Lemon Grove Councilmember Liana LeBaron, NPP, 34, is running for mayor against incumbent Mayor Racquel Vasquez and fellow Councilmember Alysson Snow. LeBaron has served on City Council since 2020. LeBaron said she is running for mayor because she “deeply loves” Lemon Grove.
“Lemon Grove is where I was born and raised. And I feel called to step up to be the voice for the people as they feel that at every turn they are disrespected and unheard,” she said.
LeBaron said her top priorities, by going door to door and talking with hundreds of people, she introduced herself and asked everybody what their three top concerns are.
“That way, the community willing, if I am elected mayor, I know exactly what I need to be working on,” she said. “I can tell my colleagues that I have gone door to door, and that I have gotten the community’s input, and that these are their top three concerns. So, these are the things we are going to be working on and prioritizing. Those top three concerns, according to the people of Lemon Grove, are the roads, homelessness, and overall cleanliness and safety in this city. They will be the top three things that I will be addressing as mayor,” she said.
Regarding Measure T, the one-cent tax measure on the November ballot, LeBaron said the people of Lemon Grove work very hard for their money, and for years, they have not seen an adequate return on their investment with the tax dollars that they are already paying.
“I support measures that are specific and have promises that governing bodies can be held accountable to. When I went door to door around 2019 and 2020 in support of the sales tax measure that the city initiated at that point in time, the majority of people told me that they would not be in support of a sales tax increase because they do not trust their local government and how this city is going to spend it. Fast forward four years, my council colleagues have again proposed to increase taxes on the people of Lemon Grove and have not shown that they have learned from the first time around, because this measure does not include any promises or guarantees that the public can hold us accountable to. So now, this measure is on the ballot in November, so the public is going to have the opportunity, yet again, to cast their vote again for confidence or no confidence for how this city is going to spend their money. I respect the Democratic process, but I generally do not put my name behind or support initiatives or measures that do not come with the highest level of accountability,” she said.
LeBaron said her plan for addressing roads is very simple.
“It does not take a rocket scientist, an engineer, an attorney, or a city planner to recognize that our streets are in an intolerable amount of neglect. Likewise, the everyday person can realize that some of our worst paved and notoriously dangerous roads are the roads that are right next to parks and schools. Places where our children, who are some of our most vulnerable people in the world, frequent. My plan is to very simply rearrange the priority markers for which our council majority chooses which roads to fix. That is going to begin by prioritizing repairs of our worst paved and most dangerous roads, such as those that are near schools and parks, both places where our children and families frequent,” she said.
LeBaron said there is no doubt that the people of Lemon Grove want to address the homelessness situation on the streets.
“Residents feel it, they see it, and they live it, and there is no ignoring that our city, like many other cities in the state of California, are facing the same challenges when it comes to our unhoused neighbors. It is very important when addressing homelessness, we as an elected body are taking into consideration our community. Most recently, a decision to construct sleeping cabins for the homeless in Lemon Grove by a preschool, elementary school, and a residential area was proposed by at least three of my colleagues. And what we all observed was for that bad decision was widely unsupported by the majority of the people of the city. What I have heard from people when I go door to door, is that they want the city to address homelessness in a way that shows compassion, that is humane, but still does not look past the fact that there are certain times when homeless individuals are a safety hazard, not only to other, but to themselves. I will be advocating for treatment of mental illness and drug and alcohol addiction so we can get to the root causes of what we are seeing on our streets. That is not something that I am expecting to do alone. I am going to lean on my council team, and we are going to plug in on the appropriate county agencies and advocate for help at the state level so we can get to the root causes of what we are seeing on our streets,” she said.
LeBaron said at this point, the city has been left with an intolerable amount of neglect.
