Candidate Q&A: Amit Pandya for Salinas mayor.

As part of the 2022 election season, the Weekly asked candidates for several offices to answer questions about some of the issues by email. In Salinas, Amit Pandya is challenging incumbent Mayor Kimbley Craig.

What are the biggest issues facing Salinas in the next two years, and why are you the best candidate to address them?

Salinas faces many issues. There is a lack of affordable housing, chronic homelessness, lack of transparency and accountability in our leadership and city government and neglected infrastructure including streets, sidewalks and potholes. However, the biggest issue that we face is water. We do not have sufficient water to continue using it at the current pace.

I have over 30 years of proven track record of results oriented leadership experience in civic engagement and volunteering. I was the president of the Oldtown Salinas Association as well as Salinas Old Town Foundation. I am a cofounder of the Salinas Food and Wine Festival and have planned and executed car shows, parade of lights and numerous other fun and friendly events in Oldtown Salinas. I’m a past chair of Salinas sales tax Measure V/E committee. I have been involved in the Chamber of Commerce, Lions Club, Rotary and other civic organizations.

I have over 32 years of experience fixing and turning around failing businesses and returning them to profitability. I have created budgets, hired employees, made and met short and long-term goals in both my life and business. I have met payrolls and changed my business models to reflect the ups and downs of economic conditions. I have faced great financial difficulties in business at times, as well as enjoyed great successes. I have received over 20 different awards for operational excellence in the business over the last 32 years. I have been part of the fabric of Salinas for the last 30 years, both serving on the boards of and starting several nonprofits as well as community engagement.

My deep experience in both the business and nonprofit world along with my knowledge of budgets and goal setting has uniquely prepared me to take a leadership role as the mayor of the city of Salinas and help us move forward in a positive team-oriented spirit.

How often do you currently attend City Council meetings? Do you think the current council is effective?

I attend the city Council meetings as often as possible. When I am not physically able to, I either livestream or view the recorded videos. I also watch subcommittee meetings, including the housing, and planning commissions. It would be valuable to allow the use of Zoom based hybrid meetings so more residents can be reached for their input and public comments.

Keeping up with the current issues and current conversations will allow me to hit the road running once I am elected as mayor in November.

For Amit: What specifically about Kimbley’s leadership as mayor do you think is not working and what would you do differently?

Saying something publicly, and doing something entirely different is a character flaw. If a person claims there is a leadership void in Salinas, and asks voters to elect her mayor because she has the right leadership and experience to lead this city, and then eight months later abandons Salinas to run for a higher paying supervisors job, that is a character flaw.

At a forum, residents were told she has the best interest of North Monterey County and Prunedale at heart so they should vote for her as a supervisor. Finally, after losing that election, she came back to Salinas and said that it doesn’t change her passion, drive and advocacy for residents in Salinas. This sounds hollow and false—a character flaw. Is Ms. Craig really good for the city, or is she using the city to get to a higher paying political position? People will have to decide. 

My already announced plan for better communication with our residents is clear. With 12 community based meetings rotating through six different districts and open hours for the Mayor's office, as well as a Mayor’s advisory committee, I will promote communication and foster gathering of new ideas and opportunities to solve the problems Salinas faces. It is the people we represent, and as elected officials, we must give opportunities for all the residents to have their voice heard by those they elected to represent them.

The Downtown Vibrancy Plan has been years in the making and it is no longer just on paper, but you can see the changes in the streetscape and the neighborhood. Do you think the city did a good job on implementing this plan? What could have been done better?

The downtown vibrancy plan has changed the landscape of Oldtown Salinas in a positive way. The sign placed in the middle of the Old Town has come to represent an iconic image of the city 

Even though the Oldtown looks better, the price tag was high. Moreover, the abrupt nature of starting construction did not take into account the needs of our business owners in Oldtown, and disrupted many businesses and lives personally and financially. We could have done a much better job of approaching the business community with clearer communication and helped mitigate the impact of construction, business closures and the economic harm to the business community. 

