight for 15 statewide many years ago. I am always supportive of our unions regionally and increase , um , wage initiatives on a regional level , realizing that our region as a whole , some people may live in National City , but they work in San Diego or other cities. So it's important , I think , to continue to support those initiatives. So I do support an increase in wages on larger businesses in National City. If you're a Walmart National City , which is the busiest Walmart in the region on Highland Avenue , they need to make sure that they pay their employees a living wage. And it is not the statewide minimum wage. So we need to make sure that we have something that is more commensurate with that. Individual business and larger businesses should be able to pay their employees more.
S1: National city has been working with the Port of San Diego to redevelop National City's bayfront , including Pepper Park , over the next four years. What changes do you envision for the bayfront? Jose.
S2: Yeah , so , you know , it's it's a it's a shame that National City is the only bayfront city without access to the bayfront , and that's throughout our region. That's unacceptable. We need as a city to have access to the bayfront. And , you know , we're a landlocked city , so we don't have endless opportunity to grow. So we must look at redevelopment. And we have over 150 acres that are utilized to park vehicles and import vehicles with a company Porsche , and we need to make sure that we make better use of the land. So we need to make sure that we build parking structures to better accommodate that individual business and allow for that business to continue to grow and thrive. To import more vehicles. But we also have to have access to the bayfront , and we need to have access to better land in our city in order to make sure that we redevelop , um , hotels or things that are going to provide jobs to build and bring in revenue for the city.
S1: And Marcus. Yes.
S3: Yes. So I'm really excited about the balance plan. That's a new land use plan that's been in the work for 15 years. It took way too long to approve because historically , for decades , really , since the port was founded in 1962 , National City has been , um , there's a disparity there , and it's just in this structure of the board because the city of San Diego , yes , they're the largest , um , and they control three votes. Um , and then you have Imperial Beach , you have Chula Vista , National City , and Coronado. So often at times throughout our history we've been dumped on. So all of the industries in National City. So all of the pollution , all of we don't get unfortunately , any of the revenue directly. So we've been burdened by that. However , we also have benefited from these are working class jobs , the longshoremen , for example , which I'm proud to have their support because we do need balance. We need to protect their jobs while at the same time making sure we expand public access to our waterfront. And so the balanced plan does that , working with our small business community , with our current port Commissioner , Gill and Gab , who Doctor Gill and Gab , who , unfortunately , Jose has been trying to displace with former mayor and slumlord Nick and Zuniga. And I commit to supporting Gill and Gab , and we need to continue that going forward.
S1: And we'll have to leave it there. I've been speaking with candidates Marcus Bush and Jose Rodriguez. They're candidates for National City's next mayor. Two other candidates are also on the ballot Mitch Beachum , who is no party listed and Democrat Jacob Castrillon Marcus Jose. Thank you so very much for being here.
S2: Thank you for the invitation.
S1: In addition to voting by mail , the first batch of vote centers have been open around San Diego County in National City , the Deaf Community Services of San Diego at 2240 Cleveland Ave is now open in person , voting to learn more about this race and others , as well as the measures on your ballot , you can go to KPBS hub. That's our show for today. I'm your host , Jade Hindman. Thanks for tuning in to Midday Edition. Be sure to have a great day on purpose , everyone.
