Four candidates are vying for the Mayor’s seat in a race that is centered around transparency, public safety and affordability. KVCR requested interviews with all the candidates to learn more about their campaigns.
Kevin Kizzie, 53, spoke to KVCR at the parking lot of Grove Plaza, a shopping center he said has been met with a string of illegal activity in the past. Kizzie said he grew up in the surrounding neighborhood and worked at the nearby Burger King and a gas station at the plaza.
“It’s sentimental,” Kizzie said, adding that he had fond memories driving along Grove Avenue with his father. “My dad tore down this street right here in the 70s in his Trans Am with me a s young Kevin in the passenger seat.”
Kizzie is a local entrepreneur managing a few businesses. He runs a pool maintenance service and a premium rideshare service.
Kizzie said conditions at the center got worse while he grew up. He now essentially volunteers as the assistant property manager at the plaza. He said him and a couple volunteer neighbors patrol the area.
“No Business owners should have to worry about their business being adversely affected by anyone,” Kizzie said.
Kizzie said he’s also focused on dangerous driving near schools, a problem he says is occurring at every school in Ontario.
“Almost every school I went to, the first two days I went, I saw individuals almost struck by vehicles,” Kizzie said.
If elected mayor, Kizzie said he wants to establish a volunteer security force like the one at Grove Center to patrol schools and other neglected areas. He wants to call it the Ontario Civilian Patrol Force, which he hopes gains approval by the city council if elected. Kizzie said the force would recruit retired law enforcement, military and other security personnel officers.
“Those three sectors right there have the training to observe and report,” Kizzie said.
Kizzie is also focused on establishing term limits and campaign contribution limits to open the door for more residents to run.
“We have [a] Mayor Pro Tem who’s been here 34 years, a mayor who will have been here close to 30 years,” Kizzie said. “That’s too much.”
Kizzie says as mayor he would also want the city and truckers to better implement AB 98, the state law that regulates truck routes to lessen the pollution to neighborhoods.
“I would like to see a focus on routes, routes that are gas-friendly and economically friendly to the truck drivers,” Kizzie said.