It goes without saying that the $21 million cost to revitalize Oldtown was misdirected from Measure X money. Measure X is the special tax residents approved to fix all the streets, sidewalks and potholes. The $21 million could have been better utilized fixing roads and sidewalks all over the city, not just the three blocks of Oldtown.

With the Alisal Vibrancy Plan also in the works, are there any lessons learned you would apply? What do you hope and believe is a realistic timeline to see that plan begin to really take effect now that SVSWA has closed the Sun Street Transfer Station?

Alisal Vibrancy Plan is very different from the Oldtown plan. The Alisal Vibrancy Plan is developed with community and residents in mind, along with walkable communities, affordable housing, retail and commercial parcels and green space for parks and relaxing.  

The 75 acre Alisal Marketplace plan is at the entrance to East Alisal Street, and currently enjoys Salinas Police Department’s new headquarters as an anchor.  Now that the Sun Street transfer station has vacated the premises, no doubt the plan to revitalize that land and transform it into affordable housing will kick up at a fast pace. It is truly a grand plan and vision with plenty of input from residents and communities. 

Salinas, like all local cities, is facing an ambitious housing creation target. The city still has a RHNA obligation to zone for 6,674 new housing units by 2031. What are you going to do to help the city achieve that RHNA number, and to advance affordable housing units specifically?

We must work hard for those who work the hardest. Our city of Salinas has not done nearly enough to build more affordable housing in the city. With just over 100 new units in the last 10 years in the middle to low income housing, we need to build more. Now, more than ever, we need new middle to low income housing for those earning between $38,000 a year to $63,000 a year as well. Who do you know who makes between 38K to 63K per year? Do you think they will benefit from affordable housing?   

Ensuring that the all new development includes inclusionary and affordable housing is just the beginning.  Our Alisal vibrancy plan also has affordable housing for our workers as one of the major components of the development. Additionally, we must also look at making it easier for current homeowners to build additional units or ADUs on the same property.

We must also take a look at infill and building up as opposed to sprawling out. We must also promote public-private partnerships specifically to promote construction of more affordable housing units. When I am the mayor, creating more affordable housing will be one of the main focuses of my administration.

In terms of economic development, do you believe Salinas should pursue any particular direction? Is there more opportunity in ag tech? Would you like to see an Amazon warehouse, for example?

For the city of Salinas, agriculture has been and still is the main engine that drives our economy. Ag technology is part of the solution to diversify our future. The ag business incubator program is a great example. It needs to be revived and expanded. The business incubator should include all businesses and industries for us to become a true incubator. We need to grow more businesses and a greater variety of businesses in Salinas by giving them the right direction and a chance to succeed.

Additionally, Salinas is perfectly poised to become a high tech industry and job growth area. Thanks to the partnership between CSUMB and Hartnell, we already have the [CSin3] program  that promotes a complete computer science degree in three years.

We have the space, infrastructure, brown wire internet and land for development and vacant space in our business parks. We need to begin a dialogue to diversify our economic base beyond agriculture and into various industries. There is no reason all the high-tech companies and jobs should be located in Fort Ord or on the Peninsula. Salinas has all the raw ingredients to start sowing seeds for a better future.

What should Salinas do about homelessness? What are your plans to address this issue?

Homelessness is a complex issue that has not received the attention it deserves.  To really simplify matters, the homeless population is broken into multiple pieces. About 30% have a mental illness and they need medical help. Approximately another 30% have problems with alcohol, drugs and hard drugs use. Some of this group will end up in the first group or are on the edge of being there. This group needs access to alcohol and drug addiction programs. Approximately another third is what we call economic homeless who have recently lost financial ability to pay for and retain housing. Some of the homeless in this category are families with children.  This relates directly to our discussion of the lack of affordable housing in the city. The last 7 to 12% are what authorities defined as chronic homeless, who enjoy the freedom of being homeless. They do not want to go to any shelters or housing programs because of the restrictions that come with them. All four major groups need different approaches based on their history.

The city of Salinas has now spent millions of dollars of the general fund money, ARPA money and grant money to procure housing for homeless through the Homekey program, and the Roomkey program as well as shelter. However, the city has spent millions of dollars without any vision of solutions to the homeless issues and spent the money without any plan, short-term or long-term, and without any goals or clear direction. This is not right. 

