Gangs, economic development top issues in District 5
When District 5 Hollister City Council member Monica Johnson
announced she would not be running for another term, three
candidates stepped forward to vie for the open seat. Lifelong
Hollister resident Victor Gomez, 30, is the owner of Papa Murphy’s
Take N Bake Pizza in the Nob Hill shopping center. David Huboi, 59,
who moved to town 14 years ago, is a planning commissioner and a
self-employed architect. Roy Iler, 40, a 16-year resident, is a
lieutenant for the San Benito County Sheriff’s Department.
Gangs, economic development top issues in District 5
When District 5 Hollister City Council member Monica Johnson announced she would not be running for another term, three candidates stepped forward to vie for the open seat. Lifelong Hollister resident Victor Gomez, 30, is the owner of Papa Murphy’s Take N Bake Pizza in the Nob Hill shopping center. David Huboi, 59, who moved to town 14 years ago, is a planning commissioner and a self-employed architect. Roy Iler, 40, a 16-year resident, is a lieutenant for the San Benito County Sheriff’s Department.
In other districts, Ray Friend and incumbent Doug Emerson are unopposed.
The three candidates bring with them similar priorities but different ideas about what the main focus should be in the city of Hollister and different ideas about how to get there.
Huboi comes with the most experience in city planning as he worked with the general plan focus group for two years before he became a planning commissioner. He is passionate about green architecture and spends much of his free time volunteering for such groups as Habitat for Humanity and the Homeless Task Force. He was a strong proponent of the Measures R and T sales tax hikes. Voters passed the latter last year. He is also involved in St. Luke’s church, where he teaches a youth group.
“I’d rather see upgrades to parks than build juvenile detention centers,” he said.
Iler, who has worked with the Sheriff’s department, brings a history in law enforcement. He has also worked with his department head, Sheriff Curtis Hill, on budgets and said he understands how budgets work for government offices.
“I thought it was the best opportunity to run with the moratorium over and the sales tax measure passed,” Iler said. “It’s a time when you can make a lot of difference.”
Gomez grew up on the west side of Hollister in Villa Hermosa. When he first announced he was running, many family and friends told him he was too young to get into politics.
“I’ve always had a passion,” Gomez said. “The first time I really considered it I was 22, but I thought people would laugh at me.”
Gomez’ run is partly spurred on by the murder of his sister last year.
“I moved out [of VH] and put crime aside, put it on the back burner,” he said. “I just didn’t pay attention until this happened to my sister.”
The three candidates agreed on several topics. They all agreed that Measure Y, a measure that would exempt residential housing projects in the downtown area from unit caps, is a good idea and they all seemed to think the city administration has handled their jobs decently. They all agreed an at-large mayor would be a good thing, when the city can legally redistrict.
But from there they distinguish themselves.
Gomez named the local economy, gang awareness and community safety as the three things he would focus on if elected.
“I was raised around gangs and from that perspective I believe education is No. 1,” Gomez said.
He relayed a story about a recent incident in which a friend of the family asked him to translate information about gang awareness from the sheriff’s department Web site because it was not available in Spanish.
“Preventing gangs from forming is No. 1,” Gomez said.
Iler also cited gang prevention as his top priority, no surprise since he has long been involved in law enforcement. He had a multitude of ideas about how to prevent and intervene in gang violence.
“Working for the sheriff’s department, I see what’s going on,” Iler said. “We need to get a joint supression unit.”
His second idea is to hire a gang coordinator who would work with parents, especially those with young children, so that they can prevent young kids from joining gangs in the first place.
Another common priority among the three candidates is economic development, and most of Huboi’s priorities revolve around that. In addition to economic development, he cited job creation and the situation with gangs.
“We need to promote amenities we have,” Huboi said, citing many of the historical buildings in the region.
He is also supportive of updating bike plans and enhancing access to parks. He mentioned the importance of creating a master plan for Vista Park Hill because it is “relatively unique.”
In terms of economic development, Gomez focused on “tax leakage.” It was the topic of a presentation at a recent city council meeting.
“We need to see what areas we can bring into our community,” Gomez said, listing two categories that people go out of town to purchase, “Clothing and electronics.”
As a businessman, he said he understands there is a difference between desire and demand.
“But people do desire a diversity,” he said.”
Iler, too, noted that some commodities are hard to find in the community.
“We don’t want to build a big metropolis, but we want it to be self-sustaining,” he said. “We need clothing. We need a hotel or two. We have people come in for conferences with the sheriff’s department and we have nowhere to put them.”
The last priority on Iler’s list is one that sets him apart from the other two candidates – the Hollister Motorcycle Rally.
“I’ve made it clear I oppose the rally,” Iler said. “They’ve had 12 years and we haven’t made any money. Maybe some small businesses, bars and liquor stores, make money but we’ve lost at least $120,000 this year.”
He pointed out that the money could have been used on other purposes such as funding a gang coordinator, or helping the homeless shelter.
“When there are people who pack up their children and leave town, how can we embrace that?” Iler asked.
He suggested a different kind of festival, perhaps around the agricultural products grown in the county, to replace the rally.
Gomez and Huboi were less specific about their thoughts on the rally.
“I’ve seen it go from a character of more of a family event to one that is a little hard-edged,” Huboi said. “I’d like to see if we could have a referendum and if it wouldn’t cost too much put it to the voters.”
He said he was somewhat on the fence about the rally because it is connected to the history of the community.
Gomez, on the other hand, looked at the rally from a strictly numbers viewpoint. At Papa Murphy’s he doesn’t see much of a difference in sales, he said, “because ovens don’t come installed on Harleys yet.”
“We are seeing the loss the city has taken, but we’re not seeing the gains of businesses outside of the [city losses],” Gomez said. “There are other things we need to look at before we say no.”
Voters have until Oct. 20 to register for the Nov. 4 general election.