“Everybody feels this neglect. Part of living in a city is having a downtown area that is clean, safe, so my efforts to give the people what they want, and more important, what they deserve, will be to implement a three-year downtown improvement plan to revitalize, upgrade, and clean our downtown area. That comes in part from creating partnerships with local businesses to form a strong Business Improvement District where city leadership can work with our local business community to implement immediate esthetic improvements to our downtown area. This would be an investment in our local economy that the people of Lemon Grove would support because they would get a return on their investment in the form of a cleaner and safer downtown district. One at which they can eat at restaurants, shop, and enjoy themselves,” she said.
LeBaron said Lemon Grove has met its state-mandated quotas for affordable housing, and at this time, she thinks the community’s largest concern is the city tackling the city’s infrastructure.
“That is our roads,” she said. “Roads is their number one concern at this point.”
LeBaron said in talking with the community, she hears many different stories on how the neglect of the road repairs in the city have affected them.
“Having to spend money to service their car, alignments, popped tires. Everybody is being neglected the second that they start driving into the city, and when they leave. They feel that there is no escaping the overall level of neglect the city is in because literally, the roads they must drive on are so fractured and damaged. This city needs to scale it back, and before it gets these lofty ideas, we honestly need to focus on the very basics, and that is on our road repair. Because that is what the people want,” she said.
LeBaron said that one of the reasons that the people in the city support her, is because she asks tough questions. Primarily questions about how the public’s money is spent.
“The city currently imposes an involuntary fee, called a PEG Fee, on ratepayers in Lemon Grove. That money, in large part, is supposed to be used for granting greater access to the political processes, or the decision-making processes here in Lemon Grove to the public. One example is that the city could be using that fee money to video record our council meetings, and then broadcast it on any platform of their choosing. The city’s website, YouTube, social media outlets, television, so that the public can become educated on the government processes that are taking place in the city in which they live. An educated populace is a much stronger populace. That is beneficial to any city. Yet here in our city, city leadership has imposed that involuntary fee, collected public monies for years, and has not used that money for its intended purpose. I do not know why, but I have been very vocal in expressing my displeasure with the fact that local officials are taxing people and not using that tax money to benefit the people,” she said.
LeBaron said the public should have every availability to watch city council meetings, whether in person, or in the comfort of their own home.
On March 8, 2022, City Council discussed a resolution, condemning LeBaron of certain misconduct in and outside of meetings, stating LeBaron continuously engaged in “disruptive, obstructive, and inappropriate behavior at City Council Meetings.” The original motion to adopt the resolution failed with councilmembers George Gastil and Jennifer Mendoza voting no. A motion to table the resolution and find another solution was passed with Mayor Raquel Vasquez and Mayor Pro Tem Jerry Jones voting no.
“I am very outspoken in support and defense of the community, and because of that, I have been targeted by certain city staff and my city colleagues. However, the community by and large appreciates my efforts to address their most pressing concerns and holds city leadership accountable for a job well done. Therefore, the continually rally to my defense as was seen on March 8, 2022, when the city was trying to censure me. And, as we all saw, the city’s efforts failed and the people prevailed,” she said.
LeBaron was arrested on April 18, 2022, and charged with misdemeanor domestic violence. On April 18, she was served with an emergency protection order. The complaint came from her husband Timothy C. Howell, an El Cajon police officer. On April 19, LeBaron received a restraining order according to the Superior Court of California, County of San Diego website. On June 14, 2022, the judge ended the restraining order, as the couple had “sorted things civilly,” and the judge said she never received any physical evidence of abuse.
“I understand that part of being an elected official means that the public is entitled to know about my life. No person who does challenging things does so without a level of adversity and scrutiny. In recent years, I, like many other women, have gone through a very traumatic divorce from a law enforcement officer. In most cases, the court system does prevail on the side of protecting women and children. And in others, it prevails for those, who because of their training, know how to manipulate the system to their advantage. That said, at no point and time has my personal life affected the passion with which I represent the people of Lemon Grove. Nor has it affected my determination to serve the public at the highest level. As they say, “What does not kill someone, makes them stronger.’ I am looking forward to continuing to run a community and diverse campaign for mayor and showing the boys and girls of Lemon Grove what it looks like to overcome even the most difficult of trials and tribulations and still come out on top,” she said.
