Roger Nuñez Seeks District 2 Seat in DHS

Following are unedited responses to our questionnaire from Roger V. Nuñez

UR: Age and occupation

Roger Nuñez: No response

UR: Who or what motivated you to run for the City Council/Mayor?

Roger Nuñez: When I first ran and was elected in 2020, I did so because I believe that Desert Hot Springs is a fantastic city, and I wanted to work to improve it.  I’m a father of 4 Boys, and my youngest is 11 years old.  I’m raising my family here and I want to improve the opportunities for our youth here in the city, and our Recreation Center and other youth programs, but we need more. More parks, more opportunities for recreation and education.  That’s the main reason I’m running.  We’ve made progress in those areas, and I want to keep that momentum going.

UR: How long have you lived in DHS full time?

Roger Nuñez: We have lived in Desert Hot Springs for 7 years

UR: What is your No. 1 priority for the city?

Roger Nuñez: My main priority is to continue to expand education, recreational and job opportunities for our youth.  Mayor Matas and I are the subcommittee on Parks and have created a new parks master plan we are implementing.  We have a new football/soccer/baseball field being built this coming year and have been exploring other park locations and funding.  We’ve expanded the programs in our Rec Center since taking that in house three years ago, and we are rebuilding the main pool at the aquatic center to have it open year-round.  We need to also expand our tourism economy and grow our other sectors of the economy since our cannabis revenue is flat, and we need to keep fully funding our best-in-class Police Department who has lowered our crime rate to the lowest in the valley.

UR: What makes you a better candidate than your opponents?

Roger Nuñez: I know very little about my opponent, he has not been active in civic affairs in the city, I’ve never seen him at a council meeting, nor has he come to our civics academy, or served on any commissions or boards of the city.  I can however tell you why I’m the best candidate to represent district two.  I’m the only Spanish language speaker on our council, and we have a majority Latino population. I’ve worked to improve bilingual services, and I’ve brought the Mexican consulate here to work with our residents. I’ll continue to do that work.  In addition, I’ve served for four years on the council, and I know how things work in our city – what our primary issues are and how we can work together as a council and as a region to make DHS a better place.  I’ve been endorsed by the mayor and the majority of the council, as well as other elected officials across the valley.

UR: Do you see yourself a team player or an individual who will fight for your opinion? Why?

Roger Nuñez: I consider myself both.  Politics is the art of compromise.  I work well with the majority of our council members, but I will also fight hard for the things that I believe in and am not afraid to stand up for my ideas, and not too proud to work out a compromise where needed, to make incremental steps to achieve a goal.

UR: How do you deal with conflict? Give us an example.

Roger Nuñez: Again, it’s all about working for what’s best for the overall community.  The mayor appointed me and Councilmember Gardner to the Housing Subcommittee where we worked on our Short-Term Vacation Rental Ordinance.  Mr. Gardner and I didn’t always agree on specifics, but we compromised because we both care about the city, and we developed an ordinance that the council later adopted on a 4-1 vote that has proven to be very effective.

UR: Does DHS need to change way it’s been doing business? Change its image? If so, in what way?

Roger Nuñez: We have worked hard as a council to change the culture at City Hall to a “can-do” and “how can I help” attitude.  That shows in the comments I hear from developers who tell me how much they enjoy working with our staff as opposed to other cities.  Sadly, Desert Hot Springs is still looked down upon by much of the valley because of our past reputation. That is slowly changing as people see the revitalization going on downtown and with our spas.  We need to keep those efforts up and continue to highlight the things that make DHS great – our water, our views, our access to outdoor recreation, and our small-town feel.  Our crime rate is now the lowest in the valley according to FBI statistics, yet negative stereotypes persist.  It’s frustrating, but we are getting the word out.

UR: In what areas does the city need to grow, if it does, and how will you make that happen?

Roger Nuñez: We need to grow the other sectors of our economy beyond cannabis.  Cannabis really saved this city, but the revenues are flat.  We need to grow our tourism and warehouse economy to help balance things out.  We have plenty of land for warehouses and access to power and water that other cities don’t, and I’m going to encourage more of that type of growth.  Because of our geographic size we can concentrate that growth far from where residents live and so there will be very little negative impact and a very positive fiscal and job growth impact.

 

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