Q&A: Candidates for Merced City Council District 5
DISTRICT 5
Daniel Emilio Sabzehzar, 21, small-business owner and UC Merced student
Q: What differentiates you from your opponents?
A: It was largely UC Berkeley that built the Silicon Valley, and it is UC Merced that can redefine the San Joaquin Valley; but standing in the way of this new economy is a distinct and overt disconnect between campus and community. For the last 11 years, UC Merced has been a seemingly distant colony a couple miles north of Merced. It will take a member of both the local and campus community to steward the development of that synergistic, collaborative relationship that the campus wants and the community so direly needs.
Q: What’s the one thing you would like to see become a reality in your city district?
A: Low socioeconomic status and a lack of opportunity stand at the core of our most pressing problems. We have to empower people to be in a position where they can be responsible for their own success.
Q: What two things could the council do to reduce Merced’s high rate of poverty?
A: The key is making it as easy as possible to work and do business in Merced; improving professional training opportunities and fortifying stronger pathways into the workforce, and building policy around the pain points of small businesses to develop an economy more conducive to entrepreneurship.
Q: What project(s) could you begin in your first term to improve each of the following?
A: PUBLIC SAFETY — Continue developing stronger police-community relations through expanded community engagement, clarifying a community policing model and maintaining a representativeness in our police and fire departments.
Develop a community resource officer program to help citizens regain control of their neighborhoods through innovative and collaborative partnerships between governmental agencies, citizen groups, volunteer and religious organizations, the business community, and others.
Continue developing a community policing model that is built upon trust, the specific needs of neighborhoods and data-driven approaches to address crime before it happens.
Disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline by creating a postgraduation plan of employment, vocational training or higher education for high school students and our most at-risk youths.
Retain our current firefighters and police officers through competitive benefits and the training and support needed to be successful stewards of our city
Partner with Parks and Recreation, the Police Department, nonprofits and the city to create a Night Lights Program for youths and families, modeled after Los Angeles’ successful program that led to a reduction in violence.
Partner with the county to minimize recidivism in our criminal justice system and lessen the burden of the collateral consequences of poverty on our Police Department through a focus on rehabilitation and workforce re-entry.
JOBS — Establish an Innovation Fund to create new investment in small businesses on the cusp of starting or expanding in Merced, funded by corporate partners and groups invested in Merced’s growth
Focus on creating a cluster of innovation around our strong local assets: UC Merced, the Venture Lab, Merced College, agriculture and Mercy Medical Center to focus economic growth around transportation, agricultural technology, health care, education and technology.
Support the creation of a small-business network that brings entrepreneurs together to offer business training, workshops and better collaboration between businesses on the local level.
Create a UC Merced-to-small business pipeline to create a partnership with budding UC Merced entrepreneurs in order to curb “brain drain.”
Minimize bureaucratic red tape that has for too long driven away much-needed business and economic development.
Streamline and digitalize business services to decrease inefficiencies and time wasted.
Create robust and easily accessible pathways into the workforce through improved professional development opportunities.
Construct a business-friendly landscape by tailoring policy around the pain points of local businesses.
Assure a strong small-business-driven economy by expanding mentorship and support services for business owners.
Work with the county, the business community and the philanthropic sector to expand workforce development and training opportunities.
Expand the city’s partnership with the Small Business Development Center to improve micro-financing opportunities for starting and growing businesses.
HEALTH CARE — Pursuing local solutions to health by:
Taking a systems approach where citizens, landlords, schools, employers, restaurants, grocery stores and community leaders collaborate on policies and programs that move the community toward better health and well-being.
Making the healthy option the easy option by reactivating parks and trails, reintroducing healthy food access and reinstating better nutritional education.
Reinvigorating the built environment by improving non-car-based transportation infrastructure.
Creating financial incentives for schools, work sites, restaurants and grocery stores that receive a Blue Zone Designation.
Working with health care providers to improve access to primary care.
Establishing a sustainability plan to mitigate the profound environmental impacts on health by committing to improving and protecting our environment, making Merced a healthier, greener, more equitable city
HOUSING — Merced is at less than 1 percent vacancy. We have to focus on building and growth.
Working with developers to incentivize development, making sure that the city is a support and not a burden.
Advocate for infill and smart-growth development as part of our general plan.
Continue implementation of the Housing First model to get residents off the street and into supportive housing.
Coordinating equitable housing development to prevent gentrification.
Matthew Serratto, 36, deputy district attorney
Q: What differentiates you from your opponents?
A: I have served this city since 2007 as a deputy district attorney, which has given me an expansive window into our city and into human nature in general. In doing so, I have earned, as one defense attorney told me, a “deep reservoir of goodwill” in the community and a reputation for fairness, hard work and integrity — that is why I have such a broad coalition of supporters.
Q: What’s the one thing you would like to see become a reality in your city district?
A: I would like to see Loughborough turn the corner through a combination of public safety improvements, youth programs and better public perception. I would also like to see us get a better handle on the homeless issue and reduce the gang problem on the courts opposite Rivera School.
Q: What two things could the council do to reduce Merced’s high rate of poverty?
A: First and foremost, the council must work hard to attract and retain business by keeping fees low, reducing red tape, streamlining the permitting process, offering incentives when necessary and cultivating a more business- and growth-friendly environment. In the long term, we should attempt to partner with other groups and other governmental bodies to facilitate a link between Merced and Silicon Valley — education, infrastructure, collaboration — such that we are primed to become a natural, low-cost outlet for many of their industries and services.
Q: What project(s) could you begin in your first term to improve each of the following?
A: PUBLIC SAFETY — We need to re-establish a physical police presence in District 5 — it does not have to be a full substation, but there should be a location where citizens can go to meet officers, make reports, etc. We need to get a better handle on homelessness and on gangs — we need to target violent gang members through robust surveillance and enforcement, and channel the associates away from the gang life through intervention. VIPER is a good start.
JOBS — Our citizens need to keep the billions that UC Merced will invest in construction and other projects in our community as best as possible. We must prepare our workforce for good-paying, highly skilled construction jobs through vocational training and apprenticeships, partnering with schools, unions, businesses, etc.
HEALTH CARE — We must partner with the county and with service providers to tackle public health issues, in particular obesity, drug and alcohol abuse, and mental health. As a deputy DA, every day you see the toll inflicted upon families and upon society by untreated mental health issues and by drug and alcohol abuse. We need to get these problems out of the shadows and get people help through prevention and intervention programs and education.
HOUSING — There is tremendous pent-up and long-term demand for housing in Merced; we need to promote and channel it. We need a strong plan as to where we want to encourage new development, consistent with: controlling sprawl, encouraging infill development, filling vacant buildings, providing adequate infrastructure, and, above all, creating an attractive, interesting, diverse, vibrant community that people love.
This story was originally published October 20, 2016 at 3:56 PM with the headline "Q&A: Candidates for Merced City Council District 5."