San Jose District 2 race could shift labor-business balance on City Council

While the race for San Jose’s District 2 City Council seat figures to remain competitive down to the finish, what’s certain is that the next South San Jose representative will come from a background of service and humble roots that have shaped their desires to fix the city’s biggest challenges.

In the balance, the race could swing the power dynamic between labor- and business-supported interests on the City Council.

Joe Lopez, a retired 35-year veteran of the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office, and Pamela Campos, a former preschool teacher turned program and policy officer at the Low Income Investment Fund, advanced from the March primary as the two leading vote-getters to replace outgoing Councilmember Sergio Jimenez.

“I’ve always been service-oriented, whether in professional or social life,” Lopez said, noting his service on multiple civil grand juries and commissions since his retirement in 2009. “It has been a continuous momentum of giving back not only for the help I received but the people that never gave up on me and pushed me to reach my potential.”

Lopez, who earned the endorsement of Mayor Matt Mahan and various pro-business organizations, emerged from the four-person primary as the top vote-getter, nabbing just over 35% of the total vote. Touting his experience as a hostage negotiator, he has taken a tough stance on city policies that he believes have prevented neighborhoods from feeling safe and clean and inhibited growth.

Despite Campos finishing second at 24.3% of the vote, the race will likely tighten. Some city councilmembers who backed other candidates during the primary have now flocked to Campos’ side, as she boasts endorsements from six of the city’s current elected leaders, including Jimenez, along with support from labor organizations. Her platform centers around championing policies that support children, families and the middle class.

While the candidates share some of the same overarching concerns about the city — crime, homelessness and growth — they differ on what they believe are the most significant priorities leaders can address from the dais.

For example, Campos said that housing and homelessness remain her top priorities and saw the need for the city to strike a balance in how it funds both. She added that the city needed to support the creation of housing at all affordability levels because not doing so would perpetuate the cycle of homelessness, noting that 24% of millennials continue to live at home.

“We need to build housing for people that are already employed, and that is very much at the top of my mind because we don’t want those people to be homeless,” Campos said. “The people living on our streets need support, shelter and a place to stay. It is very costly to have those services and staff management onsite so we need to be focused on the long-term strategy for how we get people off the streets and on a trajectory to being safe and permanently housed and being a constructive part of the community while earning income.”

Although Lopez agreed that the city must do a better job of spurring housing development and addressing the homelessness crisis, including finding more cost-effective ways to build shelters, he has consistently said that the city needs to address public safety first by hiring more police officers.

“The safety of our citizens prevails above everything else,” Lopez said. “If it’s not safe and it’s not clean, it doesn’t matter how many homes you build.”

Lopez said San Jose must find creative solutions to remain competitive in hiring law enforcement officers because of the department’s issues with retaining officers and the prevalence of incentives offered by other Bay Area agencies. He also noted that the perceived lack of safety trickles down and impacts other city goals — including attracting businesses — affecting the city’s ability to generate revenue to fund solutions to San Jose’s most significant issues.

Campos agreed that San Jose needs to improve police staffing levels but also said the city needs to do a better job of engaging with residents and building relationships with neighborhoods because having an officer on every corner was not feasible.

One of the most considerable distinctions between the candidates was how they viewed the now-shuttered plan for Santa Clara County to purchase the tiny home site at Monterey and Bernal Roads for homeless residents with mental health issues or approved for jail diversion.

Lopez vehemently opposed the proposal and raised concerns about the perceived lack of transparency about the county’s plans, which he said would make the community less safe. He has also said that South San Jose has taken on its fair share of interim housing sites and wants to work with the county and other city leaders to ensure an equitable distribution.

“It’s bad enough that you want to mix people with mental health issues and sobriety issues and then put them in our community,” Lopez said at a September debate hosted by the League of Women Voters and District 2 Neighborhood Leadership Council. “Everything and all the reports out there indicate that in spite of our best efforts, we are failing at this issue.”

Campos, meanwhile, held off judgment and struck a more compassionate tone, citing a news story about the difficulties of obtaining housing and employment for those with a criminal record.

One area the candidates agree on is that the city can do more to support small businesses and stop hindering development. Both cite the need to implement more changes to the permitting process that have slowed projects.

Campos has also proposed a novel idea to reallocate some impact fees from development projects to help preserve and fund childcare facilities.

“I continue to see the need for childcare and a safety net for children and families,” Campos said. “Locally, City Council can be a place to make our city the best place to raise a family, but it needs leadership that is going to put it first.”

While both candidates said they were well-versed in engaging with others who have opposing viewpoints, the District 2 race is one of a couple closely contested battles that could determine the power balance on the dais, with labor-backed officials currently controlling a majority.

Campos stressed that the City Council needs diverse representation willing to work with both sides not just to talk but champion city policies that could impact economic mobility.

“I think it’s important to know I have supporters in both organized labor and the business and development community,” Campos said. “For far too long, we haven’t been able to move our most critical agendas when there isn’t an ability to work together. I am a candidate and leader who is going to bring people together because I recognize that every voice has meaning and there is something we can learn from each person.”