Early voting for the runoff election starts Monday to decide which of the two candidates for City Commissioner District 3 will enter the political arena and earn a seat.
District 3 voters have the option to vote for Jessica Puente-Bradshaw or Roy De los Santos. Neither of them has served in the city commission before.
De los Santos is a board member of Sombrero Festival, Camille Playhouse, Texas Southmost College Foundation, Mitte Foundation in Austin, Board of Adjustments for the City and the LGBTQ Task Force.
Puente-Bradshaw said her focus has been to serve the community through volunteering at her church and helping feed the homeless population as well as donating supplies to those who need them.
Both candidates decided to run because they believe their district is not heard enough and there are more things that can be done in the city. However, they have different opinions on what the priorities should be.
Puente-Bradshaw believes it is important to focus on the beautification of the city as well as local improvements such as street maintenance, more recycling centers and better accessibility to the public parks for people with special needs. She added another idea would be to have a community police substation in the FM 802 area so that there is more visibility and residents of that area don’t have to go all the way to downtown to file a report.
“I believe that the city can do so much more for the community. By way of beautification, improvements, economy and for the longest time, I’ve felt that we don’t have that representation, or those benefits, and I’m ready to work for the people of Brownsville to improve our budget to help us more when it comes to our basic needs,” she said.
Puente-Bradshaw said she is the best candidate because she is a member of the community and not a career politician and she doesn’t owe anyone any special favors within the commission or within the city government.
“I really just want to be there for the people and to be a voice of the people. I think that a good representative also has integrity and honesty,” she said.
“… This election will affect us for the next four years. It’s very important that as many of us go out and vote. We don’t want a city that is run with only the decision of 800 people.”
On the other hand, De los Santos thinks the top priority would be to audit a lot of what has been done already, such as the permitting process. He would also like to improve customer service at Brownsville Public Utilities Board and focus on 546-HELP.
De los Santos said residents shouldn’t have to have the cell phone number of a city commissioner or mayor to get something done and that the service of 546-HELP must be improved so that the residents get the help they need.
“I would want to audit a lot of what’s been done already. For example, the permitting process is a big concern of mine and I’ve seen that a lot first-hand because of my service on the board of adjustment,” he said.
“One of the first things I want to do is pull 20 cases, let’s say, that have come through within the last six months. And analyze how they were handled from start to finish, how long did it take for those business owners, how difficult or how easy was it for those owners or property owners, and I also want to survey each of them so that they can tell us how satisfied or dissatisfied they were with the experience. And what they would change and we could do better.”
De los Santos said he is the best candidate for the position because he is very active in the community and his professional background lands itself to this position.
“As far as the work I’ve done, people can say this isn’t just me saying I want to do x, y and z. They can look back and see what I’ve done with Sombrero Festival, for example, and where that organization is coming from back in 2004 when I first got involved, to what it is today,” he said.
“… I’m part of a team that made it happen but it was a group of dynamic thinkers, it was a next generation of Sombrero that saw the potential and applied just good business practices and common sense.”
Early voting dates are this Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and next Monday and Tuesday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Election Day is June 19.
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