Less than a year ago, progressive climate activist Jose Trinidad Castaneda III moved from Fullerton – where he lived for years – to Buena Park. At the time, he was still a member of the Fullerton Planning Commission.
Not long afterward, he declared himself a candidate for Buena Park City Council from District 2, currently represented by termed-out Councilmember Beth Swift.
Castaneda had previously run for Fullerton City Council in 2018 but failed to turn in the minimum 20 valid voter signatures and thus failed to qualify for the ballot.
Castaneda was appointed to the Planning Commission in January of 2021. Sometime in June he told the city he planned to move to Buena Park and his last Planning Commission meeting would be June 23.
However, public records strongly indicate he had already relocated to Buena Park weeks before that statement, and was indeed a Buena Park resident while serving and voting on the Fullerton Planning Commission.
Castaneda background is professional political activism, with a particular focus on “climate action.” According to his Linkedin profile, he has worked as a council aide to Irvine Councilmember Tammy Kim since July of 2021. Prior to that, he was Orange County policy manager for the Climate Action Campaign.
Castaneda has given conflicting accounts of when he moved to Buena Park.
On June 22, 2021, the Buena Park City Council appointed Castaneda to the city’s Beautification-Environmental Committee.
On June 23, the Fullerton Observer article reporting Castaneda had told the paper that he planned – future tense – to move to Buena Park and that June 23 would be his last meeting as a Fullerton Planning Commissioner.
During the June 23 Planning Commission meeting, Matt Leslie of the Fullerton Observer asked if Castaneda were even eligible to act as a commissioner that evening given his appointment in Buena Park and the fact that his commission seat had already been declared vacant.
Castaneda claimed in response there was no residency requirement for the Buena Park Beautification-Environmental Committee and then spoke of his upcoming move to Buena Park – again, referring to it in the future tense.
However, the next day Friends for Fullerton’s Future reported that on his application for the Buena Park Beautification-Environmental Committee, Castaneda stated that he lived in Buena Park. Furthermore, Castaneda submitted the application on June 3 – nearly three weeks before his final Fullerton Planning Commission meeting where he talked about his upcoming move to Buena Park.
Even earlier, on May 11, Castaneda was at the Buena Park City Council speaking as a Buena Park resident. According to the meeting minutes:
“Jose Trinidad Castaneda, Buena Park resident, spoke regarding bulky item debris fee for residents, and requested the City Council work with EDCO to eliminate the fee.”
Two weeks later, Castaneda was on the dais, voting as a member of the Fullerton Planning Commission.
According to the Fullerton municipal code, city commissioners must, legally, be Fullerton residents.
Based on Castaneda’s own public statements and affirmations, it seems clear he was a resident of Buena Park during at least two – if not more – Fullerton Planning Commission meetings in which he illegally participated as a commissioner, under the guise of being a Fullerton resident.
Castaneda continues to muddy the residency waters in his campaign for Buena Park City Council. His campaign website brags to Buena Park voters that “as a former City Parks Commissioner, Jose successfully advocated for the Woodcrest Park Renovation. Recently, he has advocated for small businesses and affordable housing as a Planning Commissioner.”
However, that advocacy was as a Fullerton parks commissioner and as a Fullerton planning commissioner. Castaneda is trying to mislead Buena Park voters into thinking his activism was on behalf of Buena Park residents.
Carpetbagging: A New Buena Park Tradition?
Castaneda declared his city council candidacy shortly after moving in to Buena Park. Under the circumstance, it’s fair to assume he moved into Buena Park for the express purpose of running for city council.
The question is will District 2 voters hold that against him at the polls? Maybe. Maybe not.
In 2018, Connor Traut moved to Buena Park from Anaheim and almost immediately declared himself a candidate for city council. Prior to that, Traut had been steadily migrating northward, securing public office of some kind along the way.
In 2012, Traut was elected to the Ladera Ranch Community Council, where he grew up.
In 2014, the 21-year old Traut migrated northward to West Anaheim and was elected to the Centralia School District Board of Education.
In 2015, he engineered his election as chairman of the West Anaheim Neighborhood Council.
By 2018, Traut left Anaheim in the rear-view mirror and moved to Buena Park, which was holding its first district-based council elections that year. Traut moved into District 5, an open seat, and leveraged his ballot title and superior political connections and fundraising ability to handily defeat his opponent – another twenty-something who was a life-long Buena Park resident.
