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BenitoLink hosted its primary election forum in which 12 candidates for various state and county seats addressed issues ranging from housing, roads and the landfill.
About 75 people attended the Feb. 8 event held at the Granada Theater in Hollister.
Candidates discussed topics in a civil manner, with only minor sparring. San Benito County District 2 Supervisor Kollin Kosmicki appeared to have a minute of disorientation while attempting to answer a question. He recovered and was able to recompose to answer his last two questions. Kosmicki then spoke to Dr. Nick Gabriel who was in the audience. Feb 9, Kosmicki told BenitoLink that he may have experienced a seizure due to “dehydration, exhaustion and stress.”
Among the most heated races was Board of Supervisor District 5 between incumbent Bea Gonzales and former Hollister Mayor Ignacio Velazquez, who were asked about affordable housing needs, leadership style and keeping Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital from closing.
As a solution to the lack of moderate-cost housing, Velazquez talked about requiring developers to include 20% affordable housing in their projects.
“We mandate they build affordable houses with their projects or they don’t build here in San Benito County,” Velazquez said.
San Benito County has a 15% requirement for projects that are more than 10 units. The county also has what is known as an “inclusionary fee” for affordable housing projects that include 10 or fewer units.
Velazquez said the county has low in-lieu fees, which are paid by developers. These fees are paid by developers to the county instead of building affordable housing. Velazquez pointed out that Morgan Hill has much higher fees, suggesting San Benito County should increase their fees too. It was unclear how this would reduce the cost of housing locally.
Gonzales said she was part of the ad hoc committee that proposed the 15% requirement for affordable housing and that she favored high density, multifamily and farmworker housing and not single-family housing. Gonzales pointed out that the major projects that have been built over the last several years had been under Velasquez’s watch, not hers.
“People right now are huddled up, multi generations in one family home because they can’t afford a unit of their own, there is not enough housing,” Gonzales said.
Board of Supervisors District 2 candidates addressed economic development, fixing roads and services for seniors.
While attempting to address a question about roads, Supervisor Kollin Kosmicki appeared to be disoriented for about 50 seconds. Dr. Nick Gabriel, who was in attendance, was called to assess Kosmicki following the panel.
“These supervisors and candidates work long hours and one could only imagine the stress involved with campaigning. In my professional opinion some of the benign probable causes to what the audience witnessed may have been due to dehydration, hypoglycemia, stress, muscle tension,” Gabriel told BenitoLink on the afternoon of Feb. 9.
Gabriel added that he advised Kosmicki that evening to go home, hydrate, and that he would see him in the office first thing in the morning.
“I also advised him to present to the ER if he experienced further episodes, severe headaches, dizziness, blurred vision or musculoskeletal weaknesses or numbness once he was home.”
However, after the period which Gabriel called “momentary trance,” Kosmicki responded to the question stating the county is investing millions of dollars into fixing the roads including San Juan Canyon Road, San Juan Highway and Union Road.
“We have put more money toward the roads, $20 million, than any one has done in the past,” Kosmicki said. “And you are going to start to see all this road in the next several years.”
His challenger, San Juan Bautista City Council member John Freeman, said he was involved in getting Measure G, an additional sales tax passed in 2018 to fund road projects, approved and that the county needs to pursue state and federal grants in addition to increase revenue to fund projects and staffing.
“We need a stronger business base to provide money for the roads,” Freeman said. “That means businesses in the county that can provide tax money to the county so we can have the money in the county to have stronger roads.
Board of Supervisors District 1 candidates addressed the proposed John Smith Road Landfill expansion, which is owned by the county and whose environmental report was rejected by the Planning Commission on Feb. 7, all stating they had concerns about or opposed the current proposal.
Stacie McGrady said she worked in Monterey County when the Crazy Horse Landfill was closed and a transfer station was opened in Salinas.
“That was an epic failure,” McGrady said. “It caused more traffic and more pollution and more problems within the city. It didn’t solve problems, it just created more, and it’s highly, highly expensive.”
She added another option was building a new landfill in or outside the county.
Dustin Weber said the Planning Commission made the right decision and that the alternatives include negotiating a new deal with Waste Connections, the landfill operator, and using Watsonville’s model, in which it diverts its waste to Monterey Regional Waste Management District in Salinas.
According to a news release by the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank, Watsonville was awarded a $6 million loan to build a new 7.1-acre landfill site. It added it will save the city approximately $180,000 each year compared to the cost of hauling the waste to Salinas, whose landfill is expected to close soon.
Supervisor Dom Zanger said he expected an appeal from Waste Connections and that he is opposed to the 388-acre expansion but is open to a “modest” expansion.
“This deal is not good for the county,” Zanger said. “It’s one of these short-term wins, long-term losses.”
He added that before discussing other options, the county needed to address the current expansion proposal.
Candidates for Congress District 18 Peter Hernandez, Luele Kifle and Lawrence Milan answered questions about immigration, supporting rural hospitals and reducing the need for commuting.
Candidates for Senate District 17, Michael Oxford and Eric Tao addressed the state working with local government, Proposition 1 and providing funding for counties more quickly in emergency situations. Tao suggested that emergency money should be set aside and immediately available for emergencies.
Candidate Oxford told the audience that he had opposed wearing a mask during COVID and lost his job. He said he is still unemployed and that the experience is what motivated him to run for office. He said people’s behavior during the pandemic was rude and unfair and that he hoped we could learn from it.
The BenitoLink Primary Election Forum and videos were sponsored by San Juan Oaks, Shawn P. Herrera, Wright Brothers Industrial Supply, Pinnacle Organics, Golden Memorial Insurance Services, Hollister Rotary and San Juan Bautista Rotary.
BenitoLink recorded the forum and will provide it in this article and on Youtube as soon as it is available. The videos will also be announced in a separate BenitoLink article when they are available.
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