Hollister
– Mickie Luna may be retiring after 29 years in the City of
Hollister’s Finance Department, but that doesn’t mean she’s slowing
down.
Hollister – Mickie Luna may be retiring after 29 years in the City of Hollister’s Finance Department, but that doesn’t mean she’s slowing down.
After all, Luna pointed out, one of the convenient things about retiring is that she can finally make it to the County Board of Supervisors’ Tuesday morning meetings.
Luna, 62, was one of the founding members of the local League of United Latin American Citizens, and she served as the group’s state president from 2000 to 2004.
Her job with the city and and her political work are two separate parts of her life, Luna said, but she tries to bring the same commitment to justice to both of them. That, she said, is why she worked to get city employees unionized.
Luna was born and raised in Hollister. She dates her interest in politics back to her brother Henry Solorio’s campaign for Hollister City Council in the 1970s.
“I was really interested in helping him win,” Luna said.
When San Benito County LULAC came into existence 20 years ago, Luna was already a member of LULAC in Salinas. Residents of a nearby labor camp approached Luna, along with other politically active Latinos, about concerns that there was raw sewage on the property.
Luna said the local chapter was initially founded to make sure the camp’s tenants were treated properly.
“When you do something and you know you’re doing something wrong, you need to be punished,” Luna said.
Since then, San Benito LULAC succeeded in pushing for districtwide City Council elections in the early 1990s. And LULAC’s advocacy has also led to a dramatic increase in resources for Spanish-speaking voters, Luna said.
Veronica Lezama, a transportation planner for the San Benito County Council of Governments, said Luna’s work has an effect on individual lives, too. Lezama, 29, joined LULAC when she was in the eighth grade, and she used a LULAC scholarship to help pay for her college education.
Lezama, who was San Benito County LULAC’s 2006 Woman of the Year, said Luna’s advice and example has guided her own decisions.
“I admire her so much for being outspoken and telling it like it is,” Lezama said.
Thursday was Luna’s last day of employment with the city.
Anthony Ha covers local government for the Free Lance. Reach him at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or [email protected].
