Watsonville City Council candidate forum - Santa Cruz Local 10/7/2020

6:03AM Oct 9, 2020

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Great Hi everyone. My name is Kara Meyberg Guzman. I'm the CEO and co-founder of Santa Cruz Local. For those of you who are new to Santa Cruz Local we are a local news podcast newsletter and website and we serve Santa Cruz County. We cover local government and our county's biggest issues like housing, homelessness, and, and more. We are here tonight for the watsonville city council candidate forum. This is the this is part of a series of candidate forums we're holding this week. We have one more we haven't done one for each of the city councils and we have one more on the county board of supervisors race tomorrow night if you would like to join us. Before we get started I'd like to thank all our partners and co sponsors who made tonight possible the avatars Chamber of Commerce association of faith communities, capital a so called Chamber of Commerce, community bridges county park friends, Live Oak cradle to career Paro Valley Chamber of Commerce, Santa Cruz community health centers, Santa Cruz County Business Council, Santa Cruz County Chamber of Commerce, Santa Cruz, museum of art and history Santa Cruz, indivisible Santa Cruz policy Santa Cruz works and the watsonville Chamber of Commerce.

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are you I just want to make sure you Okay, great. So, um, this conversation will be we have Spanish interpretation available. I'd like to introduce our interpreter, Beatrice Trujillo. Hi,

everyone my name is Nikki as Kara mentioned, I'll be the Spanish interpreter for tonight. So let me do the announcement Spanish I can use to circle is gustaria is good chat lack a hongtai en espanol then throw the poco under the no se one doesn't wanna cygnar como su interpreten espanol. Bonneville Nico del mundo Avraham, a Santa yeah as the Quran says again is a econo selecciona el idioma espanol aebi. As you know, kinesthetically Chandra das BOCES el mismo tiempo con in mucho el lingua Hey, Ellen wahaca sub Lucien the Lakota is the way in which it is. So, if you can just assign me as the interviewer. Thank you.

Great. So let's meet the candidates for district one. So, if you live in district one, you will see on your ballot, Eduardo Montesino. He's running unopposed and we'll be hearing from him tonight. If you live in District two, you'll see on your ballot, Vanessa Quiroz-Carter and Aurelio Gonzalez. Vanessa, you'll hear from Vanessa Quiroz-Carter tonight. Aurelio Gonzalez could not join us. And if you live in District six, you'll see on your ballot, Jimmy Dutra and Tony Gomez, you will meet Jimmy Dutra tonight, Tony Gomez could not join us. So now for introductions, candidates, please say your name and why you're running for city council, you'll have 90 seconds, Natalia will keep track of time you'll see the clock in that window. Let's start with Eduardo Montesino.

I'm, my name is Eduardo, I want to say no. And, you know, I'm a former council member for the city a few years back. But I'm a parent here with raising a young family still, and I just want to provide, you know, that experience that I have for the community, especially in these hard times for the pandemic. You know, I want to provide, you know, some the leadership role that I've learned over the years and being able to guide the city especially in these hard times. Thank you.

Thank you, Vanessa. kurose Carter.

Oh, you're muted, Vanessa. I'm waiting for the timer. Oh, thank you. Hello, everyone. Good evening. My name is Vanessa and I am born and raised in watsonville. I have my BA from English and from Berkeley and my master's degree from Cal State, East Bay and communication. I moved Back to watsonville after living in the Bay Area for a few years, and I am hoping to help push things here in watsonville, hoping to continue to grow and change. I really want to amplify voices that have been historically marginalized. I believe in education, empathy, and empowerment. I'm passionate about creating opportunity, especially opportunity for our youth. And because they're the future, they will lead us. watsonville has an insane amount of talent and creativity. And I really want to listen and engage with the public and know what the public needs and the public wants. I see the potential, I see a lot of collective vision and I'm running to make sure that vision happens. So thank you very much for having me tonight. And I look forward to chatting with you.

Thank you, Vanessa. Jimmy Dutra.

Oh, Jimmy, you're muted.

