Q: Why do you feel qualified to run for this office?

A: I am a product of this Valley. I was born and raised here, raised my family here and went to school in both Hemet and San Jacinto. Quite obviously, I’ve been the voice of the Valley for a very long time. One of the big things I’ve fought for is coming to fruition – The Mid-County Parkway.

Q: Do you think that would be a good place to relocate Highway 74, removing it from busy Florida Avenue?

A: We had the route 66 bust-up happen to us. When the 10, 60 and 215 were built nobody cared about the 74 or 79 anymore, so the San Jacinto Valley got by-passed for 40 years after that. During the past ten years I don’t know a soul that doesn’t have a positive word to say about what’ve done in San Jacinto.

Q: As you know, there has been a lot of negative comments about the new Florida Avenue median. Do you think the Hemet City Council made a mistake in not taking over responsibility for Highway 74?

A: I blame Chad Mayes for that. His was the vote that secured a very big bill for Governor Jerry Brown. He could basically have asked the governor for anything he wanted. There is still horse-trading in California. So what did he get for his efforts? A swimming pool for his home town. Brown needed 7 Republican votes. Mayes delivered them. He could have asked or traded for anything he wanted, but he did not. He could have stopped the median. Brown would have obliged him, but in six years, he has done nothing for people in the San Jacinto Valley.

Q: What do you see as major problems in the 42nd Assembly District.

A: I think jobs are a big issue with COVID-19 and all. We weren’t prepared with emergency supplies for a pandemic of that size. I would definitely arbitrate for better emergency supplies. We all know there is going to be an earthquake or a similar emergency. So jobs, emergency preparedness and public safety must be at the ready. A lot of people complain about ex-felons and parolees who come here. It is because we are a lower income area and also the fact that all parolees have to be released 50 miles away from their gang territory.

Q: Is that why we have so many of them?

A: Yes. It is an unknown fact. And homelessness, of course. We have a real problem here with the homeless. I would do much as I have done in San Jacinto. I’m good at creating jobs. As a small businessman, I’ve done that for a long time. I’m also good at bringing prosperity to a community, as can be seen by my ten years in San Jacinto. People say that I am a Republican. Forget that. This race isn’t about Democrat or Republican or Independent. It is about someone who hears the voices of the community and represents everybody, which I do and have always done. Chad Mayes has done nothing to represent us. He’s backed by all special interests. Look at his donations. They all come from some big corporation like Chevron. He’s been everything to no one. Who is he? Even he doesn’t seem to know. It is a time for a change a time to be represented by someone who lives in and cares about this community. All my campaign money comes from the local community and small businesses because I do what I say I will do. It is not about a party race for me. It is representing the local people. They are the ones who will like me. Party doesn’t matter. I’m only beholding to the people who like and will vote for me based on my record of getting things done and keeping my word.

Q: There is a lack of manufacturing in the Valley. Can you do anything about that?

A: Most big companies want easy access – on and off-ramps. They don’t want to drive their big trucks through the city streets to reach their factories. We are currently working on bringing a manufacturer to San Jacinto which will be responsible for 200 plus new jobs. As an assemblyman, I will do my part to introduce manufacturers to the Valley. In Sacramento, I will be talking to people, advocating for our Valley and that’s not being done now.

Q: Selling the Valley’s advantages?

A: That’s right. This is a great place. The train, which I’ve advocated for over ten years, will be coming to the San Jacinto Valley. We’ve moved up to the number one spot in the county. A study is currently being conducted. Think of us. We have an airport, a hospital, a college and Soboba with its new hotel and casino. I want to take my success in San Jacinto to the entire district. I care so much for this Valley and the good people here. I can bring this Valley to people’s attention at the state level. People know me here and I will make our Valley known to others. There isn’t much I haven’t represented: On the Charter School Board, San Jacinto City Council, Boy Scouts, United Way, Ramona Bowl.

Q: What else about yourself?

A: I grew up in a broken home, a blue-collar family. I started working at age nine and moved out on my own when I was 16. I went to work at Pizza Hut. Then went up to Alaska out of high school, where I worked on the Bering Strait in the salmon industry for two years before enlisting in the military. I am as tough as brass knuckles.

Q: I’m sure you have your enemies.

A: Any business guy or political aspirant is going to have enemies. I speak out and at times people don’t like that. I remember when I first became involved with politics, I got harassed because I helped found and support the arts in the Valley. A Republican wasn’t supposed to do that. It is about the Valley, about life, and that’s a quality the Valley has always had and needed.

