 At 7 o'clock, why don't we get started? I'm Pedro Castillo, I'm vice chair of the Bado Valley Cesar Chavez Democratic Club and will be the moderator this evening. The way they will do this endorsement form is first of all, you have to be a member of the club to vote. You have to be a member of the club and have been to two meetings within the calendar year. So from September to September, July to July. So within one year. July to July. July to July. And if you don't have a ballot, Rosa has the ballots and she'll check your attendance and she'll check that you've paid. You can pay tonight if you want to be a member. If you want to become a member, if you paid after July and you're okay, if you paid before July, you have to pay again. And we're doing first the Watsonville City Council. We have three candidates in three different districts. And then we're doing the Santa Cruz County Board of Education. And then we're doing the Supervisor in District 4. You'll have one vote for each position. You can vote yes for the candidate or no endorsement. So when you get to that time at the very end, you'll be able to vote that. After all presentations, then you can start to vote. The tally committee will be composed of Rosa and Lupe in the back. Daniel Dodge Jr. is the timekeeper. There'll be five questions. Each candidate is allowed two minutes. And then for four questions, and then for the last question is one minute, summarizing one minute. And then at the end, we'll have 10 minutes of questions from the audience if you have any questions. A candidate is endorsed if he or she receives the highest number. It's 50% plus one. So it's not like the Santa Cruz Democratic Central Committee where they ask for 55% or 60%. But here it's just the majority, minimum of 50% plus one vote. Okay? Well, first start with the city council. Daniel Dodge who's running for District 5, Eduardo Montesino who's running for District 4, and Lowell Hurst who's running unopposed for District 3. Daniel Dodge in District 3 has an opponent. That person was emailed and invited, and that person has a prior commitment. Eduardo Montesino also has an opponent, and that person was invited. And I got this long email. Don't have to go into it, but that person is not going to be here. His choice. The first question, we'll start first with Daniel, and then we'll go from Daniel Eduardo and Lowell, and then the second question, we'll start with Eduardo. First question, Daniel, how many minutes? Two minutes for this. Okay. They don't have to take two minutes if they can do it less, that's fine. But not more than two. Daniel, how long have you been a registered Democrat and who has endorsed you for this office? Good evening. Welcome. My name is Daniel Dodge, senior. I'm a city councilman in District 5, the city of Watsonville. I've been a Democrat since I was one of the first people to turn, when an 18-year-old has got the right to vote in this country, I was one of the first people to be able to, at that age group, to be able to sign up, and I've been a lifelong Democrat since then. I've been supported by State Senator William Monning, a son of a man, Luis Alejo, local attorneys, Ben Rice and Bob Katz, mayor of Skinny Councilman throughout the Monterey Bay Area, Councilman Ken Talmadge, Mayor Ralph Rubio from the city of Salinas, Mayor Stephanie Harlan from the city of Capitola, Robert Rivas from Board of Supervisors, and of course our mayor, Karina Cervantes, who I consider a very good friend and is proud to have her support. I've also been supported by members of my community. We were able to be able to sign my petition, locals, Barbara Robles, Julio Plasadas, Irma Austin, people that actually can't vote for me are supporting me, so I'm honored to be able to. I've also received the LGBT Alliance of Santa Cruz County, the Building Trades of Santa Cruz of Monterey County along with the operating, excuse me, along with IBEW, which is the International Brother of Electrical Workers, and of course my brother and sister from the United Transportation Union. So thank you for allowing me to be out here tonight. Thank you. Ed, how long have you been a Democrat and who has endorsed you for office? I've been a Democrat just four years, I think. I was barely, actually I became a citizen since 2006. It hasn't been that long. I was an immigrant. I came here to the United States when I was eight years old. I was first of the dreamers, now they're so-called dreamers, but I got the pathway to be able to be a citizen, and I've been exercising that right and voting every time, and this opportunity came to me four years ago, and we're out there enjoying the Power of Alley. I've been endorsed by one of the founding members of this club, who is Assemblymember Mark Stone. I've also been endorsed by our supervisors, Sac Friend, John Leopold, Neil Grunty. I've been endorsed with multiple mayors, the Mayor of Capitola, Sam Story, the Mayor of Santa Cruz, Lynn Robinson, the Mayor of, the Mayor of Watsonville. Cannot forget it together. Our endorsement, Carina Cervantes. I've been endorsed with a lot of group, but the biggest group that, especially at this time, enticed me to run again is my family. It was hard years, especially, with having three kids and trying to make ends meet and trying to keep up with all their activities, but they're wholeheartedly, even my little eight-year-old and almost nine, said, Papi, you got to run again. So that's the greatest support I can have in this round. So I'm just looking for everyone's support here. So thank you very much. Lowell, how long have you been a Democrat and who has endorsed you for office? That's a really good question. I wasn't able to register until I was 21, and I was kind of the law back then. And so I registered then as a Democrat, and I've been a Democrat all that time. No independent stuff, no decline to state, no Republican baggage on my tail. I've been a Democrat all my life, and I'm going to continue to be a Democrat all my life. So as to who's endorsed me, I think about two-thirds of the people in this room have endorsed me at one time or another. And I've heard the support of a number of prominent folks in the community, but most importantly, as my family, as Eduardo indicated, was his case as well. But these two gentlemen have endorsed me, and I think I'm in good company there. You know, my friends, my neighbors, I don't have an opponent this year, except for two people. The guy named Apathy, and I've defeated him before, and the person named Indifference. And Indifference I'm still working on. So I'm going door to door, and people say, oh, you're really nuts-hurst. You know, you don't have to do that stuff. You know, that's what I do, and I get to hear firsthand complaints, and I get to have people say, you know, you suck-hurst, and that job sucks too, and you're meant for each other. So I think that is an endorsement. I'm having a very good time at my experience of election, and I'm glad to continue, and hopefully I'll gain more support, and that eventually we will be able to defeat Apathy and Indifference. Thank you. The second question was stuck with Eduardo. What are your qualifications for this office, and why should the Pato Valley Cesar Chavez Democratic Club endorse your candidacy? I think some of my biggest qualifications, especially even the last time, is I'm raising three young kids here in the Pato Valley, and that puts me at the forefront of fighting for big issues, working families here in the community. I've been a good steward. I've created programs. I've created the youth council, the first Washington youth council here in the