You think I would have that down by now? Like, I appreciate it. That Good evening, everybody. Thank you for having me here tonight. My name is Jimmy ducek. For those of you that don't know me, but it's I and I was the mayor with the former mayor Pro Tem for the city of watsonville. And a city council member. I came off about a year and a half ago to run for supervisor and did not unfortunately when that, though it was a close race. And I am now running to go back onto the city council to continue the job that I started four years ago. I am a son of watsonville. I attended attended local schools, I went to a middle school and what's more high school. And I'm now a teacher in our district and at a bar or middle school, a school that my mother attended. So I love it. And I love giving back the gift of education to our children. I grew up here I did four H and I was active with our fair Little League and Pop Warner football. I was active in high school, I was on the debate team and school politics. My continued my participation in the community has continued over the years, I was on the pro Valley shelter services as president of the board for multiple years, and help work to get men, women and children back into sustainable and stable housing. I also was on the metro board and did that for several years. I've worked with our local union leaders, both in the city and on Metro, and now have the endorsement of our local Monterey Bay central Labor Council as well. And you Jimmy, I don't have time. Thank you.

Thank you. It flies by. We have a tight schedule tonight. And thank you. So now for our main questions. These questions come from our readers and listeners. We've had a survey out for several weeks about asking what what do you want the candidates to talk about in this forum. We've also held interviews and more service over the last several months and with watsonville residents. We're going to paste each question in the chat for our audience. The chat box is at the bottom of your screen. If you click on that icon, you'll be able to see the chat and the questions. Candidates, we ask that you be respectful of the other candidates in your response. At the same time, we invite you to differentiate how your plans and policies are different from the other candidates. So I'll call on each candidate. Again, you'll have 90 seconds. And the first question. Many residents want more job options, what's your plan to diversify the city's economy and bring in more jobs? First, Vanessa kiros Carter? Well, I as I said before, in my intro, I think we have a lot of talent. And we have a lot of opportunity for having new small businesses, which would create more jobs and more job opportunities and allow folks to actually live out their dreams. So I really would like to work with different organizations to make that possible, to help with training to help out you know, getting people to apply for loans and things like that. I think that we do need to stay local and invest in our local, our local talent. So I would really like to see that. As far as things like zoning, I want to really look at you know, where where can we zone where can we have new businesses, where can we have new commercials, zoning, and things like that. So that's really my plan is keeping it local, having investing into the community and having more small businesses and helping people start up new small businesses. Thank you. Okay, thank you, Vanessa. Next, Jimmy Dutra. Thank you

I could take that 27 seconds.

There you go. Sorry about that,

Oh, don't worry about it, don't worry about it. Um, so you know, this is something that, you know, when I started running over five years ago, was something that I always was talking about. Because, you know, so many of my friends, when we graduated high school from here in watsonville, we went off to college, and many did not come home, because there just was not the opportunity for someone who went off to college to come back to, and that's something that I really wanted to work on. And we do have a lot of, you know, we have some really big organizations here, like tricycles and West marine. And unfortunately, we lost on Fox shop recently, but we, we have a whole foods of their, one of their big offices is here as well. So, and these are the corporate offices, so we need to create more of those kind of jobs, so that we can bring our sons and daughters home back to this community, and offer them the employment, because otherwise, it's just impossible. to to to have them come back. I also want to agree with Vanessa, we need, we need to really strengthen our small mom and pop businesses and, and work with them to make sure that they don't only not only close their doors, because right now COVID is people are turning to that, but that they keep them open. And as a city council, we need to work and do everything possible to make sure that they are thriving, and that they stay open. Thank you so much.

Thank you, Jimmy, Eduardo montecasino, what's your plan to diversify the city's economy and bring in more jobs?

Oh, sorry, you're Eduardo, you're muted.

There we go. Sorry. So it's, it's, it's a double plan. I mean, like the just the candidate just talking about is a right now we guys got to think about keeping our local mom and pop businesses open, because we have a lot of those in our community, we have to strengthen the relationship with them, and keep that going. But also bringing bringing opportunities, you know, look at the permit prior process to make it easier. Instead of making it more challenging, look at the piece, you know, are where fees, and I know, to be able to track and make it easier for people to build something but they want to do and partner where the business community to see what what areas we can help a track and how they, how they can guide us there. Because I mean, one of the things is like, yeah, we can we have a lot of wishes, but the business committee can help us, you know, solidify what, what we can bring in help us partner, what the areas that we need to grow or, you know, change the zoning areas. Thank you.

