Hornet Media and the Fullerton Observer interviewed Nick Dunlap, running for the Fullerton City Council District 2, at a candidate forum at Fullerton College on Oct. 7, 2024. The Fullerton Observer reached out to all candidates running for this office for the opportunity to take part in a video interview at the forum and interviewed those who responded.

This video series is a joint production of the Fullerton Observer, a volunteer-run community newspaper, and Hornet Media, the student-run media outlets housed in the Fullerton College journalism program. 

Interviews have been edited for length and clarity but have not been independently fact-checked. 

View live coverage of local elections returns on Nov. 5, 2024, at 7 p.m. on Hornet Media’s YouTube channel @fchornetmedia 

Video Transcript:

Hornet Media / Fullerton Observer 

So what plans or policies have you put into place in your time on the council that you’re most proud of? 

Nick Dunlap 

Well, we’ve done a lot to benefit not just District two, but the city of Fullerton. I think some of the things I’m most proud of, we’ve worked together to restore the city’s credit rating by increasing our financial reserves. We’ve been able to make, you know, and work through really some difficult cuts to the budget to get our city back on track. And ultimately, I think some of the things that I’m most proud of are the accomplishments that we’ve made on our roads and streets together. As a council, we’ve worked to invest over $50 million and do our roads and streets, and that’s more by more than any other council over the last two decades. And so hopefully, if reelected, we’ll be able to continue the work there to improve that because we’ve got a lot of work to do.  

Hornet Media / Fullerton Observer 

And what are you doing to plan? How are you planning to balance the city budget? What areas do you plan to cut, if any? 

Nick Dunlap 

Well, I think it’s important not just to look at cuts, but it’s also to look at growing revenue. And I think one of the things that was really overlooked in the city of Fullerton for a long time was growing, you know, growing revenue by actually attracting new businesses and new development uses. And so right now, there’s about $1.5 billion in investment activity taking place in our city. And so these are residential, commercial and industrial developments across our city that are not just going to bring new businesses to our city, but new residents to our city. And as these projects come online and they start to pay property taxes, we’re going to see a boon to the sales tax revenue and also the property tax revenue here in our city. 

Hornet Media / Fullerton Observer 

So could you give a couple of concrete examples of these revenue expansion projects? 

Nick Dunlap 

Sure. So and this is all privately I should I should indicate this is you know, this is kind of the free market and this is these are private developments taking place. So it’s not not the city pushing these things. Right. These are private developers, which to me it’s actually more exciting because for a while, you know, Fullerton was overlooked by I think the business and development community across in North Orange County. People would look in Fullerton had established this kind of image of being, you know, anti-business and difficult to work with. But we’ve sort of worked to to reverse that. But this would include projects like the Shop Off Project up at Rosecrans and Euclid, which is for sale residential project. And it’s also got a retail component as well. This would be sort of the student housing retail complex that is, I think it’s called the hub on Chapman, close to the 57 Freeway, but it also includes industrial projects like the I think it’s the Goodman Logistics Center. And then also there’s Rexford and Areas also have two large industrial projects and logistics centers underway in the city as well. So those are a few. And of course, I think the most exciting is probably the commercial retail project, which is the Fox block on North Harbor Boulevard. That was very exciting as well. 

Hornet Media / Fullerton Observer 

And what are some of your district’s biggest challenges? How would you address? 

Nick Dunlap 

Well, I think it’s it’s, you know, for me and look, as somebody who grew up here and has lived in different parts of the city, I don’t look at it as a district is a city by districts. I look at us as one city and one Fullerton. And I think the I think kind of the great uniter, if you will, and that is that our roads and streets are, you know, in suboptimal conditions, whether you live in north, south, east or West Fullerton. And we need to work on, you know, continuing to improve those things. And so, you know, like I had mentioned a little earlier, you know, the kind of our $50 million investment into the roads and streets, and that’s something that will need to continue in the years to come. But I think by and large, any any survey that gets put out, it’s routinely roads and streets and then public safety and then, you know, homelessness either as a third or as some subset of the public safety aspect of things. 

Hornet Media / Fullerton Observer 

So who donated to who was a major donation donated to your campaign and what endorsement are you most proud of? 

Nick Dunlap 

Well, that’s a great question. So I would say I’ve had a lot of support from friends and family. I think my biggest contributors, I’ve had a few people maxed out to me. One would be David Jerome, who is a good friend and a local, you know, local, somebody I grew up with. I’ve had other business groups. Obviously, I work in the real estate investment business, so I have an extensive network there. And so I think like anybody, it’s kind of like you call your you call your wedding list and your friends and family when you decide to run for office. And so that’s kind of what I did to an extent with respect to endorsements. I’ve got a few that I’m proud of. You know, I would say that the first would probably be the Crime Survivors PAC, which is one. And basically they advocate for, you know, victims rights. And I think that as somebody who has basically stood with and and stood for the police and try and trying to help them do their job, they’ve got a very tough job nowadays. And really, we as the council act as sort of the oversight body of the police department, the way the department is structured. And so I think it’s important to note that, you know, we’ve turned a turned a corner from the I think the dark days of Kelly Thomas. And we’re not that department anymore. You know, I’m happy with the leadership that we have in place right now with Chief Radice. But I think that, you know, sort of the so that getting back on track, the crime survivors pack is definitely one that I’m proud of. Obviously, the Orange County Taxpayers Association is another one. Fullerton Association of Concerned Taxpayers is another. So I think as you look around today, unfortunately, taxes only go up. They never seem to go down. And so I think it’s important to have principled people in place who can kind of toe the line and stand up for what’s right and try to protect, you know, people and businesses in this age of inflation and higher costs. Right. We need people to stand up for those interests. 

Hornet Media / Fullerton Observer 

What specific policy do you propose to address the rising cost of housing and ensure affordable options for college students, seniors and low income individuals? 

Nick Dunlap 

So I’m a big believer in the free market, and I think this is a if you you know, you study economics and you realize this is this is a really simple economic issue at the end of the day. And it’s all based on, you know, supply and demand. And the reality is there’s just there’s too many people competing for too little housing. Right. And I know that’s that’s tough to say because I also get the calls where people say, oh, we have too many people don’t allow that project to be built. And, you know, I think to an extent, the state has actually stepped in and prevented and taken away some of those local controls. But the reality is it’s a I mean, this is a kind of a market issue. And I think it’s one that our council actually takes seriously. I mean, in the four years that I’ve been on council, we’ve approved every residential project that’s come forward. Now. There have been and I think it’s important to note that we’ve worked with the community groups that have come forward as well to express their concerns, and we’ve tried to get those concerns addressed by the by the developer. And I think that always helps. But but I think ultimately at the end of the day, it’s all about supply and demand and it’s increasing housing supply. 

Hornet Media / Fullerton Observer 

Um, so they’re wrapping up now. I do have a question. Yeah. So we had the tree survey done last year. Okay. Did all the trees in the entire village in area. And then we were able to identify desert areas where there were very low trees. How are we doing on the planting of the trees in our areas where our residents need more shade? 

Nick Dunlap 

Well, that’s a great question. So Fullerton is a Tree City USA. And I think that’s something we celebrate not just on Arbor Day, but, you know, kind of throughout the years we go out and we do those plans. And so what I understand is that we’ve continued to to to invest in those areas and that the city is actively planting trees in those underserved areas.