Meet the candidate: Daniela Garcia, City Council District 1
Age: 37
Occupation: I work at a company that addresses the needs for sustainability and land restoration.
Please describe your personal and professional background.
I was born and raised here in El Paso. Throughout my working career I have found that the best way to learn a new industry is through administrative work, building yourself from the ground up. By taking administrative positions I have worked my way up to being an education specialist and written the curriculum for City of Austin programs. I have gotten my license as a loan officer and learned the ins and outs of the housing industry. Earlier this year I took a step back from my family’s small business to learn about land restoration and conservation. At the end of the day, the city
runs on administrative work, the city council position is one of service. I want to serve you.
Describe your political identity.
I am an Independent, my idea of fiscal responsibility is to re-invest back into the community to nurture a city that grows and thrives. I believe in reforming the status quo in order to better serve our local community. My top political priorities are service, innovation and progress.
Questions related to El Paso City Council District 6 race
Do you support the proposed Downtown I-10 Deck Plaza project? Why or why not? If elected, would you support using city funds to help finance the project?
The proposal for the Deck Plaza, much like the park plaza’s being pushed in other major cities, will at best be a vanity project lacking in all local charm. Because of El Paso’s infrastructure and based on what is happening nationally with projects just like this, the Deck Plaza will be difficult to access, create a bigger traffic and parking nightmare, and consolidate commerce in a single area while hindering surrounding local businesses. It will also probably run long and over budget. Rather than pursue these questionable investments and have another Chihuahua Stadium in our hands, we should invest in our local gems, like completing the amphitheater in the Northeast, investing in Keystone Heritage Park on the West Side, creating a sustainable lake for Ascarate Park in the Lower Valley, or revitalize our Downtown. We should be creating avenues for accessible community investment so that we are no longer dependent on large investors and their sole interests.
Property taxes remain a top concern for many El Paso homeowners. What specific actions would you support to slow the growth of property tax bills or reduce services?
We need a complete tax reform as well as investment reform. An audit on tax rates across the city and a more scrupulous look into the city budget should be top priority. Just this year, the city saw a tax rate increase. The massive tax incentives the city dispenses to large million/billion-dollar companies needs to stop, those incentives should prioritize single family homeowners, high density housing, and small local businesses. I plan to champion the pursuit of alternate sources of revenue, investing into our community, our tourist economy, and diversifying the industries invited into the city in order to shift our city’s dependence on local property tax revenue.
Road conditions continue to be a major concern for voters. What steps would you take to ensure adequate and sustainable funding for street maintenance and repairs across El Paso?
The city needs to start incorporating environmental and topological assessment requirements within their contracts, taking account that we live in a widely diverse geography and half the city lies on top of a river. These topological conditions exist under our roads and those roads need to be constructed with that in mind, the cookie cutter approach to building on gravel needs to vary widely when building on clay, needs to accommodate for the rain path that would otherwise be going through an arroyo, etc. This lack of environmental care is a major factor in the wear of roads, the sinking potholes, and constant need for bandaging. We need to build them right the first time and save us cost in constant repair down the line.
Secondly, we need to focus more on public transportation. When building and repairing roads, we need to keep in mind alternate forms of transportation, such as safe cycling on bike lanes, protected by curbs, not just lines painted on the pavement. Public transportation, such as cycling and buses, put a much lower strain on our roads, making them last much longer.
What is your assessment of the city's Data Center Policy Framework? Does it strike the right balance between economic development and protecting community resources, or would you propose changes?
I went to the public meetings the city held to gather community input in creating the Data Center Policy Framework; the overwhelming majority of community members providing input demanded the city not do business with data centers at all. I see this policy framework as purely performative on the city’s part, a weak attempt at mollifying the people they are supposed to be representing.