Thank you all. Okay, so now for our lightning round. We're going to ask a series of yes or no questions, please raise your hand if the statement applies to you, and I'll name the candidates who raised their hand. The idea is I'm about to list came from you are in our candidate interviews for our watsonville City Council podcast episode. Okay. So please raise your hand if you see areas in your city council district that you would like to rezone to allow multifamily housing. Okay, I see Jimmy Dutra Eduardo montecasino and Vanessa kiros. Carter, thank you. Please raise your hand if you would fund more youth programs by shifting money away from the police department.

Vanessa kiros Carter.

Thank you. Okay. Past leaders have tried to rezone or annex county agricultural land next to the city of watsonville to allow development. It's been controversial. Raise your hand if you would pursue this. I see no hands. Thank you. Okay. And this last question is on the city's inclusionary law. That law requires developers of housing projects of a certain size to make 15 to 20% of units affordable. Raise your hand if you want The city to study that law to see if those requirements are optimal to create the most affordable housing. I see Jimmy Dutra Eduardo montecasino and Vanessa puros. Carter. Thank you. That's our lightning round. Okay, so the next question from our readers and listeners, we heard from residents who are concerned about equity in education. In March, about 20% of students in the county did not have home internet. Most of those students were in South County. That's what we heard from the county office of education, Wi Fi hotspots have been handed out. But families can have higher internet demands than those hotspots can handle. There's still a digital divide. How can the city help provide free Wi Fi in more public places, and affordable high speed internet to more homes?

We'll start with Jimmy Dutra.

Jimmy, you're muted, so

Okay, I started last time too. So I thought I was gonna get harder. So.

So yeah, we're dealing with this is a really big issue. And I see it, you know, as a teacher, we still have students who do not have access to internet and it's, it's a tragedy, we've had kids, you know, during the pandemic, when we weren't weren't doing distance learning, they would have to come to the parking lot to sit in the parking lot of the school to get internet, we need to start making it an upgrading our broadband throughout the entire city, especially down through Main Street, which a lot of is done, but we need to continue doing that, you know, we need to make sure that areas that are you know, not accessible are becoming equipped with Internet services. And we the city should be working directly, as well as the city in the school district should work collaboratively together, especially for the students to, um, you know, get the the broadband and the internet where it needs to go. So, because this is this is a really big issue that we're dealing with, and we're continuing to deal with it. And it sounds like South County is the one that suffers the most. And I'm still seeing the suffering happening. So I don't see it as fully a city's issue. I think we need to work in partnership. And I think there needs to be a lot of handless because the future of the children should really be important to all of us.

Thank you, Jimmy. Next, Eduardo montecasino.

i i agree with Jamie, you know, has the right idea. It's it's a, it's all community issue, but also getting getting spectrum to, you know, look at our you know, Wi Fi capabilities and just see the facilities and school facility, see if we can, if we can get better, you know, better distance. Like, you know, in my house, I just bought a Google point. Because on my second floor, I wasn't getting the right internet for my, my kids, for their schooling so subtler around like that. Maybe we can address within the city buildings or school buildings. But working with spectrum and working with a scooter tech, I think is the right approach.

Thank you, Eduardo, Vanessa qoros, Carter. So I see this as a pretty multi pronged approach. So we do have a long term solution or something for the long term, which I see. One thing is really, that's really interesting about watsonville is that watsonville is a full service city, meaning that we have our own garbage or on water, our own police department, fire, etc, etc. And so I think it makes sense logically to add in Wi Fi access there. This may be controversial. But I think that you know, since we are for full service city, that is something that we can look into doing in the future is having our own Wi Fi, which would enable more Wi Fi spots, for you know, more affordable Wi Fi for a lot of folks. In the short term. I think that we can partner with, you know, more local providers, local service access providers, to provide, you know, more affordable access for folks and also the school district Can you know, I know they have provided Weis Wi Fi hotspots and things like that. But again, you know, as the question said that it's not often enough, the bandwidth isn't enough. So I think really those are the two solutions is having a long term solution. So in the long term, maybe having our own municipal service provider in the short term partnering with others. Local Service Provider that's able to provide, you know, more affordable options for, for from folks. Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, the next question, we heard from voters in their 20s and 30s, that they have friends who go off to college and don't come back, they say there isn't enough affordable housing in watsonville. There aren't enough jobs for young people, and there aren't enough fun things to do. Candidates, what is your plan to encourage young people to stay in? watsonville? We'll start with Eduardo montecasino.

