{"id":769517,"date":"2026-05-03T02:49:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-03T02:49:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/769517\/"},"modified":"2026-05-03T02:49:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-03T02:49:20","slug":"did-chula-vistas-mayor-take-too-much-credit-for-citys-successes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/769517\/","title":{"rendered":"Did Chula Vista’s mayor take too much credit for city’s successes?"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

With a Tom Cruise-inspired score and a flaming Olympic torch as his backdrop, John McCann declared: \u201cThis is Chula Vista\u2019s decade, and we\u2019ve proven that our mission is possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

The mayor\u2019s fourth State of the City address, held at the city\u2019s Elite Athlete Training Center, was a grandiose one, beginning with a skydiver appearing overhead and a video stunt to make it look like McCann dropped out of the sky. As a photo slideshow of McCann alongside veterans, firefighters, health care workers and more played behind him, he touted the city\u2019s economic development strides, public safety investments, housing initiatives and education advancements.<\/p>\n

The Gaylord Pacific Resort, Chula Vista\u2019s bayfront anchor, is the company\u2019s third highest revenue-generating site, he said. And the city is on its way to housing more four-year degree programs through a partnership with San Diego State University.<\/p>\n

But some \u2014 including members of the entirely Democratic City Council \u2014 said McCann, a Republican seeking re-election this year<\/a>, made the address more of a campaign event than a reflection of city leadership\u2019s work as a whole.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we heard tonight was just a political rally,\u201d Councilmember Michael Inzunza said.<\/p>\n

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He said the mayor did not discuss challenges the city faces, instead repeating accolades that were decades in the making and before McCann was elected.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the City Council and the mayor took a six-month vacation, all the things he mentioned would still happen,\u201d Inzunza said following McCann\u2019s speech. \u201cOur city staff does 95% of the work.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"From left: Councilmembers Jose Preciado, Michael Inzunza and Carolina Chavez attend Chula Vista\u2019s State of the City address, Chula Vista, April 28, 2026. (Zo\u00eb Meyers for inewsource)<\/p>\n

Chula Vista\u2019s nearly 280,000 residents are served by a city manager, meaning the mayor and council hire an administrator to oversee daily operations while elected officials decide policy and budget decisions. McCann, elected in 2022, doesn\u2019t hold much more authority than council members, other than representing the city at official events and having more of a say on what\u2019s on council meeting agendas.<\/p>\n

Still, McCann in his speech praised development at the bayfront, saying the Gaylord hotel and the new Amara Bay housing project would transform the area and generate new jobs. He also celebrated the city\u2019s first agreement with SDSU to offer nursing degrees at the future Millenia library.<\/p>\n

Last month, the council unanimously approved spending nearly $400,000<\/a> to study whether to build the city\u2019s second police station for its growing eastern neighborhoods.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I became mayor, I listened to our community and began planning for an Eastern police substation,\u201d McCann said. \u201cI have proposed locating it in Otay Ranch next to Fire Station 11 in the future community recreation center, creating a civic plaza for eastern neighborhoods.\u201d<\/p>\n

Councilmember Carolina Chavez said the mayor failed to mention an ordinance that limits the city\u2019s cooperation with federal law enforcement. The council approved the rules while McCann recused himself, citing his status as a naval officer and saying that prohibited him from weighing in on proposals that inhibit or oppose federal law.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith four members out of the five voting on it, it\u2019s something historic that we need to talk about,\u201d Chavez said.<\/p>\n

Both she and Inzunza praised City Manager Tiffany Allen and her staff, who the councilmembers said deserve more recognition for their work.<\/p>\n

McCann pushed back on his colleagues\u2019 criticism. His staff said the mayor was first elected to the City Council in 2002, meaning he\u2019s been involved in projects for decades, and that he was surrounded following his speech by people expressing gratitude for his recognition.<\/p>\n

They pointed out that Chavez showed up late and that Councilmember Cesar Fernandez refused to attend. Fernandez said he was traveling for a conference and that his absence was \u201cnothing more than a scheduling conflict.\u201d<\/p>\n

Three residents also sent messages to a reporter for inewsource in support of McCann after his office received a media inquiry, in which they criticized Chavez for her late arrival and accused Inzunza of speaking on the phone and holding side conversations during the mayor\u2019s speech.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was disappointing that some of my council colleagues chose not to join in recognizing all that we have achieved together during what is truly Chula Vista\u2019s decade,\u201d McCann said in a written statement.<\/p>\n

\"\"Attendees look to the sky as a parachuter lands during the opening of Chula Vista\u2019s State of the City address, Chula Vista, April 28, 2026. (Zo\u00eb Meyers for inewsource)<\/p>\n

McCann is seeking another term as mayor this year. He faces Francisco Tamayo, a Democrat and a Chula Vista school district trustee who attended the State of the City. The mayoral race is formally nonpartisan.<\/p>\n

Tamayo said after McCann\u2019s remarks that he applauds Chula Vista\u2019s successes, but that the speech \u201cwas a lot of smoke and mirrors.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe remind ourselves that there\u2019s still a lot to do, that families continue to struggle to make ends meet, that the middle class in Chula Vista is disappearing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Councilmember Jose Preciado said the State of the City allows the mayor to celebrate Chula Vista once a year as the elected \u201cvoice of the city.\u201d In May, he noted, the council will discuss its strategic plan.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe strategic plan that we\u2019re adopting will reflect values and priorities from all five of us on the council,\u201d Preciado said, \u201cand I think give us an opportunity to continue to work collaboratively toward the benefit of the city, but in a trajectory that makes us work collaboratively as a team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brisa Karow is an independent journalist living in San Diego. Previously, she lived in Flagstaff, Arizona, and ran the Northern Arizona University student newspaper. She is part of inewsource\u2019s San Diego Documenters program and regularly reports on local government throughout the county.<\/p>\n

From the Documenters<\/p>\n

This story came in part from inewsource\u2019s San Diego Documenters program, which trains and pays community members to document what happens at public meetings.<\/p>\n

\t\t\tType of Content<\/p>\n

News: Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With a Tom Cruise-inspired score and a flaming Olympic torch as his backdrop, John McCann declared: \u201cThis is…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":769518,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,16214,14614,315553,3549,7264,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-769517","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-chula-vista","12":"tag-documenters","13":"tag-freelance-network","14":"tag-san-diego","15":"tag-sandiego","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-united-states-of-america","18":"tag-unitedstates","19":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","20":"tag-us","21":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116508371797475769","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=769517"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769517\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/769518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=769517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=769517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=769517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}