Key Policies As Mayor

Establish a Tenants Protection Office, that will give people free legal advice, free mediation and know your rights information. 

Establish Tenant Unions, which is an organization formed and led by renters themselves to fight for their collective rights and interests. They can exist at different levels, within a single building or complex, across multiple properties owned by the same landlord, or across an entire neighborhood or city. Its structure is often volunteer-run and funded by small membership dues. The goal is to build collective power to negotiate with landlords and influence government policy on housing issues. How it works is we find interested neighbors to form an initial organizing team, reach out, hold an assembly, and formalize. In some cities, you can formalize a tenant association by getting signatures from tenants in at least 50% of the occupied units and notifying the landlord. Rancho Cucamonga has no such ordinances.

Free Buses Program, is a direct benefit to low-income residents, seniors, students, and people with disabilities. Through the use of the general fund, a small sales tax measure, or by reallocating existing transportation dollars we can make this a reality. Because Omnitrans is a joint powers agency the city would need to negotiate with the other 14 member cities and the county to make this happen. A free bus program for Rancho Cucamonga is financially achievable especially if approached as a pilot or in partnership with other cities. Omnitrans budget is 118.5 million dollars a year, a proportional cost of Rancho Cucamonga’s share, based on revenue, would be 1.5 million dollars. 

Pothole Patrol, establish a 48-hour response time for reported potholes. Use the city’s new drone inspection program to identify road damage before residents complain. Also use a direct messaging line online where residents can post pictures and cross streets to report potholes. 

Establish the Rancho Cucamonga Community Land Trust, this would be a powerful way to create permanently affordable housing and put a key piece of my platform into action. A CLT is a nonprofit that buys land and keeps it in trust for the community forever. It separates land (held by the trust) from the building on it (sold or rented to residents), ensuring homes stay affordable for generations. We do the same for commercial properties such as office buildings, small businesses, and other sectors of the economy to protect local businesses from displacement and create permanent affordable commercial spaces.. 

Housing For All, using the Vienna Model would be a powerful way to create permanently affordable housing, separate from low-income housing or section 8 housing which are privately owned, these are city owned apartments similar to Lewis Apartment Communities, we would offer rents ranging from 500 to 1000 dollars per month based off square footage costs, which in Vienna, are 62 cents per square foot. This would not only stabilize the housing market but ensure there is actual competition to the greedy landlord class exploiting the working class of Rancho Cucamonga. If there is no public housing available the greedy landlord class will expropriate as much capital from the working class as possible, whereas, the government, is not profit-seeking. Our costs are your costs, we do not seek to profit from housing. These units would first be doled out through a lottery system for residents of Rancho Cucamonga to ensure fairness in housing. 

This would put a key piece of my platform into action. A CLT is a nonprofit that buys land and keeps it in trust for the community forever. It separates land (held by the trust) from the building on it (sold or rented to residents), ensuring homes stay affordable for generations. We do the same for commercial properties such as office buildings, small businesses, and other sectors of the economy to protect local businesses from displacement and create permanent affordable commercial spaces. Mandate community benefits from large development projects, in the case of the Etiwanda Heights, if the project is to continue then it must include a percentage of units put into the Rancho Cucamonga Community Land Trust to ensure permanent affordability. Developers must hire locally using project labor agreements, pay a living wage while providing local workforce training and apprenticeships. For projects, like Etiwanda Heights, they must also preserve open spaces, new parks, and “green building standards” while providing walkable streets and community WiFi. They must also contribute to a community fund for services like healthcare, childcare, and legal aid for renters. These are not just benefits for residents, but reparations for past extractions. If developers profit from our land, they must build our future with good jobs, homes we can afford, and a healthy environment for all.

This will also reduce the houseless/homeless population in Rancho Cucamonga. The reason we have seen an uptick in the homeless population is because life in Rancho Cucamonga is becoming unaffordable.

Secure State Grants for Worker-Owned Cooperatives, we must democratize the economy by pushing development of worker owned businesses. The SEED (Social Entrepreneurs for Economic Development) program alone has already distributed millions of dollars to support cooperative formation, training and capacity building with a focus on excluded workers in low-wage industries. The city could create its own micro-grants for legal fees, equipment, member buy-ins, and training while using SEED’s proven framework as a model to expand worker-owned cooperatives. 

Project Labor Agreements to ensure union labor on city construction. Enact a council ordinance for all city-funded projects.

Labor Peace Agreements to protect organizing at city-subsidized businesses. Require LPAs in development agreements and leases.

Prevailing Wage Ordinance, extend wage standards to private projects. Ordinance conditions approvals on prevailing wages.

Endorse ACA 5, support the state constitutional right to unionize. Use the Mayor’s platform for advocacy at the state level. 

Require the City to Use its Purchasing Power to Support Unionized Businesses, the city will only purchase its necessities from unionized labor. This will directly put money back into the hands of laborers instead of greedy owners.

Tuition Free College, partner with Chaffey College for free community college to cover tuition for Rancho Cucamonga residents using a portion of the city’s general fund. This program will be separate from the Panther Promise program. 

Municipal Broadband, treat the internet as a public utility. In 2018, the city and Onward entered a formal partnership to initiate, operate, and manage the city-owned network. Their role as the ISP is to handle customer service, marketing, and the technical operation of providing internet access to residents and businesses. We will build and expand the city-owned fiber optic network to break the monopoly of private ISPs and lower costs for working families. The city already has 70 miles of its own fiber optic cables in the ground; this existing network will be utilized as the backbone for expansion into a municipal broadband system. The revenue model will be similar to other cities that already have municipal broadband services like Chattanooga which offers services for 1 Gbps internet for $68 per month and 300 Mbps for $58 per month. This program will pay for itself and in the future increase city revenues. 