community. Then it got replicated in Santa Cruz, which I always throw at the mayor, so what we did at first. We ran a summer youth program with a few young folks in the summer. It was only a few kids, but those kids actually learn so much, and they're going to take on their siblings, they're going to take on their friendships, and some of the comments that came around were saying, now if you're connected to the community, now I know I'm going to volunteer. Having done those things and having more ideas to put forward, I think qualifies me in hopefully you would have both finished. Thank you very much. Lola, what are your qualifications for this office? Why should the PBCC-DC endorse your candidacy? Another good question. I think I'm qualified in the fact that I've been a city councilman for 13 years, mayor twice, served on a number of boards and commissions throughout the community, attended thousands and thousands of meetings, taken public input and given a little bit back on occasion. I'm here tonight to ask for your endorsement, and I really do want your endorsement because it helps validate the process of democracy, of participation, of opportunity for everyone to move forward together. I'm here to give my experience, what knowledge I know about city government and municipal work. I'm here to ask for your support and try and bring some folks together. I'm here to find apathy and indifference, remember those two, and try and make a difference in the community and focus on, I think some people know I was an educator for 32 years in the local school district, and it hasn't been for this organization, the Powerful Valley Federation teachers, I might not have ever been in government, so I owe them a debt of appreciation, so I want to thank Francisco Rodriguez emerging from his office for his long-term support and endorsement as well, and the endorsement of the IEW and Assemblyman Alejo, who's here, People Power, United Transportation Workers, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, and thank you very much. Daniele, what are your qualifications for this office and why should the Powerful Valley System or the Democratic Club endorse your candidacy? You know, I was thinking of all the wonderful things that the other members of the city council were being able to communicate to you. I have a long list of community experience and a variety of different roles. I first ran for public office before the internet in the last century, when I think Luis Leo was still in junior high school, and I was proudly endorsed by the man who was named this club, who was named after. I was endorsed by Cesar Chavez in 1989 when I first ran for political office, and since that time our community has changed, the counties changed, the economics of the region have changed, but here in Watsonville there's still a lot to be changed. So I want to be part of that. I've been part of that. I've been able to do the route that was placed in for me because at that time there was a lot of doors that were opened up for people that have a variety of different opinions. I was a founding member of the Powerful Valley Community Health Trust. I've been a two-time chair of the Latino Affairs Commission, two-time chair of the Planning Commission of the City of Watsonville, I've been a chair of the Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District, the chair of the Local Agency Formation Commission, that's called LAFCO, and currently I'm also a member of the Regional Transportation Union. But I think my biggest qualification, as Eduardo was alluding to, I don't know how you're not a skill, that's why I'm using that word. When I became elected and I walked into City Hall that first time as being an elected official, I brought my granddaughter with me. And I've been, there's a powerful moment for me to recognize that I've been able to create leadership amongst young women in this community and I'm very proud of that fact and I will continue to open doors for all those that need those doors open. Thank you. Thank you. We'll start with Lowell. What are the main issues in this campaign? I think everybody knows what the main issues in this community and this campaign are. Jobs, economic development, prosperity, public safety, and the last and probably one of the most important issues is the education of youth. And that's a solution as well as an issue in the community. And if we can bring a better networking with educational institutions, everything from preschool to university, I think that that will be a feather in everyone's cap and an attribute to the community. Clearly, we need more economic opportunities in the city, more jobs, maybe a friendlier or a better way to do business and we need to gain the respect of the accounting board of supervisors and our friends in the north so that we have a table that we can sit at and be equals among our peers in the Monterey Bay. And so there's lots of other issues too. You know, let's don't forget the needs of seniors and the disabled and those who are less fortunate than us. But if we can work on education and we can work on economic development and we can work on jobs and bring more prosperity to our community, I think we'll solve a lot of problems. Thank you. Daniel, what are the main issues in this campaign? I wanted to be able to concentrate on a couple of issues in particular. The issues that I've been able to work on as being an elected official and not necessarily one, two, and three. I believe that we need to be able to continue to be able to prioritize public safety. We recently showed that with Measure G and here in the city of Watsonville where we voted by two-thirds to be able to dedicate more resources to not only law enforcement and our police department and our fire department but also into Measure G was built in funding for programs for our young people to be able to look at other ways to be able to tackle the issues and the challenges that they face through the Contigo program and the PAL program. So we're investing in our young people and I consider that public safety. Just as I've been an advocate for accessible for the ADA community and public transportation I believe that we should redo the Watsonville Transit Center as part of a key to our downtown revitalization and at downtown revitalization I was the advocate to be able to take Highway 152 from the state in a manner called relinquishment so that we can have control of our own streets in the city of Watsonville and those that face traffic coming from Green Valley in Maine to here this evening knows exactly when they were sitting at the stoplight waiting for it to happen how important that can be the city should be able to enter into community partnerships and collaboration to be able to have prevention programs and education programs on healthy eating and healthy lifestyles because we can combat the diabetes rate. There are other issues economic and development and jobs and I believe that those are important but working on the things that I've been attempting to do for the last four years I want to continue moving forward in that direction the Monabial property and the restrictions on it are something that we need to look at face the challenge and advocate for change Edward, what are the main issues in this campaign? I think jobs, jobs, jobs, the economy the economy is at the forefront everybody wants us to work at bringing more jobs but it also like Councilman Lover said is access to education and partnering with the educational system whether it be Cabrillo, the Power of Alley we need to partner up and work together instead of having this is