Coachella election sees two mayoral candidates and four for council seats
Coachella residents will be voting for mayor and two city council seats in the upcoming November election. Those vying for their votes include a young group of candidates, with three people under 30.
Mayor Steven Hernandez is seeking a fifth two-year term, running opposite Denise Delgado, who is currently a councilmember.
Spots on council held by Mayor Pro Tem Josephine Gonzalez and Megan Beaman Jacinto, lasting four years, are up for reelection. Only Gonzalez will run again, along with three others.
Some of the first-time candidates serve on advisory city commissions — experience they hope will help them transition into council roles. Details about each candidate's backgrounds and priorities for Coachella are as follows.
Denise Delgado
Delgado was elected to the Coachella City Council in 2020.
She credits her upbringing in the city, having lived near the Coachella Valley Apartments on Calle Avila and attended local K-12 schools, and her time on council with helping her "connect, reconnect, but more importantly understand our residents’ concerns and priorities."
In the past, she's also chaired Coachella's planning and public arts commissions, as well as its library committee and served on its parks and recreation commission.
Delgado wrote in an email to The Desert Sun that she's taken pride in making herself available to residents in all of the roles she's held over the last eight years. "I am a listener, I’m inclusive and responsive," she said.
She added that "residents deserve another option," when it comes to local leadership and that she doesn't feel she is alone in her desire for change. (In 2018, Hernandez ran unopposed. In 2020, he was elected over Lesly Figueroa, a community activist.)
"There are many issues that have not been addressed, prioritized, or over time (have been) neglected," she said.
Given the city's pace of growth, and the new housing and businesses that come with it, Delgado said she'd like to guide the city in building partnerships with the Imperial Irrigation District, which provides power.
To support development and strengthen the local economy, she wants to work better with local and state officials, and U.S. Rep. Raul Ruiz, who's favored to win re-election.
Delgado said other "focal points" of her campaign include providing a variety of affordable housing in the city, assessing the public safety needs for a growing population and fulfilling economic development objectives.
Steven Hernandez
Hernandez has been part of the Coachella City Council for 16 years, serving as a councilmember until he first became mayor in 2014.
He believes his "track record of getting things done" is why he continues to be elected.
"It has been just an honor to be able to represent Coachella, and a privilege, at the same time," Hernandez said. "My guiding light and value sets is I really believe that our residents deserve the best. They deserve to have amenities that are dignified ... because our community is hardworking."
Part of the "amenities" Hernandez pointed to include the current construction and planning of over 300 units of affordable housing in the city.
"Coachella is leading the way right now in affordable housing in the region," he said. "And then, we're leading the way when it comes to infill infrastructure and revitalizing our streets and our corridors," he added, identifying Sixth Street in downtown and Grapefruit Boulevard, which the city upgraded when it was awarded over $3 million with the Urban Greening Grant as part of the state's Climate Investments program.
In a post to his social media accounts on Tuesday, Hernandez emphasized the nearly $60 million that Coachella has received in grants in recent years, including for housing, different infrastructure, recreation and COVID-19 pandemic relief.
He said the city's collaboration with different political leaders and agencies has brought in a lot of that money. Responding to Delgado's suggestion that the city needs new leadership, he said the partnerships he's helped build, and the resources they bring to Coachella, could be at risk with a new mayor.
"Relationships don't transfer," Hernandez said.
Looking ahead, Hernandez said he wants to continue to grow housing accessibility and businesses in the city.
He also wants to revive conversations about Coachella establishing its own police department. The city currently contracts with the Riverside County Sheriff's Department for police services.
The idea has mostly been stifled by lack of funding, but Hernandez said the city has been working to create "a good reserve in order to realize that."
Though Hernandez said the sheriff's department has done a good job with the patrol service it provides, he would like to see police in Coachella that can stick around for years, as opposed to officers that are transferred out within a year or so. He said the community has voiced how it would be a benefit and he agrees.
Yurema Arvizu
Changes happening across the country, such as the overturning of Roe v. Wade and diminishing affordable housing, are what pushed Yurema Arvizu, 25, to run, she told The Desert Sun.
"It just seems like we're continuously being stripped away from everything that I've been fortunate enough to grow up with. And so now that we're starting to lose as access to things like women's rights, we're seeing a lack of health care access for individuals and families (and) there's a rise in the housing crisis, more young people need to run for office, because we are seriously impacted," she explained.
If elected, Arvizu said she would especially like to work with the Coachella Valley Unified School District and local organizations to ensure they have resources to provide for young people with sexual education, drug prevention programs and mental health awareness.
