4 Millbrae contenders vie for 2 district seats

In District 1, Ghassan Shamieh and Stephen Rainaldi are running to replace Vice Mayor Gina Papan. Reuben Holober and You You Xue are challenging each other in District 3 to take Councilmember Ann Schneider’s seat. Papan and Schneider are both terming out. 

And in districts 2 and 4, the recall of former Councilmember Maurice Goodman and former Councilmember Angelina Cahalan means fresh faces will take those seats as well. 

Holober sees himself as the most equipped candidate for District 3 because of his experience. He previously served two terms on the council, from 2013 to 2022. 

“I frankly, was not planning on running again thus far … it’s something many people encouraged me to do. It felt like Millbrae was missing the steady-handed leadership it had in the past,” he said. “I think there’s a need for someone who’s experienced to step in right away and get things stabilized.” 

His opponent, Xue, a two-time City Council candidate, is taking the opposite tack. He sees himself as a visionary with the kind of concise, new ideas Millbrae needs to unify and grow. 

“My candidacy is really ear to the ground … knocking on doors, listening to people,” he said. “I’m not a member of the old guard. When I hear Reuben say things like, ‘A lot of people encouraged me to go on the council because we have high turnover on the council,’ what I’m hearing is, we’ve got a bunch of old folk who are leaving, and we need the establishment to be preserved.” 

For Shamieh and Rainaldi in District 3, longtime residency and upbringing in Millbrae informed both candidates’ desire to run for office. 

La Quinta

So too did the La Quinta controversy, a battle that began in earnest when the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors voted to purchase the hotel as housing for homeless families and seniors for $33 million — a decision that was decried by residents and opposed by a majority of Millbrae councilmembers, who cited public safety concerns and significant loss of revenue.

Rainaldi got his political start organizing against La Quinta and has been an outspoken advocate against the project, which recently did not receive Project Homekey funding due to a lack of site control. The project’s future has still yet to be addressed by the Board of Supervisors. 

“Never in a million years did I ever think I’d be running for political office,” Rainaldi said. “This journey started a year and a half ago. I’ve made many friends along the way with Millbrae residents and I’ve had the council, as well as all sorts of committee members, really encourage me to run for City Council based on the work I’ve done with La Quinta.” 

What Millbrae needs is unity, Shamieh said, and his main incentive for his City Council run is being a candidate who can mend the city’s divides. 

“We are really at a turning point in our community. It’s going to take a leader to bring this community back together so that we can continue moving together in a prosperous way, not allowing divisions to seep into us,” he said. “I don’t want my kids to grow up in a divided community. I want them to grow up in a united community.” 

All four candidates agreed that the La Quinta project was handled poorly by the county and resident voices went unheard. 

Both Shamieh and Holober said that the city needed to work with the county to find amenable solutions, with Holober suggesting an 11-unit, fire-damaged apartment building as a possible replacement for La Quinta. 

“The project, I think, was poorly designed, and they didn’t take any of the city’s feedback into account. They pretty much said, ‘thank you for your concerns, we’re moving full steam ahead,” he said. “I’d like to be able to help foster some connections with the county.” 

While he doesn’t support La Quinta in its current form, Shamieh said, he thinks it’s important for the city to take responsibility for building new housing. 

“I think we all bear a responsibility to house people who need homes. For the people who are unsheltered, every single one of us around the country bears a level of responsibility to house folks,” he said. “I think we need to be sensible, practical and pragmatic with our proposals.” 

The county should be more responsive to alternative suggestions, Rainaldi said, pointing to one hotel located on the Burlingame-San Mateo line. 

“As far as housing, Millbrae is a kind, compassionate city,” he said. “We’ve done so much for the unhoused, being an end-of-the-line BART station. In its current format [La Quinta] is opposed because of the location, the main reason being the fiscal impact to Millbrae is too great … and there is the perceived public safety aspect.” 

What the involved governmental entities needed was to persuade residents, something they failed to do, Xue said. 

“What should have happened was a cohesive, planned-out process in which we obtained buy-in from residents and it just didn’t happen. People were blindsided,” he said. “Neither the city nor the county had any chance of turning the project around, getting any type of political buy-in. The entire thing cascaded into a full-blown recall.” 

