This five-part series of Q&As with Ukiah City Council candidates runs Wednesday through Sunday. Each installment presents a key question alongside responses from the seven candidates who responded to the Mendocino Voice. Today’s question:
Based on your experience and skills, what two issues do you consider the most important to work on if you are elected to the council?
Mari Rodin
1. Long-term water reliability is an existential issue for our region. I’ve been the City’s representative to the Inland Water and Power Commission, which is working with regional partners to ensure that water continues to flow and be stored after the Potter Valley Project is decommissioned.
2. Housing is another critical issue. People of every income level ought to be able to afford to live in the community in which they work. And housing availability is closely linked to economic viability. Sadly, while the City has the infrastructure (e.g., water, electricity, etc.) and planning expertise to support new housing development, we lack land. We are built out. Further, the water districts surrounding the City have been subject to moratoriums, which limit growth. Coordinated planning between the County and the City is critical to create new housing while avoiding sprawl into agricultural land and open space.
John Strangio
My two priorities would be public safety and economic development/fiscal responsibility.
I spent more than 20 years in the fire service and understand the importance of having properly staffed, equipped and trained emergency services. People should feel safe in their homes, businesses, parks and downtown. Public safety also includes addressing the quality-of-life issues that affect residents and businesses every day.
My second priority is strengthening Ukiah’s economy while being responsible with taxpayers’ money.
As a local business owner, I deal with employees, budgets, facilities, regulations and rising costs every day. I want Ukiah to become a place where existing businesses can grow and new businesses want to invest.
The City can help by making permitting more predictable, reducing unnecessary barriers, actively recruiting businesses and treating businesses as partners.
Robert Bazzani
First: infrastructure and fiscal responsibility.
As a small business owner, I understand that you can’t spend money you don’t have, and you have to maintain what you already own. Ukiah needs to prioritize roads, water, sewer, public spaces and other infrastructure while understanding the long-term maintenance costs of every new project.
Second: economic development and jobs.
We need an economy that gives people a reason and an opportunity to build a future here. That means making it easier for existing businesses to grow, reducing unnecessary barriers, revitalizing our commercial areas, and identifying industries that can provide good-paying, family-supporting jobs.
My approach is FIX what we have, STRENGTHEN what works, and GROW responsibly.
Juan Orozco
Housing availability for all income levels is one of the two main issues I would like to work on. The other is the situation with the homeless population.
First, I’d like to talk about housing and what has prevented the development of more housing anywhere in the state, not just in Ukiah. Some of these constraints are the skyrocketing property values, coupled with construction costs and restrictive zoning policies. So, it is not a one-size-fits-all situation. It’s a myriad of factors that discourage developers from building homes.
About the unhoused populations, there are also several causes that put people on the streets of Ukiah. I think one of the main ones is drug addiction. Another is the state of economics. The lack of good paying jobs to be able to afford the overgrowing property values. Too many people are living from paycheck to paycheck. A few months without a paycheck, and suddenly you are on the streets.
Susan Sher
The future of local healthcare: Trump’s $1 trillion Medicaid cuts over the next ten years threaten closure of our local hospital and clinics. Additionally, the elimination of Affordable Care Act subsidies will result in the health premiums of working families to skyrocket, making coverage unaffordable for many.
We must vote out the Republican Congressional majority and reverse these cruel cuts. Our health care system is broken. I am a big supporter of Medicare for All to provide national health insurance run by the federal government. Local officials need to look at the bigger picture and act outside our boundaries to protect residents from harmful policies at the state and federal levels.
Future of downtown Ukiah: The soon-to-be old courthouse is not earthquake-safe and needs to be torn down.
We all love Alex Thomas Plaza but having it as a town square on the edge of downtown doesn’t work well. If the old courthouse is gone, that would be an ideal location for a new town square.
I would love to see more housing downtown. I’m thrilled about the Mendocino College apartments designed for low-income students who could easily otherwise be homeless. There is good public transportation to school and services within walking or biking distance.
Sean White
Water supply is the issue I know best, and homelessness is the one I’m eager to dig into. On both, my approach is the same: solve problems by bringing the right people together and securing the funding to get it done.
Water. I’ve spent over 32 years as a public servant working on water in Marin, Sonoma, and Mendocino counties. In 2008, the state was ready to ban frost protection, which would have devastated viticulture. I brought farmers, nonprofits, and agencies together, secured $5.7 million in federal money, and built enough off-stream ponds in one year to solve it. In 2015, instead of $35 million in debt for a plant upgrade, we built a recycled water system and secured $87 million in state funding. In total, I’ve helped secure over $93 million in outside funding. With PG&E decommissioning the Potter Valley Project, the next challenge is a new diversion, more storage, and a unified regional system. Without water, there’s no agriculture, housing, fire safety, or parks.
Homelessness. It’s real, and I won’t minimize it. But the County runs social services and behavioral health, and it receives millions in state funding, yet homelessness rose 22 percent in 2024. That’s a gap in delivery, not dollars. The City can close it by fast-tracking supportive housing and coordinating public safety with County services.
Matt Froneberger
- Water security 2. Homeless issues.
Mia L. Uribe did not respond to requests to participate.
This is part three of a five-part series of Q&As with Ukiah City Council candidates. Here was our previous question:
My NO Annexations signs are ready. What a hill to die on…