Primary election: These are the top takeaways from mayor, Stockton City Council District 2 forum

The first in a series of candidate forums brought community members to the Dawn Mabalon Forum at San Joaquin Delta College.

With the potential of major changes coming to the Stockton City Council, mayoral and District 2 candidates attended Wednesday's question and answer forum hosted by the League of Women Voters of San Joaquin County.

Candidates were asked about critical issues facing the city including economic development, homelessness and public safety.

Here are the top takeaways from the forum.

Who was there?

Mayoral candidates Christina Fugazi, Dan Wright, Jessica Velez, Jesús Andrade and Tom Patti were present.

Shakeel Ahmad was the lone candidate in the mayoral race who did not attend. Organizers said they were unable to obtain confirmation from Ahmad after several attempts to reach him. He was also a no-show at Reinvent South Stockton Coalition's forum on Jan. 29 and NAACP Stockton Branch's forum on Feb. 1.

Only two candidates seeking to represent District 2 participated in Wednesday's forum: Anthony Silva and Waqar Rizvi. Mariela Ponce and Pamela Pettis-Houston, also running for District 2, have yet to participate in a forum this election season.

Veterans and newcomers

Four out of six candidates running for mayor have political experience.

Fugazi was the District 5 representative from 2015 to 2022, while Andrade represented District 6 from 2017 to 2020.

Patti and Wright are still in elected office.

Patti has sat on the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors since 2017, while Wright has sat on the Stockton City Council since 2015. Both are terming out at the end of the year.

However, Velez is a newcomer to Stockton politics.

Velez believes she is fit to lead the city because of her work at her nonprofit, Red Rabbit Advocacy. For the past three years, Velez said that she has secured stable housing for homeless and directed individuals into rehabilitation programs.

"The biggest qualification that I want to share with you is that I have been doing this work already," Velez said. "I would like the opportunity to make this change on a larger scale so that it's noticeable by all of us. What I've been doing is working, but the system is what's preventing it from expanding."

In the District 2 race, Rizvi is also a fresh face. He is the chair of the Stockton Planning Commission and the Salvation Army’s Stockton Advisory Council.

"Over the last seven and a half years, serving on the planning commission has given me great insight into how the city operates," Rizvi said. "I believe that being on the city council as the District 2 representative, I could bring people together. Being a city council member is about collaboration."

Wright calls out 'corruption and incompetence'

It's been nearly a year since the San Joaquin County District Attorney's Office announced a multi-agency investigation into "any and all wrongdoing" at the Stockton Unified School District.

At the time, District Attorney Ron Freitas said the investigation was initiated by the state Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team's Feb. 14, 2023 report. The report found evidence that fraud and misappropriation of funds likely occurred at Stockton's largest school district.

There are two people named in the report that are running for city council — Silva and District 4 candidate Ray Zulueta.

Authorities have stated the investigation is ongoing. No charges against Stockton Unified leaders have been filed.

"Stockton government, and that's the city, the county, the school districts, have been plagued by the twin demons of corruption and incompetence for many years," Wright said. "The most recent example of this is (the IAQ contract)."

The FCMAT report found that the school board bypassed its policies to award a $7.3 million contract to IAQ Distribution, Inc., a subsidiary of Alliance Building Solutions, Inc., for air filter disinfectant technology in 2021.

Wright's campaign websites states "the local forces behind this scam are still in Stockton, attempting to influence the mayoral race and other city council races."

Wright, who worked as a school administrator at Stockton Unified for 25 years, was the only candidate that addressed the topic.

Infrastructure issues

When asked what areas of infrastructure the city should focus on, Fugazi said Stockton residents have long complained about poor road conditions.

"I get so many people that talk about potholes," she said. "I hit this pothole, I hit that pothole."

Patti said the focus should be on Stockton's water and wastewater supply, and urban planning.

"Stockton is on the cusp of massive expansion and interest and investment," he said. "I've talked with different developers outside of this region. There's a lot of interest coming here, including industrial development, all for jobs. There's a lot of smart growth coming here, so we need bike lanes and bus lanes, and we want to take care of and utilize the assets we have."

Working together for Stockton

When asked how he would build consensus and work with other city council members, Silva emphasized that "the mayor is just one vote."

"I sort of had to learn that the hard way," Silva said, referring to his time as mayor in 2013-2016. "The folks in Stockton don't understand that. They think this is a strong mayor form of government rather than a city manager form of government. It's very easy if you have this great vision ... when you want to make all these changes ... without the folks who donate all the money to all the politicians who run for office, it's hard to get some of that stuff done."

If elected as a council member, Silva said it would be his job to support the new mayor and to "respect the decision of the voters."

"Whoever they elect as mayor shall be my mayor, whether I voted for that person or not, and I'm going to support that person's agenda," he said. "At the same time, I'm going to push to make sure we get things done in my district."

Andrade said the mayor's position in Stockton has high expectations.

"We have issues that mirror Oakland, San Francisco, Los Angeles ... complex urban issues, resource issues," he said. "For me, the role of the mayor and understandably so is limited in what you can do officially."

Because of this, Andrade said it's important for the mayor to be a coalition builder and understand the council members are the experts in their districts.

"There has to be respect, there has to be understanding if you don't agree," he said. "Understanding what council members want in their district and for you to let them lead in their district, and empower them."

The entire forum can be viewed on the league's Facebook page.

The mayor's seat and seats in District 2, District 4 and District 6 are up for grabs. For city races, a total of 21 candidates are on the March 5 primary ballot.

Record reporter Hannah Workman covers news in Stockton and San Joaquin County. She can be reached at hworkman@recordnet.com or on Twitter @byhannahworkman. Support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record at https://www.recordnet.com/subscribenow.

This article originally appeared on The Record: Top takeaways from mayor, Stockton City Council District 2 forum