Linda Mason, Marty Medina win in San Bruno

Mayor Rico Medina shared his appreciation for voters approving the half-cent sales tax increase intended to hike revenue for capital improvements.

“I appreciate that the majority of residents have allowed this opportunity for the city to increase the sales tax which will help provide the residents services,” he said.

In reflecting on her apparent win in the council race, Mason said she believes the results speak to a desire among voters for a shift in leadership.

“I think it shows San Bruno is ready for change,” said Mason, in the wake of completing her first campaign for office.

Alternatively, with extensive election experience which started with her first win in 1995, O’Connell shared a frank assessment of the steep, uphill climb needed for her to surpass the leading vote getters.

“It would be, I think, unusual to go up from here,” said O’Connell.

Furthermore, Mason suggested the results likely reflected the wishes among residents to shape development interests encroaching on San Bruno — such as the Mills Park project which was rejected earlier this summer.

For his part, Marshall too suggested the project which imagined 425 housing units over a grocery store along El Camino Real at the brink of downtown was a determining factor in the election.

“The Mills Park project really divided the city,” said Marshall, who congratulated Medina and Mason on their win.

Medina cast the sole dissenting vote to kill the project earlier this summer, while Mason voted in favor of it as a commissioner but noted deep reservations regarding its impact on surrounding neighborhoods. Since two councilmembers, O’Connell and Councilman Michael Salazar, were recused from voting because they owned property nearby, unanimous consent was required for approval.

Marshall, meanwhile, had supported the proposal, and O’Connell declined to publicly discuss it citing her potential conflict of interest, but favored the policies laying the groundwork for its proposal.

Medina did not return multiple calls for comment, and Mason reserved comment on the Mills Park issue until she learned more about the closed session discussions about its future.

Project plans had featured one five-story building with 182 units over a nearly 42,000-square-foot grocery store and another five-story building with 243 units and 4,000 square feet of commercial space. Of the units, 64 would have been set aside at an affordable rate and the project would have featured 879 parking spaces to accommodate residents as well as shoppers.

Months after the rejection, the developer recently returned before San Bruno officials with a threat to leverage a new state housing law to build an even bigger, more ambitious residential development including 600 units.

For her part, O’Connell said she believes if election results hold, residents will likely see an even larger project built than the one they initially opposed.

“The people who were against the Mills Park development, I hope they are not going to be disappointed. But if the city isn’t able to come up with an agreement with the developer, they are going to end up with the [Senate Bill] 35 project,” she said, evoking the state law Signature Development is looking to leverage for streamlined approval.

Marshall too suggested development is imminent, and wished officials would have collaborated to refine the initial proposal rather than rejecting it. Looking ahead, he shared fears councilmembers will lose their local control to determine the future project.

“Developers are just going to use other angles and ways to get development done,” he said.

Reflecting on the race, Marshall took a moment to admire his campaign, which he considered an honest and fair attempt.

“I’m most proud that I ran a clean, honest campaign. I’m happy about how I did it, but obviously I didn’t win,” he said.

Alternatively, O’Connell minced no words for the leaders in the race — suggesting they have no integrity and ran a campaign based on lies.

Mason declined to comment on the allegations, other than to note that she too was proud of the campaign she ran.

With an expectation that her decades of service would come to an end should results hold, O’Connell also expressed dismay that her message seemingly failed to resonate with voters.

“I’m sorry all the things I did didn’t make a difference,” she said.

austin@smdailyjournal.com

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