Lorna Delos Santos initially says she is running for city council in National City to serve as the first Filipina on the dais. If elected, her top priorities would be to build opportunities for small business owners, increase outreach to senior citizens and improve public safety since she watches what she believes are drug dealers at the laundromat.
As a renter, she utilizes a local laundromat where she says she’s “noticed the drug dealers in the parking lot in the early morning. I see the same cars and the same guys around the car,” she said and wonders: where are the cops?
She laughed at the thought of gathering information like an investigator.
She also watches people she believes are homeless, she said, sees them frequent her local 7-11. They go in, she said and “come out with a brown paper bag, alcohol”.
More homeless outreach is needed, she said, citing a recent event where she noticed 369 residents in National City participated in a recent webinar on available services.
Santos would also like to see more outreach for senior citizens in the community.
“Any available funding from COVID, I would put it into senior care.
They’ve been so neglected, stuck in senior living facilities. Even the senior center is not accessible to them,” Santos said.
She said she feels terrible for older adults who could resort to traveling to another part of San Diego for social interaction, yet might not have a way to facilitate that happening.
“I worry a lot about our seniors in the area. One time, I couldn’t sleep and I got started reading about Medicare. Then, when my mom got sick I became a caregiver and learned a lot. I got hooked and began volunteering with AARP,” Santos said.
She’s now been a volunteer with non-profit American Association of Retired Persons for about five years.
Her concern extends to the youngest National City residents as well; she said she was always active as a young baseball mom, “very competitive” and would like to see more participation from parents in local schools.
“I was a single mom and I had to work two jobs to get my kids to softball and baseball games, and now that I’m a grandma I advocate for everyone,” Santos said, then went on to stress the importance of helping out future generations.
She said she sometimes mentions the census to younger adults and they just stare back at her so she takes the time to explain how the national count affects funding.
“I was lobbying for the census all the way back in 2019. Without the census, many non-profits don’t get funding. I want to be able to help out the future generations, try to educate them. Without the census we would have no funding for schools,” Santos said.
She also wants to build programs that would encourage the community to learn all lives matter through active involvement with law enforcement.
“I’ve seen so many protests and no, I don’t think we need to defund the police because we need the police to protect us. However, I would ask people to get involved and ask the police to reach out to the community as well,” Santos said.
Part of the conversation between police, local government and National City residents needs to involve open communication about how to make neighborhoods safer.
“I don’t think people are aware that there are 1671 sex offenders housed in the 91950 zip code,” Santos said.
She would like to see city council create a committee dedicated to family safety awareness that could potentially release regular notifications to residents on where sex offenders reside.
“Also, where are the streetlights? It looks like they’re putting more effort into downtown but what about people who live outside that downtown area? People need neighborhood improvements,” Santos said.
She believes making the neighborhood more visually appealing might help keep businesses open as they fight to make a financial return from the effects of temporary closures put in place to reduce the spread of COVID-19.
“There’s a lot of businesses closing because there’s no customers and they end up having to close their doors. My sister and I try to support the locals by picking slow restaurants in National City to support. We personally try to get people to come to National City to eat; I have some people in my circle who came all the way from Cerritos to support a local restaurant,” Santos said.
Santos said she believes in finding a way to solve problems, that she wants people to know she will always advocate for someone in need.
“I want to be a voice. I used to be an uninsured single mom, an immigrant and I would love to engage with the community,” Santos said.
Laughing again, she says she was the last of the seven candidates running for city council to put in their application.
“I put in my application on August 5, I was the last one. But, I believe in what I’m doing so I put it in,” Santos said.
