Four candidates vying to become La Mesa's next mayor squared off at a candidate forum on September 29, clashing most sharply over whether to keep the city's social-worker-led homeless outreach program or scrap it for mandatory treatment. The debate, held at La Mesa First United Methodist Church, marks the opening round in what will be only the third mayoral transition the city has seen since 1990.
Councilmember Laura Lothian, the lone Republican on the council and the sole GOP candidate in the mayoral field, said at the forum that people must accept assistance or be compelled to receive it, according to Times of San Diego. She has proposed ending the city's Homeless Outreach and Mobile Engagement program altogether. Lothian joined the council after winning a November 2021 special election to fill the seat vacated when Akilah Weber was elected to the California State Assembly, according to the San Diego County Registrar of Voters.
Vice Mayor Patricia Dillard took the opposite position, defending the HOME program and attributing the rise in homelessness to a lack of affordability rather than the outreach team itself, the outlet's report states. She said people cannot be forced to get help, but those willing to accept it can be assisted. Dillard, who sits on the Metropolitan Transit System board, also touted micro-transit projects at the forum and pledged to advance plans to expand the city's library, per the same account.
What the HOME Team Has Actually Done
La Mesa launched the HOME program in early 2021 after adopting a five-year Homeless Action Plan, modeling the effort on Oregon's CAHOOTS initiative to send social workers and mental health clinicians rather than police officers to most non-emergency calls, according to the City of La Mesa. Lothian said at the forum that the number of HOME clinicians has doubled from two to four, and that those clinicians now interact with roughly twice as many homeless clients per month as before, per the same forum coverage.
The program has housed 380 people since late 2020, the Times of San Diego reported, and the city's latest Point-in-Time Count found the number of unsheltered individuals in La Mesa had dropped to 39. That marks a decline from the 2024 count, when La Mesa recorded 53 unsheltered individuals, accounting for roughly 7.5% of East San Diego County's total unsheltered population, according to the City of La Mesa.
Housing, Heat and the Other Two Candidates
Mayoral candidate Quinn Reese said affordability issues drove him into the race, and both he and council candidate Moana Alo favored new housing construction that could help drive down rents, the forum report notes. Alo, who works as a staff member for California State Senator Akilah Weber Pierson, is running unopposed alongside fellow council candidate Amanda-Dawn Natalia for the two open City Council seats — meaning both are guaranteed election in November regardless of the mayoral outcome.
Natalia, an attorney who previously served on La Mesa's Environmental Sustainability Commission, is focused on preserving parks and protecting the environment. She has proposed expanding cool zones during extreme heat waves, offering portable air-conditioning units to lower-income residents, and imposing a moratorium on city staff working outdoors during extreme heat, per the forum coverage.
Mayoral candidate Jim Stieringer, who previously served on the Grossmont Healthcare board and as La Mesa treasurer, said he wants to improve the aesthetics of a Vietnam War memorial and block new bike lanes in the city. Lothian, meanwhile, said she would focus on increasing city revenue to fund park maintenance staff and street repairs, according to the same account. All four mayoral candidates opposed SB 79's state-mandated transit-oriented development rules, describing them as an overreach from Sacramento.
A State Mandate Collides With Local Housing Plans
SB 79, signed by Governor Gavin Newsom in October 2025 and taking effect in July 2026, requires local jurisdictions to allow higher-density multifamily housing within half a mile of major transit stops, overriding traditional zoning in urban transit counties, according to the California Department of Housing and Community Development. La Mesa has multiple trolley stations subject to the new density rules, setting up a tension between the candidates' opposition to state mandates and the city's own transit-adjacent housing ambitions.
That tension is already visible on the ground. San Diego County and local officials broke ground on 147 affordable homes near the trolley in late September — the $106 million Spring View Apartments development on surplus Metropolitan Transit System land next to the Spring Street Trolley Station, which will close the station's main park-and-ride lot for roughly two years during construction.
City Hall Turnover Surrounds the Race
The mayoral contest arrives amid broader churn inside La Mesa's municipal government. Longtime City Attorney Glenn Sabine, who had served since 1997, retired on September 12 after 29 years, with the council appointing Tara Mazzanti as his replacement starting in October, according to Times of San Diego.
The council also voted 4-1 on September 8 — with Lothian the lone dissent — to appoint 20-year-old UCLA undergraduate Emmett Stewart as interim city treasurer after Matt Strabone resigned to take a job with NATO, as Hoodline previously reported. Stewart now faces 64-year-old Bill Exeter for the permanent treasurer post on the November ballot. The forum's moderator, Christian Dement, closed the evening by telling attendees that La Mesa's future depends on both its elected officials and its residents.
Outgoing Mayor Mark Arapostathis, a local teacher and theater director known as Dr. A, is completing his final term after 12 years in office, having defeated longtime Mayor Art Madrid — who served from 1990 to 2014 — in 2014. His departure leaves La Mesa voters choosing just its third mayor in 36 years, with the HOME program's future now squarely on the ballot.
