Southwest Chula Vista residents got to meet their potential city representative Tuesday night at the South Chula Vista Library with June’s general election less than a month away.
Four men are vying for the city council seat that represents residents from I-805 to the Bay and the Montgomery neighborhood.
Retired Escondido Firefighter Mike Diaz, ex-Chula Vista Councilman Rudy Ramirez and elementary school music teacher Emmanuel Soto were all present for Tuesday’s meet and greet. Chula Vista Elementary School District board president Eduardo Reyes was absent from the event because he said he was spending time with his mom on Mexican Mother’s Day.
Each of the three candidates stated why they should represent District 4 residents from the dais.
“Districting gives someone like me an opportunity to stand up against the establishment,” Soto said. “We don’t have a huge special interest backing us. I’m just a local teacher who loves his community who wants to ensure that we grow into a new era. A new era of growth and prosperity that’s good for everyone, not just what’s people in this community but also what’s good for the entire city of Chula Vista.”
Ramirez touted his accomplishments as a former councilman from 2006 through to 2014 which include the demolishing of the South Bay Power Plant.
“I know for a fact that the air in Southwest Chula Vista, the air that we breathe here, is cleaner today than it was before I came into office,” he said. “We tore down that Power Plant. The plume from that Power Plant fell right on Southwest Chula Vista.”
Ramirez said he is against hard-term limits.
Diaz took a jab at Ramirez and said the people should want a new face to represent them, not someone who makes a living from politics.
“There’s people, believe it or not, that will change districts,” he said. “They live in District 4 and then they want to get a job in Sacramento, so they move to the 79th (assembly) district and then they move back to run for this district. I think that is wrong. We are tired of career politicians.”
Diaz said if elected he would make public safety the highest priority in Southwest Chula Vista.
District 4 resident Cathy Soto, who is not related to Emmanuel Soto, said she attended the event to educate herself on the candidates and on issues in the community since she is a new Chula Vista voter, moving into District 4 two-years ago.
She said as a mother to an elementary school child her chief concern is public safety.
“Chula Vista is a beautiful community, but here on the Westside, compared to where I work in Eastlake, there is more crime,” she said. I lived in San Ysidro for a year and a half and everybody would say be careful that’s a ghetto neighborhood. I loved it and I had no problem. Now I’m here in Chula Vista, in a better neighborhood with a better house, I’ve seen more crime.”
She said she still needs to research and get more educated on the candidates, but left very impressed with both Diaz and Soto.
