The candidates running for Fullerton’s City Council in district five and district three debated on infrastructure during the hour-long forum on Tuesday, hosted by the League of Women Voters of North Orange County.
The candidates that attended from district three were John Ybarra, a local realtor, Arnel Dino, a local business owner and Shana Charles, a Cal State Fullerton professor of public health. The district five candidates that attended were Oscar Valadez, a local construction superintendent, Tony Castro, a former union carpenter and the current district five councilmember Ahmad Zahra.
The candidate forum, held at Fullerton City Hall, happened while the Orange County Registrar of Voters began sending out mail-in ballots for the upcoming midterm elections.
The first subject presented to the candidates was city parks. All six candidates agreed that Fullerton parks are underfunded. Valadez said that a private-public partnership would be a good solution for the lack of funding for parks. Dino agreed and said Fullerton should look at different partnerships to benefit the city.
Charles, the only female candidate, said she noticed the local sports teams use fields in neighboring cities that border Fullerton.
“Where we go for those soccer fields is usually Placentia, Yorba Linda schools,” Charles said. “I am thinking there’s opportunities to partner with our schools. We have Ladera Vista soccer fields, we have our other elementary schools that we can partner with.”
Councilmember Zahra proposed an equity measure that would allow the park dwelling fees to be paid by developers and distributed to the districts. Currently, those fees go towards the general fund where Zahra said they are unfairly distributed.
Ybarra proposed the installation of synthetic grass for parks, which was met with pushback from Castro and Charles.
The candidates were then asked how they would update the roads and aging infrastructure for Fullerton. Councilmember Zahra said the deficit for road repairs is currently at $200 million and the long-term solution is to raise revenue through economic development and increase the tax base.
Charles spoke about the opportunity to receive federal grants to build infrastructure projects for the next generation.
Ybarra agreed on the importance of federal funds for infrastructure but would use state grants and private money to combat the current deficit.
“If we only have a $5 million surplus this year, how is $5 million going to impact the $200 million we need,” Ybarra said.
Valadez said the city should prioritize modernizing the roads if they obtain new funding.
Dino said he would like to see a fiscal audit to investigate where the city can allocate more funds toward roads, in which an audit would help build trust with residents.
Castro said he would find new forms of revenue with taxes on profits and oil extraction fees on crude oil.
“The money is there, so we need to re-shift the money correctly to use it and distribute it correctly, where it needs to be,” Castro said.
Valadez said he is committed to ensuring Fullerton does not permit cannabis dispensaries. He is the only candidate that openly opposed cannabis.
Dino said cannabis dispensaries could be a source of revenue in the city if regulated and permitting dispensaries would close illegal dispensaries faster.
Charles said the cannabis regulations that were passed by the council in 2020 was good governance that made sense for the city. Charles said she would like to see these regulations return.
Councilmember Zahra agreed these regulations should return and used the illegal dispensaries as proof that the cannabis ban is not working.
“We have now illegally operating dispensaries, mostly in district five, next to parks, next to schools, and literally across the street from residential complexes,” Zahra said. “This is irresponsible governance.”
Both Ybarra and Castro said they would be open to having legal dispensaries but would leave the decision to their constituents and what they wanted.
The next event in the election cycle will be a candidate meet-and-greet hosted by Fullerton College, the Neighbors United for Fullerton and the Fullerton Observer. The event will take place at Fullerton College on Monday, Oct. 17, from 5:30-7:30 p.m.
