Candidates for San Mateo County supervisor weigh in on top issues for District 2

The candidates, Noelia Corzo, San Mateo-Foster City School District trustee; Belmont Councilmember Charles Stone; and Cameron Rolfe, a commercial pilot and flight instructor, found common ground and offered differing perspectives on how to address top issues.

Addressing climate change

Each candidate highlighted a strong interest in being forward-thinking on the county’s response to climate change. Corzo said it is imperative that any solutions put forward are done through multi-jurisdictional collaboration.

“We have to look at it holistically to make sure our community is empowered,” Corzo said, who also stressed the importance of identifying and addressing the county’s biggest polluters.

Rolfe said the county should take a harder stance on things like the use of plastic bags, arguing they should be banned and replaced with paper given that the material is easier to recycle. Alternatively, Corzo and Stone said the county’s current regulations on plastic bags was a step in the right direction.

All three candidates also shared similar views on recent controversial discussions around requiring homeowners to switch their natural-gas appliances to all-electric. Though the push to go electric on all levels is laudable, each suggested program should be done in a thoughtful way that does not add burden to residents.

“While the advocates have a very good idea and they’re right about all the facts and the urgency of the issue we can’t be blind to the side of it that these things have very real cost and accessibility issues,” Stone said.

Housing and homelessness

And common ground was struck when discussing whether officials should consider investigating the potential for county-operated public housing. The model is being used in large part due to the pandemic which funneled emergency services into the county used to purchase hotels that have since been transformed into temporary and permanent housing for those experiencing homelessness.

Corzo and Stone have advocated for a land survey that could help identify the various properties the county has in its stock and what current uses are in place. And all three candidates spoke to the importance of properly investing county dollars into programs that could provide incentives for developers to build more affordable units.

With those units, they said the county could help employees live closer to the community they serve including emergency services providers, teachers and other employees.

COVID-19 response

Reflecting on the county’s efforts to address the pandemic, Stone said officials could have acted quicker to select a point person who would lead the response effort, sharing his disappointment with the communication style of Health Officer Scott Morrow, an unelected official who was responsible for making a number of major decisions for the county including masking and closure mandates.

Recognizing the pressures placed on the county though, Stone said the state punted decisions down to the county level too often and in turn the county did the same to cities and school districts.

Speaking from her experience on the school board, Corzo said officials were forced to make difficult decisions while also trying to make sure the public felt heard. While Stone reflected on a decision in the early days of the pandemic to make masks mandatory when on park trails, Corzo spoke about the decisions to close and open schools.

“No decision we made at any point in time was popular with everyone,” Corzo said.

For Rolfe, the county’s response had ups and downs. Mass vaccination clinics went fairly smooth, he said, having been inoculated at the San Mateo County Event Center. But the center was also the site of a major mistake, he said, the mishandling of about $7 million worth of surplus protective equipment.

Still, Rolfe lauded the county’s health care system, overseen by County Health. Where the department could improve is in offering more competitive compensation to attract and retain employees while boosting information campaigns around programming.

“San Mateo County operates one of the finest health care systems in California but we need to do better getting people information and access to services,” Rolfe said, noting he’d also like to see senior care facilities more regularly inspected.

Similarly, Stone said health care professionals in the county are overworked and the medical system is strained after two years of responding to the pandemic. He called for the county to rely on nonprofit partners more when possible, especially given that many organizations can help bridge the gap between services and residents who are reluctant to access them when offered by government agencies.

Corzo also spoke out about boosting equitable access to services, arguing the county should continue its work to reduce language barriers. Speaking from experience, she shed doubt her father would have been able to access the care he needed when grappling with long COVID-19 a year ago had she not assisted him and shared concerns for others experiencing worse without a family advocate.

Budgeting

For Corzo, her focus would be on bolstering the county’s health department which currently faces a $10 million budget deficit, a substantial reduction from a few years ago when the gap surpassed $50 million. She said it could be done through reviewing the systems in place that may slow down services, making offerings more expensive and less efficient.

Alternatively, Rolfe said County Health’s financial standing is quite strong and Stone noted the department has its own board responsible for overseeing its budget though the Board of Supervisors has been tapped to help pay down the budget deficit.

Instead, Stone argued the board realistically has control over about $700 million from Measure K, a voter approved sales tax, and property tax revenue. He said he’d like to see more dollars be redirected to affordable housing initiatives once the county gains a strong footing with paying down its pension liabilities.

“While I think it’s important to take into account the fact that there are systemic inequalities and injustices and inequalities, we also have to make sure we’re spending our money wisely,” Stone said.

Rolfe called for the county to spend bigger on the Sheriff’s Office and shared his commitment to directing dollars toward mountain rescue, animal control and diving and aviation teams and in reviving the county’s equestrian division with female participants and standing up an explorer program for students who may be interested in getting into law enforcement.

Oversight, trust and equity

All three candidates shared support for some sort of additional oversight of the Sheriff’s Office with Corzo and Stone suggesting the move could be done with a partnership between the public and officers.

Through the partnership, Corzo and Stone similarly said community trust in the institution could be rebuilt as additional transparency became more available, something Rolfe said the department already takes seriously.

But Corzo also took issue with military grade equipment owned and used by the Sheriff's Office which she said was “not in line with the values of this community.” A recent report showed the county owns about $2 million worth of “military grade” equipment as defined by state law.

Overall, equity for all county residents was important to the candidates with Stone stressing that the value should be applied to housing, transit, public safety and employment concerns. Corzo said it’s key for people to learn to sit with the discomfort that can arise when discussing issues of inequity and Rolfe spoke to the difference of equity and equality.

“Equity is not the same as equality. Equity is giving the tallest stool to the shortest person; equality is everybody gets the same size stool. Money and support should proportionally be allocated to those who need it the most,” Rolfe said.

More elections

An election to represent District 3 is also occurring this year as four compete to replace outgoing Supervisor Don Horsley. That race includes Steven Booker, political director and community affairs liaison for the local chapter of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union; Ray Mueller, Menlo Park councilmember; Laura Parmer-Lohan, San Carlos councilmember; and Virginia Chang Kiraly, a member of the Menlo Park Fire Protection District Board and the San Mateo County Harbor District Board of Commissioners.

Current terms for supervisors Dave Pine, District 1; Warren Slocum, District 4; and David Canepa, District 5; expire in 2024. Canepa is currently running to replace U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier, D-San Mateo, who announced her retirement early this year.

sierra@smdailyjournal.com

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