Yeah, I know, that's been a challenge, you know, throughout. That's why, you know, the last time I was on the council created the youth council to provide, you know, guidance for those youth and youth advocates and, and, and for them to portray that to other students. But it's, it is hard, but we need to work as a community to be able to attract, you know, affordability, to the housing, you know, it's not only, you know, three, three house a three room approach, but it's studios made to build studios, we need because a lot of a lot of those college grads are single, so they're not looking into a you know, big a big house. So we, you know, approach of building on Main Street on freedom, you know, and, and providing those happy avenues. But like I said, working with the community to bring in a, you know, more equitable jobs. There were I think we're all talking about, because those are the jobs that they're looking for, and because they want to be close to the community, and close to their families. So we need to work together to achieve this approach.

Thank you, Eduardo, Vanessa kiros. Carter, what is your plan to encourage young people to stay in watsonville. So, um, I personally relate to this a lot, because they did leave for more opportunity. But I always promised myself that I would come back and I would try to create opportunities. So that's why I'm running. That's why I'm here. And you know, as a fairly young person, it is really hard to find fun things to do, right. watsonville is the city that, you know, we don't have a lot of nightlife. And there's not a lot of spaces to connect. And fortunately, you know, in this pandemic, we have the internet to connect. And so it's been really interesting seeing all the interesting, cool things that people are doing. And I think that there is an incentive for people to come back. People just like me who really love watsonville, and are like, I want to come back. And here's the need, here's what's missing. Here's what we need to do. So I think that we need to invest in those young people who are willing to step up, and really be leaders for our community. I know that we have a lot of nonprofits, we have a lot of youth groups, we have a lot of art organizations that are all youth LED, we have a lot of new places, like a slice project, right is a new place. It's a new business owned by young folks. And so really, again, investing in these ideas and these dreams, because the young people are really going to shape watsonville. So having young folks getting politically involved getting being civic minded, and really looking out for one another and really getting their message heard having their voice heard. That's another thing that has been a silver lining of the pandemic, we have a lot of younger folks that are joining the city council meetings and really making their voice heard. So that's great to see. And I'd love to continue to see that. Thank you. And Jimmy Dutra, what is your plan to encourage young people to stay in watsonville?

Well, one is making sure that we can create job opportunity for our young adults. So when they come back, they want to come back and they have a job that they can, you know, make a living wage, and hopefully more than living wage, because living here in watsonville is very expensive. We're not as expensive as Santa Cruz, but we're getting there. And so definitely making sure that we are creating enough jobs. Um, and I want to agree with Vanessa too. We need you know, creating spaces for young adults to go building up a nightlife revitalizing downtown, that is something that we definitely need to continue working on. We you know, it's going to be coming up in front of the city council, while the new you know, coming up in the next year or so. And this new council that was going to be elected is going to be dealing with it. And I think it's important to have a, you know, broad array of minds that are going to be adding to it generational minds, and I think that's going to be important. And you know, and also bringing people on to boards. That's what I promise to do when I put my boards together. You know, bringing in people, because on commissions, I make sure that I have young people involved in the political system, because a lot of times people look at it as, you know, something that someone can do as a retiree as a retirement. And that's something I'm trying to move away from. I'm trying to say, you know what, it is important to have all generation of us. And I want to make sure and I want to bring them to the table.

Thank you.

Next question. We asked this in our written questionnaire, but we'd like you to give you the opportunity to expand in watsonville houses that are meant for one family now accommodate many more people than their attended intended, they've moved in together to afford the rent or mortgage, what is your plan to create better housing options for residents? How would your plan be funded? We'll start with Vanessa key rose Carter. Yeah, so this is really common, right, we have multi generational households, which can be a really, really beautiful thing. And we have, you know, multi family households, which again, can be a beautiful thing. But it can also create hazards, with living situations that are not ideal that are cramped, and things like that. And then it just exacerbates problems like parking, and traffic, and all of those types of things. I think that, you know, trying to create more housing to alleviate that would be a start. And I think Eduardo said this having more, you know, single, you know, single units, more studios and things like that, for young folks to be able to leave their family's house, I think would really, really help. In order to fund that I would need to look at a lot of different funding sources to see how that could be funded. So that I can't really give a definitive answer, but looking at zoning, right, looking at where we can create these new structures, and really seeing the cost before we start looking at funding sources, I think that would be my plan is to kind of figure out what the need is, and figure out where we can do this and then looking at how are we going to fund this because it is a need. So it is something that needs to be done. And I would need to do more research to figure out how to make that happen. But I absolutely see the need for that. So young folks are able to go out and have their own, you know, single family homes. So we don't have some of the issues that can arise when we have, you know, homes that are overcrowded. Thank you, Jimmy Dutra? What's your plan to create better housing options for residents? How would your plan be funded?

