East Palo Alto Mayor Antonio López and EPA City Councilmember Lisa Gauthier are vying for a spot on the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors to represent District 4, which includes parts of EPA, Redwood City, Menlo Park, Atherton, and San Carlos. Warren Slocum, the current supervisor, is not running for reelection and has endorsed Gauthier.
Gauthier has been an EPA city councilmember for 11 years, serving as mayor and vice mayor three times each. “I am the candidate with experience,” she said. “I have the experience working with regional bodies, across county lines, and with elected officials in other counties and states.”
“My family has been in East Palo Alto since 1967, so I’m a product of the area and the district,” Gauthier said. “In my day job, my mortgage-paying job, I am the Senior Vice President of Inclusion and Belonging with the Silicon Valley Leadership Group. I work on policy and initiatives that impact workforce development, education, racial justice, and health, with a focus on healthcare innovation and equity. Those are the things that are important to our communities and our residents.”
Like Gauthier, López was born and raised in EPA. As the youngest mayor in the city’s history, he highlighted his youth. “In our generation, there’s such a dire need for new leadership at every level of government,” he said.
“This seat calls for bold, innovative leadership,” López said. “Biden said, ‘Now’s the time for change. Now’s the time to pass the baton, right?’ So who has the experience and has the energy, frankly, to get things done and represents that new wave of change-makers who are going to introduce those ideas of the future? I humbly believe that our campaign, our candidacy, best reflects that.”
Cost of Living
The cost of living in San Mateo County is 76% higher than the national average. Both Gauthier and López will confront the issue as supervisor.
If elected, Gauthier’s top priority would be to support those in need. “I want to make sure that the residents that need the help are not forgotten,” she said. “I want to make sure that the community that needs help, that doesn’t have a voice, is heard and represented.”
“People are trying to figure out how they’re going to make their dollars stretch and last for them,” she said. To address this, Gauthier wants to increase housing price controls. “In East Palo Alto, we’ve created Below Market Rate units, so that individuals have an opportunity for homeownership. In other areas, we manage and control more of the rents.”
López emphasized how the rising cost of living affects youth. “My mom came undocumented to the U.S., and my dad was able to buy a house on a busboy salary for $80,000 in EPA in 1985. Now that house is worth a million plus. That American dream that was accessible to so many folks, including my parents, is less and less of an opportunity for my generation,” López said.
Like Gauthier, López also wants to expand affordable housing. “The single-family-home model may not work everywhere, and I want to make sure we have a diverse set of housing stock that meets the needs of residents,” he said. López also hopes to increase minimum wage and create universal pre-K.
San Mateo County’s official One Day Homeless Count showed an 18% increase in people experiencing homelessness.
“It’s not just putting the homeless population into transitional housing. How do we continue to work on the wraparound services that are needed?” Gauthier said, citing the need for mental health, rehabilitation, and job training services. “At some point, if people continue to say, ‘I don’t want to be housed and I don’t want to go inside,’ what can we do with those individuals? The answer is not to criminalize them.”
“We have to work collaboratively to figure out how we are going to address this so that we can keep our communities whole and diverse at the same time,” she said.
“Those unhoused individuals are a risk not just to the surrounding neighborhood but to themselves,” López said. “What I’ve been laying out for the past several weeks while working with my staff in East Palo Alto is providing a comprehensive plan to provide those unhoused individuals alternatives. We have a two-tiered plan where we clear those encampments and work with nonprofits and social services to provide rapid rehousing, rehab, counseling, and mental health and clinician support.”
Climate
San Mateo County is the most at-risk county in California for sea level rise, with over 40% of land threatened. Though climate change is difficult to address from the local level, Gauthier and López both want to improve protections against rising waters.
Gauthier highlighted her experience working with the San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority to support the local environment in the face of climate change. She also stressed the importance of switching to electric vehicles.
“Climate change is a real crisis,” López said. We need to think about how sea level rise exacerbates quality of life issues for folks who live by the shores or creeks, and so to the extent that a county supervisor can dedicate resources for improvements, I will.”
Public Safety
Gauthier emphasized the importance of holding lawbreakers accountable. “We can’t have a lawless environment and think that we’re going to get better. So for the people who are repeatedly breaking the law, there have to be consequences,” she said. “People want to feel safe in their community. They want to feel like their things are going to be protected. That’s what public safety means to me. It’s a peace of mind.”
“Public safety means making sure we have law enforcement that has enough resources, not just the traditional protection like bulletproof vests and firearms, but also proper training in cultural sensitivity and dealing with the populations,” López said. He also aims to increase mental health services for police officers.
“Public safety also means community policing,” he added. “One of the reasons East Palo Alto had no murders last year—for the first time in our city’s history—was because of the incredible cooperation that law enforcement agencies had with our churches, nonprofits, and youth diversion program.”
Education
Gauthier highlighted San Mateo County’s free community colleges. “What really makes a difference is having programs where we can provide that and support that free college and encourage individuals to go to college,” she said. “And, for those who are not going to go to college, where are those careers and those opportunities? We have to have other programs available for those where education just doesn’t work for them.”
“Education changed my life. I’ve had scholarships to study across the country and world, so I know firsthand the power and the transformation a good education does for a student,” López said.
“As county supervisors, we are independent of the County Board of Education. But certainly, I’ll advocate on a county level, work with my partners on the County Education Board, and also work in my private capacity, just donating time and money to measures, bonds, and initiatives that improve our school districts.”
This year’s election will be on November 5. Early voting opens October 7. Register or preregister to vote here.
