Markus Addiego
Angelique President
Eddie Flores
Brittany Burgo
Tom Carney
Three seats on the South San Francisco City Council are open this year, but only two are offering races.
Voting for District 3 residents, consisting of the Sign Hill, Sterling Terrace, Downtown and Orange Memorial Park neighborhoods, was simplified with a single candidate, incumbent councilor Buenaflor Nicolas.
The choice for residents of District 1, which is half Sunshine Gardens and half Winston Manor, has the choice between incumbent Mark Addiego and Angelique Presidente, a mother.
On the other side of town, District 5 voters, which include residents in Old Town, Diamond Heights, South San Francisco Industrial, Mayfair Village and Francisco Terrace, have a choice between appointed incumbent Eddie Flores, volunteer Brittany Burgo and the retired Fire Inspector Tom Karney.
Whichever candidates are elected, they will accept a portfolio of issues to contend with — visioning a future for the city, adapting to a growing population, planning for housing, preparing for an economic downturn, and environmental concerns .
Known as an industrial city, South San Francisco has redefined itself in recent years with the booming biotech industry, Addiego said, while it’s important to remember the manufacturing past, it’s just as important to recognize that the biotech -Companies manufacture medicines.
“This city is up 12.5% year over year in assessed rating just recently, and most of that is commercial development on the east side of the freeway,” Addiego said.
Presidente said the focus is on biotechnology and the city needs to preserve the industrial side of the city.
“Residents have been here for generations and are somewhat displaced and gentrified as a result of these developments, and they are promoting affordable housing, but unfortunately none of the housing is affordable,” Presidente said.
The city council has taken a progressive turn lately, talking about public housing, universal basic income and capping freeways. With that in mind, Addiego said the progressive turnaround was overall positive. The universal basic income program helps around 160 families.
“The city may be able to work with the state for additional support. Long term there is no mechanism to keep this going, so maybe in a year or two families can step up to regular support,” Addiego said.
Over the years the council has had a staleness that is no longer the case, he said, and the council has a wide range of ideas that keep it busy.
Presidente said the shift is good and that focusing on affordable housing should be the city’s priority. However, the large companies that have developed in the city are attracting more people and causing another imbalance in the housing crisis.
One of the bigger problems is that the city doesn’t accommodate everyone, Presidente added.
“Our infrastructure is unbalanced, our park and recreational courses that we offer are unbalanced. There are about two to three toddler classes and there are only 15 places. We have well over 30 toddlers in town. We have a three to four year waiting list for childcare, how can families get a decent income when a person is forced to stay at home because there is no childcare, that’s a problem,” Presidente said.
Addiego said the benefit from business expansion is property tax, sales tax and hospitality, all of which will be boosted by these new residents.
“And that’s a healthy budget of $121 million that allows us to do what we do,” Addiego said. “Yes, I would like more child care for every child in South San Francisco.”
The city’s child care program is very popular and financially feasible for many families in the city, he added.
Housing production is a problem for many residents of the city, Addiego said that housing production has excited many people over the past 10 years, but he wants to focus on the missing center.
“There are a lot of people who are between $75,000 and $100,000 [a year] but they cannot understand the current market price of these new apartment buildings,” Addiego said.
There’s an item on the ballot that would allow the city to build housing, there’s commercial connection fees that take money from the expanding developers, and that money can only be used for affordable housing, he added.
Presidente argues that the city has increased its share of housing development in recent years to keep up with the state’s housing orders.
“We’ve had 10 years to deal with this problem and suddenly we’re struggling to solve it,” Presidente said.
When an economic downturn hits, Presidente feels the city is unprepared.
“We have all our eggs in one basket, if something happens to biotechnology, all our eggs are counting on it,” Presidente said.
On the other hand, Addiego sees the city in a good position when it comes to an economic downturn.
“We have reserves in excess of $50 million,” Addiego said, adding that the reserves are for the unique deposits.
Addiego wants to see more affordable housing in the next four years. For Presidente, she would like more transparency among residents.
District 5 has unique problems: All candidates agree on affordable housing, traffic and parking issues, and the need for a community space, be it a park or community center.
Carney said the lack of infrastructure is a problem, Flores would like to see a waiting list database for affordable housing for residents and Burgo would like to see a community grocery store in the district to accommodate the growing community and a balance between development and needed resources.
Flores believes the city needs to address the housing-to-work ratio over the next 20 years, which he says is creating an imbalance. He also mentioned the city’s 20-year master plan, which includes a climate protection plan and a childcare master plan.
“All essential elements to move us forward over the next 20 years,” said Flores.
Carney believes the city has benefited greatly from the biotech industry, however, the city’s future growth depends on the quality of the schools.
“What we’re missing is that we don’t have a close working relationship with the school district, our schools are among the worst schools and are bottom of the state rankings,” Carney said.
Burgo believes the current problem over the next 20 years is that there is no balance and will require city officials with diverse perspectives to come together to devise a plan to maintain a fairer city.
“Our city is really great and could probably expand more on the industrial side. I don’t think we need to lose her. I think right now we need somewhere close by to get our goods and resources I think…how we sustain it is a process that I think needs to be addressed,” Burgo said.
The city council has taken progressive turns recently with a universal basic income program and discussions about public housing, and Carney said the government shouldn’t interfere in housing construction because it’s not a good use of taxpayers’ money.
Flores said the city has been a leader with more than 1,000 affordable housing units in the pipeline and more to come.
“We will do our part with affordable housing because the community is asking for it,” Flores said.
Burgo is involved with Friends of Old Town, a community volunteer group that prides itself on taking responsibility for issues like a community park and completing surveys to educate residents and give them a voice.
“When the FasTrak freeway project was fairly new, we brought the community together to let them know that this change was going to happen and secondly to gather their thoughts on how can we afford to take the freeway now, what are we? will do? And the FasTrak Express Lane folks have reached out to us and will start a financial assistance program,” Burgo said.
The city is constantly growing and there is a need to make room for more residents while accommodating the existing people. With that in mind, Burgo said the city is doing its best to accommodate residents and businesses, and the pandemic has helped push the city to focus on financial needs and programs.
Flores said many families have lived in the city for over 30 years and contribute to the cultural richness, but it is important to host and host new families who want to make the city their home.
“Understanding that everyone has needs,” Flores said. “By balancing and understanding the issues, we can all move forward as a strong community.”
Carney argues the council is unwilling to listen to residents. He sees a gulf between the citizens and the city council. People do not show up for council meetings, they are not heard or consulted and the benefits of fellowship are not well publicized in either English or Spanish.
“The community doesn’t feel like it has a voice,” Carney said. “We work for the residents, and being on the city council isn’t about glorifying yourself, it’s about caring about the residents. And residents should be involved at every step.”
Carney and Burgo both believe that urban housing development is sufficient and that the community needs to digest what development has already taken place.
Burgo said government mandates should be better communicated with residents about what the city needs to build. Having a conversation about where the best location for more housing should be is another topic she would like to see addressed.
Flores argues that the city will continue to build affordable housing to accommodate the community.
“While progress has been made on affordable housing, much more work is needed,” Flores said.
In the event of an economic downturn, Flores said the city is not deficit spending and has strong reserves and is able to offer its workers historic wage increases.
Carney stressed that while the city is well prepared for an economic downturn, it should consider more diversification into freight transportation and the food industry to avoid putting all eggs in one basket.
Burgo said the city had a possible plan but wasn’t sure how well prepared they really were.
