{"id":478547,"date":"2026-09-28T19:54:08","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T19:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/478547\/"},"modified":"2026-09-28T19:54:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T19:54:08","slug":"from-navy-pilot-to-city-council-candidate-ricky-hoyt-makes-his-case-for-coronado","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/478547\/","title":{"rendered":"From Navy pilot to City Council candidate: Ricky Hoyt makes his case for Coronado"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Ricky Hoyt saw a lot of the world from the deck of a Navy ship. His first deployment brought several port calls, and exploring left him grateful for his life back home.<\/p>\n

It left him inspired. This, he thought, is why good governance matters. In some countries, he saw what happens when a community has neither public service nor private enterprise. What fills the gap, he said, is corruption and a buddy system that runs from the national level all the way down.<\/p>\n

He came home resolved to do two things: start a business and, eventually, get involved in local government. He has since built a real estate business. And now, after retiring from active duty six months ago, he is now running for Coronado City Council while remaining a Navy pilot in the Reserves.<\/p>\n

Hoyt\u2019s campaign rests on those two careers. He says his Navy experience and connections will help the city work with the base on everything from the upcoming Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) cycle to flight paths. He also says his business background makes him the kind of fiscally conservative, data-driven leader Coronado needs as it faces several major capital projects. He wants to keep up the pressure on Mexico over the Tijuana sewage crisis, step up enforcement on e-bikes and speeding, and protect the small-town character he calls \u201cthe California exception.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI care about Coronado,\u201d he said. \u201cI want to be part of the legacy that\u2019s kept Coronado so exceptional.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like many in Coronado, Hoyt came here with the military. He fell in love with the city, got married, and plans to raise a family here. When he left active duty, he said, he felt called to give back. He talked with mentors and several former mayors and council members before deciding to run. His goals for the city include mitigating the Tijuana sewage crisis, strengthening Navy and regional ties, budgeting for capital improvement projects, and focusing on public safety.<\/p>\n

The Tijuana sewage crisis<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the current council and mayor have made huge improvements in the last five years,\u201d Hoyt said. \u201cI want to continue the push that they\u2019ve been doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

He calls for a three-pronged approach: the treatment plant on the American side, keeping the International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC) funded, and holding Mexico accountable for its waste.<\/p>\n

Hoyt said the local emergency declaration was a first step. Next, he wants to work through regional bodies like the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) to tie the issue to trade and the border crossing, which would require federal cooperation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not trying to stop business at all, but this is a piece of leverage we have right now,\u201d he said. \u201cThey want something from us, but we need them to fix their issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

He argued Mexico hasn\u2019t fixed the problem because not fixing it hasn\u2019t cost them enough. It\u2019s time for leaders in the U.S. to insist on the changes, even if that means putting economic pressure on Mexico.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn good faith is not going to work,\u201d Hoyt said. \u201cIf that was going to fix it, it would have been fixed already.\u201d<\/p>\n

Navy and regional ties<\/p>\n

\u201cI think my military service is a huge advantage in a lot of ways,\u201d Hoyt said. \u201cI understand how the base works, I understand daily operations.\u201d<\/p>\n

He named the upcoming Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) cycle as something the city will need to work through with the Navy. In the last cycle, Coronado was able to count planned barracks housing in its housing element. He also named utility undergrounding, a joint effort between the city and military, and flight paths, as areas where his Navy experience could help.<\/p>\n

He also wants stronger regional relationships \u201cwith SANDAG, the (California) Coastal Commission, the Port (of San Diego).\u201d In the Navy, he worked with the Air Force and Army. Each branch has its own requirements and procedures, and Hoyt said he learned to bridge those differences to reach a common goal.<\/p>\n

Business and the budget<\/p>\n

Hoyt describes himself as data-driven and fiscally conservative. That\u2019s how he built his real estate business, and it\u2019s how he intends to govern Coronado.<\/p>\n

He started his business with a VA loan on a triplex, which he fixed up himself. He later renovated and rented out duplexes and more properties, growing from there, and living \u201cextremely frugally,\u201d he said, to make it happen.\u00a0He got his real estate license about three years ago, after becoming the go-to real estate person among his fellow Osprey pilots.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re in a good financial position as a city,\u201d he said, citing reserves and income from hotel and property taxes. \u201cBut we also have some pretty big capital improvement projects coming. With good stewardship, these can be executed successfully.\u201d<\/p>\n

The city\u2019s library, fire stations, and police department all need upgrades, he said. He wants the city to keep up with maintenance so that neglect doesn\u2019t cost taxpayers more later. His approach, he said, is \u201clisten, learn, discern, and lead\u201d: gather input from experts and bids, make an informed decision, hold contractors accountable, and adjust when new information comes in.<\/p>\n

Public safety, traffic, and e-bikes<\/p>\n

\u201cSupporting police and fire are a huge part of the safety equation,\u201d Hoyt said. \u201cThat means giving them the equipment, the training, the facilities they need to do the job.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also would like to use data and technology to discern where speeding or noise violations happen the most, so police know where more enforcement is needed. But, he said, he does not support Flock cameras or surveillance of individual people or vehicles.<\/p>\n

On traffic, he credited the Navy\u2019s Southwest Inbound Fast Traffic (SWIFT) Lanes with helping inbound traffic, but said signal timing on Third and Fourth streets needs work. He also suggested looking at Hillcrest\u2019s use of \u201cfriction\u201d: putting the bike lane between the sidewalk and parked cars so the road feels narrower, which can reduce speeding.<\/p>\n

On e-bikes, he said, \u201cThese are essentially electric motorcycles.\u201d He wants more regulation and stricter enforcement of rules.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think kids will smarten up pretty quickly when they see their friend\u2019s e-bike getting impounded,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The California exception<\/p>\n

In the military, you meet people and they move or you move or both, but your paths tend to cross again. Hoyt said he had a running joke for encounters with old colleagues and friends: When people asked where he was stationed these days, Hoyt would say it was a small town by the water where people leave their doors unlocked, waiting for them to assume he had left California.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d laugh and say, actually, I\u2019m still in California,\u201d he said. He calls Coronado \u201cthe California exception.\u201d<\/p>\n

He credits Coronado\u2019s volunteers, its residents, and its police and fire personnel for keeping that feel. He was shocked when he moved to Coronado as a junior officer and was embraced by the community and its neighborhood charm.<\/p>\n

In addition to the people, Hoyt also credits tools like the Mills Act for maintaining the city\u2019s charm. He cited a rule that lets homeowners build extra square footage if the house has a front porch. The city can\u2019t tell people what to do with their land, he said, but it can offer incentives. He also wants to keep as much control local as possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis place is exceptional. It\u2019s where I want to raise my family,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd it\u2019s not by accident that it\u2019s exceptional.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ricky Hoyt saw a lot of the world from the deck of a Navy ship. His first deployment…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":478548,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[165455,35072,74,76,75],"class_list":["post-478547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-city-council-2026","tag-election-2026","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=478547"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478547\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/478548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=478547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=478547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=478547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}