So I think the days of single residential housing is behind us, I don't think we're going to be having a lot more projects that where you're going to have communities have single homes and be built, at least for me, when I was on the city council, all the projects that we approved, were either townhouses, or in the condo type of construction. I and then I think I think that's the direction we're going in just so weak, it actually provides more, more housing and opportunity, especially for young people. So I again, I like I've been saying, I've been all continued to support multi use residential units. And I believe that's also going to create a walkable downtown or community so and if we build those, you know, build them up, which is getting support for across all types of people in our community. I think that we will be able to build a vibrant and definitely walkable and build a really strong economy for our community by using doing multi use.

Um, okay, thank you, Jimmy. I'm Eduardo montecasino. What's your plan to create better housing options for residents? And how would your plan be funded?

Yeah, you know, we need to provide more options for our community, we have a lot of private, young community that want options want that I talked about? studio, but make it make it easier for the developers to build, you know, you know, like, I keep saying, you know, looking at the zoning, but looking at fees, but making it easier, so that we can attract more developers working with some of our partners like mid Penn, another city has been working for a while. How do we fund it? You know, that's community, I think question. I mean, next year, Mr. Hughes, a is gonna is gonna pop up on the conversation, and with that, I think the community needs to as a convenient way to talk about how we're going to how we're going to fund these these endeavors and how and where to grow. You know, it along Main Street from Freedom main and providing, providing those avenues. But it's it's going to take a community effort to get, you know, the funding resources or partners in our housing partners, but our business community to awesome, but everyone has to pitch in and everybody's gonna have to dig into this conversation. Because we're a we are having lots of families per per house unit.

Thank you. Thank you all. Okay, next question. Residents told us that they want more parks, and they want more city sponsored youth activities. The question is, how will it be funded? voters passed measure why a sales tax hike in March, but it's only expected to bring about $320,000 to parks and community services? What is your plan to fund new parks and more youth activities? We will start with Jimmy Dutra.

Thank you, um, as I'm out on the I don't know, knocking on doors every single day I you know, I helped put two parks in the city, there's no other council member that can say that they have, you know, achieve that, while being on the council. And that's something I will continue to work on our Davis property with what I work with Powell to bring in afterschool programs. I raised the money privately to put that in because when I went to the city, they said we just do not have funding for this park. And it was a concrete jungle when I got ahold of it. We raise money we put in a community garden, we brought in how put in after school programs, we have a basketball court, it really helped with, you know, taking out crime in the area, offering a place for kids to go parks are super important. Over by rolling hills, we worked with a rundown alley kind of Park and we got grant money for it, we brought the community in, we brought we put in murals, we really made it a vibrant place. So we need to continue doing this and and when the city says we don't have money, we need to say that's not acceptable. And we need to figure out ways of making it happen. We need to work with our nonprofit organizations and making sure that programs continue. We can't always just put all the weight on the city, because there's sometimes just going to say no, so we have to reach out and work with our partners. And that's something that I've been doing, and that I've done and that I've been successful at. So we need to continue putting in more parks and more programs for our youth.

Thank you, Jimmy. I'm Eduardo montecasino. What is your plan to fund new parks and more youth activities?

Yeah, I'm a big advocate, even in my current statement, you know, I want artificial turf around the park. And but I think, like Jimmy was saying, because I know, he's a great advocate, I know, it's been a couple parks. we all strive for the same things. You know, because we have a lot of a lot of youth a, in our community. I think it's, you know, next year could be an opportunity of the sales tax is to increase. Maybe looking at sales tax, just for parts, I know that you know, that that has pulled well in, in our community the last time so looking at the those kind of options and looking at property, we're not just fixing but creating a huge, you know, Sports Complex, you know, if we're able to achieve that, like I said, going to the committee looking at those those options, I think, you know, committee we, you know, we very favorable to something that just dessin something designated for personal. That's what I'll be working on them.