Just as this framework was being created and approved, El Paso Water was in talks with Fort Bliss to service their data center, being built across the street from a new housing development in the city; Fort Bliss has their own water and de-salination company, they should not be using the city owned, city run, water company. Even the mayor, during a community meeting while promoting this Data Center Policy Framework, pointed out that a new data center would be built outside city limits, making this “policy framework” close to obsolete. Any show of good faith on the city’s part, in relation to real policy creation around data centers, would come with strong reform of the water utility company to no longer act without representation; community input; bar any NDAs; include strong advocacy for Fort Bliss to build its data centers away from residential communities; and action steps to work with the county against the exploitative extraction of our resources.
I would propose the framework be reworked to accurately represent the sentiments against hyperscale data centers shown in public meetings. What I’ve heard from my community is that data centers are NOT welcomed in El Paso.
Should the city continue offering tax abatements and other incentives to attract profitable corporations or industries? Under what circumstances, if any, should those incentives be approved?
The massive tax abatements are one of the many reasons El Paso is reliant on the general population’s property taxes. The companies that receive these incentives do not provide enough employment or wages to justify multiple decades of tax cuts, and the industries that get these incentives put only a negligible fraction back to the community in comparison with what they are taking. Multiple times has it been found that the city has mismanaged 380 agreements, not only are these companies receiving tax cuts, but the little they are obligated to pay is not collected adequately. Any incentive considered should be in proportion with how much the recipient will be putting back into the community in comparison to its total profits; be awarded on a year-by-year basis; come with a strong contract they must adhere to; include clear and enforceable regulatory guidelines; and should never be accompanied by an NDA or any access restriction for the public.
Public safety remains a core city responsibility. What are your top priorities for police, fire and emergency services, and how would you pay for them?
After consecutive 10 years of increase in funding and a budget that represents 57% of the total city budget, I believe that our public safety approach needs to shift from increasing budget, toward seeking alternate grants, cooperating with neighboring municipalities, and reallocating funds within the departments that composes public safety. I believe that the police force, which is limited in numbers, should prioritize municipal law enforcement over immigration enforcement, and appropriate measures should be taken to train health care first responders in social work, de-escalation, and mental health, so that the police force can focus on addressing incidents more pressing to their skillset.
I would advocate for an unbiased third-party evaluation to be made on the efficacy of the police department, its practices, and the effectiveness of their budgeting against actualized public safety. After such an evaluation can be carried out and the information made adequately public, any decision on surpassing the current budget should be put to a city-wide vote.
What do you see as El Paso's biggest economic challenge, and what specific policies would you pursue to address it?
Our biggest economic challenge is our dependence on property taxes and large exploitative industries. We must remedy this in order to stop our declining population and revitalize our city. Some of the policies I would pursue would address strengthening public transportation, access to community investment in the local economy, water company reform, and solar power action independent of EP Electric. All these pursuits would positively impact alternate sources of revenue, create competitive wages, lower our cost of living and improve our quality of life.
Through public transportation policy alone, we can promote more local jobs, lower traffic and emissions, increase access to services, reduce drunk driving, extend the life of our roads, and support local and foreign tourism. And the investment in our public transportation system can start small in order to support its sustainable growth. The city could initiate a public ride-sharing program that mirror Uber or Lyft, contract verified residents with a full background check, take a significantly lower percentage than what the private ride-sharing companies take, thus lowering the cost for rides and putting more money into driver’s pocket, and increasing the accessibility to more bus routes, which would increase demand for said buses and increase the city’s power in accessing grants to keep expanding its public transportation. This is a low investment solution that dominoes into great and impactful city improvements. Those are the type of programs and policies we should be championing, simple, effective, and innovative.
Have you read the City Charter? What did you learn is the top City Council priority?
I’ve read the City Charter and I find that the city often interprets it to its own convenience and not the true sentiment of what was drafted in the document nor to the benefit of the community it serves.
