Get the facts on the California candidates running for election to the Council Member, District 3 — City of Oceanside
Find out their top 3 priorities, their experience, and who supports them.
In this Candidate Forum co-sponsored with the Oceanside Public Library, learn about the views of candidates for Oceanside City Council Districts 3 and 4 in the November 3, 2020 election. Recorded 10/8/2020
Encourage this candidate to share their information on Voter's Edge.
Councilmember Ryan Keim was appointed to the Oceanside City Council in January 2019, to complete the last two years of a Council seat vacated as a result of the transition to district elections.
Ryan Keim has spent a majority of his career in service to the citizens of Oceanside. Keim was a Lifeguard at City of Oceanside pools during college, and graduated from California State University San Marcos with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science.
In 2005, Ryan served on the Police and Fire Commission until he joined the Oceanside Police Department in 2006. While with the Oceanside Police Department (OPD), Ryan worked in numerous assignments including the Neighborhood Policing Team and the Gang Suppression Unit. As a member of the Neighborhood Policing Team, Ryan partnered with various community groups throughout the city to address quality of life issues that often required creative and time-intensive solutions. Additionally, Ryan had the opportunity to work with students in vulnerable neighborhoods to prioritize education and healthy extra-curricular activities. After suffering an on-duty injury, Ryan retired medically as a sworn officer and became the Public Information Officer for the Oceanside Police Department.
Ryan then had the opportunity to join San Diego County Sheriff's Department as the Public Affairs Director and primary spokesperson. As a member of the Sheriff's Executive Management Team, he oversaw the Department of Media Relations at one of the largest sheriff's departments in the country.
As an Oceanside Councilmember, Keim has led efforts that reduced crime, delivered balanced budgets and increased transparency and trust in our government. He brought forward a term limit coming to this fall's ballot, a first-ever ordinance for short-term rentals, a second Homeless Outreach Team, a policy towards making our budget motels more family friendly among other efforts. In response to Covid, Ryan worked with City Staff to implement policies that aggressively addressed the health crisis while simultaneously working with small businesses to develop creative solutions including the creation of the Economic Recovery Task Force and the connection of surplus food from local restaurants together with Oside Kitchen Collaborative to create a program to feed food-insecure families and seniors affected by the health crisis.
Councilmember Ryan Keim has been an Oceanside resident for over thirty years and lives in District 3 with his wife, a school-based occupational therapist, and their young daughter.
As an Oceanside City Councilmember, I have led efforts that have reduced crime, delivered balanced budgets and increased transparency and trust in our government. I will continue to protect taxpayer money, make public safety my priority, and partner with our community to improve our quality of life while preserving Oceanside’s unique character.
The homeless crisis is one of the most pressing issues facing our City and we need to confront it head-on using a compassionate but tough approach to provide critical services to those that will accept them but also address crime associated with the crisis.
Additionally, delivering a balanced city budget, and improving the daily quality of life for our residents is very important to me. The COVID health crisis has only compounded these issues going forward and it is more vital than ever to elect the most qualified leaders to keep our city moving.
Small businesses are the backbone of our economy and vital to the success of Oceanside. It is crucial our City creates an environment in which business can thrive and this has been a priority since my appointment to council.
Let's continue to work together and support each other - to make Oceanside the safest and most livable beach town in California.
Short video regarding background and qualifications for Ryan Keim for Oceanside City Council District 3
South Oceanside, home for more than forty years, is where she and her late husband Brooks raised their children.
Shari takes pride in the accomplishments she made for the benefit of Oceanside, achieved through her strong Oceanside community relationships and the respect she has earned in working with public agencies such as Coastal Commission, Coastal Conservancy, NCTD, and Caltrans - agencies that have so much influence on what the Oceanside government can and cannot achieve. She knows the value of collaborative work and meaningful public input.
Shari began her twenty-six year teaching career in the 1990's transitioning Oceanside's students, especially those in high-risk groups, into the twenty-first century using a unique combination of educational experience and technology. She is dedicated to enthusiastic and dynamic teaching as a means of creating and nurturing a life-long love of learning in children. Shari has a bachelor’s degree and holds a Master of Arts in Education along with multiple teaching credentials and certifications. She has recently retired from a successful teaching career with Oceanside Unified School District and continues to serve her community in many capacities.
Shari shops local and supports small business throughout Oceanside. Shari is Oceanside. It is her life! It has been her life passion to serve her beloved Oceanside communities.
