By Ana Gomez Salcido
A group of 25 people from Chula Vista’s District 4 got together to ask Chula Vista’s City Council to amend the rules to require a candidate for a district seat to have a long-term residency requirement to run.
“I’m horrified that we have a candidate that has lived in the Southwestern area of Chula Vista for seven months in an apartment on Moss Street,” said District 4 resident, Teresa Acerro. “He knows nothing about the community and has not been involved in the community.”
In the November 2012 ballot, Chula Vista voters approved amending the City Charter to require that City Council Members be elected by geographic district, beginning with the 2016 elections, but any long-term residency requirements were not established.
“We need someone that is going to stand up for our community, not for the city as a whole,” added Acerro.
Rick Montanez, a resident of District 4 for 20 years, said that the 2012 measure was approved because the people wanted district representation.
“When you live for at least three years in the community you know what’s happening. We need someone that understands the characteristics of the community and knows what we face every day, like what our children face when they go to school,” said the Southwestern Chula Vista resident, Aurora Murillo-Clark.
Larry Breitfelder, a participant of the group seeking the amendment, said a group needs to be established to verify the residency of each of the candidates running for district seats.
“City Council members need to do something about it. If they don’t, we need to put this problem in the spotlight because it’s a violation of our public trust,” added Breitfelder.
District 4 resident Tino Martinez said that they want to establish a minimum residency of four years for candidates running for a district seat.
“You can’t make a change if you are a visitor in our community,” said Martinez.