ESCONDIDO – Olga Diaz, a business owner who ran unsuccessfully for City Council in 2006, has announced her candidacy in the November election.
Diaz is hoping to unseat one of the two incumbents who say they will seek re-election this fall – Sam Abed and Ed Gallo.
Diaz finished third, with about 16 percent of the vote, among seven candidates seeking two open seats last time.
Diaz, 32, owner of two Blue Mug Coffee & Tea stores in Escondido, said she is an outsider who can bring a fresh perspective to a council that often votes 3-2 on contentious issues. The majority usually consists of Abed, Gallo and Councilwoman Marie Waldron.
Diaz said she will move away from a council-majority effort to rid the city of undocumented immigrants, and instead focus on maintaining and repairing the city's aging infrastructure; expanding the library; establishing an endowment for the California Center for the Arts, Escondido; and hiring more firefighters.
Diaz was a vocal opponent of the council majority's failed bid in 2006 to fine landlords who rented to undocumented immigrants. She also opposes a current council effort to ban overnight street parking for vehicle owners who don't have city-issued permits.
She is married to Escondido police Lt. Neal Griffin. They have four children. –A.L.
Re-election bid is posted on YouTube
POWAY: Councilwoman Merrilee Boyack has announced her bid for re-election to a second four-year term by posting a video on YouTube.
“This is the first time anyone has done a virtual announcement for political office in Poway,” said Boyack, 50.
“The city's polling showed that over two-thirds of the residents . . . use the Internet for gaining information about the city, so I thought it would be a great idea to use the Internet to announce my campaign.”
A link to Boyack's video can be found on her Web site at vote.boyack.com.
The window for candidates to take out nomination papers for one of two open council seats this November is from now until Aug. 8.
Councilman Bob Emery has announced that he is retiring after serving on the council for all 28 years of Poway's existence as a city. The top two vote-getters in the November election will fill the positions.
For information about running, contact City Clerk Salam Hasenin at (858) 668-4535. –J.H.J.
Plans for new hotel
at beach approved
CARLSBAD: An oceanfront hotel with a rooftop restaurant will be built at the west end of Oak Avenue, after the Carlsbad City Council approved plans for it Tuesday.
The Lumiere Carlsbad Village Hotel, at Oak and Ocean Street, will be four stories tall. It will have 39 hotel rooms and 10 condominiums, retail shops on the ground floor, and two levels of underground parking.
It also will provide two low-income housing units to meet a city requirement.
The building will be 45 feet tall, which falls just within Carlsbad's height restriction, a city staff report said.
The site is now occupied by 21 short-term vacation units. Construction is expected to begin next year. –M.B.
2 to test incumbents
for MiraCosta board
NORTH COUNTY: Two candidates have signaled their intention to run against incumbents for the MiraCosta College board of trustees.
John Ford, a retired anthropology instructor at the Oceanside-based community college, filed nomination papers on Monday to run for the seat now held by trustee Gloria Carranza.
George McNeil, who previously announced he was challenging trustee Carolyn Batiste, also has taken out papers.
The four-year terms of Carranza, Batiste and Jacqueline Simon expire this year.
In the college district, which extends from Camp Pendleton to Carmel Valley, candidates must live within a certain area but are elected by voters districtwide.
Monday was the first day that candidates could pick up election forms, which must be filed no later than Aug. 8.
Ford said yesterday that he's not particularly upset with Carranza but is running against her because they live in the same trustee district.
“I have spent most of my time in academia and I understand it,” Ford said. –L.S.
Staff writers Angela Lau, J. Harry Jones, Michael Burge and Lola Sherman contributed to this report.