my world and this is your world we don't touch each other and don't bother me it's about access just even the fields for them to have access to pay sports it's about access connecting the dots between the Power of Alley elementary schools and the middle schools and the high schools with Cabrillo so they get more connected and what's a real high and Cabrillo just a few blocks away why isn't there some classes over at Cabrillo in partnership with the Power of Alley we just need to partner up with the county to bring more resources to our committee and I'm not just talking about bringing low income housing I'm talking about real partnership where instead of just putting those kind of resources putting actually some infrastructure resources so we can attract more business and more opportunities for our community whether it be to bring in jobs or just to be at equal with the north so those are the things that I think are the fourth one thing and for my district it's the highway one highway one, highway one because a lot of my people in my district work in Santa Cruz traveling to UCS jobs to county jobs to city jobs to just all the jobs so their local street is highway one so we need to work more and more to make that whether it's pieces or the whole together why didn't it more so it takes a little bit more burden just to get home thank you at the end related to the previous question name two or three of your priorities for the future and if elected how would you address them look I had four years look I had four years I can barely remember where I left my keys that's true you know I really think as a priority as a city government the city of Watsonville is the most aggressive city in the county of Santa Cruz and that I'm saying that we were able to look at ourselves and think forward and we've been able to act on those things when the plastic bag band excuse me the plastic bag band we're still being argued up at the state level we were on the forefront of being able to do those things looking at our broadband network we need to be able to increase the accessibility because we're talking about bringing in real jobs even in our downtown infrastructure we need to move into the century we need to be able to have the access that other communities have to be able to exchange of data and that allows our young people to become more exposed in their academic education to resources and communications so I believe that our young people are our asset and our community 30% of our community is under 30 years old so if you ask me what is a priority we have to be able to invest in our young people to make and invest in themselves the city we don't have parks and recreation departments we have parks and community services department because we can do different things outside of the box that's what makes us progressive so I believe that our young people are a priority I believe that our transportation needs are a priority those of us that understand how the transportation works 50% of the people in Watsonville do not work in Watsonville somewhere so regional cooperation and transportation is a priority also and we really do need to be able to look at economic development and bringing in some real jobs with the property that we have and that is a monobial property so I believe that those are our priorities the name 2 or 3 of your priorities for Watsonville and if you would like to look forward for the next 4 years how would you address these 2 or 3 issues I think and working with the school district to get more kids prepared for the future we are getting them prepared but we need to prepare them and better ratios and be better advocates for them so we can bring them back we need to reconnect the dots we have here Abel Sanchez from our community that is running for county school board which is a perfect example of why we need more young kids to return back to school outside the community came back and is now giving back to the community so those are the people that we need to attract because they are going to make the difference they are going to be future council members future supervisors of this community future teachers because we need more a lot of our teachers are out of this area we need to have more teachers from this area so they are connected to the community so they can be partners they can be educated I grew up here in the Palo Alto Valley I grew up in Santa Cruz and when I lived in Santa Cruz I had a few teachers a few blocks away that I could get to and go talk to if I had a question so I want that for our kids I want them to have access to more education and how we are going to work towards that is just working with the school board for us to do frank conversations about how we need to move forward and how we can all get connected No, name two or three of your priorities and if elected how would you plan to address them in the future? Thank you Pedro when I think about four years from now I am settled with the responsibility of running for election again and you know I will be allowed to do so across that bridge when we get there in the meantime I think we need a much more vibrant downtown we need to have a better relationship with employers and maintain the employers we do have and retain those jobs but we also need to reach out and attract new employers and employers that pay livable wages employers that help take care of the community employers that support workers and I think we need a better educational system too. I am sorry we don't have a lot of contrast here today between the answers and I am sorry that the other candidates for this position didn't choose to show up here but you know there is always 100% agreement on the council and that is why majority has to settle and so what I like to do is to try and help bridge that gap and bring people together and get things done move to the future you know I really want to be a change agent I want to see social justice take place in this community and a better opportunity for my grandkids and my kids and all those thousands and tens of thousands of students that I taught over the years because that will help reduce crime and that will help improve public safety and that will give people an opportunity for a better lifestyle and more help and we can grow our own and so the priorities I see are maintaining a good environment and stimulating an economic opportunity for all this is the last question and you'll have one minute final statement that you want to make we'll start with Edward I would appreciate your vote I want to keep the community moving forward I need your help and everybody's help educate in our community yesterday I was at Fiesta Spotless and a former council member Oscar Rios asked everyone what they were going to vote and there was very little hands going up we need to change that around because a lot of people can become citizens but their unwillingness or their educational background doesn't allow them to we need to have a machine out there to educate them so they can vote so they can make a difference instead of going on a lot of doors where there's families all around it because they need to make the difference and they need to be able to also stand up and say this is what I want so it's giving them their opportunity and their voice thank you very much and hopefully you can vote for them Lowell final statement thank you I want you to also vote for Eduardo and I want you to vote for Dodge too because none of us get here by themselves alright none of us get here by ourselves and even though I've had 30 years of leadership as an educator and a councilman I'm hoping to have at