"I think these discussions haven't happened yet. And, in part, I think it's just the culture around here, how normally, we don't want to talk about problems that our kids may have," she said. "So, I think that we really need to open up the space, because normalizing these conversations, we're going to be able to find a solution sooner."
Arvizu wants the city to work with Riverside County to see through a planned behavioral health campus that would give transitional housing to people at risk of homelessness, as well as offer mental health and substance abuse services. In June, the county won a $76 million state grant for the project.
She said she also hopes to implement affordable housing for renters and those trying to become homeowners in Coachella.
Additionally, she wants to support small local businesses, particularly after seeing how the COVID-19 pandemic negatively impacted mom-and-pop shops.
"I think that when people have that initiative, it needs to be rewarded," she said, adding, "It should always be a small businesses-first approach, when we're talking about developing the city."
Arvizu has a bachelor's degree in public policy from UC Riverside. She said she regularly works with the local Planned Parenthood, teaching the community about reproductive health, including through the organization's social media accounts.
Frank Figueroa
Frank Figueroa, 29, has been part of Coachella's planning commission since February 2021. In this role, he said he's been able to promote large community events and would like to use that knowledge to "also promote things occurring that are harder to talk about, but are going to affect (residents)."
He believes his experience can help bring improvements at city hall, including increasing the participation of “a very young, inactive community,” in council meetings, he said.
Though Figueroa praised past efforts from city staff to make council meetings more accessible — such as offering interpretation in Spanish and engagement on social media — he noted that Coachella’s tendency to cancel the meetings also limits participation.
“For me, we need to ensure that we are meeting the needs of the residents," he said. "Part of being elected, or being appointed on boards, is being able to attend these meetings and being able to review the procedures and voting on standard items, keeping the city continuous, moving forward.”
If elected, Figueroa said he would aim to promote diverse voices from within the community by creating a human rights commission, much like the existing one in Palm Springs. Although Coachella's population is 97% Latino, Figueroa said a committee like this would serve to also amplify voices of the LGBTQ community and those fighting for women's rights as well as labor union employees.
He is also focused on increasing access to affordable housing for people of different income levels.
Figueroa is the elected vice president of the Southern Coachella Valley Community Services District, a governmental agency that pays for supplemental law-enforcement and waste services for the unincorporated communities of Thermal, Oasis, Mecca and Vista Santa Rosa.
Josephine Gonzalez
Gonzalez is seeking a second term on the council, having first been elected in 2018. She is originally from the city and comes from a prominent Coachella political family — her brother is former mayor Jesus Gonzalez.
As a legal aide to low-income clients and later, as a staff member of the local Child Protective Services office, Gonzalez has had a long career in public service. She has often spoken about her passion to help improve the quality of life for Coachella residents.
Gonzalez could not be reached for comment on her 2022 campaign.
Stephanie Virgen
For Stephanie Virgen, 29, the significant improvements she has witnessed in Coachella in recent years — including in parks, transportation, housing and economic development— served as inspiration to run for city council, she said.
As current chair of the city's planning commission, Virgen has had a hand in moving certain projects forward — she noted the new businesses set for the northeast corner of Cesar Chavez Street and First Street — and said she'd like to promote additional growth.
She also touched on the planning commission's approval of more affordable housing in the city and emphasized it as a pillar of her campaign.
"It's been really great to see all of that, but of course, we still need more. There's a lot that we need to be able to provide, not just our residents, but also future residents. For example, those that are living in unincorporated communities, those individuals that are living in Thermal, in Oasis, that are hoping to, perhaps at some point, move and need access to housing," she said.
Virgen said she wants to facilitate access to early childhood education and childcare in Coachella as well.
"If I was elected, I would love nothing more than to be able to work on that. I'd like to see that we, as a city, are able to incorporate that because I know that there is a need. It is important for upward mobility and has a huge, huge impact on our families," Virgen said.
She is a legislative assistant in the offices of the Riverside County Board of Supervisors and said her work there has helped inform her of several needs in the eastern Coachella Valley. She views this as an asset she could offer on the Coachella council.
Virgen recently obtained a master's in public administration from California State University, San Bernardino.
Speaking broadly, Virgen said she's often seen divisiveness in local governing boards. As a result, she wants to foster an environment where people are working together.
"This is a five-member governing board. It's important that if we don't agree on something, that we bring our ideas and solutions and we help shape all of that, that we just don't say, you know, 'I'm going to abstain from this,'" she said.
Previous reporting by former Desert Sun staff writer Alena Maschke was used in this report.
Eliana Perez covers the eastern Coachella Valley. Reach her at eliana.perez@thedesertsun.com or on Twitter @ElianaPress.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Coachella election sees two mayoral candidates and four for council seats
