EAST PALO ALTO: Big field in EPA council race

Latino slate seeks representation on the council

by Don Kazak

East Palo Alto isn't suffering from a lack of people who want to serve their city. Seventeen people will be on the Nov. 7 ballot, including all three incumbents, two others who are also currently elected officials, and a sixth who was formerly an elected official.

The ballot will also have a slate of Latino candidates.

"It shows that there's interest in the community and what's happening at the council," said Pat Foster, one of the three incumbents in the race. "I expect some people will drop out (before the election)."

Vice Mayor Duane Bay and Councilman R.B. Jones are the other two incumbents in the race.

Jones goes to trial Sept. 12 on bribery charges, and his legal difficulties may have helped prompt the unusually crowded field of candidates.

The city is starting to see some growing economic success with the stores at the Ravenswood 101 Retail Center, and there is a second large redevelopment project under way at what had been Whiskey Gulch, along with new housing under construction.

But there have also been concerns about economic displacement of stores and longtime residents as the city struggles for economic stability.

Donna Rutherford of the Ravenswood City School District board and Samuel Rasheed of the East Palo Alto Sanitary District board are the other two elected officials in the race. Both have run unsuccessfully for the City Council previously.

A. Peter Evans, a former sanitary board member who was recalled by the voters, is also in the race.

The three Latinos who will run are Jose Beltran, a former member of the Planning Commission; Everardo Luna, a former member of the now-disbanded Human Resources Commission; and Victor Perez.

There are now more than 1,600 Latino registered voters in East Palo Alto, out of some 6,400. "If we target that 26 percent, I think we have a chance to be voted in," Beltran said, "but we don't want to exclude anyone."

Perez said that the three of them are running because the Latino community has asked them to. "We don't get enough attention from the City Council," Perez said. And voter registration among Latinos, which had been very low, has been increasing steadily. "We've been building that up," Perez said.

"We are a community, and we have to keep everybody in mind," Beltran said.

The other candidates in the race are David Woods, Ola Wallacee, Robert A. Alexander, Edrick Haggans, Irving E. Hemingway Sr., Keith Carter, Montel Yarbrough, and Ayodele Ankoanda-King.1

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