least well at least four more years so let's just we don't want to counter chickens before they're hatched and I don't want to presume anything because you know a lot of stuff there's always a lot of surprises in life so I'm here to give it my all to give it my very best to try and always be on a majority vote for progress for the future for good things to happen in this community and to engage as many other people as we possibly can I was also at the Oscars event the other day and it was a striking that so many people in this community cannot vote or do not vote and so voting registration is a big goal of mine as well I see I got another extra minute here too this is good voting registration is really one of the keys to move the community forward and to energize folks and to get them engaged there's too much apathy too much indifference we need to change that game plan and so I'm here as a game changer and somebody really wants to make good things happen I hope that you'll support me but I also want you to support these two other candidates here and let's all move forward together then the end final statement one minute thank you very much everybody for being here tonight it's a great showing of democrats coming out this evening to be engaged and what is the greatest the right privilege that we have in this country and that's the right to be able to vote I'm very conscious of that recently as 1989 the decision allowed to be able to change the way that we elected officials here in the city of Watsonville it was a monumental statement an enormous statement that allowed members of the community that never had the opportunity to be able to participate in the system I know that's why I'm here today so I thank all those that came before me and all those that opened doors and maybe we don't know their names we don't know Ravy Hill after Plasavy Hill we don't know Waldo Rodriguez after the Rodriguez Center but these are men and women in our community these are men and women in our community that have been able to open up the doors for us although they're going to open up the doors for us to participate today what you see on the council majority as a representative of the overall community a community that has elected myself Eduardo Montesino Felipe Hernandez Carina Cervantes Lowell Hurst and last but not least Assemblyman Luis Alejo we have ascended to all levels of government across the state now is the night time for us where we're under attack by outside party interests this is the time for democrats to be able to stand up in a progressive manner to make Watsonville a shining example for the rest of the state of California so thank you for the extra time we have up to 10 minutes for questions there can be questions if you don't want to there can be no questions except for you you want to move along any questions I have one and since we just opened our campaign office here the voting power in Watsonville could be huge how do you make that happen how do you get those people to register how do you do I mean I'm serious how do you go about it I'll take a shot at that I've tried to own voter registration I've been out there passing out voter registration forms for 20 years and some of those people actually do come out and vote you can get them to register and remind them that it is election day then you've got a shot at it and so I think personal outreach door to door we probably need to do some kind of event and some kind of tabling too but once folks vote then they're in the habit of it then they've breached that threshold and they'll do it again and so we have to remind them that it's meaningful sometimes elections are very very close you know there's almost 60,000 people in Watsonville but only 14 14,000 registered only a third of them vote so it's really critical that we energize and that's why I'm sorry we don't have more contrasts in this room today but we do have contrast out there in the street and we just need to reach out more and create excitement and interest I think this is one of the places where I think we partner up with the schools when they bring the parents in for back to school night why don't we have a table at every school and just get organized but it's also going the door to door educating why there should be citizens because a lot of people can't become citizens they just need to apply but having them be aware of how important it is for them to vote because they think voting is out of reach for them that it doesn't matter for them but it does matter if you get passed out and you tell them this is the life we've heard of your kids and you put it in that in that room, in that sentence it becomes relevant to them and that's where you can get a lot of interest and you can get connected to the school to the adult test so they can study for the test so it's just connecting the dots and getting more people out there again along those lines for those that might be able to watch just about a later date that you have to understand in our community that when you take away from citizenship from the overall population you take away from citizenship and of a third of the population in the city of Watsala is under 18 a third of the population is ineligible to vote so I mean you have to that's a number that's very high very real community but I think that that's something that we can work on not the academic education but a process where that elections have changed people don't vote oh I'm giving my strategy away elections have changed absentee ballots 40% of the county almost votes by mail which means they would serve their ballots earlier so it becomes a whole different way to be able to reach folks to be able to encourage them to participate at the luxury of being at their living room table and how do you communicate those things we do need as democrats we do need to be able to reach out and touch people in different places that we've never done before and I think with coming in 2016 will be the year of the woman oh come on every year is the year of the woman the possibility for a woman candidate on the presidential level will be very active in the democratic party it's more every day so I think that leading into that we need to be able to engage people in clubs I would be willing in representing this club to move forward in educating and working with some schools and forming some democratic clubs and there's a I think that those are the things that we did attempt to do with citizenship drives we need to be able to be active as democrats to be able to do that and that's the challenges facing in front of us other questions yes, for either the panel or the individuals for the panel I'm Alan Hicks and I'm the co-chair of the 21st annual peace and unity march this year which was started by Assemblyman Lisa Lego and Felipe Hernandez in 1994 so I asked you are you going to participate this year in the march and also what can the city do to support community efforts to end violence in the community I'll go first thank you very much Alan for asking that question I think that violence is very tried to do as we've read in the papers in some of the sports figures lately where violence is surfacing again it's becoming brought to attention I think even with the news on around when you see it we become a little dumb because it happens around this the peace and unity march which I've been fortunate to participate over the decades now and I'm glad you acknowledge Assemblyman Luis Lejo and Councilman Hernandez for being able to be part of the original members to be able to start that march it's something that's become a tradition in this community