Two years ago, as a first-time political candidate Jose Rodriguez came close to victory.
The then-unknown National City Council candidate fell 78 votes shy of defeating incumbent Jerry Cano for one of two council seats – the other going to top vote getter and current councilwoman Alejandra Sotelo Solis.
Now, with a little more name recognition, Rodriguez is a candidate for city council once again.
This time he’s not alone.
He’s running on a slate with Sotelo Solis, who’s a mayoral candidate, and Councilwoman Mona Rios, who’s seeking re-election.
“I’m running (for city council) because the American Dream should be attainable to everybody,” Rodriguez said. “I think that working people are getting the short end of the stick in this country, in this state but particularly in National City.”
Rodriguez,32, is running a campaign that preaches opportunity for National City residents.
Rodriguez said the city has to provide opportunities for people like giving residents an opportunity to become homeowners.
Rodriguez said the homeownership rate in National City is one of the lowest in the county at 32 percent, according to Data USA.
In addition to giving residents an opportunity to own their homes, Rodriguez said he strongly supports Measure W, a rent control measure on the November ballot.
While walking neighborhoods for his campaign, Rodriguez said he has continually met with residents who have stories about landlords increasing rents a few times over a one year span.
He said he’s heard stories of families either being displaced from one area into another because they couldn’t afford to live in National City or families moving in together in a small house just to cover the monthly rent.
Born in Mexicali and raised in the Coachella Valley, Rodriguez said he understands the struggles of not being a homeowner.
When he first came to America at the age of 3, his family moved seven different times in seven years. He said it wasn’t until he was 10 years old when his parents were able to finally save enough to buy their home in small town in Mecca, California.
“I understand the struggles of people that are struggling to get by and have to move so often because rent prices continue to spike up” he said. “I lived that as a kid. And it creates instability, and we as a (city) government should work on behalf of our most vulnerable population.”
Rodriguez said he wants to help increase the homeownership rate in National City and bring higher wages to workers who work for large companies in National City.
Although the minimum wage in California will rise to $15 an hour in 2023, Rodriguez said National City workers making minimum wage at big companies should be making $15 an hour right now.
“Wages are not keeping up with expenses in our city, in our region,” he said. “I support increasing wages on large businesses like Walmart and Burger King and McDonalds. Those places can afford to invest more in our community by investing in their own workers.”
Rodriguez cites a Center for Policy Initiative study that indicates National City is second only to Imperial Beach in having the highest poverty rates in the county.
Rodriguez said if elected he will work hard to make the city government work for residents and not special interests as well as making government accountable.
“We need to make sure that we have our residents in mind as we make decisions every day,” he said. “And if it’s not the residents in mind, if we’re thinking about the landlords all the time, if we’re thinking about the more affluent people in our neighborhood all the time then we aren’t really representing everybody, we’re only representing that special interest more affluent people in our community.”
Rodriguez said one way in which he will work for the people of National City is by listening to its residents, something the council failed to do when they had an opportunity to make National City a Sanctuary City.
He said after two high profile immigration cases in National City in the past two years, there was a proposition for National City to become a Sanctuary City and the majority of the council voted against it.
He said if he was elected he would support Sanctuary City status for National City because the city’s police officers and firefighters shouldn’t be working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to enforce immigration law.
Rodriguez said he’s been to numerous city council meetings in the past year and he said he cannot believe how much civil discourse there is on the dais. He said despite having political difference with council members, if elected, he’s willing to work with them.
