Two more individuals, a Democrat from Commerce and a Republican from Bellfllower, have filed to run for California State Assembly’s 58th District, a seat currently filled by Cristina Garcia.

The primary will be held in June this year.

 
Miguel Alvarado eyes homelessness in campaign

Democrat Miguel “Mike” Alvarado comes from a background with roots in big family and business.

“I’m the second youngest of 12. I come from a fairly good-sized family,” said Alvarado. “My dad was brilliant when he figured he was going to open a restaurant…this was opened in 1974; I started working when I was 9.”

That restaurant is Rancho Grande in Norwalk.

Alvarado, 48, lost his father at the age of 12, though he continued to work at the restaurant through his youth and onward.

“Once I turned 18 I was really running the restaurant, I was managing it,” said Alvarado. “I did that until I was 30. I was committed to do so to make sure to provide for my mom.

“This is my core; my core is the family business. It taught me a lot,”

Alvarado is formerly married with two daughters, 18-year-old Victoria and 16-year-old Heaven.

The City of Commerce native says his political career started in the past 10 years, after his divorce.

“I was recommended to be a part of a commission - the Community Service Commission – and that in itself entailed many things that I have experienced.”

Alvarado also has experience as a planning commissioner and on the I-710 Committee, as well as working with several nonprofit organizations.

“The more I learned, the more I realized I gotta really start holding some accountability and start asking questions, and there’s nothing wrong with that. I think it’s very important.”

The 58th District State Assembly seat recently became embroiled in controversy when sexual misconduct allegations surfaced against current representative Cristina Garcia.

However, these allegations had little to no influence on Alvarado’s intent to run.

“I had actually pulled papers before that; I had submitted my paperwork the day before that even came out, so none of that had any bearing on this,” said Alvarado. “My only concern was the representation we had as a community.

“I do commend the victims for coming forward. I know it’s very difficult…It’s really about transparency and making sure that things don’t happen like this. I don’t agree with that type of behavior, it’s not how I was raised.”

As he faces a new campaign, Alvarado says that his biggest concerns lay in homeless issues.

“We do have to create a really good plan,” said Alvarado. “We have to be able to set something that is helpful, come up with a solution and stop kicking the rock down the road.

“The resources are there, we just have to bring them here…if we don’t address it, we’re going to have an epidemic; an epidemic not-so-much because we do have a homeless epidemic, but what I’m talking about is a potential disease or something that may come out of it. Is that when we’re supposed to act? No. We’re supposed to be able to take care of our own residents.”

 
Simpfenderfer runs, speaks out Garcia allegations

Mike Simpfenderfer was inspired to run for the 58th District seat after Cristina Garcia’s sexual abuse accusations came to light.

“Like everybody else, we go about our daily lives. We have our kids, we have our families, we have work, we have activities,” said Simpfenderfer. “When I saw somebody that I looked up to for leadership just not doing what we thought, and then when we saw the two gentlemen that came forward and disclosed what they disclosed…and then when I saw the comment of ‘no recollection,’ I realized ‘hold it, time out.’ There’s something that needs to change here.”

A relative to sexual assault victims himself, Simpfenderfer says that the District has some serious problems that needs “serious people who are going to step up and do something, not play spin-the-bottle in the office.”

The 55-year-old Republican has been a mortgage banker for 14 years. He is married with four kids.

The Bellflower native has political experience having worked with Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush in 1980, and attending the 2016 Republican National Convention as a delegate for then candidate Donald Trump.

He knows this might mean an uphill battle for him.

“I think with the big issues we’ve got, people are going to say ‘I realize what your label is, but I’m willing to listen to you, and that’s what I’m going to ask. Just listen to me; if I make sense, vote for me.”

Aside from being extremely outspoken on the current controversy surrounding the seat, Simpfenderfer has focused on housing and jobs issues.

“We’re having no discussion about real solutions to housing,” said Simpfenderfer. “Your local city councils actually have a lot of control. Specifically, retail is changing before our eyes, so we have one big box after another that are sitting empty. Do we really believe another retail store is going to come in?

It’s in a contraction mode, so why aren’t we going to the cities and saying we have a large piece of property that’s sitting empty that’s probably going to sit empty for a while. Why aren’t we getting with local builders and saying we want to partner…you go to the city and say we’re going to take a cooperative attitude, while in escrow we need an expedited manner to get the zoning changed so when escrow changes we can start to build.”

Simpendefer added, “In exchange, we’re not going to go build the highest priced property. We would make an agreement with the city that would say if the city is going to do expedited zoning changes so you can start building, the prices for those properties for example have to be 10 percent below the median. That’s a benchmark we can all go look at.”

Simpfenderfer also added that in cases where multiple units are being built, there should be a level of cooperation so that some units are set aside for low-income housing, with the aid of organizations such as Habitat for Humanity to select the “right people who need help.”

On jobs, Simpfenderfer eyed frustrated students fresh out of high school, and offered a solution that could come full circle.

“We don’t have enough clear career path set up for them, and so you go to the local school board and then you partner up with your trade unions – electricians, plumbers, pipe fitters, framers – they have people who want to retire… why don’t we figure out what we gotta do to get them credentialed as a teacher, and then go to the school board and go ‘what classes do we need to add…so that when they graduate from high school, they’ve actually got a couple of the classes nailed to go be the best electrician possible in their local union. While they’re going through that apprenticeship, you look at the person and say ‘We’re going to do a lot to help you get a job that other places aren’t doing, however we also want you to do ‘X’ amount of hours of community service.

A lot these cities have money set aside for low-income elderly to get repairs. What’s the biggest frustration that you have when doing a repair? Your cost of labor.”