Expand the Rancho Cucamonga Municipal Utility Company, this is the crown jewel of Rancho Cucamonga’s public utilities, the City already owns it. Expand the RCMUC service territory across all of Rancho Cucamonga. Publicly owned electricity is cheaper and more accountable. The average residential bill is roughly $40 in comparison to the state average of $160. That is 83% lower. Expand net metering for rooftop solar which RCMU already offers. Push for 100% renewable energy procurement, since the RCMU buys it wholesale we can direct it to buy from clean sources. Not only will this be a utility owned by the public it will provide good paying union jobs.

Push the Cucamonga Valley Water District to explore Public Ownership, currently the CVWD is a special district which makes it an independent unit of the local government. It is not part of the city government, but it is still public. We must use the bully pulpit to advocate for CVWD to expand low-income water rate assistance programs. Partner with CVWD on water conservation projects and push for more aggressive lead pipe replacement and water quality testing. Ultimately, we must push CVWD into a public ownership model as we have done with the RCMUC.

Push for a Publicly-Owned Gas Company, municipal gas utilities are already an established model within California such as Long Beach and Palo Alto. Pathways to achieving this would be the Voluntary Purchase which is the most straightforward, amicable route. The city and the utility company negotiate a sale price for the local gas distribution assets. If this fails, use Eminent Domain and force an acquisition. Cities have the authority to acquire property for public use, California Government Code § 57415, allow a city to assure control of gas plants. Pushing for public utilities across the city will increase affordability for all, decrease prices for all, and provide unionized labor for all.

Free Childcare, California already has a large subsidized childcare system. A city pilot could build on this by using state funds and eligibility rules as a foundation. Funding could come from a combination of the city’s general fund, federal grants such as the American Rescue Plan Act, and state grants to launch a $2-3 million annual pilot for hundreds of slots. This could be as simple as a partnership between the city, the local school district, and philanthropic organizations. We start small, between 50-100 low income families with children aged 0-3. This allows the city to manage costs, gather data, and build momentum to expand the program.

Awareness Campaign of Free Pre-K, California already has universal Pre-K or TK (transitional kindergarten) for children aged 4 and above, however, there is little advertisement of these benefits California already offers. 

Expand Micro-Lending Programs, partner with the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) to establish and expand a city-backed microloan fund, specifically for loans under $50,000. This will provide crucial capital for startups and small expansions without the burden of large debt.

Establish a Small Business Grant Program, use a portion of the city’s federal funding, approximately $5 million in ARPA funds, to create a grant program for small businesses. This would help with storefront improvements, digital marketing, or purchasing equipment.

Raise the Small Business Tax Exemption Threshold, follow the lead of other California cities, explore raising the threshold for the city’s business license tax exemption. Exempting more small businesses from this tax reduces their overhead and encourages new business formations.

Fast-Track Permitting and Reduce Permitting Fees for Small Businesses, create a dedicated fast-track for qualifying small businesses, e.g. under 4,000 sq. ft. This would move from plan to construction in a fraction of the time. Self-certification for professionals which would allow pre-approved licensed professionals to “self-certify” their plans for simple tenant improvements (non-structural changes, light electrical/plumbing). This cuts out the normal plan review process. Eliminate “Change of Us” permits, remove the requirement for a new permit when a business changes from one permitted use to another (e.g. a retail space becoming a restaurant). Create a “One-Stop Shop” by establishing a single point of entry for all permit applications.

End Airbnb Rentals and Private Equity Purchases of Homes in Rancho Cucamonga.  Rancho Cucamonga already passed a strict ordinance (adopted in 2020) that heavily restricts Airbnbs. Under the current city code: STRs are only allowed in the host's primary residence (the owner must live there for at least 6 months and 1 day out of the year). You cannot rent out a second home, an investment property, or a vacant house as a full-time Airbnb. The host must obtain a city-issued permit and pay a transient occupancy tax. There is a city-wide cap on the total number of permits issued at any given time. The city council must amend its zoning code to ban Short-term Rentals entirely (as cities like Santa Monica have done) or reduce the cap to zero. As long as the ordinance applies equally and doesn't discriminate against a protected class, the city has the legal authority to prohibit commercial short-term rentals in residential zones.  

An outright ban on selling a home to a private equity firm, LLC, or institutional investor is legally extremely difficult and almost certainly unconstitutional. However, Rancho Cucamonga CAN use indirect tools to discourage or heavily penalize private equity investors. For example, Rental Property Licensing and Inspections: Require mandatory, frequent, and costly inspections for all non-owner-occupied rental homes (which would heavily impact corporate landlords). "Owner-Occupancy" Requirements: The city could pass an ordinance requiring that a single-family home be owner-occupied for the first 1–2 years after purchase before it can be rented out (this effectively kills the "buy-and-rent" model for flippers and funds). Vacancy Taxes: The city could place a steep annual tax on homes that are left vacant for more than a certain number of months (discouraging investors from holding property off the market to drive up prices).  Although, to pass a new tax in CA, it usually requires a 2/3 voter approval under Proposition 218. Bulk Sale Restrictions: The city could require a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) for any entity that wants to buy more than a certain number of single-family homes in a single year within city limits. 
 

Community Oversight for Law Enforcement, establish a truly independent and free from outside influence civilian review board with subpoena power and the ability to discipline officers.