Issues (City of HB and OVSD)
PUBLIC SAFETY
The Police, Fire, and Marine Safety departments work together within our Huntington Beach community to provide the highest level of quality service and protection. From HBPD to HBFD via 9-1-1 services, our HB team of public safety personnel must remain available and on alert for residents 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365. I intend to make sure that law enforcement, fire, ambulance services, park rangers, along with marine safety remain the number one priority of the HB City Council. In an emergency, we need the best firefighters, police officers, and marine safety officers to ensure that our public safety services are top notch. Emergencies come down to seconds, and we need experienced, well trained public safety officers in a time of emergency or crisis. Due to my strong stance on crime and public safety, I am proudly endorsed by the Huntington Beach Police Officers' Association (HBPOA), the Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs (AOCDS), and, the Huntington Beach Firefighters' Association (HBFA).
HOMELESSNESS CRISIS (See separate tab for my full plan for homelessness solutions)
As a longtime school trustee, I have a documented record of performance in serving un-housed students and families in need. At OVSD, we have instituted the utilization of the McKinney-Vento Act to get services, housing, and take action to assist those experiencing homelessness. The issue is complex and often times creates frustration and upset in the community when mental illness and substance abuse play a part. Homelessness has many faces, and needs to be addressed through collaboration and coordination with multiple agencies, and not solely dealt with by the City of HB alone.
SAVING OPEN SPACE:
ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION SOLUTIONS
HIGH DENSITY DEVELOPMENT:
Having been opposed to HDD since being elected to the OVSD Board in 2012 has been a long term commitment to the environment. As the only current elected official on the ballot for City Council, and as president of the OVSD, I led litigation in 2015 against the City of Huntington Beach stopping the development of a 279-unit HDD apartment building at the corner of Beach and Warner. OVSD sued and prevailed, and the City HB had to permanently halt the project. In fact, that is the only lawsuit that has ever been successful in the history of HB in stopping an actual stack and pack HDD project, and I’m proud to have overseen the legal action. In lieu fees and lack of set backs are only two of the many problems created by unmitigated HDD. My decade-long track record is proof of my ability to save open space, and make sure that residential and commercial projects are built properly and to compliment the environment and beach community and not clutter it. We hear so much about affordable housing, but in fact, developments like Bella Terra and Elon are anything but. Read Court File of OVSD's Victory Over the City of HB's HDD Mandate.
CANNABIS SALES:
The voters of Huntington Beach have spoken, and they want access to cannabis. Although I do not use cannabis myself, I would not stand in the way of residents who do want to utilize it. The cannabis industry can be allowed to function in Huntington Beach with certain caveats, one being that they must keep a minimum of 1,000 feet distance from all schools, not just middle and high schools. As Ocean View School District’s board president, I have already issued an official statement to the city of Huntington Beach to require that this occur, although state law only requires 600 feet from elementary schools.
It is imperative that cannabis operators use utilize union labor for retail and other facilities and pay a living wage ensuring good jobs. Huntington Beach can learn from its neighbors that have made mistakes with the lack of taxation of cannabis. Huntington Beach can tax cannabis fairly to create a revenue stream for city public works projects.
HUNTINGTON BEACH INFRASTRUCTURE/ROADS
Huntington Beach’s PCI (pavement index) is one of the highest in the county, and the city’s water and sewer infrastructure are in excellent shape. The city of Huntington Beach has already brought the residential paving plan down from every 12 years to every nine years starting in fiscal year 2023-24. (2022-23 is the last of the 12-year cycle.) Refinancing city pension debt has taken some pressure off the budget. However, it seems that a struggle to stay on top of alley and sidewalk repairs exists because they’re all concrete and very expensive to repair, or since they’re not roads, they don’t qualify to use gas tax funds. Required sales tax-generating growth and redevelopment of aging shopping centers will help generate the revenue Huntington Beach needs. Cannabis tax can be a piece of generating revenue while creating good jobs as well as sufficient sales and excise taxes.
Redevelopment Agencies (RDAs) vs. Enhanced Infrastructure Financing Districts (EIFDs)
At this time, it is not a financially prudent idea to bring back California's 400 RDAs in their original form, due to mistakes of mismanagement and being previously riddled with waste and eminent domain abuse. However, I might consider the newer Enhanced Infrastructure Financing Districts (EIFDs). If these alternative EIFDs gain traction, it is important that they avoid the mistakes of previous RDAs. Being an elected school trustee since 2012, has made me painfully aware that after decades of operation, the RDA funding model was a pipe-dream, as projects under-performed and these RDAs wound up consuming 12% of property taxes statewide. As a longtime school official, I cannot approve of such waste again. I'm currently in a wait and see mode, and look forward to learning more about EIFDs moving forward.
DIVERSITY IN HUNTINGTON BEACH:
Serving as president of the Ocean View School District, it’s been my honor to work for the people of Huntington Beach. As a classroom teacher, I pride myself on being an excellent communicator, with the ability to prioritize listening over speaking while seeking to understand different perspectives. Synthesizing ideas to understand concerns leverages the expertise of others. As a conservative fiduciary of public tax dollars, I have balanced budgets for a decade, and this year recorded a record-breaking surplus. My track record shows that representation of our diverse community is a top priority. Being from a family of immigrants has shown me how truly fortunate I am to be part of the American Dream. Our city is a beautiful patchwork of many races, cultures, religions, and traditions. Over the past two centuries, our Constitution has protected our right to be different, and I have sworn an oath to protect this.
EDUCATIONAL PRIORITIES
The U.S. Department of Education recently released the “Return to School Roadmap,” a resource to support students, schools, educators, and communities as they prepare to return to safe, healthy in-person learning this fall and emerge from the pandemic stronger than before. The Roadmap includes three “landmark” priorities that OVSD will be adopting to ensure all students have the best chance for success in the 2021–22 school year. Prioritizing the health and safety of students, staff, and educators. Building school communities and supporting students’ social, emotional, and mental health. Accelerating academic achievement is number one.
COVID-19 PROTOCOLS
Students returned to in-person learning on September 9, 2020. We are now back to traditional schedules, and OVSD has used multiple strategies to prevent the spread of COVID-19 including physical distancing, good hand washing and respiratory etiquette, and staying home when sick, and getting tested when necessary. CDPH guidelines state that in-person instruction can occur without restrictions at this time with no restrictions, nor requirement for masks.
CLASS SIZE REDUCTION
Studies have shown and I know from personal experience in my own classroom, that class size matters. Students receive more individualized attention and interact more with their teacher if class size is smaller. Teachers have more flexibility to use different instructional approaches with fewer students to focus on. Fewer students are less distracting to each other than a large group of children, behavior of students is improved. Teachers have more time to teach because there are fewer discipline problems. Students are more likely to participate in class and become more involved. Teachers have more time to cover additional material and use more supplementary texts and enrichment activities. Lower class size matters, and that is why when I was elected in 2012, I made it one of my primary goals to bring the high 29:1 ratio for K-3 classes back down. I made good on that promise and lowered class sizes to 27:1. With my re-election, more class size reduction has occurred.
COMMON CORE CURRICULUM
Being a twenty-five year classroom teacher, I have seen educational initiatives come and go. It can seem overwhelming for parents and teachers alike when adjusting to a new set of standards. Parents across the country are trying to make sense of Common Core Standards, a set of academic expectations that call for less focus on memorization and more focus on explaining how solutions are found. The Common Core can be frustrating for students and parents. When parents are frustrated, it’s important that educators listen to them, but they can’t listen unless the parents talk to them. Speak with your child's teacher for assistance, we are here to help.
