Thread: Vista: Immigrant, bond issues shape race of familiars

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Immigrant, bond issues shape race of familiars

By Matthew Rodriguez
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
September 27, 2006

VISTA – This summer, the Vista City Council took steps to address two issues that the city has faced for years – an aging City Hall and day laborers who gather near a shopping center a few blocks away.

Now, those two decisions are helping to shape the race for two spots on the council, with five candidates – including two incumbents – campaigning in the Nov. 7 election.

The two winners will preside over a city that has been in the midst of immigration issues and, some say, strained relations with the Latino community. If voters approve Proposition L, a half-cent-per-dollar sales-tax increase on the same ballot, council members will be tasked with putting the revenue from the measure toward city-designated projects, such as a new civic center.

Familiar candidates are seeking seats this year. Incumbents Bob Campbell and Judy Ritter are running for second and third terms, respectively.

Nick Ashcraft, a title officer, is making his second bid for a council seat. The other challengers are podiatrist Michael Dinnel, who is making his third run, and activist Tina Jillings, an office manager who lobbied against the city's new restrictions on employers who hire day laborers.

For several years, Vista has been faced with the issue of day laborers who gather at an informal hiring site near the intersection of Escondido and South Santa Fe avenues. Officials have said some merchants and shoppers at the site, which is near a Vons, had complained about the workers.

“Ladies' cars were being jumped on, virtually, when they're trying to go buy milk,” incumbent Campbell said.

In addition, groups that oppose illegal immigration had been taunting the laborers, who are predominantly Latino men, under the assumption that the workers were in the country illegally.

In June, the City Council unanimously approved a controversial ordinance that makes it a misdemeanor to hire day laborers off the street without registering at City Hall.

The American Civil Liberties Union and California Rural Legal Assistance Inc. have sued the city, alleging that the law violates the rights of employers.

Jillings is the only candidate who opposes the ordinance, which she says unfairly targets workers who are entitled to equal-protection rights under the Constitution.

“We need to respect the rights of those people if they're immigrants or not,” Jillings said. “We can't starve them out. We can't not let them work.”

Jillings favors creating a hiring center to protect the workers from the elements and protesters. City officials said in June that they would look for a site for a center and a nonprofit group to run it but nothing has come of the idea.

Ashcraft said he opposes the proposal.

“I don't really favor a hiring hall because I think it serves as a magnet and draws more people coming into your town,” he said. “We want to be less of an attraction.”

Dinnel said the ordinance ensures that the workers, who sometimes have limited English, get a fair day's pay.

“I don't know of anybody who would disagree with that,” he said. “It makes it tougher, but it's better.”

Incumbent Ritter said she is watching how other cities, such as Hazelton, Pa., and Escondido, handle immigration issues. Hazelton recently approved a law penalizing landlords who rent to illegal immigrants, and Escondido is considering a similar proposal.

“I'm kind of watching what other cities do and what the federal government does,” Ritter said. “I'd like to know what's legal and what's possible for us to do.”

Campbell said that if Escondido passed such an ordinance, it would simply move the issue to other cities. “They're not being considerate to their neighbors,” he said.

Another issue before the city has been its aging City Hall. The complex on Escondido Avenue was built in 1956 as a middle school, and several offices are now housed in portable classrooms.

City officials hope Proposition L will change that. If approved by a majority of Vista voters, the measure will increase the city's sales tax from 7.75 percent to 8.25 percent for 30 years. The increase is expected to raise about $6 million a year, and the funds could be used for any city purpose.

When it put the measure on the ballot, the City Council said the revenue would be spent to replace City Hall with a $39 million civic center on the same site. The vote was unanimous except for Campbell, who abstained because he owns property near City Hall.

The council said the money also would fund two new fire stations, sports fields, and upgrades to the city's Moonlight Amphitheatre.

Candidates are split on the sales-tax measure. Campbell, Jillings and Ritter say they support it. Ashcraft and Dinnel say they oppose a sales tax that would last 30 years.

The candidates also differ on how they would use the money, with some saying the fire stations should take priority over a new civic center.

The candidates also differ on whether the projects should be built as the sales tax comes in, or whether the city should immediately sell bonds to pay for the construction and use the sales tax revenue to repay the bonds over several decades.

Ashcraft said the city should follow a “pay-as-you-go” model if the measure is approved. He said he would start some projects, such as the fire stations, immediately and bond only for the civic center in the fourth year.

“We can save a lot of money if we just slow the process down a little bit,” he said.

Campbell disagreed. “The anticipation is that labor and material costs will continue to escalate,” he said. “It'll always be out of grasp with a pay-as-you-go concept.”

Ritter, too, supports issuing bonds for all of the projects. “I just think we need to bond on it as soon as possible and bond all of the projects and go forward with them,” she said.

Jillings supports bonding but said public safety improvements should take priority over a new civic center.

“I just want to make sure that we're going to get the fire stations, and the extra fire personnel, and the replacement of the water hydrants, and those things, before we think about building a three-story City Hall,” she said.

Dinnel said the proposition doesn't specify what the funds would be used for, so the City Council should pass a resolution listing its construction priorities. He favors building and staffing the fire stations first.


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Matthew Rodriguez: (760) 476-8239; matthew.rodriguez@uniontrib.com

Jillings is the only candidate who opposes the ordinance, which she says unfairly targets workers who are entitled to equal-protection rights under the Constitution.

“We need to respect the rights of those people if they're immigrants or not,” Jillings said. “We can't starve them out. We can't not let them work.”

Jillings favors creating a hiring center to protect the workers from the elements and protesters. City officials said in June that they would look for a site for a center and a nonprofit group to run it but nothing has come of the idea.

Hopefully the voters will scrape you off their shoe. We need to respect the rights of legal immigrants and run the rest back home. You could invite the workers to hang out at your house Tina Jillings. Email: latina_jillings@hotmail.com

Immigrants' rights activist Tina Jillings says the Minutemen are stoke anti-immigrant passions. And by passing the ordinance, the city is giving in to their agenda.

Jillings: "This is about racism. It's about a class of people who are being discriminated against and their right to work is being hindered."

Jillings and other activists say employers won't bother registering and will hire day laborers in other cities.

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