El Paso City Council District 1 candidate forum held

Six candidates are vying to fill the El Paso City Council District 1 seat.

The District 1 seat is currently held by City Representative Ann Morgan Lilly. She has served three terms and can no longer run for office. That leaves six fresh faces who are competing to get into city government.

Half of the 12 candidates running for El Paso City Council seats this election want to represent District 1. The area spans much of the west, northwest and upper valley. When ABC-7 asked candidates what they plan to tackle first most sang the same tune.

“We have issues with our streets,” Peter Svarzbein said.

“The condition of the roads,” Bertha Gallardo said.

“Right now we’re concerned with our infrastructure, our streets,” Daniel Lopez Jr. said.

Almost all of the candidates mentioned the Quality of Life Bond projects.

“We need someone with strong oversight to make sure we’re spending these projects correctly and that’s what I intend to do,” Manny Hinojosa said.

The complete list of candidates for District 1 are:
Rick Bonart
Manny Hinojosa
Daniel Lopez Jr.
Al Weisenberger
Peter Svarzbein
Bertha Gallardo

They all got their chance to answer student and public comments at the Canutillo Independent School District forum Monday night.

Although ABC-7 didn’t get to speak with every candidate individually, Bonart said during the forum that he wants to focus on economic development in District 1. As far as Weisenberger, he said he wants to complete District 1 projects already in the works.

Along with District 1, three other city representative spots will be on the May 9 ballot. Incumbents Michiel Noe, Claudia Ordaz and Cortney Niland all want to keep their seats but all three have challengers in the race.

The candidate forum was moderated by Canutillo and Northwest Early College high school students.