Issues
As the son of farmworkers who became small business owners, José Luis Barajas knows how much Salinas gave to his family by helping them achieve the American Dream. At a young age, José Luis learned to stand up against injustices and he has never hesitated to speak up for our community.
As your next Councilmember for District 1,
José Luis will always be a voice for you at City Hall by:
Putting Public Safety First
Helping Attract More Business to Salinas
Standing up for Undocumented Residents
Supporting Our Youth and Seniors
Creating More Affordable Housing
Public Safety
Focus on hiring and retaining Police Officers. I believe Salinas can become the next magnet city if we provide our officers with the support they need to raise their patrol numbers from their critically low levels.
Given that the future growth area is slated for the development of thousands of homes, our area will need a substation. I will work with our law enforcement partners to identify an appropriate location. A substation will also help our officers maintain their response times.
Economic Development
Our City permit center as-is, is not poised for a smooth transition to effectively and effectively deliver results for our community. We need a permitting process that is centralized, in which there is no need for independent departmental review and approval rather - permits would be approved all-at-once with a joint departmental review of applications.
Creation of a City/County Sports Authority. This body would be tasked with taking inventory of all public assets (municipal, county, AND school district) to make Salinas/Monterey County a center for athletic conferences and for the development of our own youth. Salinas produces countless professional and collegiate athletes with the minimal resources and support they have, imagine the potential of our youth and our community if we developed, marketed, and strategically used these facilities to attract large games and tournaments that generate sales taxes in overnight stays, meals, and purchases at our local businesses. There are other areas that have done this like Tulsa and Houston.
Youth
Joint-use agreements with our school districts to dramatically increase our park space. I'd like to focus on joint use of the pools, which would offer our youth a greater opportunities for athletic development and as a means of keeping youth on the right track.
Create a permanent Youth Council in partnership with SUHSD/MCOE that will focus on recommending strategies and policies for increasing youth participation and engagement in all aspects and processes of city government.
Work with our unions to attract training centers to Salinas. There is a dire need for all the skilled trades across the country, we need to provide our youth with opportunities to develop their skills at home. Not everyone will go to college, and the skilled trades offer an alternative.
Undocumented Residents
County of Los Angeles has eliminated citizenship requirements for a large portion of their roles, greatly expanding their talent pool and helping fill roles that had long gone vacant. Direct the City Attorney to explore the impacts of adopting such a policy
Housing
Focus on permitting reform to expedite building more homes.
Explore pro-housing initiatives such as: eliminating minimum residential parking requirements, reducing setback requirements and allowing for individual sale of ADU's
