District 2 Hollister City Council incumbent Mickie Luna noted how she’s a native of this community and has been involved here for more than four decades. She was born and raised “in Hollister on the ranch where my dad used to grow tomatoes,” Luna told San Benito Live in a recent interview before the Nov. 6 election.
Luna mentioned working for the City of Hollister for over 30 years, involvement in the local public schools and several nonprofit organizations. She was one of the first people elected to the Community Action Board where she served for 12 years. She also talked about working with the county’s mental health board and was vice president of the local chapter of the American Red Cross.
Luna is the youngest of 12 children and also talked in an interview about her affinity for the armed services. She said a brother served and she married a Vietnam veteran.
As for the council, she’s finishing her first four-year term. Luna is facing challenger Rolan Resendiz for the seat on the Nov. 6 ballot.
“What motivates me is finally after several years, and I’m right now standing in District 2, nobody looked around and saw this district as a district in real need,” Luna said.
See the Mickie Luna video interview here. Story continues below.
She mentioned how now the district has an array of affordable housing developments.
“That will help the children as they go to school because they have their own home, their own study area,” she said.
Luna said parks and business development are keys for her going forward.
“On this side of town, we don’t have a drug store,” she said. “We need a drug store. We need some kind of banking.”
She said housing and education are particularly important to her, along with another big issue.
“The traffic is horrendous but the traffic is horrendous throughout the state of California and beyond,” Luna said.
She said she hopes to continue working with legislators on roads leading out of Hollister
“That’s something that we cannot stop,” she said of traffic congestion. “After all, you realize the housing moratorium was for six years-plus and there was no homes built at that time.”
She said it’s important that new residents realize there’s traffic here when they come.
“It would be nice to have maybe more restaurants in the area,” she said.