The catalyst behind that recall was the two former councilmembers’ opinions on the La Quinta debacle, as well as their votes — Goodman voted no and Cahalan abstained — on a letter sent to the county about the project. 

All but one candidate, Rainaldi, said that while they respected the results of the recall and understood resident frustration, it wasn’t their preferred mode of political communication for a policy-based dispute of this nature. Rainaldi disagreed, citing the strong voting consensus. 

“I was a strong advocate for the recall and I stand by it 100%,” he said. “These different districts were not being represented. That was the voice of the people.” 

Homelessness, downtown

When it comes to addressing homelessness in the city, which is often exacerbated by Millbrae’s position as the end-of-the-line BART station, Holober and Rainaldi both said they believed the city’s program with LifeMoves had been a success. Though currently in financial flux, both are hopeful a program with similar efficacy will continue.

It was important to not over blow the number of homeless individuals in Millbrae while equipping first responders and the community with the tools they need to provide services, Shamieh said. 

Xue took a different perspective entirely, and said that the city’s finances weren’t in a place for it to focus on funding “the county’s endeavors.” While he would like to see an ordinance similar to the county’s passed, which criminalizes service refusal in unincorporated areas, he doesn’t think the city’s focus should be on building housing for the homeless or finding alternative locations for La Quinta. 

“I actually disagree with finding alternative sites to build homeless housing. I think that’s something Reuben and I differ on,” he said. “As much as I would like to see that happen, there’s no political buy-in. I’m afraid such proposals are going to be, again, undemocratically imposed.” 

Instead, the focus should be on public safety and building up the downtown, he said, including working to fully activate the Gateway station — which would simultaneously work to decrease homelessness and crime — and finally creating a business improvement district. 

Holober echoed that creation of a business improvement district, alongside possible implementation of paid parking meters and support for biotech developers, would be most beneficial to support increasing revenue and revitalizing the downtown. 

Rainaldi was amenable to the idea of paid parking meters and Shamieh to the idea of timed parking in certain lots, he said. Rainaldi said, if elected, he would continue the city’s plan for mixed-use development on El Camino Real. The key to downtown revitalization and increased revenue is capitalizing on the spending capacity that biotech will bring, Shamieh said. 

“How do we keep them in Millbrae, spending their money?” he said. “I think we need to look at things in different levels, different tiers. The first tier is capturing people that are here, and spending money here. [Then], incentivizing developers to come in and establish mixed-use spaces.” 

International issues, regional relationships

Shamieh is the only candidate who is potentially amenable to hearing out constituents on international issues, and said the City Council “[owes] it to our constituents to engage in those conversations,” though the results might vary based on the situation. The other three candidates said they didn’t feel it was appropriate for the City Council to engage on international topics. 

But the candidates did generally agree that Millbrae needed more representation on regional boards and should be advocating for its resident’s interests, especially when it came to hot-button issues like the airport, BART and high-speed rail. 

“To continue to have councilmembers with those types of representation is helpful,” Holober said. “I think it’s also important we do the outreach, reaching out to organizations rather than waiting for them to come to us.” 

Environment

When it comes to electrification and environmental goals, Holober prefers a positive incentive approach, potentially partnering with Peninsula Clean Energy on rebates and highlighting his previous council work on reach codes that prevented natural gas infrastructure in new development. Shamieh voiced a similar opinion on incentivization. 

For Xue, the city’s environmental goals will be most effectively met when it can harness the potential of its transit center and transit-oriented development, he emphasized. 

Rainaldi was also only in favor of electrification for new buildings, not placing mandates on currently-developed homes or businesses, he said. He’s also supportive of the One Shoreline seawall plan. 

“When it comes to electrification, I’m for it but it would have to be for new buildings or there would have to be state level incentivization for it,” he said. “To rip a place down to the studs to get rid of all the gas piping to change to electrification, that’s going to cost quite a bit of money.”

Note to readers: A previous version of this story quoted Ghassan Shamieh as saying he'd be amenable to paid parking. The candidate clarified he meant that he'd be in favor of timed parking in certain lots, not paid parking.