Mayoral and council candidates debate in Salinas

There was a full house Monday night at a debate featuring candidates running for mayor and council seats representing Districts 1, 4 and 6.

“I’m looking for solutions that take a holistic approach, that look at the person as a whole, and it’s not just a quick fix,” said CSUMB student Nancy Mendoza.

Mendoza has been living in Salinas for 23 years. She came to the forum to find out what the potential city leaders would do about homelessness and gang violence.

“I’m a father of two young children, age 10 and 12. I fear for their safety and I fear for safety for all the children in the city of Salinas. If you just look around, things aren’t going well,” said mayoral candidate Amit Pandya.

Pandya is running against current Mayor Joe Gunter, who’s been in office for three and half years. Gunter says things are improving.

“We’ve hired eight police officers; we’ve got eight on the wings that are coming on board. We are continuing to fix the sidewalks and roads, you know, we are doing a lot of good work,” Gunter said.

Safety issues are also a major concern in the District one race. Juan Sandoval, who ran a recall campaign against current District 1 council member Jose Castañeda, says he wants cameras throughout the city to catch criminals.

“If I get elected, I will use some of my own funds to purchase the cameras, so I don’t have to go through the red tapes to get cameras from the city,” Sandoval said.

But another candidate, Scott Davis, says that’s just one of many issues in the district.

“We need to address gang violence, and then we need to address issues with housing, affordable housing, wages and jobs. And also we need some better green spaces and parks in the community,” Davis said.

Brian Contreras is also running in District 1.

Castañeda was the only candidate not at the forum tonight.

Virginia Mendoza and Gloria de la Rosa are running in District 4. Jyl Lutes and Tony Villegas are running running in District 6.