Three groups come to mind – Vista Community Clinic Project Reach (VCC), Resilience, and newly formed citizen group Oceanside Justice Coalition (OJC). While working with students in high-risk groups, I worked with mentors from Project Reach supporting students who struggled in school and in the neighborhood. We monitored students’ progress and created individual plans for students who needed additional support academically and emotionally. Several of the students who attended Project Reach were students who had been incarcerated at one time or another. Additionally, Resilience has a pulse on the community and works as mentors to students who are incarcerated helping them graduate from high school and transitioning back into the community and on to high education. Finally, newly formed Oceanside Justice Coalition was formed as a result of the Black Lives Matter movement. I’ve supported having a citizen’s committee to review cases of excess force, and support OJC model for creating the committee.
This will take a lot of planning and coordination and I would look to our regional partners, possibly the League of California Cities, and SANDAG (transportation needs) to brainstorm how we can work together to keep people from falling through the cracks. We would have to look at housing and providing services. Continue any educational and counseling programs currently running for inmates to ensure there are no gaps in their progress.
As we know, there are many reasons for homeless and one size does not fit all. I would like to look at having social workers be the first contact with our unsheltered population so that all unsheltered are met with highly trained social workers who are best suited to provide a plan for the individual or family. Provide housing and services (day centers for example) is a must as without the combination and services tailed to the need, we will not address the root of the need. I also believe we need to work with the region to address how we can support one another as homelessness is not limited to zip code, it is in every community in North County and with a tight budget ahead, planning to share services might be key.
Shari shares her thoughts on the future of Oceanside.
Hailing from Wyoming, which is officially known as The Equality State, Amber learned the value of compassion, hard work, and personal sacrifice early in life. Amber credits this foundation with preparing her to be a self-made entrepreneur, engaged activist, and an involved mom. Ever since arriving in Oceanside 15 years ago, Amber has made it her mission to give back to the community in a meaningful way.
Amber started her first business in 1999 selling women’s clothing and shoes online, and moved that business to Oceanside in 2005. As the former owner of A Soothing Seed cannabis nursery, a non profit mutual benefit corporation, Amber has fought tirelessly for patient’s rights to safe access to cannabis based medications. Her willingness to fight for the needs of Oceansiders is severely lacking in our current council, and Amber hopes to be the driving force in producing positive and lasting change for the better.
As a member of the Oceanside Charitable Foundation and board member of the Oceanside Cultural Arts Foundation Amber is deeply involved in supporting local nonprofits that enrich the community and in increasing the visibility of our thriving local art scene. She and her partner David are also regular donors to the Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship Fund which helps Oceanside’s next generation of community leaders meet their goals of attaining a college education.
Amber is proud to note that her son Cameron is amongst the next generation of local small business owners. In order to protect and promote that future for Cameron and all of our children, Amber is making strides to ensure that our city is gearing our economic development efforts toward encouraging the success and proliferation of locally owned small business.
Amber currently resides in the Fire Mountain area with her partner David.
I support the creation of a citizen’s commission to monitor and address the practices of our city’s police department in order to foster a closer bond between residents and those law enforcement personnel who are duty bound to protect and serve them. Many council candidates this cycle share my goal of standing up a commission of this nature, but all slightly differ on its eventual area of responsibility and execution of duties.
What I envision for this commission is a body with the authority to independently investigate citizen complaints regarding the conduct of officers in the performance of their duties. Having the insight and perspective of formerly incarcerated residents on such a commission could prove invaluable in determining what constitutes an abuse of power or an infraction against community trust.
Oceanside currently has 15 commissions on issue areas ranging from the arts, to economic development, and city planning, many of which have positions created for (and available to) members of the general public regardless of their life experience.
We must set those being released up for success by connecting them with employment opportunities and transitional services to help them go on to be productive, contributing members of society. If a job isn’t available, if they don’t have a stable place to call home, if they still suffer from substance abuse or untreated mental health conditions then we can expect recidivism that only puts them back into the system with the threat of infection they were released to prevent. This makes no sense.
One ready source of employment is with labor organizations who offer paid apprenticeships. It’s well documented that there is a shortfall of workers in many blue-collar fields. There is no reason why someone deemed suitable for release couldn’t turn their life around as a plumber, electrician, carpenter, or in another trade where training is available. In all cases, these opportunities pay a livable wage and offer top shelf healthcare and retirement benefits as well.