Thank you, Eduardo, and Vanessa, Keith Carter, what is your plan to fund new parks and more youth activity? So I think it's really important to look at multiple sources of funding. So at the local level, at the state level, at the federal level, there are grants available. I've really been vocal about wanting a pool complex. Similar to Simpkins I really want that in watsonville. That's a dream of mine. So I would love to make that happen. And I think really looking at our own budget and really looking at things like measure y, that only give a certain amount to parks and rec, youth development programs, public works, and really seeing where we can, you know, where we can kind of redistribute funds, where are the funds going to? And where can we redistribute back into these you know, vital services because I believe that parks, neighborhood services, things like that, that's what really makes the community safe. And so that's really what I want to see are our funds going into. So again, looking at different funding sources, from you know, not only the county level But the state level, the federal level, private grants, things like that. And also looking at our own budget and seeing where we can redistribute funds back into these really vital services. So that would be my plan is looking at multi multi funding sources. Thank you.

Thank you.

We actually have a little more time. So I want to ask one more question before closing statements. I wanted to go back to the previous question on housing options and give you each a minute more to expand. So again, the question was, what's your plan to create better housing options for residents? And how would your plan be funded? what I heard, I heard about a description of the problem, and I heard about, you know, approving projects that come across, you know, denser projects that come before the council, you know, that you would support that if elected. But I think residents really want to hear about your plan, like, how will you bring, you know, the development of more housing options to the city? And how would that plan be funded? I'd like to give you another minute, if you'd like to expand on that. And we'll start back with Vanessa heroes Carter. Yeah, as I said before, and this is something that we really need to look into, because we have to see what needs to be done. So it's hard to figure out like how much we need if we don't have a definitive plan. I really, really liked what Eduardo said is looking at are going to happen looking at the zoning, I talked about that before. And really seeing like, do we have any rate? I don't know, I don't know about the budget of the last budget meeting that I attended was more about covid relief, and things like that. So looking to see what we have in the budget, do we have money for new development, if we don't, again, looking into funding sources, and how we're going to fund that. And again, seeing if we can redistribute funds into housing development. So really looking at all of that is necessary before we really start to make plans because, you know, this is it's dependent on how big we want how you know, how many units we can do all of that types of things. So just looking at all the funding that's available for that already. Thank you. Thank you for that. Jimmy detra.

So, um, yeah, there's a couple things. One is, we could look for some, you know, grant funding work with some of the nonprofits that do build housing. I think Habitat for Humanity is someone that we've worked with, to build housing and watsonville may be continuing to do that as well. I think they're doing a project right now out by the airport. So continue with more projects and working with organizations that do do this. Listen, I came in big dreams before too. And then the city says, No, no, no, no, you get to learn that word. No, real quick. I mean, I tell always telling you, there's no money for anything, right? And Bardot's laughing like, it's like I came in, like Vanessa, let's get changed the world. And then they're like, no. And so it's really frustrating, right? So then you have to, like start thinking about outside of the box, how are we going to make this work? Because the city is not going to take is not going to do a lot. Right. So, um, I think also maybe working with trying to find those contractors, because the projects also have to pencil out for contractors. So maybe try to find contractors who will, you know, work with us, in essence situation as well.

Thank you for expanding on that. Eduardo Montesinos.

Yeah. I mean, the, like, Jimmy says, We Are we all think of the world when we're not, we're when we don't know, what the constraints are of the city. And the budget, but, um, I mean, but mostly these don't build housing, you know, we, we attract housing, we, you know, make it easier for developers to build. And we still put constraints on them. Like, you know, affordability, you got a you got to build here and you got to build it this way. So, those are the avenues that we're that we we need to address, make and make making more attractable like I said, Sony wise, fees wise, but a you know, making a friend and friend your city. You know, I hear 5050 people said it's like really hard. And if people say no, it's kind of easy. Like I want I want to hear from everyone. You know, it's easy. You know, it's easy to build in watsonville you know, I got my stuff done. I paint my face and I and the inspector when it's being built, not not what i what i see right, currently, it's like all these, you know, construction, or just like stalemate.

Thank you, Eduardo. Thank you. Okay. So now, now for closing statements. Candidates, what would you want to Leave voters with you'll have 90 seconds back to Eduardo montecasino.

