La Mesa election guide: Mayor’s race takes center stage as voters weigh school and college bonds

La Mesa voters will begin receiving mail ballots Oct. 6, giving voters a month to decide who will lead the city moving forward. Here is a look at what will be on city residents’ ballots on election day, Nov. 6. 

The race for city council has already been decided. With only two candidates competing for two open seats, both are guaranteed a spot on the council.

Moana Alo, a staffer for state Sen. Akilah Weber Pierson, will take one of the two seats. Alo lists housing and homelessness, seniors and aging, and youth development as her main issues for the city to address.

Amanda-Dawn Natalia, the other soon-to-be councilmember, is an attorney who has served on the city’s Environmental Sustainability Commission and the La Mesa-Spring Valley School District’s bond oversight committee. Natalia lists her top priorities as safe streets, climate resilience, community engagement and affordability.

Both Alo and Natalia received endorsements from Democratic council members Lauren Cazares, Patricia Normandy-Dillard and Genevieve Suzuki. Alo and Natalia will fill the seats vacated by Republican Councilmember Laura Lothian and Democratic Councilmember Patricia Normandy-Dillard. Democrats are therefore guaranteed to maintain a supermajority on the council. 

Whether Republicans have any representation on the City Council will come down to this year’s mayoral race.

Two candidates are vying to replace Matt Strabone, who resigned for a job at NATO.

Republican Bill Exeter, who ran against Strabone four years ago, faces 20-year-old UCLA student Emmett Stewart, a financial analyst and business operations intern.

The La Mesa City Council appointed Stewart on Sept. 8 to a three-month interim treasurer position, giving him a pseudo-incumbency advantage going into the election. 

The marquee race on the ballot is to see who will replace Mayor Mark Arapostathis, nicknamed “Mr. La Mesa,” who is termed out after 12 years in office.

High-profile candidates include current city councilmembers Laura Lothian and Patricia Normandy-Dillard. In recent months, Lothian and Normandy-Dillard have squared off over the naming of Bill Walton Way and the future of La Mesa housing development.

Normandy-Dillard — whose top issues are investing in streets, transportation and finishing a library expansion — brings strong name recognition and no major controversies as she seeks to lead a city that has become decidedly blue in the last decade.

Lothian, on the other hand, is known as a conservative who fights for neighborhood issues such as clogged storm drains and other street-level issues. She encourages residents to reach out to her directly with neighborhood issues.

Also in the race is former treasurer Jim Stieringer. The Republican is running to stop what he called the “ghettoization” of La Mesa. Stieringer has served as a trustee of the Grossmont Union High School District and served five terms on the Grossmont Healthcare District Board of Directors.

Rounding out the race is Quinn Reese. Reese is a regenerative farmer who prides himself on not being a politician. Reese says the city needs leaders who are not tied to donors but instead fight for all La Mesa residents.

The fundraising edge in the race has gone to Lothian, who has outraised Normandy-Dillard in the latest filings, with $22,163 on hand compared to Dillard’s $8,727.

Lothian has received support from Assemblymember Carl DeMaio and his firebrand organization Reform California. East County mayors Bill Wells, from El Cajon, and Santee Mayor John Minto also endorsed Lothian.

On the Democrat side, Normandy-Dillard has received endorsements from State Senator Akilah Weber, Assemblymember LaShae Sharp-Collins and County Supervisor Monica Montgomery-Steppe. Normandy-Dillard also has support from powerful labor unions including the San Diego & Imperial Counties Labor Council.

The two frontrunners, Normandy-Dillard and Lothian, have squared off repeatedly during the campaign, most recently over a 147-unit affordable housing project at the Spring Street Trolley station. Normandy-Dillard lobbied the MTS board to support multi-bedroom apartments in the project, arguing they better suited families in La Mesa. Lothian opposed the project, arguing residents want single-family homes, not apartments.

Measure AA — La Mesa-Spring Valley School District Bond Extension 

Also on the ballot, the La Mesa-Spring Valley School District is asking voters to approve a $131 million 30-year bond extension for school improvements and maintenance

If approved, the bond money would pay for facility improvements, including repairs, maintenance and construction projects. It cannot be spent on teacher pay or increasing hiring to lower classroom sizes.

The bond revenue would be eligible for state matching funds, which could increase the amount of construction spending it brings to the district. 

The bond would extend the current property tax rate set all the way back in 2002, at $22 per $100,000 of assessed value. If approved, property owners won’t see a spike in their bills but will see that rate stay for longer. 

In higher education, Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District is asking voters to approve Measure G, which would generate an estimated $624 million for facility investments and maintenance. 

If passed, the money would be used to replace dilapidated and aging buildings throughout the district and would help pay for fireproofing campuses in wildfire zones.

The bond would extend a property tax rate set in 2002, at $25 per $100,000 in assessed property value, through 2058. It would not raise taxes from their current rate.