Unfortunately, a lack of available affordable housing continues to impact all Californians. However, I believe there are opportunities to get many of those released into transitional housing programs. It’ll be a stretch for our limited resources, but it is the only choice. Once their basic needs for shelter and sustenance are addressed, we can begin to work on uplifting the whole person. Helping them through any other personal difficulties they may be facing by connecting them with counseling or mentoring opportunities.
Lack of Affordable Housing
The state has mandated that Oceanside must build 5,400+ housing units (across all price ranges) within the next 9 years. That much is out of our hands. However, it’s imperative that we retain local control of our city’s growth by meeting that requirement. Doing so will allow us to decide what type of projects are built and where. We will be able to make requirements of developers and improve Oceanside on their dime, instead of on the backs of working families.
To ensure that we have housing units in the low and very low-income categories we must also end our city’s practice of allowing developers to pay in-lieu fees instead of building affordable units. That would be a small step in the right direction.
Environmental Protection
Oceanside residents are deeply concerned about our diminishing open space. With consideration to the fact that we must build more housing, I believe that residents will rightly grow more concerned as this space continues to decrease. What we build going forward must also suit our needs to feel connected to nature and can't threaten our pristine agricultural lands.
By designing communities that are walkable, putting more resources into our parks, and protecting ecologically sensitive habitats we will be able to address those concerns while ensuring that residents have homes they can afford here in Oceanside.
Protecting our open space is not the only environmental concern Oceanside is facing. Not by a longshot. There are a myriad of others including sand erosion, reducing GHG emissions, and decreasing water consumption to name a few. That's why I believe that environmental concerns will dominate Oceanside’s political future, and I’d like to start making a difference now.
Economic Development
Development is a buzzword for everything that’s bad this election season, and for good reason. Historically developing one aspect means sacrificing in another. This doesn’t have to be the case. Our city spent hundreds of thousands of dollars drafting an agri-tourism plan that has yet to be put to fruition.
A thriving agri-tourism sector would create jobs and additional revenues while insisting on the protection of our remaining open space. Developing this sector would answer a lot of the questions which are plaguing our current council. They just don’t seem to realize it.
Green tourism, farm-to-table dining, wineries, bed and breakfasts, local farming, and environmentally conscious arts and crafts are what people want. Oceanside should be the city that capitalizes on the way people interact with our world in the 21st century.
We must grow our business sector and look out for residents by actively recruiting companies that provide good paying jobs. We shouldn’t be waiting on them to find us; we need to start proactively shaping the future of Oceanside’s business community.
And most importantly we need to support our locally owned and operated small businesses. These businesses help to craft the character that makes Oceanside unique and that is without a doubt worth protecting.
I believe that my history of being the community’s voice, speaking truth to power at our council meetings for longer now than a city council term lasts, demonstrates my commitment to acting to address these issues. If elected, I will be able to act instead of encouraging others to take action and watching as the will of my neighbors falls on deaf ears.
I will fight for Oceanside to keep our city healthy and prosperous despite the ravages of Coronavirus as I have done in my own local business. And as with my family’s business, I will do so without sacrificing our standards and while protecting our bottom line.
My personal and professional experience as a philanthropist, as an advocate, as a mom, and as an entrepreneur is exactly what I bring to the table. A voice that is reflective of who Oceansiders are. One with a grasp of the issues and the knowledge and desire to resolve those issues.
Homelessness is a regional problem which will require regional solutions to resolve. I believe that the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), a metropolitan planning organization for the County with members from all county city’s councils, needs to take a more active role in dealing with homelessness countywide. This could happen in a variety of ways including coordinating resources and allocating those resources by need as some cities deal with more homelessness than others, yet the problem impacts us all.
What we do with those resources is simple. We put them to work creating transitional and permanent housing opportunities, substance abuse treatment, mental health counseling, and other services that help people get back on their feet and remain self-sufficient.
Across the county, as well as here in Oceanside we have established public/private partnerships to address homelessness, but in many cases, we have not enforced performance metrics, and many individuals remain reliant on these programs for support years after being contacted. We need to enforce standards that help people succeed and that honor the commitment from local taxpayers by making the most of their money.
My political philosophy, especially with regards to serving on Oceanside City Council, is that we are all neighbors. We all face the same problems. We just have different ideas about how to solve those problems.
