Modesto mayoral candidates court Latinos
At a Latino Community Roundtable forum Thursday, three candidates promised color-blind leadership for Modesto if elected to the mayor's office in November.
The forum came on the heels of U.S. census statistics released this week that show whites no longer hold majority status in Stanislaus County and that Latinos make up 42 percent of the county's population.
Despite the diversity, just two Latinos ever have served on the Modesto City Council.
Candidates Brad Hawn, Garrad Marsh and Bill Zoslocki have launched campaigns to succeed Jim Ridenour, who is serving his final year as mayor.
They made their appeals to Latino voters at a luncheon attended by more than 80 people at Bel Piatto Italian Restaurant at Kansas and Emerald avenues.
Hawn, a city councilman, said "we need to work together to raise up leaders" in the Latino community.
Marsh, a two-term City Councilman, said he was the only council member to support district elections before a voting rights lawsuit brought by Latinos forced the issue.
Zoslocki, a local builder, said what's important for the Latino community is important for the city at large. He told the audience he was raised in El Centro, near the border with Mexico, where a Latino woman hired by the family served as his second mom.
"This country is a melting pot," he said. "It doesn't matter where we come from. We are all Americans."
Latino candidate absent
The only prospective Latino candidate for mayor was a no-show Thursday. Maggie Mejia, who helped organize the forum, said she wasn't able to contact Armando Arreola and that he didn't respond to an e-mail invitation.
The three candidates won't know for months whether they scored points at the forum. The Latino Roundtable will hold more sessions in August with City Council and school board candidates before making endorsements.
Marsh stressed that he had worked with county officials to bring sewer service to the Robertson Road area and advocated the 2006 closure of the Modesto Tallow Co. plant for air quality violations.
Hawn said improvements can be made in disadvantaged neighborhoods — and it doesn't take a lot of funding. With the help of a private donor, he said, he is working to build a soccer field in the airport neighborhood.
Zoslocki, who announced his candidacy Monday, hopes the issue of job creation will resonate with voters of all ethnic backgrounds. His job-focused campaign platform includes planks for education, land and economic incentives.
Modesto needs to fix the local education system to reduce dropout rates and produce graduates who are prepared to enter the work force, Zoslocki stressed. It also needs to offer shovel-ready sites and incentives to attract industry.
Hawn backs a city project to treat and deliver recycled water to farms in western Stanislaus County, which could create 600 jobs, he said. The city could help establish a business incubation center giving assistance to local startup companies, he said.
Marsh supported efforts to lay the groundwork for business parks, especially near the Kaiser hospital in north Modesto, and said it was paramount to lower fees to encourage business development.
"I would like to see us eliminate road charges for anyone building downtown," Marsh said, referring to projects that would create jobs close to people living in the city core.