I know I'll be there I pledge to be there and assist in however I can but I also think that it's very symbolic that you're going at it that the community is reaching out and increasing at it and participating before I think that violence in our community is something that we have been addressing because we have to be able to take away some of the suppression angle that's happened previously and concentrate our efforts in prevention programs and education programs so that we can hit people as young as 9, 10, 11 years old that's where the violence starts that's where they see the things that they see and carry on patterns that they witnessed so I think for us in City of Watsonville as a government, because we're the government this is the face of government in the City of Watsonville which you're looking at right now true story that being said I think us as leaders can reach out and interact with the nonprofit world with the private world and with the public to be able to form a standard of having no violence days in our community and be able to educate young people on how they can access the government back I know I will be there I would be there but on the course of of action for the City we're doing a lot of talking to a lot of people in the community we just have an abundance of a lot of young kids and with the school district we're struggling with a lot of issues with the youth we're struggling like I said this is right for a connection with the school district we also have the POW program that was instituted with former Chief Medina the POW program we have the youth council we have the youth council actually did a survey of how many programs for youth there was in the community there's hundreds of partnerships with each other everybody's doing their own silo things which is good but it's also bad because we're not getting we're not getting all the resources together and putting everyone to work with each other so we can utilize or be more effective with each other and I encourage everyone to shop more in Watsonville because we need more resources to enhance some of these programs and to create more because we do need to contribute to the community the youth, the parents to connect in that it's not just resources for the youth also what the right program but we need more resources but I can say it's a holistic it's not just youth programs but it's also the parent program like the PAPAS program it's just a area of partnering with our nonprofit programs to be able to provide a holistic resources for them it could be very minimal but it could be very drastic during the summer a lot of people don't know that a lot of people don't get services because they're working in the fields so the shortest of workers in the community you see it in the community we're buscando trabajadores they're looking for workers so what happens they're working 12-13 hours a day so and they're working 6 days a week sometimes 7 days a week so they're not getting to the week appointments so they're not getting their resources that they need for their kids they're not getting to all these programs so it's an impact especially in the summer so it's like we need to work more together so even if it is to provide those resources in the fields because they need to be connected during the summer because a lot of in the summers you see a lot of our violence goes up because a lot of kids are at home alone a lot of kids are at home alone because their parents are working and we provide some level of lunch assistance in some of the parts as we did during the summer with council's direction we put the summer lunch program in different places because we we know that this is happening and a lot of kids don't have some food until the parents get home so they're just buying the dollars for the cheetos or whatever it is so we just need to get more connected to the reality and the resources that we have and the resources that we need to put forward in so I hope that answers some of the questions I think we just have one minute Lowell I'll keep it short sure I've been attending those peace and unity meetings the organizational meetings I was in the very first peace and unity march I don't know how many that I have attended but last year I was lucky and privileged to be up front holding the banner with the mayor and others and so I think what can the city do the city needs to help create that climate of peace and unity and we can do that through youth services and our parks and community services but we can also do it by helping provide better jobs and more jobs for youth and a better liaison with the schools and just use our what media sources that we have and you're certainly welcome to come down and use our microphone for any three minute spot that you wish to help promote peace and unity and so thank you for being here and thank you for all three candidates again if you're a member if you've attended two meetings within the last year you can get your ballots in the back from Rosa who will next move from city council to the Santa Cruz county office of education Abel Sanchez here we go can't forget the vote Abel Sanchez is running for the Santa Cruz county office of education I think it's district 7 which covers from Santa Cruz and it goes into a little bit of Monterey county Santa Cruz county Abel has an opponent who is a registered Republican he's the only Democrat running for this office so what do we get what do we get going and Abel how long have you been a Democrat and who has endorsed you for this office good evening everyone first of all it's a privilege and an honor to be when we hold up can we sit down so Abel can get going okay when we get started with Abel how long have you been a Democrat and who has endorsed you for this office so first of all good evening everyone it's an honor and a privilege to be here today and the reason why I'm running is because I want to encourage the people I feel like there's a huge population of young students here that live among us and if each one gave back to our community our community would be a better place so I want to step up and I want to be an example and even though I've only been a registered Democrat for four years I've been receiving a lot of support from our community including leaders from the local nonprofits I've received endorsements from the CEO of a local food company I've received endorsements from retired U.S. teachers as well as current ones and most recently I've received recruitment from the Santa Cruz County Democratic Club Abel what are your qualifications for this office and why should the Auto Valley Cesar Chavez Democratic Club endorse your candidacy so I am a watamomator I was born and raised here and I am proud to say that I am a result of the I went through local schools I went to Minty White Elementary School I went to Yale Hall Middle School and I graduated from what's above high too and I'm proud of it and if I could go back I'd do it all over again there's a lot of people that don't think very highly of our schools but I am proof that we can succeed you can attend these schools and get a good education and go up to college and get a really good job so I'm proud of that fact I went up to UC Davis graduated there and then I came back I came back here because this is home this is where I feel connection this is where my roots are and not only good I just want to come back but I want to get back as well so I am here to prove to prove to the young students that we have here in the young population that the community does support the students that we do have a voice that we do have an opinion that can