When Alejandra Sotelo-Solis was in the fifth grade, her teacher asked the entire class what they wanted to be when they grew up.
When it was her turn to share her answer, the National City Councilwoman said she stood up in front of her Kimball Elementary School classmates and declared that someday, when she got older, she would become the mayor of National City.
“It really came down to knowing that there were things that were happening in my city that they didn’t ask this little young, brown-haired, brown-eyed little girl her perspective about,” she said recently reflecting on the declaration she made decades ago. “And so, I knew that’s where decisions were made and so I decided that’s what I wanted to do. I didn’t recognize public service and being an elected official what it entailed in its entirety, but at that point, I knew I wanted to stay involved and engaged in (politics).”
Sotelo-Solis laid the groundwork for a political life early on. She was on Kimball Elementary School’s student and food councils and in college at UC San Diego she became involved with the student organization Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan, also known as MECHA.
She ran for mayor twice before, most recently in 2006 and lost, a race that current mayor Ron Morrison eventually won. Then in 2008 she was elected to the city council where she is currently in the middle of her third-term.
Now she is attempting to make her childhood dream a reality once again as she is one of four candidates on the November ballot for mayor of National City.
Sotelo-Solis, 39, said that the time is right for her to run for mayor once again as she is in a different place in life.
A year and a half ago, she started her own small business called La Pluma Strategies, a grant writing business for nonprofits. She now has three little girls and her husband Arturo Solis is a Sweetwater Union High School District trustee.
She said if elected mayor on Nov. 6, she has a long list of tasks she wants to accomplish. One of those, she said, is figuring out how to further bolster the city’s revenues.
One of her ideas is to take the city’s movies at the park concept to include movies at a business like on the Mile of Cars or in the parking lot of Seafood City, that way businesses can promote themselves while out enjoying a movie with the community.
Other projects she has in mind include renaming some of National City’s streets and community parks after notable people in the Latino, Filipino and African American communities.
She said it’s about recognizing the work of Dolores Huerta but also honoring local people like Roger Cazares who started the MAAC Project in National City and others who have participated in the civil rights movement.
She also believes she has what it takes to preserve the pride of National City.
“With the perspective that outsiders have (about National City), we need to continue putting out a positive light, a positive image,” she said. “And I think I embody that.”
As a councilwoman, Sotelo-Solis said she was happy to help put an environmental justice element as part of the city’s general plan, helping with healthier food options within the city and bring about more open space. She has also been a part of the Safer Routes to School project. She said she’s also satisfied with her efforts to increase civic engagement. She said she was the first council member to request bringing bilingual Spanish to English translation services for constituents who need it when speaking at City Hall.
Sotelo-Solis said she believes the city is handling the Earl McNeil case appropriately with the information they have, which she said is very little.
She spoke out against Measure B in June’s special election to repeal term limits for the mayor’s office.
“I think it’s important to have turnover,” she said. “I think leadership should have a start and then a growth period and then you move on.”
Sotelo-Solis said being National City’s next mayor wouldn’t just be a dream come true, it would serve as an example of what the people in National City can achieve.
“It would definitely give an opportunity for so many doors to be open,” she said. “Not just for myself but for other people like myself who are from the community, who maybe have felt they needed to get more college degrees to run for office or to reach their goal.”
