Two compete to become Vista’s first new mayor in 12 years

Voters in Vista will select a new mayor for the first time in 12 years and one new District 4 representative in the Nov. 8 election.

City Councilmember John Franklin, who has represented District 4 since 2014, faces Vista Unified School District President Cipriano Vargas in a bid to replace retiring Mayor Judy Ritter, who has served on the City Council since 1998 and was elected mayor in 2010.

Vying for Franklin’s seat are retired Navy Capt. Armen Kurdian and business development manager Dan O’Donnell.

Councilmember Corinna Contreras is running unopposed in District 1, which she has represented since 2018.

The most contentious race is for the mayor’s seat, where both candidates have a background in politics. Franklin, a Republican strategist and founder of the Vista consulting and management firm Pacific Political, is a former congressional aide to U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Bonsall, and Vargas is manager of strategic initiatives and community engagement for county Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer, a Democrat.

Vista Mayor candidate Cipriano Vargas.

(Courtesy Cipriano Vargas.)

Franklin is endorsed by the Deputy Sheriff’s Association, Republican Party of San Diego County, North San Diego County Realtors, Ritter, Vista Councilmember Joe Green, former Vista Councilmembers Amanda Rigby and John Aguilera, Issa, and county Supervisors Joel Anderson and Jim Desmond, among others.

Vargas is endorsed by the San Diego Democratic Party, Planned Parenthood Action Fund, the Sierra Club, several unions, U.S. Reps. Mike Levin and Juan Vargas, county Supervisors Nathan Fletcher and Lawson-Remer, and Vista Councilmembers Contreras and Katie Melendez, among others.

The website TrueVargas.com, paid for by Franklin for Mayor 2022, calls Vargas “Too extreme for Vista” and says he is weak on crime, responsible for VUSD’s failing academic performance and says he supports a per-mile tax on county drivers, among other claims.

Vargas’ campaign website includes a section titled “Franklin’s Lies,” where Vargas addresses some claims made against him by his opponent. On the site, he said he does not support a mileage tax or defunding the police and is not a member of a group called Democratic Socialists of America.

Vista City Councilmember John Franklin.

(Courtesy of John Franklin. )

Franklin said he successfully advocated for the hiring of three deputies in Vista while Vargas voted to cut school resources officers in 2019 from VUSD schools. Vargas in turn said the cuts were part of several reductions to balance the district budget and argued the officers were not needed during the pandemic when students were studying remotely.

Vargas said as mayor he would build a homeless shelter for veterans, children and others in Vista. Franklin in turn has said the city already has Operation Hope and Solutions for Change, and he wondered who would use a new shelter as there are only 11 known homeless veterans on the streets of Vista.

Both candidates say they are concerned about housing prices. Vargas criticized the current City Council for building multimillion-dollar “McMansions” and said he would require developers to build more affordable homes for veterans, firefighters, nurses, teachers and other working people.

Franklin said the city has built more than 500 affordable units during his time in office and argued that building denser, multistory buildings would not automatically reduce housing cost, as that plan did not work in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco or Boston.

In the District 4 race, Kurdian is endorsed by the Republican Party of San Diego County, San Diego County Deputy Sheriff’s Association, San Diego Police Officers Association, Latin American Political Association, Building Industry Association, Reform California, Franklin, and Supervisors Anderson and Desmond, among others.

Vista City Council candidate Armen Kurdian.

(Courtesy of Armen Kurdian.)

O’Donnell, a senior manager with Boar’s Head, is endorsed by the San Diego County Democratic Party, the Sierra Club, several unions, Rep. Levin, county Supervisors Fletcher and Lawson-Remer, Vista Councilmembers Contreras and Melendez, former Vista Councilmember Dave Cowles, and VUSD trustees Julie Kelly and Martha Alvarado, among others.

Vista City Council candidate Dan O’Donnell

(Courtesy Dan O’Donnell.)

O’Donnell said the city already has built much more market-rate housing than required by the state’s Regional Housing Needs Assessment mandate, but it needs to work with developers to build more moderate-rate housing. He said he is hesitant about increasing density.

At a recent candidates forum, Kurdian said too much government involvement in housing development can cause construction to decrease, and he advocates using incentives to get developers to meet the city’s housing needs rather than mandating a number of affordable units that cause the cost of others to increase.

Kurdian said public safety is a top priority, and he advocates hiring up to 10 more deputies in the city because Vista has a lower rate of officers-to-citizens than neighboring cities.

O’Donnell said hiring that many deputies would cost $3 million and is not fiscally feasible. Instead, he said, he would talk with the Sheriff’s Department to see what it thinks is needed to improve public safety, which could be more street lights rather than deputies.

On homelessness, O’Donnell said he would hire more social workers, encourage partnerships between law enforcement and social services, and ensure that public spaces are clear of encampments.

Kurdian said formerly homeless people should be part of homeless outreach teams, and he sees a need for greater partnerships between the public and private sector. He is critical of the government’s housing-first restriction that denies funding to organizations like Solutions for Change because it requires drug testing and program enrollment

Office terms are four years. The mayor’s monthly salary is $3,067 and council members earn $2,955 a month. Elected officials also have an annual telephone allowance of $1,080.