Part 3: Capital Public Radio profiles the candidates in Stockton's Mayoral Race.
In our last segment of the Stockton Mayor’s race, three candidates express their ideas on why they should hold that city’s highest office. All three currently hold public office.
Stockton Mayor Anthony Silva is seeking reelection and says the city is in a much better place than when he took office.
Silva says the city is out of bankruptcy but still has problems to be solved including crime, putting more police on the street, and homelessness.
He also wants to change the city’s image by making the waterfront into one like San Antonio’s Riverwalk.
“Walk by different restaurants, listen to different sorts of music, and feel safe, that’s where the bread and butter of Stockton is going to be,” says Silva.
Carlos Villapudua is a San Joaquin County Supervisor who was born and raised in Stockton.
He says his main goal is to tackle crime.
“No. 1 is safety, I mean we need to make sure that we have more police on the ground, we are a city that continues to bleed, we can’t bleed anymore,” says Villapudua.
Stockton City Councilman Michael Tubbs also sees crime as the major problem but wants to see more solutions than just police.
Homelessness too he says needs to be addressed.
“Homelessness is not a crime, lots of times these people are mentally ill or they have drug dependency issues or just victims of economic circumstances," says Tubbs. "But it’s hard to get people’s services and the help they need when they’re outside.”
To win in June the candidate must gain more than 50 percent of the vote, otherwise the two top vote getters will face off in the November election.
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