With the current San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors chairman finishing his term, two men are going head-to-head for a chance at the board seat in the elections next month.
Chairman Chuck Winn, who oversees District 4, has served on the Board of Supervisors since 2019 and his term is set to be completed in January 2023.
Restaurant owner Steve Ding, a member of the Greater Stockton Chamber of Commerce and chief of staff for former Republican Congressman Richard Pombo, is competing against Steve Colangelo, owner of an event supply company in the Central Valley and prior chief executive officer of the county fairgrounds, to represent District 4.
District 4 includes cities such as Lodi, Woodbridge, Thornton, Linden and Lockeford.
Similar to other candidates hoping to get a seat on the board, Ding and Colangelo have said as part of their campaign that they want to address homelessness issues in the county.
According to the 2022 Point-in-Time Count, an attempt to track the number of sheltered homeless and unsheltered people living in the county, Lodi’s homeless population grew by 50 percent.
The data showed that in 2019, Lodi had 139 unsheltered people and the number increased to 208 this year.
“Next, for those who are willing, we must move people out of the tent-cities along our waterways, freeway underpasses and street corners into appropriate housing and shelters,” Colangelo said on his campaign page. “Those who are unwilling to accept help must no longer be allowed to remain in such tent-cities.”
Ding said on his campaign page that he wants to attempt to fix the homeless crisis by putting up enough safe shelters so that people aren’t forced to sleep on the street.
He said he wants to stop the real problems — mental illness and drug addiction — by opening more full-time treatment centers.
Colangelo’s other key issues that he wants to tackle, if elected, include public safety and retaining first responders, expanding underground and above ground water storage, and helping to address the cost of living and jobs for residents.
If given the position, Ding wants to work on issues such as keeping taxes low, fixing potholes, and helping the county recover from COVID-19.
During the primary elections in June, Ding got 21.40 percent of the vote in the six-candidate field, with Colangelo advancing to the November runoff by finishing second with 20.27 percent.
Victoria Franco is a reporter based in Stockton covering San Joaquin County for Bay City News Foundation and its nonprofit news site Local News Matters. She is a Report for America corps member.
