On Feb. 7, Delta College hosted the first forum for mayoral candidates and Stockton City Council for District 2. The event was held at the Dawn Mabalon forum. The primary elections will take place on March 5.
The League of Women Voters of San Joaquin County and Delta’s Political Science department organized the event and divided it into two parts for the local candidates. The forum started at 6 p.m. and was scheduled to end at 8 p.m.
STOCKTON MAYOR
Six candidates are running for Stockton mayor: Jesus Andrade, Christina Fugazi, Jessica Velvez, Tom Patti, Shakeel Ahmed and Dan Wright. However, the event’s first half seated five of the candidates. Shakeel Ahmed did not make an appearance.
Some of the candidates have been part of the city’s politics.
Jesus Andrade was a city council member from 2017 to 2020. He is also the CEO of the San Joaquin County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
Christina Fugazi was Stockton’s former Vice Mayor and city council member from 2015 to 2022. She is currently assistant principal at Stagg High School.
Jessica Velvez is a non-profit owner of Red Rabbit Advocacy. The organization is to help support individuals who suffer from homelessness and housing instability in San Joaquin County.
Tom Patti served on the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors for District 3. He was also a businessman, he owned his family business the Delta Cranes.
Dan Wright has served the City of Stockton as city council and as vice mayor since 2015. He is currently the councilman of District 2.
Panelist Aaron Leathly from the Stockton Record asked the candidates what is the most important infrastructure issues and explain the solutions with financing.
“One of the biggest infrastructures that people see day to day or at least complain about day to day,” said Fugazi. “Has to do with our roads, the potholes… We have funds. We have transportation funds from SB1. And I will tell you again, we are getting less and paying more. This city used to have a stack and public works that would repay the entire city on a cycle.”
“What I would encourage,” said Velvez. “Is even expanding more. What I hear from a lot of people is struggling to make it to work every day. That these bus lines do not provide reasonable hours of access for people to get back and forth to jobs.”
“To vacant buildings in this city,” said Wright. “And people are just dropping the buildings here. They’re not using them. They’re writing them up as tax write-offs. The biggest issue we have is we got to get all of our buildings occupied…”
“Let’s talk about our wastewater,” said Patti. “Water supplies downtown is antiquated. We need to upgrade. Stockton is on the cusp of massive expansion and interest and investment. I’ve talked to different developers outside of this region. There’s a lot of interest coming here, including industrial development all for jobs.”
“I think Van Buskirk [Park] is one of our biggest opportunity projects that we have,” said Andrade. “It’s about a hundred-plus acres that we own. If we include that as an infrastructure project. One of them moving to infrastructure projects… is the waterfront. The second project is the airport. I think that is a jewel that we’re just under-utilizing.”
The fifth question, Leathly asks the candidates is what is their understanding of homelessness and their solution to it.
“This is first and foremost, a humanitarian crisis,” said Patti. “It didn’t self-correct. We have a drug epidemic, their mental services. And we have people that are stranded and stuff with people that are relocated. And they’re here… San Joaquin County funded 50, 60 million dollars to build shelters. That’s another tool in the toolbox.”
“The truth is, is that there needs to be a coordinated approach,” said Andrade. “With the state, federal approach. For sure with the state and the county. What we need right now is to have a mayor who could work across party lines, right. Work across the different silos.”
“We have a regional plan,” said Fugazi. “The council was part of it, we hired a consultant and an out-of-area consultant in order to put that together… At some point, we need to put things we need to do things… It’s about having those mental health beds for individuals. It is about having more substance to be fed to the people. You cannot do it in 60 or 90 days.”
“Firstly, our neighboring communities have all implemented programs,” said Velvez. “Stockton has not. We continue to fund an old shelter model that is not working. There’s people that have been at the St. Mary’s shelter for seven years and they’re not progressing out into their own life… This is dear to my heart. I have experience being homeless after a 25-year career of being a paralegal. I lived in a trailer for three years on a friend’s landscape. So I understand what people go through out there.”
“People become unhoused for a lot of different reasons,” said Wright. “Financial reasons, lack of resources, mental illness. There are quite a few that do have drug and alcohol issues. The encampments are everywhere in our city. They’re not just in one place, no part of the city is immune. We pass in ordnance, protecting critical infrastructure. We were looking predominantly at the schools and our levees, that were places that needed protection.”
STOCKTON CITY COUNCIL DISTRICT 2
The last half of the event featured candidates for the District 2 seat which covers the east side of Hammer Lane, Swain Road, and March Lane areas.
Only four candidates are running for this position: Mariela Ponce, Pamela Pettis-Houston, Anthony Silva and Waqar Rizvi. However, Mariela Ponce and Pamela Pettis-Houston did not participate.
Anthony Silva was Stockton’s former mayor in 2013 to 2017. He caused a spectacle when he was caught misusing city funds for personal reasons. Silva is running to redeem himself to Stockton.
Waqar Rizvi served as Delta College’s student body and received a Bachelor’s degree in business at University of Pacific (UOP).
Panelist Cindy Milford from the League of Women Voters San Joaquin County asks how the candidates will build consensus as a city council member with other members.
“The folks and stuff that don’t understand,” said Silva. “That they think this is a strong mayor form of government rather than a city manager control form of government. So it’s very easy if you have this great vision, and you have enthusiasm when you want to make these changes. Without the folks who donate all the money to the politicians that run for office. It’s hard to get some of that stuff done.”
“I think the biggest thing as a city council member is to build consensus,” said Rizvi. “Without consensus, it’s very difficult… Everybody who runs for office is, for a reason to make the city a better city for everyone… We are accountable to people. We are accountable to our district. I wanna make sure that consensus can be reached out. It’s not about people being right.”
The event was sponsored by the League of Women Voters of San Joaquin County, Delta College, the Business Council of San Joaquin County, the Greater Stockton Chamber of Commerce, CSU Stanislaus (Stockton campus), the African American Chamber of Commerce, San Joaquin County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Central Valley Asian American Chamber of Commerce, NAACP and the Stockton Record.