Now Is the Time: Change Is in Our Hands

By Tony Villafranca

Paradise Hills native Tony Villafranca visits thousands of homes across southeast San Diego and reaches out to folks of all backgrounds. He is fighting to replace the status quo, in which business as usual means lack of opportunity and broken infrastructure, and usher in a new era of peace and prosperity for our community.

I am a Paradise Hills native. I have lived in Paradise Hills for 43 years. I know all of the neighborhoods of District 4 well. I am visiting thousands of homes across our region and reaching out to folks of all backgrounds. As I walk from house to house along the streets of our diverse and vibrant neighborhoods, I hear a familiar message. The message is loud and clear: We need a new leader for our community, someone who is a part of our community, someone who brings development and investment to our community.

I am eager to go to work on behalf of the residents of District 4 as I go to work every day on behalf of clients across our city. As in the political domain as in the business domain, I pledge to uphold the highest standards of ethics and to promote the best interests of all partners and interested parties as I proceed to carry out the duties entrusted to me. A resident of District 4 since 1971, I bring to my community and to the city at large more than 25 years of experience as a realtor, small business owner, and volunteer. I know very well the streets of the area's diverse and vibrant neighborhoods, from my hometown in Paradise Hills to my favorite basketball courts in Skyline Hills to the more gently sloping hills of Oak Park. I am well versed, too, in the ways and means of the corridors of power and influence in the larger County of San Diego, from our county seat in downtown San Diego to points further north along the coast.

But, it is, perhaps, my long record of service throughout the community which now inspires me to aspire to public office and which now prepares me to succeed in public office. As a volunteer, I have completed, over a period of more than 20 years, a wide range of community service assignments in San Diego, including serving as a reserve officer in the San Diego County Sheriff's Department, serving as community board member in the San Diego County District Attorney's Office, serving as a public relations liaison for the San Diego County Superior Court system, serving as a Notary Public for San Diego Mission Hospice, and serving as a Lectionary Minister at Saint Michael's Church, the second largest Catholic church in San Diego. I fully expect to serve as a volunteer, in one capacity or another, for the rest of my life.

I am eager to go to work for us--for all of us. A San Diego City Councilman who will represent all of us, not just one group of people or one area of the district, I will attract new business to southeast San Diego and ensure a sufficient and effective police presence in our neighborhoods. I will facilitate development initiatives, such as the construction of a new stadium for the San Diego Chargers, to create jobs, repair streets, and improve our overall quality of life. I will facilitate public safety efforts, including the programs of churches to ensure the safe re-entry and rehabilitation of low-level offenders into the community due to Proposition 109.

Change is in our hands. Now is the time. Vote for Tony Villafranca, San Diego City Council, District 4.