be used and beneficial to the city and that's why I am asking for the you guys endorsements as well and I am also qualified because I have extensive extensive experience with children my first check was actually given to me when I was teaching the students at Landmark Elementary how to play the guitar and after school program. I have tutor and math and science after school as well and when I was in Davis I collaborated with the farm to school program and I was able to educate and help promote safety and healthy food choices in the lunch line and most recently I have been an advocate for the foster youth here in our community I bet one of the main issues in this champagne is the GOE office I think the biggest issue that we are facing right now in our education is just the performance rate there is the graduation the dropout rate needs to decrease and we need to be able to encourage these students and help address these issues that are keeping us back from achieving these success rates and there is dozens of different ways that we can combat this but what I want to focus on is a safe school environment in order for children to feel safe at school they need to make sure that they have the support from the teachers and the staff as well and I want to encourage the parent involvement as well. Studies have shown that the more a parent is involved in a student's education the better that student does in school and I also want to ensure that there is appropriate services for those that need them those that are in foster care or those that have special needs if elected you'll have four years what would be your two or three priorities in four years in the COE things that you want to work with by yourself or with other members in the COE so to elaborate on the safe school environment these past couple of years has been a huge uptake in violence there's bullying and intimidation kids are scared to go to school these days when you are in that environment where you don't feel safe you don't pay attention when you feel intimidation where you don't feel that you have that support you don't want to go to school so I feel if this is an issue that we can address I feel that the performance will increase of these students and the attendance will increase as well encouraging the parent involvement there's a lot of parents who don't feel like they can get back to their students to their children and I want to prove that everyone can there's a lot of parents here who don't might not have an education who might feel intimidated but everyone can have a positive influence in their students' life personally in my life I am a son of immigrants my parents don't have that education but from day one, my mom put in my hand that I have to go to college that you study and you do well perform on the school to go to college and that was ingrained inside of me and there was no option there was no plan B so I did law school, I performed well and even though she didn't go to college even though she couldn't help me with some of my high school homework she still provided that support and encouragement for me to be successful coming back to the fostering youth and those are special needs the statistics are scary you know, the dropout rates of the unemployment for these groups and we need to make sure that we can address their specific needs we need to make sure that it's addressed at an early age and that they have the support and resources that they need to be successful because everyone can be successful and be a contributing part of our beautiful community Thank you Final statement? Anything else you want to tell us about yourself? Final statement? Something else that I want to add is I want to be I want to advocate for agriculture careers as well I want them to be promoted as a good career I know it's a struggle with many I personally struggled with that because a lot of people when they think of agriculture they think of backbreaking work they think of field work and everyone wants their children to do better they want to be a doctor to be a lawyer but the ag industry is huge it's not only field work but it does the different jobs in that sector and that field and again I am one of those success stories I went off to UC Davis a really good ag school and I'm living and working here in the ag industry and I'm enjoying it and I have that experience because those who are into agriculture and plant sciences because for whatever reason it's just not promoted as a respectable career and again I just want to be a voice for the youth and I want to encourage everyone to give back to the community Thank you Any questions for Abel? Specifically what is your job now what are your experiences if you have So specifically now I am a food scientist so I work with superior foods and as a food microbiologist dealing with food microbes I don't want to bore you too much but food quality assurance and food safety that's what I do for 40 hours a week but afterward what I really enjoy doing is getting back and volunteering with the cost of Santa Cruz County I've been doing that for about a year now and just advocating for the foster children here locally I have a question for you you mentioned that in the high school district and other Santa Cruz County get failed in a sense of the proper rate being that you're going to be in the coming out for the poor members how do you want to try to eliminate that failure in your high school district how do I increase the graduation rates again again I feel like we need to look at the needs that our community has and specifically there's a huge ESL population I feel like we need to focus on providing education in the format that satisfies their needs I feel again student parent involvement the more parents are involved in their student's education the better that they will perform in school the better encouragement that they have and just promote the different resources I want to be able to provide and promote all these different programs that we have in place so that people and students can take advantage of it and succeed just like I did other questions what parts of the proper value are you including in the district that you're running for sure the city of Watsonville it's broken up a little but it's north of beach street and then it's east of Brewington no west of Brewington to the ocean and it goes all the way up to Curlitos to the end of for you but it covers some of the districts because I know I'm in your district so it covers Montesinos and possibly Lowell's district I think other questions for a minute thank you very much now we're moving to the supervisor's race supervisor in district four he's running against the republican he won't mention the name oh I don't know who it is there are two candidates for the supervisor in district four two of the candidates were invited to attend this session Terry answered right away that he would be here the other candidate never replied to my request on three occasions not once, not twice but three times nothing anyway with that we'll start with Terry Medina what I the trick is that you're still clapping at the end of this who has endorsed you for this office and why do you want to run for supervisor well first of all thank you for inviting me and I am just made that my opponent chose not to participate tonight it makes it very difficult to demonstrate our differences I have been a democrat for sixteen years from 1966 to 1982 and recently re-registered in July I am so fortunate to have approximately 450 contributors to my campaign a hundred individuals and associates and I think critical for our meeting