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Jose Aranda, who currently chairs the San Juan Bautista Planning Commission, was one of two candidates elected to the San Juan Bautista City Council on Nov. 5, taking 37% of the vote in a four-person race. Incumbent Scott Freels, currently mayor of San Juan, received 40% of the vote in that election.
Aranda, 35, was raised in San Jose, where he works for an IT company, and moved to San Juan five years ago. After a failed run for City Council in 2022, he was appointed to the Planning Commission in 2023.
He shared his thoughts about his time on the Planning Commission and how, as a council member, he would approach some of the problems San Juan currently faces..
BenitoLink: Why did you first run for office in 2022?
Aranda: I started to notice a few problems in town. For example, why aren’t there stop signs in places where there should be stop signs? Why aren’t the roads paved? The potholes on the road to the De Anza Trail are like turbulence. There’s no fresh blood, no fresh ideas. We’re still in the same old rut. So I got involved. I knew nothing about the City Council or politics. I just knew that I wanted to get in there and help.
You were appointed to the Planning Commission and immediately voted in as chairman. With no previous experience, how did you adjust to the job?
They moved me to the center of the dais, and everyone looked at me for directions. I just started going down the agenda and was shaking; I was scared. I had never even heard of “Robert’s Rules of Order.” Eventually, I got it kind of down. I worked closely with [Commissioner] Dan DeVries, who has been my right-hand man. He’s so knowledgeable, and he’s a huge resource for me. But I still feel like I don’t have it down all the time.
What do you feel you have accomplished?
I am most proud of the changes we made to the gas station across from Windmill Market. I remember looking at the plans and thinking, “God, this doesn’t belong here. This looks like an eyesore.” We wanted to be creative. We wanted it to look like an actual farm. Let’s put in some electric charging stations. Let’s make this look attractive. We redesigned it, and I get to say that we helped get that design to something where it should have been rather than something that will make this town look terrible.
Then, there was the meeting about the food trucks when all the merchants came. That was a wake-up moment because that was the first time I ran into such a huge issue. At the time, many relationships between the merchants, the public, and the city staff were strained, and I thought we needed to ask, as a city, “What’s the problem here?” We needed to change this. We needed to listen to what the public and the merchants were saying.
At one meeting, you sounded a warning about the 18th Barrel closing. What are your thoughts about the town’s economic state?
I know that we could have handled things better with the 18th Barrel. I don’t know if the dire straits of the downtown or historic districts are really on the city’s radar. I’m trying to raise a red flag. Something is happening, things are getting worse, and we all need to pay attention. I heard through the grapevine that San Juan has survived for 200 years and will continue to survive. And I think that’s the worst thing to say because I don’t want to be in a town that’s continuing to survive. I want to be in a town that’s thriving, doing well, and is a pillar for the surrounding communities. I want to be “that” city.
I’ve visited other small towns to see how they do it. I recently went to Nevada City in California—500 people and they’re just as historic as we are. They’re thriving. They’re killing it over there. They have about 16 restaurants, eight bars and beautiful specialty shops. Everything looks clean. The roads are paved. The sidewalks are cute. They have a great farmers market. Why aren’t we doing that here? Look at Hollister. So many people are signing up for the Farmers Market that they are turning them away. They have Food Truck Tuesdays. They are starting to thrive while we’re over here in the Stone Age.
How would you attract more tourists?
I think it starts with more restaurants. The more restaurants you have, the more people will want to come. We have a lot of these historic buildings that don’t have kitchens. No one will come in from the outside to start up a restaurant and invest thousands of dollars to put a commercial kitchen into a historic building and then not own it. Getting creative, why not purchase a building on behalf of the city, do the renovation, and be selective as to who moves in? We’ll make our money back on the lease. And if it doesn’t work out, then we sell the building.
I can’t tell you how often I get on social media, and it is all about Paso Robles. “Check out our wine tasting or our parade.” On 101, right by Betabel, there’s a giant billboard that says, “Come check out Casa de Fruta.” Why don’t we have billboards that say, “Hey, come check out San Juan?” And I would love to start making cool videos to get the word about us out there. And it shouldn’t just be the restaurants paying for it and carrying that weight on their shoulders. The city should be doing that, too. It should be a collaborative effort. I always feel it’s one-sided. We push it on the businesses to figure this out, but it should be on the city, too. I want to change how we collaborate and figure out a game plan.
How would you reconcile the two business organizations in town?
I’ve tried to stay in the middle. I volunteer my time with Spirit of San Juan and Discover San Juan. I don’t want to pick a side. What I want is for the two to work together. We need to start something new. Just let bygones be bygones and let’s fix this issue.
What do you see as the most pressing issue for residents?
It’s a huge challenge, but I want to lower water bills. I live here alone, and my water bill is 300 bucks. I feel the frustration of all our residents, and I can’t even imagine those who live on a fixed income. How the hell are they doing it? And water is a basic necessity. I’m president of Balanced Access, and with a coalition of Rotary and Garlic.com, we got a $30 million grant. I’m hoping we can go after grants and secure something to help subsidize the cost because I just can’t see another two years of it going higher.
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