Laura Koval

As a founding member of the Highway 52 Coalition and serving as the East County Borders Committee Representative and SANDAG and MTS Alternate, Laura opposed the VMT tax and advocated for funding Highway 67 safety corridor improvements and the Highway 52 truck lane expansion. Laura will continue her work on Traffic Solutions for Santee.

 Besides voting to approve the Sustainable Santee Climate Plan as a measure to address climate cycles and personally facilitating a grant for 250 trees to be planted in our City, Laura led the charge to make all Santee Parks smoke free.

Reducing GHG in our area is tied to idling cars on the Highway 52 commute. Addressing traffic chokepoints around Santee, especially those related to the City of San Diego Sycamore Landfill truck traffic on Highway 52, is a must.

Laura serves as alternate on the Riverpark Conservancy Board and supports the joint effort with the City of San Diego to improve the trailhead near Big Rock Park. As the recently retired Park Director of Santee Lakes, she has working knowledge of many environmental and wildlife matters and is a champion for proper protections that aren’t associated with CEQA abuse for personal, financial or political gain. 

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 Public Safety is a Top Priority for Laura. She serves as Chair of the Santee-Lakeside Emergency Services Authority and Vice Chair of Heartland Communications Facility Authority. She also attends Transfer of Care meetings with Grossmont Healthcare and other agencies. Her work has led to local control of key City emergency services and helped add more ambulance services to Santee.

As the daughter of a police officer, she continues to have strong relationships in the law enforcement community and agrees that the established approach to address homelessness and crime in California has failed. She was outspoken against the County plan to construct a 120 bed homeless village in Santee and championed the no-combustibles/no-camping ordinance in the riverbottom. Concurrently, Santee has allocated millions towards emergency fire protection measures along the corridor to protect our homes, businesses and environment. Laura believes in investing in service providers with proven results to assist those in need, but also understands how State laws have negatively impacted our ability to help those that refuse. Mental illness combined with drug addiction fuel the cycle of chronic homelessness. Laura favored the Care Court Act as a first significant step to address this root cause.

Laura believes in technology solutions that make interacting with government easier. After her election in 2018, she was the proponent to move away from our paper-heavy processes and invest in an online solution.  The City rolled out an all-inclusive software program that includes a MySantee app available for  basic functions like development permitting and review, inspections and compliance, and requests for city intervention related to graffiti, street lights, roads, etc. Additionally, this software is a one-stop destination for community events, parks and recreation, SanteeTV (the City effort to improve information-sharing and accessibility) and other City business.

Laura has supported the largest investment in Santee roads and infrastructure in decades including streets, signs, curbs and gutters, ADA pedestrian ramps, storm drains, sidewalks and driveways. She was there when we broke ground on the Mast Park improvement project and is currently focused on Big Rock Park rehabilitation. She serves on the Santee Community Center subcommittee, which is funded and at 90% complete design, and is sharing her vision and expertise for the newly established Arts and Entertainment District in our Downtown.  While some businesses are closing shop or leaving the state entirely, doing business in Santee has become desirable. Laura is proud that Macy’s, Chuck E. Cheese, Trader Joes, Chevrolet dealerships and a service center, a winery, Soapy Joes, Coffee ‘n Talk, WoodSpring Suites, and multiple other local business owners have reinvested and/or come to town in recent years. Our council and staff works hard to make Santee a premier destination for those that want to Due More, Due East!

Although her professional career began working with children at the El Cajon and Santee Boys and Girls Clubs, Laura has spent hours listening to senior’s concerns and will continue to advocate on their behalf. She pushed for a new retention wall behind Greenbrier Gardens, addressed new development parking and noise concerns at Pleasant Valley, crosswalk and access concerns at bus stops on Mission Gorge, and attended Neighborhood Watch and other events at Meadowbrook. In recent years, council invested over $2M in improvements to our softball fields, Laura worked with the Santee YMCA to address privacy-concern solutions for youths in their facility, and she (as a former D1 athlete) is an advocate for protecting Title IX so that biological women and girls have access to the same academic and athletic opportunities as biological boys and men. Laura will continue to champion and celebrate seniors and children in our community.