tonight endorsers our representative Sam Farr Luis Alejo Sheriff elect Jim Hart the current Sheriff Phil Woowak Roger Wilde who is a retired lieutenant was a candidate sheriff's candidate has recently endorsed me Michael Watkins the county superintendent of schools Zach Friend who is the chair of the board of supervisors our mayor Karina Cervantes Lowhurst Edward Mondesino Karina Kaufman Gomez the Santa Cruz Sentinel the GLBT Alliance Bay Mech and the Democratic Women's Club there is a larger list that we have passed out for you to peruse Terry what are your qualifications for office? and why should the Auto Valley System drive the Democratic Club endorse your candidacy? well you've known me in Watsonville for almost 30 years my wife and I raised our son here I have 43 years in law enforcement most people don't remember that I was with the district attorney's office twice the sheriff's office and the Watsonville police department for 27 years 20 years as the chief of police the longest ten year chief of police in Watsonville's history in order to do that I worked with four city managers from different points of view over 50 council members and I don't have to tell you that not all council members agree on everything and you have to work with everybody's point of view six unions and two employee associations I was a labor negotiator for management and what most people don't know is that I negotiated as president of the deputy sheriff's association on the oversight for over two years early on in the non-profit sector I have a long history in working with non-profits the parent center, the community foundation Potterville Valley Prevention and student assistance thank you for being here Jenny the independent square I'm still the treasurer of that board community hospital I was appointed by the board of supervisors to the oversight committee redevelopment agency very difficult task you may know me as an auctioneer for 25 years I've done 8-13 auctions every single year and I'm going to figure out how much money that is pretty soon but it's a lot I'm a Watsonville rotary member for 20 years and I was the president in 2010 and I'm a partner in two private businesses how's that work for you? good the next question is why should you endorse me or do you want me to go to the other one? go to the other one we'd come back to that one thank you the main issues in the campaign as I see them is number one leadership that's why I am running that is the solid reason why I'm running our current supervisors continues to run on popular ideas that he knows has no chance of getting voted a vote passed barely can get a second I could give you a number of examples but just let me tell you this he puts forth an idea and doesn't have the ability doesn't understand that you need to persuade two other members on that board to understand your point of view and be willing to vote for it so consequently in our district we don't move the ball forward at all for our constituents I'm going to go to the past a minute if Ray Belgar and Gary Patton can work together on land use issues then we should have a supervisor that can work together on a lot of other issues if elected supervisor I will work with the board of supervisors to accomplish the goals of the district instead of symbolically voting against bills that I know have no chance to pass I will be a supervisor who will provide a voice to the south county who will work energetically proactively and collaborate with all the stakeholders as other supervisors county department heads leaders and allied governments we're not in a bubble here and I will ensure that our district has representation on our commissions of which my opponent has left empty the Latino affairs commission has had nobody on it that is a travesty in our community the fire service has no commissioners appointed to it the seniors he champions seniors and he has nobody on the seniors commission so if you can elect me I will fill those positions immigration is a relation to jobs, economic growth in the Pagaro Valley it's a significant issue and not only for us the surrounding region as well it's a major agricultural producer in the region and the nation and I would collaborate with our ag sector our local elected officials in our region including assemblyman Alejo Mr. Mark Stone Senator Bill Monning Congressman Farr to ensure that we have the labor not only for farm workers but that we retain people who graduate from our universities rather than send them back to wherever they came from is to keep them here to generate jobs for us water huge issue obviously at Farr exceeds the boundaries of the fourth district but as your supervisor I will reach out to all the other stakeholders the PVWMA the city of the county and other water districts to basically provide some storage that's what the immediate need right now is storage for water that we are recycling and the second is to provide enough funding at all of these levels to really understand if diesel can work for us and it probably would be the most landing side of the diesel rather than the Santa Cruz side name three of your priorities for this district and if elected how would you plan to address them in the coming four years sure so you know I just told you about the big three issues but what's important to me is senior issues field senior commissions as I just said which hasn't been done by my opponent and I will protect seniors from this outrageous scams that happen to them every day by phone and on the computer I cannot tell you how many people have fallen prey to these scams they're afraid to admit it they do report it and it's going to take a concerted effort with my experience in the DA's office the sheriff's department and the FBI I'm a graduate of the FBI national academy when I was the chief I got the FBI to investigate and follow up on a number of complaints that we have right here in Watsonville and believe it or not after about a year and a half some of our older people got their money back which is actually even surprising to me mental health and health services for children and women I will work with the criminal justice council the mental health professionals the mental health advisory board by the way my opponent has nobody appointed to the mental health advisory board to address these mental health solutions regarding children and women's health issues I make this a top priority in the county budget and support women's health initiatives irrespective of religious beliefs and I would as I said fulfill those commission appointments lastly crime I work with the sheriff's department starting in January when they're putting their budget together not in June when the budget is already done and you're just having hearings on the budget and so part of that preparation with the sheriff's office is to get some funding from the state and put back the regional agricultural crime unit there were five deputies in that specifically to patrol our ag lands in the unincorporated areas to make it safe for everybody final statement not other issues final statement so the final statement is really this I think if you look at my history of success and experience in being able to pull people together to solve issues that are very contentious at times that we can make short steps first and then we'll make big steps and then we will be speaking in district four with a voice that people cannot ignore and that I want to be part of but one of the reasons that I'm here is I want you to be part of it I will come back here and say look we have an issue what is your opinion I will go to the farm bureau and ask them