Endorsing Joaquin Jimenez for Half Moon Bay City Council (District 3)
The CFTA Council has unanimously voted to endorse Mr. Joaquin Jimenez for Half Moon Bay City Council in the upcoming election. Mr. Jimenez is running in District 3, and we are excited to have him on the ballot. It's time!
The CFTA Council believes that Mr. Jimenez is exceptionally well qualified to represent District 3 on the Half Moon Bay City Council, and will bring to the job not only a deep understanding of, and focus on, the issues affecting the Latino and Latina residents of Half Moon Bay and our essential farmworkers, but also a long history in Half Moon Bay, intimate knowledge of the issues concerning the community and its various constituencies, and a truly inspiring vision for our future. He is a solution-oriented bridge-builder who hopes to further unify our community, and has devoted his life's-work to making a positive impact on it. We are honored that he is willing to bring his energy and experience to bear as our City Councilmember, and wholeheartedly support his historic bid to be the first Latino member of the Half Moon Bay City Council.
Mr. Jimenez’ Vision is Closely Aligned with CFTA’s
The CFTA Elections Sub-Committee met Mr. Jimenez in person to discuss Mr. Jimenez’ vision, and both they and the CFTA Council feel Mr. Jimenez’ positions are very well-aligned with CFTA’s mission. In determining whether to endorse Mr. Jimenez, the CFTA Council considered the following:
Vision: Mr Jimenez’ fundamental vision is of an equitable and sustainable Half Moon Bay community, co-created by all of its residents working together. In our conversation, he repeatedly stressed the twin goals of equity and sustainability, and emphasized the basic principle of working for equity for all people.
Approach: He is highly collaborative in his approach, seeing, in general, the collaboration between different groups as key to building strong communities and finding durable solutions to problems. He is actively looking to collaborate with CFTA because he sees us as able to bring the complementary perspective he is looking for from a group whose mission is very well aligned with his own.
Experience: Mr Jimenez is a founding member of the Latino Advisory Council (LAC) to the City Council, which gives him experience with our local government. He has spent his whole career in service of the HMB community, including teaching at Hatch Elementary.
Dedication: He is very well-known and respected in Half Moon Bay and a key leader in ALAS, an important non-profit organization that has been key to mounting a response to COVID-19 and the fires. Mr. Jimenez is out there, everyday, helping to get people what they need in order to be healthy and thriving, a true public servant already embodying our highest ideals for elected officials.
Representation: Mr. Jimenez will be a strong voice for members of the Latino and Latina community. Core to CFTA’s mission to support a diverse local government with underrepresented voices from traditionally marginalized groups. Failure to support Hispanic candidates in the City Council elections of 2020 and 2022 would maintain a system that has been set up in a way that sets larger barriers in the way of Hispanic candidates than NH white candidates through the makeup of the districts, and so would perpetuate NH white supremacy, in direct contradiction of CFTA's mission. If elected, Mr. Jimenez would be the first Latino City Councilmember in HMB’s history, an event that could usher in a new era of engagement in local government by the previously under-represented Hispanic community.
Incumbent: [Omitted. We have removed this statement. Mayor Eisen reached out to engage with us on our priorities and remedy the oversight regarding the letter we sent.]
Environment: A sustainable Coastside is one of Mr Jimenez’ two central objectives. He emphasizes land conservation (preserving farmland and ranch land) and crop choice (climate change adaptation and organic, co-operative farming). Environmental justice is an important theme to his vision, including issues relating to climate change and pollution, both of which he has witnessed first hand impacting the community.
Transport and Infrastructure: Mr Jimenez frequently travels by bike and spoke about the importance of road safety, making biking an easier mode of transportation, and good public transportation, for both environmental and traffic congestion reasons. He has ideas to restructure Main Street to alleviate traffic concerns while allowing for people to still get around, shop local businesses, and make biking safer.
Business: He has a vision for increased support of small-businesses and sees this support as fundamental to the creation of a vibrant, prosperous city for residents as well as a place others will want to visit (tourism being an important element of the economy and one that he envisions sustaining through environmental conservation). He views giving people the opportunity to start and grow small-business as a step toward equity in our community that will have a number of additional positive effects for the town.
Development and Housing: Mr Jimenez believes we need affordable housing for our existing population of residents, but that development should be disallowed when merely to attract outside investment or growth. He emphasized the importance of achieving any development in a way that preserves the character and heritage of the town and pastoral countryside for both its residents and visitors (who bring tourist dollars because of these very qualities). Mr Jimenez opposes the proposed Dunes Beach Resort, in favor of conserving the land for farming and recreation. He believes instead that we should focus on supporting existing business, like the many existing hotels and B&Bs and neighboring businesses, which could be negatively impacted by the development.
Law Enforcement: Mr Jimenez expressed strong support for improving both the training and community connection of the contracted Sheriffs, and noted the outsized role police funding plays in ours and other local budgets. He was deeply affected by the shooting of Yanira Serrano Garcia in 2014, and believes that local law enforcement should be held to higher standards of accountability.
Public Health: Mr. Jimenez is concerned by the lack of anonymous and accessible healthcare and mental health care for everyone. He has worked on community health initiatives for farmworkers and sees this as critical.
Human Rights: One of Mr. Jimenez’s fundamental vision is an equitable HMB in which everybody feels welcome, has a place and is part of the creation of the community.
We are energized by Mr. Jimenez’ decision to run for City Council and look forward to supporting his campaign. We believe that Mr Jimenez’ personal values and principles, and his specific plans for his time in office, are extremely well aligned with the CFTA mission to make the Coastside more diverse, progressive, sustainable, and equitable, and a welcoming, supportive, active, and empowering place for children and families and look forward to the great work we know he will continue to do for our community as a council member.
