Meet Sam Casillas, Candidate for Pacifica City Council

SAN MATEO COUNTY, CA — Sam Casillas is vying for a seat on the Pacifica City Council representing District 5.

Voters will prepare to decide between candidates running for several offices, and Patch has put together local voter guides and candidate profiles.

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Learn more about Sam Casillas:

Age: 59

What is your educational background?:

I received a BA in Business Administration from UC Riverside with one year education abroad at La Trobe University in Australia and an MBA from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

What is your professional background?:

I spent 2 years in the Peace Corps in Guinea-Bissau, West Africa as an English Teacher and Community Development Volunteer where I learned to work with people of all different cultural backgrounds. After obtaining my MBA I began a career in Biotech where I launched several life saving therapies at multiple companies. At one point I took a break from Biotech to join the UCSF Foundation in order to develop private/public partnerships in-part to build the UCSF Children's Hospital. After over 20 years in Biotech I have transitioned into Climate Resiliency and Adaptation project management.

Have you ever held public office, whether appointive or elective?

I have been appointed to the Pacifica Economic Development Committee (Vice-chair), The GGNRA Board Liaison Committee (Co-Chair), The SLR Adaptation Committee and the General Plan Update Community Outreach Task Force.

What are the top three issues facing your district/constituents right now?

Infrastructure maintenance: The current system of determining which streets to pave is broken; streets that do not need paving get paved while our worst streets are neglected. We need a common-sense approach to utilize our limited budget.We also need to access state grant funds to relocate critical city infrastructure away from ecological hazardous areas to make our city more resilient.

Climate Adaptation: Pacifica is ground zero for the climate crisis and our climate adaptation priorities need to focus on how we can protect our current homes and infrastructure from flooding, erosion, wildfires and storm surge. Through a grant from the State Coastal Conservancy I have been working on a Pacifica Land Trust study to identify sites that would serve as buffers to protect our homes by implementing a series of Nature-Based Solutions throughout the city of Pacifica.Bond measure 4 provides over $10B for these projects and the city of Pacifica has not accessed these funds to date, which would also be an economic boon to our city. I want to spearhead a program to implement these safeguards throughout the city of Pacifica as quickly as possible.

Responsible Economic Development: The city needs to have a direct reporting relationship with its Economic Development Director so that we can implement a series of proactive goals and strategies to ensure the future economic vitality of our city. The past three Economic Development Directors have all resigned within the past three years because they have not been given the freedom to do their job and plan accordingly for the future economic well being of our city.We would reimagine and redevelop all of our commercial shopping centers by first meeting with the community to understand what priority businesses are wanted in each neighborhood. We would then work with the shopping mall owners to find ways to attract potential local business owners to start businesses or pursue outside businesses to open a storefront in Pacifica. We would incentivize the shopping mall owners to fill their vacancies by attaching fees to empty storefronts and access state funding for business incentives.

What is one specific policy you would implement in your first 100 days?

Pacifica needs an economic development strategy that strengthens local employment, supports family-oriented businesses, and expands affordable housing through mixed-use development. We should preserve and enhance existing visitor-serving businesses while attracting destination-style, experiential retail that brings more visitors to Pacifica. Our commercial centers need redevelopment plans that keep more retail spending local and encourage visitors drawn to Pacifica's recreational and natural assets to stay longer and support complementary businesses. In the first 100 days I will work directly with the Economic Development Director to develop and implement a comprehensive plan with clear annual goals, measurable performance metrics, and accountability.

What is your plan to reduce homelessness, and how would you measure success after one year?

The homelessness issue in Pacifica is a product of macro economic forces beyond Pacifica. Pacifica's homeless population is the highest in the county because we are a kind and compassionate community, but also we have little to no enforcement of our laws, all while we wait for state support. We need to push our state legislators to boost local and regional services and for transitional housing. Long term goals need to address the costs of healthcare and low wages and other affordability issues facing the working American. Pacifica cannot be alone in solving this. I would measure success by policies that keep the vulnerable housed in truly affordable housing (like rent control and STR enforcement) in Pacifica, measuring how many unhoused have transitioned to permanent housing, and the full funding of our Safe Parking Program by the state.

What is one specific change you would make to improve public safety?

We need strong emergency preparedness. Pacifica must be prepared for climate-related disasters and major emergencies through proactive planning and training. We need better planning for climate disasters and fully review why our past efforts have fared so poorly. Our police force needs to know how to properly direct people to safe zones and our fire department needs the training and resources to be able to act in an appropriate manner. The last tsunami warning turned into a traffic disaster and yet the city has not investigated how we need to improve our safety response. We need to fix this issue immediately.

How would you improve transparency or accountability in local government?

Pacifica's leaders must make disciplined and transparent budget decisions that protect long-term financial stability while supporting essential services, local businesses, and a healthy economy. Residents also deserve a city government that is open, accountable, and willing to engage the community early and often in decision-making. City leadership and staff must listen to residents through community forums on all major issues and projects, respect community input without predetermined outcomes, and ensure that the voice of the people shapes the decisions that affect our neighborhoods. Community engagement will be part of all staff leadership goals and I will hold myself accountable to the same engagement goals.

Why are you a better choice than your opponents?

I have the experience of serving on multiple committees and non-profit boards and through the Pacifica Land trust where I have spearheaded a climate adaptation resiliency project to protect our homes and infrastructure that I would be able to implement immediately on entering office. I have also served on the economic development committee where we developed a strategic plan to develop a viable economic plan that was shelved in favor of more sprawling residential development where instead our focus should be on visitor serving commercial development not more sprawl and unmitigated traffic. I have given over 20 years of civic duty on the most critical issues facing Pacifica and I will take bold action to implement programs that will make the city economically viable and protect our neighborhoods and homes from the impending climate crisis.

What changes, if any, would you support regarding the role of federal immigration enforcement agencies, including ICE, and how they interact with state and/or local governments?

We need to stop ALPR AI surveillance cameras which give a false sense of addressing crime while providing instant data to ICE without auditable trace. It is not enough that local jurisdictions say they will not cooperate with ICE. We should be drafting creative legislation that makes obstacles for ICE to skip over due process and arrest our immigrant neighbors, the vast majority of whom have no criminal history and who contribute immensely to our communities.