Merced mayoral candidates share their views during forum as Election Day nears
Merced’s mayoral race is a rematch between Mayor Matthew Serratto and challenger Anthony Levi Martinez.
Both were on the ballot in 2020 when former Mayor Mike Murphy termed out. Serrato won, with 52% of the vote. Martinez finished third of four candidates, with 14% of the votes.
Serratto, 44, previously served on the City Council. He works as a prosecutor in the Stanislaus County District Attorney’s Office.
Martinez, 38, served on the City Council from 2016 to 2020. He is an an English teacher at El Capitan High School. He also coached football at the school for a number of years, including one season as the varsity head coach in 2022.
The two candidates participated in a candidate forum at the Merced Boys & Girls Club on Saturday, where they answered questions on topics including public safety, economic development, infrastructure and homelessness.
Here are some of the questions posed to the two candidates during the forum and a summary of their responses:
Question: If elected, what housing policies and programs will you advance to ensure that residents have access to quality and affordable housing, including for low income?
Serratto said the city really enforces building codes with the construction of all new houses and apartment complexes to make sure the new builds are adequate.
He added that the City of Merced has been working hard to increase the supply of housing, including multiple projects throughout the city that will create over 500 units of affordable housing. Some of the construction Serratto pointed to were housing projects at Yosemite Parkway and Parsons, Childs Avenune and V Street, Bella Vista.
“All these projects are projects where we put our skin in the game,” Serratto said. “We put city money in. We use that to attract significant state grants, federal tax credits as well, using a whole broad array of funding.”
Martinez warned of creating a town divided by developing new neighborhoods on one side of town while ignoring the other side of Merced. Martinez said he doesn’t want to see a rich part of town and a bad side of town.
“When you’re developing new neighborhoods, you want to make sure you have a healthy balance in those neighborhoods,” Martinez said. “So the policies that we can have, in terms of making sure that developments have certain quotas or certain standards, so that they have all classes met within the neighborhoods.”
Q: If elected, what are some solutions you propose to ensure existing disadvantaged communities such as those in South Merced get the infrastructure improvements and investments they need, including road improvements, sidewalks, lights, water, storm water, drainage and sewer?
Martinez was critical of the city expanding Merced in terms of housing developments, but centralizing business development to downtown.
“We’re trying to concentrate business in the downtown area, but we’re trying to expand neighborhoods all throughout town, but then that means that people have to drive miles and miles and miles to get basic necessities,” he said.
Martinez suggested building more neighborhoods around shopping complexes.
“I think it’s very key to make sure that when you approve these developments, you have a vision, you have a plan for how we’re going to bring things to the area that people need and people wan,” Martinez said.
Serratto said improving roads in South Merced like G Street, 13th Street, M Street and V Street was a big focus during his four years in office.
“Those are the big arterials in town,” he said. “Those are recently paved. Those are roads that are very good condition.”
Serratto also pointed to sidewalk projects in South Merced, including along Child Avenue and the Motel Drive project.
“We’ve got a big city map of all the sidewalks we’re focusing on,” Serratto said. “That’s millions in South Merced sidewalks. We need to continue on roads as well, not just the big reconstruction projects, but the cheaper asphalt overlay projects as well.”
Q: How will you ensure all residents, including children, youth and seniors, have access to safe, vibrant parks and accessible community spaces and recreational programs?
Serratto said parks in Merced have been a focus for the City Council and himself. There have been huge improvements made at McNamara Park, with a new playground, new bathroom, new shade structure and new murals. The reopening of the community pool at Ada Givens Elementary School allowed kids another recreation option this summer.
Serratto also mentioned the construction of Community Park 42, which is undergoing the first two phases, which are scheduled to be completed next year.
“That’s a the first two phases of a 40-acre regional sports complex down at Mission and Tyler,” he said. “It’s adjacent to an additional 40-acre stretch that the school district owns that’s in the county, and the county through our program, allotted $1.5 million to begin the planning and environmental phases on that too, so that will be one 80-acre sports complex.”
