2 contested races for Redwood City Council

Reddy looks to return to council — she served a term from 2018-22 — and is running on a similar premise of being a “housing, economic and environmental justice sort of person.” 

While Reddy said she would be a councilmember for all — stating many systemic issues affect constituents beyond the bounds of District 7 — Padilla feels there are district-specific matters that need to be addressed.

“Our District 7 has some serious needs that have gone unaddressed for a while and I feel very in touch with our community and feel ready to represent those needs on council,” Padilla said. 

Through both her time on council and through community organizing, Reddy believes her persistence is why she is “responsible for many of the hundreds of extremely-low-income housing units that are in the pipeline in Redwood City.” 

Padilla noted the need to have housing of all types, and said making the permitting process for renovations and other housing adjustments simpler would be a focus of hers. 

“Everything is more expensive the longer you wait, so I don’t know why we don’t just work on making things more efficient,” Padilla said. 

Making city services, in general, more efficient is a focus of Padilla’s, who said she wants people to be invested and use their time wisely. 

“When a staff is inefficient, it’s because they don’t have the resources they need,” Padilla said. “There are antiquated processes and equipment in place and there are worthy investments to make,” Padilla said. 

Reddy said the city has used consultants to fill in work as the city deals with a staffing shortage — another matter affecting efficiency — and said this has worked well. Padilla said she hopes to invest more into hiring people within departments. 

To address efficiencies, Padilla also said she would look to conduct more audits of smaller line items in the budget “where it all adds up.” 

In regards to the environment, Reddy said she has been speaking with the city manager to convert cars used by city employees to biofuel, stating that it would not only be better for the environment, but for staff’s wallets and their cars. 

“The workers that make the least tend to come the farthest in cars that should not be traveling so far because they’re inefficient,” Reddy said. “I would like to see us as city and as a county helping our employees with converting their cars for biofuel.” 

Though Padilla did not have specific things she hopes to tackle, she said the city needs to invest more in the environment. 

“I’m tired of studies, I want to have action plans, I want community engagement, community outreach,” she said. “I want to feel like we’re actively addressing it.”

In District 3, incumbent Vice Mayor Lissette Espinoza-Garnica is defending their seat against Planning Commissioner Isabella Chu, who lost the race against Espinoza-Garnica in 2020. 

Chu is running on a platform focused on making sure local government focuses on local issues, and believes she would be more practical than idealistic.

“Redwood City has an excellent City Council and a lot of terrific things are happening in this city, but I feel like I could be much more effective in implementing a lot of the practical improvements that recent changes have brought about,” Chu said. 

A defining difference between Chu and Espinoza-Garnica is their approach to public safety.  

The vice mayor is known for voting against any funding toward the police, and believes the city needs to “make drastic changes to address over-policing and the root causes of harm” according to their campaign website. 

Chu differentiated herself from her opponent by stating she believes “for the foreseeable future, police will be a component of public safety” and said all constituents she spoke to raised concerns over public safety. 

“It’s much harder to lead a diverse district than it is to lead a homogeneous district,” Chu said. “That’s what I think I really bring to table, is I want to lead as a unifier. I want to find the things that affect everybody.” 

In regards to housing, a priority area of Chu is increasing the flexibility for home improvements, considering two-thirds of the district’s residents own their homes. She added that she also would look to increase the variety of housing, including market-rate homes, constructed to move cost curves. 

Chu said incentivizing residents away from single-occupant driving trips will be critical. 

“Making nondriving options attractive, safe and practical is a really important strategy,” she said. 

She also said she would look at placing restrictions on AstroTurf and getting rid of gas-powered appliances for new construction.

Espinoza-Garnica chose not to be interviewed. 

Espinoza-Garnica is currently slated to be mayor next year. If they are not reelected, the mayoral rotation will change and could cause Councilmember Elmer Martínez Saballos to be the new mayoral candidate. 

Incumbents Mayor Jeff Gee and Martínez Saballos are running for reelection unopposed in their respective districts.