Q: How about education? The State spends more than any other state on education? Does it get its money’s worth?

A: Locally, we are economically deprived in a lot of areas. Many kids don’t have computers or internet, which doesn’t serve them well trying to learn at home. The State of California is rated as one of the worst in the nation when it comes to education. That is a well-known fact. I certainly can take my background at the Charter School to the State and push for changes. When I first went to work at the San Jacinto Valley Academy, the graduation rate was really low. When I finished six years later, we had a 100% graduation rate. We were getting kids from every facet – whether their academics were high or low. I’m reminded of one Hispanic girl who graduated top of her class and was offered a full scholarship at Berkeley, but her parents weren’t going to let her go. It was a traditional thing in the family that she graduate from high school and go to work. She was the first generation in her family to be accepted at college. We worked with the family all summer and by fall, they relented. Family traditions are hard to break in the Hispanic community, but she has been a shining example to her family and community as to what can happen when we work together for the betterment of all.

Q: How about trade schools? The high schools seem to have forgotten them.

A: The San Jacinto Community College offers them: Training for the wine industry, golf courses, automotive, nursing – The connection between these trade schools and business is an awesome way to supply labor for factories that could relocate here. A perfect marriage between education and business.

Q: How about affordable housing?

A: It keeps getting worse, not better, with so many taxes being applied to the building industry. Prop 15 will be on industrial and commercial buildings. It is actually a repeal of the original Prop 13. Everyone believes it will also apply to residential as well. It is an unaffordable proposition. Our electricity is unaffordable, too. I would challenge Edison to produce one single year when electricity costs didn’t go up 6 to 8 percent in the past ten years, which means your electric bill has doubled in the past 7 or 8 years. No wonder ordinary people are vacating California at never before heard of numbers. Only the wealthy can afford to remain. That, coupled with the early release of prisoners who get their money from the State and are doing drugs and alcohol. That’s a big part of the homeless on our streets. And then we have the mentally unstable that aren’t being provided for. It is inhumane to see these people on the streets who will never get a job. Our Cal-Vet program was once the shining example. It has been stripped. It is nothing now. I believe I could take the lead in solving many of these bad situations being a veteran myself who cares what happens to veterans and their families. California has the money to rectify many of these problems. But it is just not being used the right way. You can only squeeze so much money from taxpayers until the cash runs dry. That’s why so many people are moving to Texas and other states where taxation is way less on citizens.

rustystrait@gmail.com

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San Jacinto Councilman Andrew Kotyuk will take on the duties of mayor for the third go-around as of January.  I sat down with him on Tuesday for an interview, hoping to hear his plans for the upcoming term. I got that and more, as you shall see in detail in the paragraphs to come.

How, I asked, would the new term be different from the two previous terms?

“I think those answers are intertwined. All of the work done in the first term is now coming to fruition. Government moves slowly. Take Walmart, the new Soboba Casino or the commercial development along Sanderson Avenue. We have a great deal of commercial activity. Those are extremely positive commercial ventures that draw “spenders” into the city. That is one reason I ran again. All those cylinders are firing up and I want us to progress from there.

‘As to the negatives, we still don’t have a tremendous amount of revenue in the city. Our public safety isn’t 100% funded. That will come.  Also, we have sales tax leakage. We don’t have the big car dealerships. We don’t have malls. People spend that money elsewhere and it becomes a loss of tax revenue to us. The same goes for jobs.”

“I have a vision because we have all the probabilities of growth. The entertainment corridor along Ramona Expressway by Soboba. We’re working on that to bring outside dollars into the valley. When people come here and leave their money that is a boost to our economy: it brings in more tax dollars which can be used for development and expansions. If that doesn’t happen, then all we’re doing is just passing our money around and the economy never grows.”

Why aren’t the car dealerships coming to San Jacinto? “Historically Hemet wanted them. The traditional mind-set was to have them in Hemet.”

“Our entire Valley has been harmed because we lack viable corridors from the outside world. When the I-15, 215 and 10 freeways were extended around our valley, highways 74 and 79 no longer mattered. That is known as the “Route 66 effect” and everybody knows what happened to “America’s highway”; It literally became a side street to the nation. Before those freeways, people came here and spent their money because 74 and 79 were the corridors. We lost all that commercial trade. With the widened freeways they simply have by-passed us.

