In an open two-seat election for La Mesa City Council, former councilmember Kristine Alessio is looking to get back on the dais, running against Lauren Cazares, Genevieve Suzuki, and Shawn Townsend. Alessio, R, 57, said this is a nonpartisan race and she believes the partisanship on both sides has been detrimental on all levels, especially in a nonpartisan race, she does not care about another person’s party affiliation. Alessio served on La Mesa City Council from 2012 to 2020.
Alessio said she had no intention of running for office again and has been enjoying her community activities, including being a board member for the La Mesa Historical Society.
“Then I looked and thought that we are facing many challenges, and we are losing a lot of knowledge. My background in land use and in government puts me in a unique position to help La Mesa be the best that it can be. It is about preserving the character of La Mesa and who has the tools to ensure that La Mesa stays the wonderful, small-town charm as we face state mandates on housing, perhaps federal mandates on housing, and state mandates on climate change and more,” she said.
Alessio said because of her background in land use and real estate development, she understands how to protect neighborhood integrity while complying with state requirements.
“I am in a unique position. I have multiple ideas that would be gamechangers in that respect that I hope, if elected, can implement them. Right now, we basically have no design guidelines, so when a new development comes into a neighborhood, and that is one of the common complaints in every community, there are ways to handle that and easy to implement. I do not like looking in terms of concepts. I look in terms of solutions,” she said.
Alessio said if you look at places like Coronado or Santa Barbara, they have maintained their character.
“I do not want to let La Mesa lose it character, whether you are in The Village, north La Mesa, west La Mesa, and east La Mesa where I live, I do not want that to happen. I think I am the candidate that gets the big picture, has the knowledge of real estate law and development,” she said.
Alessio said there are other things in her historical history with the city that have to do with every day needs of La Mesa, its businesses, and its roads.
“Roads are important. People complain there are potholes all over the place. The city has this seven-year rotation schedule it has always had. Why not change it as needed. The city says it will cost more, but has anyone really studied this? And if it did cost more, would it be significant. It would make a huge difference to many people who are driving down Baltimore Drive, to not be pothole ridden, ugly, and people speeding and running stop signs,” she said.
Alessio said the city needs a larger police force and it will probably cost more money, and you get that money by cutting costs in other areas.
“La Mesa has almost had a 70% increase in administrative staff this last fiscal year. Primarily consultants and probably do not need all of them. Maybe there is a way to handle the growth and not have such a huge fiscal budget. Because I have been on council before, SANDAG, I am familiar with fiscal budgets, and I believe that adds much for me as a candidate. You must understand how fiscal budgets work. I have that experience,” she said.
Alessio said during her time on council, she has already done many important things for the city.
“We had this huge pension problem and a large looming in CalPERS smoothing. I looked at a program a few years ago, PARS, which allowed you to pay down your CalPERS for less money, and we did it. It saved us millions of dollars. If you have that knowledge, you can figure out ways to make La Mesa better, and more efficient,” she said.
Alessio said if you are new, you do not have the knowledge of what it takes to open a small business, improve a new business, put up a new sign, and you do not know the red tape the city places, and become horrified.
“If you have never been through that process, and I have, you do not see the ways to correct this,” she said.
Alessio said with Proposition L, to extend the three-quarters sales tax, knowing the dependency of La Mesa of that sales tax, and knowing during the 2008 recession that sales tax saved La Mesa, she is not opposed to it in theory.
“But I do think if you are going to ask the shoppers, residents, businesses to pay more, there needs to be a clear area where you are going to put that sales tax. Not blankly in the general fund. I would like a citizen’s oversight just as in a bond measure. What is Proposition L like now and what would we like it to fund. That needs to be driven by the people in La Mesa. Not what politicians and staff think are the priorities. I understand the want, the fiscal part of it, but without explanation or oversight is not the best way to go about it,” she said. “If it is rejected, you better have your Plan B and Plan C in place. If you do not have experience in dealing with budgets, you probably do not have the knowledge to know what to do next. When I was on council, Proposition L was like the big elephant in the back of the room that no one ever wanted to talk about. I would ask the finance manager what happens if this sales tax goes away. This is something that we need to be thinking about now.”
Alessio said the city needs to be better stewardships of its money.
“I look at traffic calming. People speed. I walk all around La Mesa. I feel like putting on a shirt, ‘Marked safe from walking through La Mesa this morning.’ People speed. People are asking for speed bumps. La Mesa has a traffic calming program, but you must wait five years. That is not right,” she said.
Alessio said she would implement permit processing for those who want to put solar on their home, put a new business sign up. She said at the Historical Society they replace their old sign with the new branding as the La Mesa History Center, and it took over six months just to get approval.
“I would implement, much like a public records request, the city clerk has a certain number of days to respond to it, I would implement that process on everything. If I go in, give you plans for a sign, 10 days, whether you approve it or not,” she said, adding that simple home improvements are just as difficult a process to go through that the city could streamline.
Alessio said things that she has already done for the city have made it a better place for its residents.
“I helped make La Mesa smoke free. We were able to get backyard chickens. We had strange, arbitrary limits on the number of pets you could have. I changed that. We still have a half-finished downtown village streetscape that is not completed,” she said. “We have a library that is too small, and I have concrete ideas on how to deal with that if elected. They are simple, common sense. One reason I want to be reelected is that I have brought this before current council members. I do not know why they are disconnected from practical solutions. They are easy.”
Alessio said La Mesa has been good at looking forward in its general plan when it comes to housing, and while on council, in looking at housing mandates, it was easier to over plan, rather than stop in case the city was mandated for more housing.
“Then you have to see how to fit housing in the community without it being burdensome to existing neighborhoods,” she said. “I do not like big, tall buildings looking over the Village area. But if you have state requirements that allow bonuses for affordable housing, what you do is make it fit architecturally with the community. You work within what you are given to do by the state, and make sure you keep the integrity of your community. You choose to live in a place that you love, and if you see it change it is difficult. I so not want to see large condos next to me. But if I must, I want them to blend seamlessly in my neighborhood.”
Alessio said being on the board of the History Center, they would like the city to do an inventory of historical sites.
“That is important. You need to see historical sites and know about them and protect them. We need to get this done before these homes are gone. Even the commercial buildings that were a huge part of La Mesa are gone and plowed over,” she said.
Alessio said to the council, you must have the lived and practical experience to be an effective representative for the residents of La Mesa.
“I hope when elected, that whomever else is elected, that I can mentor them in some way, bet them up to speed as quickly as possible, making them as effective as possible,” she said. “You can be well versed in many things, but then you have the Strategic Management Plan, zoning, municipal codes. I have that knowledge of how all these things work together to get things done. That is where I feel my experience is helpful. No only for the city, but with whomever I would serve with.”
