Endorsement: Desert Sun Editorial Board picks for Coachella council, mayor
City of Coachella residents are spoiled for choices in this year’s mayoral and council races.
Mayor Steven Hernandez is seeking a fifth two-year term, running opposite current Councilmember Denise Delgado.
Spots on council held by Mayor Pro Tem Josephine Gonzalez and Megan Beaman Jacinto, lasting four years, are up for reelection. Only Gonzalez is running again, along with three newcomers: Planning commissioners Frank Figueroa and Stephanie Virgen, and activist Yurema Arvizu. Councilmembers in Coachella are elected at large.
The city certainly has seen advancement in recent years: New housing — including hundreds of affordable units — is being built at a good clip. Coachella leaders have vigorously pursued county and state funding and won tens of millions of dollars in grants for parks, infrastructure and other projects that are bringing new vitality to the city.
There’s room for a lot more growth: About two-thirds of the city’s 29 square miles have yet to be developed. Although the 2020 Census indicated the city’s population had stayed flat over the past decade, it’s poised for a boom, given the number of young residents and the relatively affordable housing prices.
But challenges remain, among them public safety and attracting new businesses. After years of declining crime, homicides in the city are up sharply in 2022. Years of work to bring in the city’s first hotel have yet to bear fruit, and many are wondering how Coachella might capitalize on green energy growth and possible lithium extraction in the region.
These are complex problems.
Figueroa is our top choice for council and we endorse him. Figueroa, 29, grew up in the city, has been part of Coachella's planning commission since February 2021 and is the elected vice president of the Southern Coachella Valley Community Services District.
He has a background in university financial management and brings an analytical approach that we think would be of benefit on council as it grapples with questions such as whether it can afford to stand up its own police department and how to ensure the city doesn’t give away the store as it tries to lure developers of hotels and other businesses. Figueroa demonstrates a thoughtful understanding of zoning and economic development and how to work with various government agencies in the region to get things done.
We also endorse Virgen. She is a human services liaison in the office of Riverside County Supervisor V. Manuel Perez and recently obtained a master's in public administration from Cal State San Bernardino. She demonstrates a keen sense of fiscal responsibility and we think she would be a good steward of the city’s finances as economic storm clouds gather.
(Voters should know that both Virgen and Mayor Hernandez work for Perez. Virgen reports directly to Government Relations & Public Policy Advisor Amy Cuen-McDuffie who reports to Perez, said Perez's communications director, Darin Schemmer. Hernandez is Perez's chief of staff.)
As for the mayoral race, Hernandez has been mayor for eight years and was on council for eight years before that. Coachella has made significant strides in that time and Hernandez, a passionate if sometimes brash advocate for his city, deserves a fair share of the credit for that.
However, there comes a time in every municipality when fresh voices may be what’s needed to make the next leap, and Denise Delgado is the most well-qualified candidate to challenge for the office in years. We endorse her.
Although some, including Hernandez, support the idea of forming a municipal police force as a way to provide more consistent public safety, Delgado is rightly circumspect about the potentially hefty costs involved; we think her approach of working more closely with the Riverside Sheriff’s Office is probably more prudent given the economic headwinds ahead.
We also like her ideas for bringing more trade and vocational educational opportunities to the city, alongside an expanded presence for College of the Desert. She has well-rounded experience on the public arts commission, parks and recreation commission, and planning commission, which is valuable as the city eyes new development opportunities. She’s also been an active supporter of the library.
Whomever Coachella voters elect, we hope those chosen will do whatever they can to halt the petty and mean discourse on social media, much of it anonymous, criticizing multiple officeholders and candidates for this election. Such attacks do nothing to solve the community’s problems and could discourage able candidates from running in the future. Coachella voters are fortunate to have six serious candidates running this year, and it would be a shame to see that civic passion dampened in the future.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Endorsement: Desert Sun Editorial Board picks Coachella council, mayor
