Three candidates are in the race to represent east-central Anaheim’s District 5.
Voters will select from Kristen Maahs, Cristal Ruiz and Andrew Sarega to serve their district on the City Council. Councilmember Stephen Faessel, who has held the seat since 2016, is term-limited and not seeking reelection.
Critical issues facing Anaheim are how it will continue to tackle the homeless crisis, where the city has more people living without a home than it’s ever recorded in the last five years, growing housing costs and keeping residents safe.
Council members elected this year will also play a role in determining how more than $100 million of new money for the city’s general fund will be used in the coming years.
Anaheim’s council is a seven-member body that has councilmembers elected from six districts plus the mayor, who is elected by the entire city.
Members serve four-year terms.
Maahs, who says five generations of her family have called Anaheim their home, is associate director of Alzheimer’s Orange County, a former president of the Anaheim Historical Society and commissioner for the city’s Cultural & Heritage Commission.
Maahs said her priorities will be to increase the supply of affordable homes in the city and invest in public safety, parks and infrastructure. If elected, she said she’ll want the city to use its $100 million of new funding expected in 2028 to fund these initiatives.
“The rising cost of living has made it increasingly difficult for many residents to find affordable places to live,” Maahs said. “To address this, I would work to increase the supply of affordable housing units through incentives for developers, streamline the approval process for affordable housing projects and promote mixed-use developments that include affordable units.”
Anaheim, Maahs said, has more work to do to address homelessness. The city spends a lot, but current strategies may need to be expanded to ensure more comprehensive mental health services, affordable housing solutions and job training are a part of the equation. The city should work with its government partners as well as faith-based organizations to help transition people out of homelessness, Maahs said. Police units specializing in homelessness should be strengthened as well, Maahs said.
Maahs said her approach involves transparency, collaboration and ensuring everyone has a seat at the table, especially those who are from marginalized communities.
Anaheim’s diversity is one of its greatest strengths and should be celebrated,” Maahs said.
Sarega, a former La Mirada councilmember who resigned earlier this year and moved to Anaheim, said he understands the struggles of the city and that’s why he chose it as his home to start a family.
Sarega said enhancing public safety is paramount and should start with increasing police and firefighter staffing levels when the city gets more than $100 million in funding freed up after debts are paid off later this decade.
It’s hard to address issues such as economic growth, homelessness and community development, Sarega said, without having a safe environment.
“I would prioritize increasing the number of police officers and firefighters to ensure that our city’s safety infrastructure can keep pace with its growth,” Sarega said.
Sarega said Anaheim’s growth with massive new development investments should not come at the expense of residents’ quality of life. Balancing development comes by having a community-centric approach, Sarega said, with people having a voice to shape projects.
A former police officer, Sarega said he will stand firm to promote law and order.
“(We) need to enforce existing laws more effectively, ensuring that Anaheim does not fall victim to the same issues facing other major cities in California, where lax enforcement has led to a rise in crime and a decline in public order,” Sarega said.
Ruiz, a Disneyland employee and a representative of the biggest union at the resort, said her background as a first-generation resident of Anaheim will help her work to enhance the quality of life for all.
Some of Ruiz’s focuses if elected will be public safety, addressing mental health needs and creating short and long-term solutions for the unhoused, she said.
“Mental health is invisible until sometimes it’s too late, when it’s visible and impacting individuals and the community in a negative way,” Ruiz said. “The city is already providing mental health support through various ways and I think it’s important to continue to look at mental health because if someone is suffering mentally, they can be unable to provide for themselves, there and back to the community.”
Ruiz would want the city to use the $100 million in new general fund money to get more housing built and support more staffing for first responders. She said response times are getting longer in the city because there is understaffing as Anaheim’s population continues to grow.
“With the right support, I believe Anaheim can continue to grow and improve the quality of life for all residents,” Ruiz said.
The newspaper’s voter guide also asked the candidates questions about meeting the demand for housing, budgeting and what makes a good leader. Check out what they said at ocregister.com/voter-guide. The guide includes all the races on the ballots.
