EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14/CBS4) — With Election Day next week, voters in El Paso’s City Council District 8 will choose between incumbent Chris Canales and four challengers in a race that covers parts of downtown and West El Paso.
Canales is seeking another term against Matthew Guzman, Arturo Alluin, Laura Ochoa-Todd and Johnny Gonzalez. A publicity photo for Gonzalez was not available.
Asked about top priorities if elected, Canales pointed to ongoing plans and initiatives already underway.
“We’ve put in place a lot things that we need to work on. A climate action plan, for example. Downtown, uptown, and surrounding neighborhoods plan for downtown revitalization,” Canales said.
Guzman said his first focus would be housing affordability, arguing the market has tightened since the pandemic.
“First is gonna be fixing the housing affordability issue. Since COVID-19, we’ve seen a huge block of our housing get locked into the low interest rates,” Guzman said. “There’s only one way to get out of that situation and that’s to build more housing.”
Alluin said he would start with a comprehensive review of city spending.
“My priorities are going to be initially to audit every single department so we know what’s happening with our money and so we as a community can decide what we want to do and how we want to prioritize our spending,” Alluin said.
Ochoa-Todd said street conditions and property taxes are among her top concerns.
“Let’s fix the streets and roads already,” Ochoa-Todd said. “They’re raising the taxes yearly, which has a lot of people very angry.” She added, “So let’s solve that property tax situation.”
An attempt to reach Gonzalez for an interview was unsuccessful because no contact information could be found to request one.
Early voting ends Friday. Election Day is Nov. 3.
For all the information you need to know ahead of the election, visit this Election Guide.
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