One example is on the rules surrounding the recall. While the City Charter amended in 2023 requires collecting signatures amounting to 20% of the votes that were cast when the representative was elected, the city chooses to go by Ordinance No. 008066 approved in 1986 that bars runoff elections to be counted to determine the 20% of signatures needed. Because El Paso is a home rule city, the City Charter supersedes said ordinance and should be used to determine recalls. Each city council member should be beholden to the people that elected them. Instead, the city demands to go off general elections, which have significantly higher turnout, making recall efforts collect approximately the same number of signatures as the number of votes that got the representative elected in a runoff. Currently 8 of our 9 city representatives are runoff candidates, which shows the clear bias by the city to pick and choose the rules they choose to follow.
Another glaring example is the oversight city council has on EP Water and the responsibility both entities have to the residents of El Paso, outlined in the City Charter contrasted by the actions from EP Water, which has entered into contracts that directly oppose water conservation interests, like giving Meta/Blackrock a daily 2.5 million gallon water allowance, and city representatives have been avoiding addressing the accountability and reform of the utility company.
City leaders often face divisive issues. How would you work with colleagues, stakeholders and residents to find common ground and build consensus on major city decisions?
I expect, and will hold this standard to myself, that the first and foremost priority is to represent the residents of our community. That fundamental role supersedes stakeholder interests or colleague opinion. I believe that if we are all holding ourselves accountable to our primary role, to represent and advocate for our community, keep them close and always listen, then any petty fight or private interest should naturally become a non-issue. Though, of course, I’m just being idealistic and I expect to take everyone’s unique personality in stride with the respect and patience, and maybe a little humor, that characterizes me.
What should be the city's next big civic project?
What the city needs is sustainable systemic change, which is what I propose. Undertaking the nourishment of what we have to see a city that grows and flourishes over time will involve reform and the undertaking of fixing infrastructure, not a single big flashy project that will never be completed or that will hinder the community it’s supposed to serve.
Although, if you are asking for first steps, the first thing I would propose would be to hold city council meetings and public comment times during the evening, so the majority of our population has the opportunity to attend. Small changes that have a large impact.
Learn more about Daniela Garcia
Do you plan to continue in your current employment if elected?
While I would no longer work at my present company, I would continue to work and address the sustainability needs of our city.
What experiences in leadership do you have that qualify you for this position?
I run The Desert Defenders, a local group standing up against billionaires and fighting to keep data centers from extracting our natural resources and connecting El Paso to national organizations. I am the co-captain of El Paso’s Ullamalizlti team, representing our cultural heritage through the ancient hip-ball game. And I am a lead member of Las Milpitas del Norte, advocating for the restoration of our native plants, sustainable agriculture and food-security. My love and passion for El Paso and my continued advocacy to represent the best interests of our beautiful city qualifies me to continue representing and advocating for my community.
Have you ever been arrested or charged with a crime? Have you ever had a civil judgment against you? Have you ever been in arrears on local, state or federal taxes? If so, please provide an explanation.
No.
If elected, would you have any potential conflicts of interest that you are aware of that would impair your ability to serve? Please explain what they are and how you would avoid the conflict.
I have no conflict of interest that would impair my ability to serve.
What does transparent government mean to you? Will you be personally accessible to answer questions while in office?
To me, any functioning government needs to lead with true transparency. As a representative I promise to lead with full openness, making matters easy to understand, informing the public in a timely manner, making time to listen to all community feedback, and researching all matters through unbiased sources.
What distinguishes you from the other candidates in this race, and why should voters choose you?
I’m not a professional politician, nor am I a business mogul; I have no ties with that sector. I am a regular person tired of voting for the same kind of people who have underserved us for years. I’ve worked for the city, the state, the housing industry, I’ve worked in education and in environmental work, I’ve worked in creative fields and the service industry, and volunteer with different communities addressing El Paso’s most urgent needs. I’m uniquely and exclusively the most well-rounded candidate in this race to understand the needs of everyone in this city, not just the very few. I want to see change, I want to see progress, I want a representative that sees all the potential of what we could be, and voters who want the same should vote for me.
The candidates' responses are being published largely as they were submitted.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Meet the Candidate: Daniela Garcia seeks City Council, 1 seat
