Sitivi “Steve” Faiai, R, 49, is running for Lemon Grove City Council. With two open seats, Faiai is running against incumbent Councilmember George Gastil, Seth Smith, and Jessica “Jessyka” Heredia. Faiai said he has no background in politics. He has been married to his wife for 22 years, and they have two sons, one in college, and the other who just graduated high school. Faiai is a football coach at Helix High School, and has lived in Lemon Grove for four years, but has lived in East County for many years.
“I am like every other person that lives in Lemon Grove that would like to see some changes happen. I have no aspirations to be a career politician. However, I am interested in being part of the change that is needs to happen in our city. We have a lot of potential as a city, and I do not think that we are currently headed in that direction. Being part of the opportunity for change from where we are at to where we are headed is what I am most interested in. Coaching football, many kids that I coach live here in Lemon Grove, so when you ask me what inspired me to run for City Council, a lot of it would be for the students that I coach. They come from single-family homes, and I am interested in their future. So, I am running for them and a better future, and a better Lemon Grove.”
Faiai said his top priorities include fixing the city’s infrastructure, especially the streets.
“I think we have the worst infrastructure in the county of San Diego,” he said. “If you have lived or driven in Lemon Grove, the streets are pretty bad,” he said. “Tying into why I am running, as a coach, I am really passionate about reopening the Lemon Grove Recreation Center. It has been shut down for about 12 years now, and we need to reopen it. We need a place for kids to go and be a part of extracurricular activities that will keep them out of gangs and keep them involved in our community. The Lemon Grove Recreation Center is in the heart of the city, and my goal is to reopen that so we can invest in the future leaders in our city. Many programs at school are no longer offered and I think being able to have the recreation center open we can have programs in the future on how to handle finances, fill out a job application, fill out a college application.”
Faiai said another passion is reopening the Lemon Grove Senior Center.
“We have many seniors in Lemon Grove, and we need to give them a place to go,” he said. “From what I have heard, in the past, the senior center used to be a thriving community. Now, it is just a building sitting desolate with no future plans to reopen it. We need to reopen it to give our seniors a place to go and be part of the community.”
Faiai another issue facing Lemon Grove, and other cities in the county is homelessness.
“I am a heart guy. I love people and give everybody the benefit of the doubt. There is a plan to put sleeping cabins on Troy and Sweetwater, but I do not think it is a viable solution. It is a band aid and the success of sleeping cabins is not very high. We need to stop putting band aids on things that need stiches and healing. Our homeless are those who are less fortunate and we are not doing them any justice just by giving them a sleeping cabin. There is no dignity in that, and we are not helping them get on their feet. I would rather use the resources to invest in programs. We need to figure out a way to work with local and county agencies and develop a realistic plan that makes sense to address homelessness in our city,” he said.
Faiai said he is 50/50 when it comes to supporting Measure T, the one-cent sales tax measure on the November ballot.
“Recent studies show that over 70% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck,” he said. “So, we are going to tax one percent to people who are already living paycheck to paycheck. That is concerning. Another thing that is concerning is that money is not earmarked for anything. It seems like it is one of those deals where it will go into the general fund. If we are going to do something like that, we must see what it is being spent on. Increasing sales tax is an investment. We need to see the return of that investment from the city of Lemon Grove. But it cannot just be placed in the general fund. We also have to take into consideration what our businesses here think, because the strength of our businesses is the strength of our city. Going door to door, meeting people in the community, one of the questions I ask is if they shop here in Lemon Grove. Most of them, six out of 10 people, say they do not shop in Lemon Grove. That is concerning. If people do not shop here in Lemon Grove, one percent does not do anything for us. We must get our businesses, and our citizens aligned, and headed in the same direction. People say they do not shop in Lemon Grove because it is not safe. So, there is a disconnect between the businesses and the citizens of Lemon Grove. So, we must figure that out and move in the same direction where we support local businesses, and in return, businesses support us as a city.”
Faiai said if the one percent has a purpose, it makes sense, but if it does not, and just goes into the general fund, it does not.
Faiai said he is not that familiar with the business improvement district process, but realizes that downtown El Cajon, downtown Chula Vista, downtown San Diego and downtown La Mesa are all thriving downtowns and would like to see the same in Lemon Grove.
“I am hearing this a lot, especially with the downtown Chula Vista, that is being used as an example of what people would like downtown Lemon Grove look like,” he said. “If it brings anything positive, helps restructure the facades of our community and enhances the businesses of Lemon Grove, I think that it is a great idea. If it is working in other cities, I think that it can work here. I work in La Mesa, and I get jealous sometimes because there are the coolest things I have seen in The Village of La Mesa. How cool would it be to have something like that in Lemon Grove. I get the energy. I get the passion when people walk through any event, like the car shows. Or just walking down with those really cool storefronts and restaurants. It brings a lot of energy to the community.”
Faiai said affordable housing is a need in Lemon Grove, and he still has research to do with what the city has available, but he said affordable housing is a value, and it must be investigated.
Faia said it is important that everybody has access to city council meetings.
“Whether it is meeting at the Center in person, or watching it on TV live, I think it is important for ever citizen in Lemon Grove to know what is happening,” he said. “If we citizens of Lemon Grove are paying into a program that is to make this provided for us, then it is an obvious frustrating thing that we are not spending the money that we are paying into to provide services for us to be able to see live broadcasts of city council meetings. I would like to figure a way to make that possible. Not every citizen can make a 6 p.m. meeting every other Tuesday.”
Faiai said everything that is successful takes great leadership.
“I do believe it is time for change,” he said. “Going door to door, citizens feel their voices are being heard, but not listened to. I think that is where we are at right now. But I do know it needs to change. Many of those folks have been in those seats for a long time, and we still have not seen the changes we need to see to take our city and our community to the next level.”
Faiai said he is the “dark horse” in this election.
“But I have the heart and passion. And I believe I have the drive and leadership to move us forward. We can sit and yell from the stands about what needs improvement, or we can part of the solution. I just want to be part of the solution and help Lemon Grove move forward and build the future of Lemon Grove so that it is thriving like the other cities around us are. So, vote for Steve Faiai,” he said.