There are numerous cities across the country, including Spokane, Washington, Salt Lake City, Ithaca, New York that have worked on their homeless issue with great results. Why can’t we analyze their plans, and take relevant elements and best practices and customize them for Salinas?  That would require the right leadership, and a desire to actually start solving the homelessness issue with a results based plan. 

I plan to do just that by establishing a solutions-based Homelessness committee that is made up of various groups, individuals and city officials. That committee  would be charged  with assembling a solutions based plan that is well researched and practical and would focus on helping execute the plan. This coalition would provide a results-oriented plan with goals and a timeline to solve problems related to homelessness.

Do you think the police department is adequately funded, under-funded or is its budget bloated? What kind of changes would you like to make, if any, to city-police department relations?

Keeping residents safe is one of the main jobs of Salinas as a city. I am clear on the fact that our Salinas Police Department needs the resources to be adequately funded and staffed to make sure they have personnel and resources to respond in a timely fashion when the citizens need help. The funding resources also need to be there for equipment and tools such as vehicles, license plate readers and shot spotter equipment. Moreover, a comprehensive approach to public safety should also include prevention measures in addition to suppression and intervention measures. We need to have an adequate number of after-school programs and activities to help prevent our youth from joining gangs and getting involved in crime, robberies and drugs.

Do you believe Salinas used its $54 million in ARPA funds effectively? What would you have changed, if anything, about the allocation and process for determining how to allocate those funds?

The city of Salinas has used the ARPA funding for a wide variety of projects. Some of the uses are deferred maintenance issues, some are repair or replace issues as well as investment in water and sewer systems. In addition, over $12 million was allocated for homeless and housing.  

The original intent of this one time grant from Federal Government was to mitigate impact of Covid-19 on the city. However, after some negotiations over a few council meetings, the final plan that was approved was the best we could do. The spending plan focuses on fixing our recreation centers, the play grounds and equipment, fire station improvements, street and sidewalk repairs, fixing our water and sewer system and other work. It was a huge windfall for the city, and it will help the city move forward.   

What should the city’s role be in pursuing regional water solutions?

My opponent Kimbley’s recent vote at a LAFCO meeting was revealing.  Her vote to protect big corporate business and their interest in profit was unfortunate and went against the long term interests and well-being of residents of Salinas. This is not right. Water is one of the biggest issues facing Monterey County and Salinas. It has far reaching implications to big ag companies who drive the economy of Salinas. Water not only impacts the big ag, but also impacts quality of life, new development, business growth, affordable housing, and all other areas of life. The 14,000 new homes being built in Salinas will all be using water that we do not have. We have already used up the 180-foot aquifer, tapped into the 400-foot aquifer, which is turning salty, and now we are tapping the deep waters of 900-foot aquifers. If we just use, and use and use without a plan to replenish the ancient aquifers, one day soon, we will go completely dry without clear water.  

We must do better. My opinion on water has been clear for a long time. I am a supporter of public water, Measure J, and Pure Water [Monterey]. We must recycle and reuse the water and find ways to help replenish the underground water that we are pumping out at an alarming rate

Salinas is the largest city in Monterey County.  We must take a leadership position to protect our water and natural resources. But we have so far failed.  We have also failed at making the public and the residents of Salinas aware of the problem and huge challenges that we will face in the very near future. In reality, Salinas should be taking a leadership role to find a solution for our common water problem, not protecting profits of big corporations.

Please rate the performance of the city manager, the city attorney and the police chief.

Salinas Police Chief Roberto Filice is the top police officer in the city. He is community minded and embraces community policing.  He can be seen mingling with residents at community events, farmers markets on a regular basis. He is even known to jump in a patrol car and help out officers on the street. He has pulled over cars, given tickets and made arrests. His department and his team are busy making Salinas a safe city by taking guns, drugs and criminals off the streets on a regular basis as evidenced by numerous detailed reports every week in social media. Officer Oakley and other K9 units have become quite good at sniffing out problems in difficult situations. In my opinion, he and his department are doing a good job for the city.