“The 79 expansion and the Mid-County Parkway are finally, after 30 years, ready to be built. In a recent meeting with leadership of the valley, it was agreed that we can bring those new corridors into the valley and open the central part of the economy again. Return of commerce will increase land values and bring back the tourism that once blossomed here. Those highways are the aortas to the heart of our growth. Our link has already been approved.”

What, I asked, will people be attracted to here if they do come?

“People are creatures of habit. We have a natural corridor for people driving from Orange County to Coachella and the festival; Stage Coach and the Tennis Tournaments from Newport to their houses in the desert. Also San Diego to all points north and west. Typically, they will stop along the way for food or gas.

“We live in one of the most beautiful valleys anywhere. People come here and see the snow-peaked mountains and lush wild flowers – things that don’t exist everywhere. You know, this valley was once the most popular retirement community in the country.”

That being all and well in the past, our median age is in the mid thirties and not high sixties anymore. What do we have that will attract a younger generation?

(Newly elected San Jacinto Mayor)

“We have an affordable life-style, and are implementing neighborhood connections and trails where you don’t have to drive to go to a restaurant or store, but can bike or walk there. It keeps you close to home which allows one to enjoy and participate in the community. We have installed a ton of trails that serve to implement neighborhood connections. New communities that are rising out of the past like a Phoenix from the ashes. There is a community focused on Spanish styles and one more focused on a country atmosphere, craftsmanship and a space for outdoor performances. I see a future that involves affordable housing in a beautiful place: a quality of life not available to young families starting out. That’s why we already have a generation of youth settling in the Valley. Our median age in San Jacinto is not 70 but 31.1. That’s a whole new transfusion into the community.

“Folks can both live and work here. Most hate to commute anyway. It will give more time for family recreation and other family activities. The new corridors will accommodate semi rigs bringing goods and commerce to us. That isn’t about to happen on the roads coming in now.”

How about entertainment. What do we have available for visitors and where do you see expansion?

“As to what we already have, look at the history of the community, Mount San Jacinto Theater, music and dance or our school systems and their theater and music productions. Then there is ISOMATA in Idyllwild which produces entertainment stars that become known world wide.  We have the infrastructure. If we have an entertainment venue, a place where those local entertainers and artists can practice their talents, it would be awesome. Also, look at the Ramona Bowl, the Soboba Casino. We used to draw new actors and actresses to the Ramona Bowl, drawing the theatrical actors to perform there in the Ramona Play. Our entertainment roots are vast and strong. We just have to water and nourish them and they will bloom.”

Summing up, Kotyuk believes that the effort he will push, for better highways into our community, more jobs and the entertainment sectors will cause people to want to come here and bring their dollars to increase the economy.

He states that, “It isn’t rocket science. For more than 30 years the Chambers of Commerce, business and environmentalists cooperated to bring tourism here. They need to do it again. Our pitch is simple: Draw the right people into the valley to live and spend their money here, instead of going outside and spending our tax dollars in other communities. We need to be united in that cause.”

Every so often the question is posed: Why doesn’t the valley unite to become one city. We have two cities and county governments. Wouldn’t it be easier and cost-effective to merge into one entity?

“Been there. Done that. It didn’t work. Municipalities receive revenues and how those revenues are structured, whether it be housing, gas or vehicle license fees – if you stop and start over those funds go away and you have to start from scratch. What we could do is create a Joint Powers Authority where both cities remain as they are, but share our overheads with their own identities. A lot of people won’t like what I say. There are a lot of generational habits that don’t want to change. But sharing management of water, trash or city management would create great cost-savings. Don’t expect that to happen anytime soon.”

Now the big question. It is rumored in every coffee shop and gathering place in town: the new mayor will run for Supervisor. Any truth there?

“Here is the facts: in the past week, I was approached by leadership from Sam Bernardino and Riverside Counties to run against Chad Mayes on the Republican ticket since he has resigned from the party and is registered as a NPP (No political persuasion). This past Friday I qualified as a candidate. I am definitely running for the State Assembly in the 42^nd District and one thing is for sure: had I been your Assemblyman, that Florida Avenue median being put in by Cal-Trans would never have happened.”

If Kotyuk makes it to the State Assembly, you can be sure he will concentrate on bringing all those things we discussed to the valley. Mayor or Assemblyman, this young man charts his own course. Just sayin’

rustystrait@gmail.com

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