to be involved in positive things whether it's ag economy or non ag economy because we need them both it's very very important I ask that you endorse me I ask that you endorse me as a group as individuals and that you vote for me in November 40 thank you we have time for questions yes sir with your background in law enforcement how do you see the issue of youth violence specifically how can community work with law enforcement sure so first of all just let me give you all a reality on violence violence has been declining for a long time over 20 percent 25 percent in my 20 years just as chief and chief mani solano has dropped it even more so good things are happening but they are overshadowed by senseless high profile violence so one of the things that we have done over a period of time to reduce that kind of violence is pvpsa which started to work within the school district and the city at people in junior high school I was on that board jenny's the the CEO of that and now we have to be looking at elementary school kids because teachers do recognize when young people start to need help and if we can empower that help with some joint funding so that we can reach these kids before things start to get out of hand we will continue to have success the second most important thing in my mind is this we have a lack of coordination between the mental health professionals and law enforcement and we have to overcome that and there is a model that shows us it's called BASTA we started BASTA years and years ago broad-based apprehensions suppression treatment alternatives and a quick answer when we formed BASTA all of the components and somebody earlier mentioned we were very silent we all came together but we didn't share we didn't case manage like they do in the medical model and a deputy district attorney went to a state legislator and said we have to change the law on communication and the law was changed so that in these task forces we now freely share information about individuals at risk it sounds so simple but it was so hard to accomplish we have not yet accomplished that to the degree necessary between law enforcement and mental health and when we do that fewer people suffering from mental health will have access to guns and we hopefully will identify them before something triggers them to go out and shoot somebody in broad daylight for no apparent reason so those two things if we can work on it and provide funding for it will reduce violent crime even more we've heard a lot about flood insurance and I think that issue of partisan put to bed for a few years what I'd like to hear from you thoughts on if we have a flood in terms of preparedness and taking care of folks that are in the lower lands that might be a flood so the county the county has a disaster preparedness plan that coordinates public works the sheriff's department PG&E and the people that do sheltering so as early as we can notify people and we make a declaration of evacuation first of all very quick to start moving people out of the danger area you know what the problem is anybody want to hand it over again no robo happens in the city too when I was working in the city disaster preparedness is coming, we want you to leave nobody leaves nobody wants to go I'm staying here I'm going to protect my house so we have to do a better job of getting people to understand the threat and it can be done not too long ago there was the issue of the tsunami huge media tsunami, tidal wave everybody got in their car and drove up to Mount Madonna but there are plans in place to take care of that the trick is to coordinate between the county and the city the city really has about 7,000 people in harm's way the county has fewer but if we don't work together bad things can happen another question how do you feel about the immigration issue and would you support some kind of program to legalize some of our citizens that we know are here illegally yeah you know most people don't realize that the united states senate passed a bipartisan immigration bill a year and a half ago it was acceptable to everybody it got to the congress the united states congress and it has been absolutely stymie so i tend to support the senate's version of that bill it does create a pathway to citizenship i think that the pathway takes an awful long time it's like 12 years but at least it's a pathway it's a beginning i also support this idea we have this crisis right now where all the kids from Guatemala from Mexico but from Mexico and other countries towards our southern borders and so we have them in detention centers and they deserve a hearing it's a legal process and if we can spend a billion dollars a week fighting wars that we probably should be fighting i won't get into that argument but we should be able to hire enough lawyers and representatives to have these, what is it now 50,000 kids have a hearing so that they can be adjudicated it is estimated that 20% would be allowed to remain and at least the others would be out of a detention and get some help on the way back so you got to work with Congressman Far Senator Feinstein and locally we got to push people in congress to try to get this bill out of being stuck in the mud one final question Felipe there's an intergovernmental agency meeting between PDUSD and the city but in recent years there's been no representation from supervisorial representation in order to make gains for South County there needs to be collaboration what would you propose well, first of all if invited I would be at every one of those because I think it's critically important PDUSD the city and the county will work together on so many issues and PDUSD working on some of the issues we're talking about violence is through PVPSA so we have to have a seat at the table, I didn't know that we don't have a county representative there, I don't know if he's just not going or hasn't been invited I would push to get myself there and you know I have a great record working with PVUSD and the county office of education you know part of part of county office of education is the Rope ROP program and those are things that we can talk about how to improve that at that particular board level and I'd love to be part of that thank you very much Terry this concludes the endorsement form if you haven't got the ballot be sure and get your ballot and mark it and give it to Lupe and Rosa and I think now we'll move into the business part of the meeting, you want to do the meeting right now? first count the votes so if you haven't voted be sure and vote all the ballots and if you don't have one and if you do don't have one come and see it we have 21 members from the Pato Valley says our job is democratic club voting this is the only democratic club in south county celebrated its 10th anniversary just this past month the club has decided to endorse in the see if I get it right, third district Lowell Hurst thank you very much thank you in the fourth district in the fifth district in the fifth district am I correct? Daniel Dodd for the county office of education the club has endorsed Ave Sanchez for district 7 and for the Supervisorial race the club has endorsed Terry Medina for endorsements Maria and Felipe put them on the piece of paper and these are the two co-chairs of the club so here are the votes and thank you very much all of the candidates thank you very much so for all the candidates and all the club members we have now the center for change democratic headquarters located in 510 Main Street we got the key last Friday so it's available to all the endorsed candidates it is next to Domino's Pizza you can't miss it