New Los Banos mayor talks economy, COVID-19, crime and challenges facing city in 2021
Los Banos has a new mayor leading the city into 2021, as music teacher Tom Faria looks ahead to a year that will undoubtedly be filled with myriad challenges — but also hope and optimism.
Faria, who was sworn in Dec. 16 after a tight election victory over Paul Llanes, takes the reins of leadership from Mike Villalta, who served five terms from 2010 until this year.
He has taught music in Los Banos for 35 years and enters office after serving as a City Council member for 14 years.
As Faria prepared for his new leadership role earlier this month, The Enterprise asked him some key questions about his plans as mayor during a pandemic, the key challenges facing Los Banos and how he plans to approach them.
“Most of the challenges Los Banos faces are not unique to Los Banos: COVID-19, crime, homelessness, affordable housing, and well-paying jobs are on the top of the list,” Faria explained.
“Challenges unique to Los Banos include traffic on Pacheco Boulevard/Highway 152, balanced management of growth with city services, acquiring a larger hospital, and adequate schools.”
Preventing crime
One of the key issues during the mayor’s race was public safety in Los Banos — particularly this year, which has seen several shootings and violent incidents.
Faria believes an increased police force will help drive down crime locally.
“We have maintained Measure P,A,K and added Measure H, sales taxes that have allowed us to increase our sworn police staff numbers to 52, more than we have ever had,” Faria said.
“Now that we have the increased staffing, we will be able to set up patrols to more effectively serve the needs of the community.
Faria says he recommends expanding the police volunteer program (VITAL), which includes recruiting retired folks with public safety and military backgrounds to help walk and bicycle around neighborhoods to help prevent criminal activity.
He’ll said ask other local cities in Merced County to join Los Banos in requesting assistance from the state or federal agencies to combat crime in the area.
Addressing homeless and housing issues, jobs
Faria said he’ll work to continue finding shelter for people in need.
“I will continue Mayor Villalta’s efforts to enable us to use county migrant housing to provide safe and healthy shelter for our homeless population,” he said.
“I will also continue to stay engaged with our county and state officials to obtain as much of the funding and assistance that is possible to address this challenge, and continue working with our local and regional non-profits, like The Salvation Army and The Rescue Mission, to provide services for the homeless.”
Faria says there is also a big need for affordable housing.
“Our staff continues to work with housing developers to be sure that housing projects are in line with the needs of our residents, and that we can provide adequate services for such housing.”
He added there needs to be creation of more well-paying jobs in Los Banos.
“We have been very successful with our recruitment firm in the area of new retail; our industrial recruitment has gotten started a little later, and is ongoing. We now know what kinds of industries would be interested in moving to Los Banos and our recruitment firm is pursuing those avenues.”
A larger hospital in Los Banos?
Like many residents, Faria would like to see a larger hospital in Los Banos. He says Sutter has informed the city that they are looking for more property to expand the current facility.
“If this project does not materialize in the first couple months of 2021, I will request City Council direct city staff to put out a request for proposal for an additional hospital in Los Banos,” Faria said.
One of the ongoing challenges stems from the traffic on Pacheco Boulevard/Highway 152. The question is how to lighten the traffic through town — but without losing revenues generated by all those who pass through on their way to destinations.
Faria says the city is working with the Merced County Association of Governments and Caltrans to develop a corridor plan for Pacheco Boulevard and Pioneer Road to improve traffic controls on Pacheco and to widen Pioneer Road south of town to make it easier for residents to get around the traffic on Pacheco.
Handling the COVID-19 pandemic
Like mayors in all six of Merced County’s cities, Faria will be faced with questions about what sort of approaches residents will expect to see in order to keep them safe during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We are pleased that the rate per capita of COVID-19 in Los Banos is the lowest in the county,” Faria said. “We will continue the masks, distancing, and sanitation policies in our city, which have been successful thus far in slowing the spread.”
Faria was also asked what he expects to see from Los Banos once the vaccine has been widely distributed and life returns to normal.
“Once we know that the vaccine is safe and is distributed, I plan to re-energize the local economy and culture with a request for a series of civic gatherings including food trucks at the City Plaza and at the various parks throughout town to improve the social connections among the community,” Faria said.
“We look forward to more businesses coming to town, and to present businesses expanding their operations as the economy recovers.”
Leadership style
For 10 years Los Banos has had the same mayor. How will Faria’s leadership be different?
“My leadership style is that I like to work very closely to the citizens and community,” he said.
“When the COVID19 crisis passes, I will once again be attending many public functions, as I have done all of my career. Regarding administrative duties, our present mayor has more experience in those than I, so I will defer to staff a bit more for their expertise in those areas.”
This story was originally published December 25, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
