Launching her campaign on July 16 at Santa Maria City Hall, Maria Salguero made her debut in local politics by running for Santa Maria City Council’s District 1 seat.
“What makes me particularly excited about running for District 1 at this time is that the stakes are very high at a national level; these elections are going to be a crucial tipping point,” Salguero told the Sun. “I think that this is time, literally now, to ensure and protect our communities from possible ramifications that can come from national elections.”
The Immigrant Legal Defense Center attorney moved to Santa Maria from Salinas when she was 9 years old and grew up in District 1—which now sits in north of E. Main Street (Highway 166) and in between District 1 and District 4. Salguero will be running against incumbent Carlos Escobedo, who’s registered as an Independent and is finishing his first four-year term on the dais.
The District 1 election is one of five local races in the Nov. 5 general election—with Mike Cordero’s District 2 and Alice Patino’s mayor at-large seats up for election as well as the city treasurer and city clerk roles going before voters this November, according to Santa Maria’s elections portal.
Voters can also expect to see bond measures for the Santa Maria-Bonita and Joint Union High School districts along with a countywide transient occupancy tax increase.
Salguero, a registered Democrat who’s endorsed by the Democratic Party for this race, said that she started preparing for the campaign last year to look at homelessness and housing affordability, supporting the city’s workforce and unions, the budget deficit, and growth and development “through a social justice lens.”
“I think we can do more, and I think I can contribute to that. I want to take the skills I have … and see how I can take these lived experiences and apply them to policy that affects the larger community,” Salguero said.
Specifically, Salguero wants to establish a homelessness task force dedicated to helping people experiencing homelessness find housing; allocate more of the city’s budget funds to address homelessness in the community; and prioritize infill development as opposed to expanding into prime ag land. She added that she wants to see the city prioritize its union negotiations, particularly with the Firefighters Union Local 2020.
“What I’ve been seeing with the firefighters and their negotiations with the city, it makes little sense why we as a city are not prioritizing paying our firefighters average pay,” she said. “One of the things I aim to do is to restore these relationships the council has with the employees because a lot of relationships are strained.”
Both Salguero and Escobedo said that it’s important for the city to explore all avenues within the budget to make up for the current $21 million deficit. Escobedo dissented during the City Council’s June 27 meeting that discussed the budget because he wanted the city to be more proactive with finding solutions to save money rather than dipping into reserves.
“We need to look inwards because they [city staff] started talking about increasing taxes and at this time our community, we’re hurt by inflation, and the government usually finds [that] the way to fix issues is to raise taxes,” Escobedo told the Sun. “But that’s not what my constituents want.”
Alongside closing the budget gap, Escobedo said he wants to prioritize public safety and quality of life, and housing and homelessness. Particularly, he wants to prioritize developments that allow for homeownership.
“People have been asking about homeownership since [I] began. It’s a constant challenge, there are so many barriers,” Escobedo said. “We need rentals, but people are looking to generate generational wealth, to own a place, and take care of it.”
While it’s challenging to push for ownership opportunities, he added that he’s been able to support a few—including the People’s Self-Help Housing development on the former Hi-Way Drive-In property.
Regarding homelessness, Escobedo said he’s been supportive of housing near his district and is working with both Santa Barbara and SLO counties to help reduce the number of people in the Santa Maria Riverbed.
“Even though it’s not in my jurisdiction, per se, I don’t like to dismiss the problem or blame the jurisdictions because people don’t want to hear that, people want action,” he said.
