Get the facts on the California candidates running for election to the Consejo Municipal, Distrito 7 — Ciudad de San Diego
Find out their top 3 priorities, their experience, and who supports them.
Scroll down to "Find Candidates and Measures by Election", choose "03/03/2020 Primary Election", expand plus sign by "Candidates", then contest.; click on names to see filings.
Raul is a former public elementary school teacher born and raised in San Diego to local business owners who taught him the value of hard work and honesty. After graduating Linda Vista’s Uni High and Harvard, Raul went to work teaching in one of America’s poorest public school districts before returning to Harvard for Law School. He worked to re-elect President Obama in 2012 and for Hillary Clinton in 2016.
Today, as a Prosecutor in the City Attorney’s office, Raul is keeping us safe. He’s one of only 4 Deputy City Attorneys authorized to obtain Gun Violence Restraining Orders to get guns out of the hands of domestic abusers or others who threaten our safety or their own. And when he lost his only brother to the opioid epidemic, Raul honored his memory by fighting to give a voice to every family and every victim touched by drugs or violence. No wonder he’s endorsed by the California and San Diego County Democratic Party. Join Raul and Renew Our City.
Housing Affordability: I believe that the city council must reduce financial barriers towards new construction. Construction costs have increased dramatically, and this is largely due to the amount of time it takes to navigate the complex and lengthy approval process. As a result, housing projects take too long to complete to the point they become financial untenable. I believe that the city must streamline the construction process, as well as reducing permit fees, in order to encourage new construction. Additionally, we must have regulatory predictability. Developers, unions, and financiers all want predictability, not changing of the rules in the middle of a project. The city council should promote rules and policies so that the repeat players in building our homes do not get blindsides by changes, thereby engendering mistrust amongst the parties and putting future development at risk.
Homelessness: I have addressed homelessness in the other question; please read my response to see why I believe that it is one of the three biggest challenges facing our region in this decade.
Infrastructure: we have to get our bridges, roads, sidewalks, and sewers repaired immediately, otherwise we are facing continued traffic and safety concerns, as well as pollution that will put us in serious trouble of people getting sick and hefty penalties in terms of Clean Water Act violations. This requires enormous lobbying for the county, state, and federal governments to get involved and assist us, because the City alone cannot shoulder such a burden, and the problem is regional, not just specific to the City of San Diego. However, I would use my office to push for even quicker undergrounding of wires in our communities, as that is something the city can handle much more quickly.
I am Deputy City Attorney and prosecutor, and thus, I am a city employee who works on issues of homelessness, public safety, crime prevention, combatting drug addiction, and gun violence, alongside members of the police department and others. I work to address the issues that our political leadership has failed to address. I am regularly working with public defenders and defense attorneys to find the appropriate diversion programs for individuals with drug addiction, lack of housing, and unemployment. From this position as a city employee, I also know the various city agencies and their scope of authority, as well as key leaders who work on our biggest problems.
As a former teacher at a Title I school in the urban neighborhood, I taught and mentored students facing housing instability and other quality of life issues: the lack of resources in health care, nutrition, technology, transportation, and access to government services. I had to serve the entire family, and my experience provides me with important context and insight into serving and addressing working class’ issues.
Lastly, as a former associate at a major law firm, I focused mostly on corporate investigations. I investigated companies in the pharmaceutical, energy, automotive, and health care industries and have a unique perspective on their litigation and financial workings. This experience prepares me to scrutinize contracts and lobbying, and to pinpoint their unspoken interests in San Diego. From this experience, I can better protect the public interest and ensure the council conducts proper oversight of companies that want to work with the City of San Diego.
The way we are going to address the housing crisis is to build more units and provide the correct services to those who are struggling to stay on their feet economically. Various calculations say we need around 150,000 more units, depending on the report, to meet the housing needs. The lack of supply means the price is too high for most working class and lower-middle class individuals, much more so for those living in poverty, to live close to their work. Permanent supportive housing is a key component to the solution that will likely require county-city collaboration to provide the services that go with housing for homeless individuals. I am proud of the work I’ve done at the City Attorney’s office to support homeless defendants who need immediate shelter and then services to get back on their feet—but they shouldn’t have to be in the criminal justice system first to achieve that. It should already exist. In order to do this in a way that balances the right and needs of all, we should employ best practices that we can learn from other cities and countries, which means a creative solution that includes multiple types of housing at low cost.