I see our potential to accomplish great things if we confront our problems as a unified front of neighbors who value common sense, viable solutions, and collaboration above all else. By putting aside politicized points of view and focusing on improving our quality of life we will find out that we have much more in common than there is separating us.
I hope to make Oceanside a city where the voices of residents are truly valued and heard. I believe that leadership means you should do a lot more listening than you do talking. Oceanside residents will tell us what type of city they want to live in, and it is the job of our council to find the means to deliver on that expectation.
My vision for Oceanside’s future is of a welcoming, inclusive city where hardworking people are able to enjoy their success and families can own their piece of the American Dream. I believe that that is possible if we elect a City Council which is willing to do what it takes to make it happen.
Amber Newman has been an engaged coimmunity advocate for over half a decade, speaking truth to power and making sure that working families have a voice at city hall. Amber hopes to build on this commitment as your district 3 council member. A philanthropist at heart, Amber has poured herself into helping the community with her work for a nu,mber of organizations including the LGBT Resource Center, Oceandie Charoitable Foundation, Oceanside Culktural Arts Foundatiuon, and more. This November don't vote for yet another politician. Vote for your neighbor, an entreprenuer, philanthroipist, advocate. Vote Amber for Oceanside District 3.
Kellie Davis is a business woman, award-winning writer, producer, and filmmaker, with a passion for community engagement and the cultural arts. She moved to Oceanside in 2014 from the Los Angeles area. She is married to Samuel Davis III, an Air Force Veteran and Department of Justice retiree. Fairly immediately, Kellie put money in the City’s pocket by co-producing an award-winning short film, Between Shifts, shot in Oceanside and Carlsbad.
Since then, Kellie has been deeply involved in leading and facilitating community relations as a producer with a local television station in Oceanside, KOCT. Through her role as a producer, Kellie has had the opportunity to work directly with community leaders becoming well-versed on local issues and being respected for her balanced views.
Kellie is running as an Independent Candidate for the Oceanside City Council (District 3). Her vision for City Council is to bring more social equity to the Council and shift the City Council to a non-partisan, independent body, dedicated to serving the greater community, no matter party affiliation or socio-economic status. Kellie is running to give voice to the communities who have been historically underrepresented in government, to support policies for economic growth and renewal, to encourage Oceanside citizens to create new revenue streams for their households, and re-imagine public services by proactively identifying the needs of the community to develop solutions that allow for community members to feel safe when moving about town.
Kellie graduated from Eastern Michigan University with a degree in Telecommunications and Journalism. Young adult life was spent in New York as a community advocate and teaching artist for Hospital Audiences, Inc. (HAI), where she facilitated workshops in jails, detention centers, schools, behavioral health facilities, and shelters. Trained in leading workshops and navigating NYC’s underserved populations, Kellie developed an appreciation for all perspectives, and valuable skills for addressing sensitive topics to help raise social awareness, around issues like housing readiness/security, violence prevention, and HIV/AIDS awareness.
In 2010, the Robey Theatre Company in conjunction with The Los Angeles Theatre Center, produced Kellie's play, “Transitions: A Trilogy of One-Act Plays.” Transitions received five NAACP Theatre nominations, winning the 2011 NAACP Theatre Award for Best Playwright Local and Best Ensemble. Kellie has been formally acknowledged and recognized for her commitment and dedication to exploring and developing work supporting cultural diversity and advocacy.
Kellie wants to work with all citizens of Oceanside to “Imagine a Brighter Future” for the city, residents, businesses, and visitors to create a community where there is equal opportunity to thrive.
I am open to hearing from community members who currently are, or, formerly incarcerated. As a big advocate for social equity, it is important for me to remain open to listening to a variety of perspectives when deciding on matters that effect all of us as citizens.
What would that look like? I think voting yes, on Proposition 17 is a step in the direction of including formerly incarcerated individuals in the decision-making process of our government, as well as aligning and supporting organizations who are already doing the work, like the Tariq Khamisa Foundation.
With 8,000 people eligible for release from CA prisons to help stem the transmission of COVID-19, how, if at all, would your office aid these Californians and their families in navigating reentry?
One:
The long-term and short-term effects of COVID-19 on household income. We are in uncharted territory, therefore, it is important to acknowledge the health and safety impacts of COVID-19 in moving forward when deciding on policies for our region. I will use the office to identify funding; explore and strategize how to support our current local businesses and workers, and explore how to encourage and support the creation of new revenue streams for our households.