Now, the biggest thing is, you know, I think from all I'm just gonna say something from all of us is that you were all Come, come from a well hearted community, we want to do something for the best for watsonville. So, if you vote for, you know, each and every one of us, I think you, you'll get a, you'll get that, you know, holidays from our community. So, you know, don't forget to vote, because that's one of the most important things and we're all accessible, we're all you know, a lot of us are walking distance, a lot of us, you know, just a phone call everybody, everybody gives, you know, their cell phone. So, keeping communication, you know, keeping gauge, you know, I, you know, go to the city, now, they're easier to access to through soom. You know, speak your mind, give it a give some guidance, sometimes we were not, we don't know everything, we might be missing something. So, just don't forget about and vote for me.

Thank you, Eduardo, Vanessa, Keith Carter,

what would you like to leave voters with?

So I am running to give back to my community to serve my community. I really believe that leaders are people who are willing to listen even when it's difficult, even when there's, you know, disrespect, even when there's anger, even when there's a lot of emotion. And I'm willing to do that. I really enjoy talking with people, I really have enjoyed going around and canvassing and listening to what folks have to say, and I want folks to be more involved. And I really want to help people bring to life their vision of watsonville, I have served for almost 20 years, I've served the community in different capacities, and I would be honored to serve district two in this capacity. I believe that our community can really thrive if we all have a say, and I would like to bring those voices out, I would like to really hear those voices represent those voices. And again, just make that vision happen. So I've you know, I believe in watsonville, I really believe in investing in us. And I would like to be able to do that on City Council. So again, just you know, please, please vote as Eduardo said, Please vote, you know, but I would really be honored to to serve in this capacity. And I thank everyone for being here tonight. If you'd like to learn more about me, um, you can go to my website, and I securos carter.com. I'm active on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, so you can find me there as well. And thank you all again, go out and vote and make your voice heard because your vote is your voice. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Vanessa. Jimmy ditra,

you like to leave voters to go ahead. Sorry.

Thank you, I just want to say thank you, again, for having us here tonight. And this is my dream team, the three that the two others have showed up. So I'm hoping these are the two that get elected. So, um, you know, I think that it's also does say something the people who are showing up to things and being active with community participation. So, Kara, I know, you know, this is a hard job that you had to thank you for, you know, following up and making sure that this happened. You know, I been talking with all the voters and residents of our community and, and they feel really disheartened with the direction of our current Council. And we do have seen a lot of disrespect lately coming from a few of the members. And I know that and we have a new change a new blood coming in from at least three new three new seats, I know that we can really put those council members in the minority and really move our community forward in a positive way and get this back on track, making sure that everybody has a voice and that we are making sure that there is no community member being left behind. Sometimes we see people, you know, funny little groups these and we see adults being bullying and we have to be leading as adults. And I want to do that as a city council member, I want to make sure that everybody is included. And I want to make sure that we work on the most difficult of of issues that are going to be coming up from in front of us whether it's housing, or parks, or making sure that people are not losing their their small businesses. We have a lot to work on. And I hope I can count on your support. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Thank you, everyone. Thank you candidates for attending. really grateful for your time and participation. Attendees. Thank you so much for joining us tonight. I know that there's a very big spectacle debate going on right now for the presidential race and you chose to invest your time in local governments. I really believe that local government these days These seats are going to disrupt make the big decisions that affect your life. And so it's so important for people to get informed and engaged in local government. And that's, that's what we're doing here today and really appreciate that you joined us today. Santa Cruz local is a member supported. All of our journalism is free. But we're supported by paying members who contribute $9 a month or $99 a year to allow our work, our stories, our podcasts or newsletter or events to be free for everybody. Find out more at Santa Cruz local dot o RG slash membership. For those of you we are going to post the this recording on our elections guide. It's a nonpartisan elections guide with information on all the city council races and the Board of Supervisors race, as well as how to register to vote how to check your registration, how to track your ballot and more. Check it out at Santa Cruz local dot o RG slash elections. We have one more candidate forum. This week. It's tomorrow we invite you to join us it's for the county board of supervisors district one race. That's at 6pm. Tomorrow, we will post the invite in the chat and we invite you to submit continue to submit questions for that forum in our survey. Thank you everybody. That's a wrap for tonight. So appreciate your time and energy and and participation.

Thank you. Thank you. We'll stick around in case you're copying those links in the chat box.

Okay, I think we can close the public webinar.

Thank you, Barry. Thank you all for coming.