Martinez said there needs to be more focus on cleaning up the parks in Merced. He said there is drug paraphernalia, broken equipment, graffiti and vandalism in the parks.
“We need to create a better environment for families to enjoy themselves,” Martinez said. “If that means that there are certain people in the park that are doing things they shouldn’t be doing, it’s up to us as a city to go to people and try to give them services if they need services.”
Martinez also suggested the idea of adding more events in the parks to include music, vendors and yoga.
Q: Merced residents face issues with speeding and pedestrian safety. How will you address these concerns?
Serratto said the city needs to make sure there is good lighting, good signage and traffic enforcement. He said new police chief Steven Stanfield has “really doubled down on traffic enforcement” in the past year.
“We have a big downtown road improvement project coming as well, and a big part of that is to slow the streets down, to narrow the streets, increase parking as well,” he said.
Martinez said some roads in Merced are deteriorating because they weren’t designed for so much use. He said one reason people may be speeding is because traffic is too congested so they are using alternate routes and speeding through neighborhoods.
“In the general plan, it’s laid out certain streets that need to be built out that haven’t been built out yet,” Martinez said. “Because of this, you get a street like, let’s say McKee, for example. McKee is generally used as like an artery street to run through across town, but McKee was never designed for that. So now McKee, anytime you go down it there are potholes all over the place, because it’s being overused.”
Q: So what are your long term and short term goals to address the needs of the unhoused population in Merced?
Martinez said the city should have more oversight over programs dealing with the homeless to make sure they are living up to “Merced standards.”
“I think a big part of it is understanding how we need to have control over the programs that we’re bringing in that help the homeless,” Martinez said. “I think there are certain people in the homeless community that, maybe they’re not trying to get off the streets as much, and just continue their hustle.”
He said identifying the people that want help will make those programs more efficient. He added that the city needs to take a look at why people are becoming homeless and address those issues.
“You can be effective and helping people long term,” Martinez said. “We really got to look at the things in the city that cause homelessness, the poverty, the drugs, the crime, and this is what we need to double down on long term to get people out of that cycle of despair. This way they don’t end up homeless.”
Serratto said homelessness has been a big issue for years and Merced has made strides to help those unhoused. According to Serratto, the unsheltered population has dropped 12% the last three years in Merced, despite a 12% increase across the state.
“So to see our numbers go down is encouraging,” Serratto said. “That said, there’s still too many people on our streets. We need to continue to work hard to engage them. That’s our outreach teams. We’ve got a good job working with our partners to build up our outreach teams over the last few years.”
He said the city has also received three Homekey grants, which is a statewide effort to sustain and rapidly expand housing for people experiencing homelessness. The TwelveThirteen V Street project created 96 units.
“It’s hard to see a similar-sized city getting three grants of that nature,” Serratto said. “So we’ve made good progress on the housing need, and we need to be continually aggressive, too, with our other housing projects.”
Q: According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate in the city of Merced is about 10%. How will you create economic opportunities that provide sustainable wages for all residents and allow them to achieve upward mobility?
Martinez said he would like to see more industrial jobs come to Merced. He’d also like to help create a chamber of commerce in Merced.
“A big part of developing economic development is bringing opportunity to this area,” Martinez said.
Serratto said the $9 million generated through the Measure C, the half-cent sales tax, shows strong economic activity in the city the past three years. Serratto said the development of two shopping centers in Yosemite Crossing and Campus Parkway has also been good for economic development.
“Still, obviously, a long way to go at the mall, but hopefully some good announcements coming soon,” Serratto said. “When it comes to economic development, jobs — huge thing. Any community, the labor force, the employers, that’s the backbone of any town, and it has to be carefully cultivated, and we have to continue to work to maintain it.”
Mail-in ballots will be sent to voters on Oct. 7. The last day to register to vote is Oct. 21 with election day falling on Nov. 5.
This story was originally published September 18, 2024 at 12:11 PM.
