San Bruno to decide 2 council seats, mayor

Marty Medina, who has served on the City Council since 2015 after one unsuccessful run, said now is “the right time” for him to pursue the mayor’s seat, citing his deeply-rooted community ties and service-oriented perspective.

“I believe I have the experience. I believe I have built up an incredible amount of community support from my engagement and community building, and I know that we’re going to need our community’s trust and support in going forward to increase our revenue,” he said. “I could provide that additional engagement and show by example how we all can build our community up.”

If elected, he would prioritize continuing the progress made on beautification efforts to downtown — highlighting progress made on Centennial Plaza — public infrastructure, the sale of CityNet and keeping the community updated and engaged in City Council business, he said.

His current term expires in 2026, meaning if his mayoral campaign is unsuccessful, he will remain a councilmember.

Rico Medina, who has served on the council since 2005, said he’s running to retain his seat to maintain the influence he’s established on regional-level boards and use leadership experience gained through tough financial straits and citywide emergencies. He’d also prioritize safety preparedness, BART station fare gates and complex in-flux projects.

He also understands the people of San Bruno and can best represent their interests, he said.

“I do understand San Bruno. It was instilled upon me early in. This community, I will tell you through all my years, has never let me down, and has taught me and mentored me, and made me a person that has the heart and values of San Bruno,” he said.

Both Rico Medina and Marty Medina acknowledged that housing and economic development has stalled in the city and said the City Council needed to facilitate responsible growth, citing an underway study that will aim to understand the root causes of the issue.

A large-scale, 425-unit development plan for the city, Mills Park, failed to take shape after a contentious 2019 vote, with Marty Medina as the sole no. The only two large-scale downtown housing projects in recent years have used state density bonus laws to bypass local zoning requirements.

Rico Medina, who voted yes to approve the project, said he believed construction would have commenced should it have passed upon first vote — a project for the site was approved in 2020 but remains on hold. The stagnated nature of this development and others revolves also around the general economic downturn, which must be mitigated in tandem with residents’ dueling concerns around oversized growth, he said.

“Folks are concerned — ‘Do we have enough resources, meaning water and electricity?’ ‘Do we have the capacity, as far as roadway?’” he said. “North or south to us, they’re having a lot of developments, maybe some even think too much, too fast, but, at the same time, we have been behind our neighbors, let’s be candid. So, I think that is something that we have to do, moving forward.”

Resident concerns around the scope of Mills Park meant he ultimately couldn’t support the project, Marty Medina said, although he wished the City Council and developer could have come to a solution.

He has supported every other housing project that has come to the council and pointed to developments that are set to take shape, like Tanforan, Marty Medina said. He would continue to incentivize development and find solutions to current development stagnation if reelected.

“We have to find ways — and it’s likely going to be the big elephant in the room — we need to be able to allow [developers] to go higher,” he said. “That’s what is currently in construction right now, is buildings that are using the state density bonus law to go higher.”

District 2

In District 2, Councilmember Tom Hamilton is facing off against challenger and two-time City Council candidate Stephan Marshall.

Marshall, a Realtor, said his decision to run for council a third time was incentivized by a desire for change with the current City Council leadership and frustration with the state of the city’s development and spending priorities.

“I just thought that I should step up, because there were so many things that I would continue to be disappointed with, and I was encouraged by a lot of other residents,” he said.

He cited Marty Medina’s “no” vote on the Mills Park development as one major example that cost the city money, jobs and the possibility of legal action, Marshall said. While the vote had tarnished the city’s reputation to potential developers, he said, he feels that his longtime career as a Realtor would allow him to rebuild those relationships and help revitalize San Bruno — which would be a major priority if reelected.

“That development that got killed at Mills Park did have a crushing effect on our city ... we’re not going back right away, but we have to start somewhere,” he said. “That’s even my thoughts with downtown. Everyone says, ‘we can’t solve it overnight.’ Yeah, we can’t, but we have to start somewhere.”

Marshall believes that the people of San Bruno are ready for change and said the best way through San Bruno’s growing budget deficit without increased taxation is development incentivization.

Hamilton — who sat on the Planning Commission during the first Mills Park approval and voted yes to the project — also said incentivizing development was also a priority for him. He cited three residential developments in various stages in his district, as well as the sale of property for a Hyundai and Genesis car dealership and the Tanforan redevelopment as positive steps forward.

There are “no denied projects” in San Bruno this time, he said, acknowledging developers are hesitant to move forward with some approved projects. Hamilton also noted physical challenges the city faces — which include narrow plots of land in the downtown corridor, where owners must often come to agreements to build larger-scale projects.

Site structure of projects like Mills Park, “where you can actually have some mass and build it,” are rare, he said, and the city is looking at solutions to rectify those issues in the future.

“Should we be increasing the height limits, which I’m in favor of? Should we widen the transit corridor? Should we extend the transit corridor plan?” he said. “Those are all things that I would support to increase our inventory for where this type of development can occur.”

Hamilton said diversifying the city’s revenue streams and stopping the longtime practice of deferring important decisions on major infrastructure issues like CityNet and stormwater and street repairs is a continued priority for him if elected.

Aside from development, Marshall would prioritize programming for seniors and upkeep of the Senior Center, alongside open space.

District 3

Current Vice Mayor Michael Salazar is running unopposed for the District 3 seat.

Salazar served on the City Council from 2009 to 2015 and was reelected in 2020. His original focus was the city’s neglected infrastructure — an issue where progress has been made, he said.

“One of my priorities going into office was to make sure that we were making the right investments in that infrastructure,” he said. “In that time, we have done quite a bit to replace a lot of sewer lines, water lines. We’ve made progress in securing new funding for street paving, and that’s been a huge, huge interest of most residents in the city.”

There are still unfinished infrastructure projects that remain a priority for Salazar, including lighting projects, storm drains and other deferred maintenance issues. He’s hoping an upcoming municipal bond measure and other diversified revenue streams will allow the city more freedom to pursue those.

He’s worked to balance budgets during challenging times and thinks the city’s renewed efforts to address deferred issues like CityNet are positive ones.

“I think I’ve demonstrated my ability to be responsive to the public and to be responsible in terms of ... the decisions we make, to make sure that they are reflective of the needs and interests of our community,” he said.