By utilizing many different levers to solve the problem, we can see which solutions work best and pivot to the ones that have the greatest success, saving taxpayer dollars and housing our homeless population most quickly to help ensure they receive other critical services. Homelessness is sometimes a result of mental health challenges, drug addiction challenges, criminal records preventing employment, economic challenges, and some homeless individuals are escaping from domestic abuse and violence. Each of these types of individuals needs a different approach, and so we should not employ one-size-fits-all programs when it won't be productive, efficient, or a good use of money.
"Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future." - John F. Kennedy
Local government should be the avenue for every citizen to be heard and every official to be held accountable; the mechanism to preserve the common good, not the private interest; and the representative body that brings the best minds together to deliver the best solutions. In this way, we build and preserve a safe and free community for everyone. And even though it is merely local, it should still be about a vision for the community where we raise our children and a place we can be proud to call home.
Monty first lived in San Diego from 1962 to 1966. His family returned to San Diego in 1969 when his father, a Navy pilot, was promoted to command a squadron. After graduating from Coronado High School. Monty earned a Bachelor's degree from UCSD and a law degree from the University of San Diego School of Law.
Monty has been practicing law in San Diego since 1980. He served as president of the San Diego County Bar Association in 2002, and as president of the San Diego Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates in 2014. Since 2001, Monty has been using his problem-solving skills to settle disputes as a professional mediator and to decide legal issues as an arbitrator and referee.
Monty helped raise three daughters and has lived in Tierrasanta since 2006. After running several successful small businesses focused on law and mediation, Monty wants to give back to our City and make it a better place for future generations.
As a mediator, arbitrator, civil attorney and past president of the San Diego County Bar Association I have always used critical analysis to determine the best answers and best approaches to difficult problems and issues. What we need to do is first get all of the facts, then get expert analysis (including the disagreements among experts), next find out if there are any best practices that someone else has developed, then evaluate all potential unintended consequences of different possible solutions, and finally make the decision that is in the public interest, not the politically expedient one.
Our top priority should be to help the transitory homeless get off the street and back to housing and work. These are the folks we can help the most and the fastest. San Diego can provide more safe parking areas for them, and it can work with churches, synagogues and other non-profits to provide additional similar safe parking areas.
We should develop civilian conservation corps type job training programs for able-bodied homeless folks to help them develop job skills. This will give them a hand-up instead of a hand-out.
For homeless folks with mental illness or substance abuse issues, or both, we should work with the state and federal governments to get their help in providing housing with supportive services.
We need to develop sufficient shelter space, both public and private, to be able to enforce our laws to prevent homeless encampments on the streets.
We should work to repeal Props 47 and 57 because an unintended consequence of these propositions is they have made the homelessness problem worse.
Monty is a moderate, centrist who is fiscally conservative. He believes we need to be good stewards of our taxpayer's hard-earned money. Monty believes we should talk to one another, listen to one another. learn from one another and work with one another to figure out the best answers and solve problems for the benefit all San Diegans, especially our hard-working taxpayers.
A video introducing Monty McIntyre
San Diego City Hall is Broken. Politicians keep using San Diego as a stepping-stone to higher office instead of addressing San Diego's problems. Monty McIntyre will not seek higher office in Sacramento or Washington. He will spend his time in San Diego addressing your needs.
Noli Zosa is a small business owner, community advocate and candidate for San Diego City Council’s district 7, where he has lived for nearly three decades.
Noli, the son of immigrants, obtained both his undergraduate and law school degrees from the University of San Diego. While at USD, he served for 3 years as the Student Director of a Legal Resource Center that USD School of Law operated in the Bayside Community Center to assist low income San Diegans with their housing issues. After graduation, he joined his family's business where he managed a boutique bed and breakfast, wedding facility, and guava tree ranch. In 2008, he became a founding partner of the well known local restaurant chain, Dirty Birds. Noli has helped expand his company to four locations with one additional planned expansion in the next year. Dirty Birds employs over a 140 people and has won numerous awards both locally and nationally.
As a business owner, Noli has seen firsthand how overbearing taxes and regulations can affect the ability to create new jobs and grow a business. He believes our local government should work to facilitate a strong economy, so all our residents can have the opportunity to succeed. In order to ensure a strong future, San Diego must make smart investments in our infrastructure and public safety, while protecting tax dollars.
Over the years, Noli has served on numerous city and community boards, commissions, and organizations. His experience in both the private and public sector, along with his dedication to the community will make him a strong voice for District 7.
Our government should use tax dollars efficiently and wisely.
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