Two:
Identifying funding to continue being compliant with the State of California GHG emissions reduction measures to which the City has committed itself. While campaigning I identified grant funding for the City's goal of adopting EV infrastructures and charging stations. In moving forward it is my intention to continue identifying grants for the City, as well as identifying grants for our citizens that promote incentives for eco-friendly initiatives. In alignment with the City’s commitment to environmental justice, I will do what it takes to also get feedback from our citizens on where/how to implement CAP initiatives, like the building EV infrastructures.
Three:
Addressing our housing insecure population, and strategizing creative and innovative solutions to help end the cycle of housing insecurity. We can do this by identifying those organizations who are already doing the work with some success like, Oceanside Homeless Resource and the Homeless Veterans of San Diego, and identify funding to help those organizations. We can also address this as citizens by looking at our housing insecure community members with care, instead of contempt, and donate money and/or time directly to those organizations who are currently serving our housing insecure population. Our housing insecure crisis will not be solved by our City Councils across our region alone, it is going to take a concerted effort by all of us in San Diego County to address and rectify this ever growing crisis.
My skill set as an organizer and producer has equipment me with the experience and ability to execute the duties as Councilwoman Davis. As a Black woman, my presence and your vote will help bring the much needed social equity that is currently lacking on the Oceanside City Council; as well as fresh, innovative ideas to carry us through this next decade.
In acknowledging the importance of paying attention to the dollars and cents of a City’s budget, it is equally, if not more important, to listen, serve, engage, and be able to articulate the different perspectives from the citizens of Oceanside. As illuminated in the Oceanside Justice Coalition package, equity occurs when differences such as ethnicity, religion, gender, economic status, sexual orientation/gender identification, race, language, and age do not determine a person’s political, social, or economic access.
I have spent most of my adult life volunteering and working with, or for, nonprofit organizations, like: OCAF, where I have served as a Board Member and the Outreach Coordinator; KOCT, a non-profit television station in Oceanside, where I spent the last five years working as a producer of our local programming.
Working in the community in this way has allowed me to build wonderful and valuable relationships, earning the trust within our community with local leaders and our citizens alike.
Right now our campaign has demonstrated our ability and success in meeting each of our campaign priorities in word and deed: We have identified funding for eco-friendly initiatives (see YouTube video with Valerie Grant); We have identified public service opportunities to help foster healthy community relationships between our police department and the greater community (see YouTube video De-stressing the police); I have helped strategize, explore, and identify possible new revenue streams for community members (see YouTube video “The Jackie Story,” and the video with David Zumaya).
Many of these videos are available to you here on the Voter’s Edge website. You can also log onto the Kellie Davis for Oceanside YouTube account:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCw7XzoxIAMNLW219_40bw3A
It is important to approach our housing insecurity crisis with care and concern, instead of contempt. With a "care" perspective in mind, it is crucial to first identify the many complexities around housing insecure like: falling wages, income inequality, behavioral health, and addiction; then support and reinforce those organizations that are already doing the work to addresses some of the causes.
In balancing the rights and needs of all, we may need to ask our citizens to become more involved to collectively solve, and break the cycle of housing insecurity, asking for more community involvement at their level of comfort. Perhaps giving financial donations to an organization that is addressing this issue, or volunteering time or services, or, if you are a homeowner, contemplate building an accessory dwelling unit, or, a tiny home on your property. Neighborhood by neighborhood, together with our City leaders and the big businesses who resides within our county, we can come together, plan and strategize efforts on how to humanly address our housing insecure population in our region.
We must keep in mind we are all one circumstance, or, one natural disaster away from finding ourselves without a home.
Kellie Davis, candidate for Oceanside City Council District #3 presents her candidate statement listing her prioties to help Imagine A Brighter Future for Oceanside.
Bill P of Henie Hills speaks about working with Kellie Davis in the television business.
Kellie Davis, candidate for Oceanside City Council District #3, speaks with Tina Fitzgerald of Communitea Yoga located in South O, about offering yoga to our law enforcement officers as a way of helping to alleviate stress.
Featured on this clip is Kellie Davis, candidate for Oceanside City Council District #3, discussing her priority of supporting local business through economic development and growth. The Jackie Story is an example of how we can begin to shift our mindset into creating new opportunities and revenue streams for our households, and support economic growth and development in our community.
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