LYNWOOD, Calif. — The city of Lynwood has a measure on the ballot to extend council members’ term limits.
Some are in favor of it, but others are not.
Supporting small businesses is first on the to-do list for Lynwood City Council Members Marisela Santana and Jose Luis Solache. They say the local owners were hardest hit during the COVID-19 pandemic and often looked to city leadership for help.
“The small businesses are the backbone of everything,” Santana said.
They’re the people of Lynwood they say this city council truly cares about, which hasn’t always been the case. In fact, five former city council members have been charged with misusing public funds and some even sentenced to prison.
“We have a history in our community of elected officials who weren’t putting the city first, who weren’t putting the residents’ interest first. It was always other interests,” Santana said.
It’s why she and Solache say the stability they have now with this council is so crucial, and why they're hoping a measure to extend term limits on the ballot in June is approved by voters.
If passed, Measure R will allow council members to serve three consecutive terms in office, but it will also reset the clock, meaning anyone who has served in the past will be eligible to run for another three terms.
Lynwood resident Juan Munoz finds that deeply concerning.
“It’s not right to describe it as a stability measure, because if you actually use your time in office to build new leaders, to get the community involved, then the community will be informed enough to choose someone to carry out the work, right?” he said.
The recent UCLA graduate is heavily involved in local politics but says this last-minute measure nearly slipped through the cracks. He’s launched an entire campaign to inform residents what they’re actually voting for, reminding them that a measure already passed overwhelmingly back in 2008, limiting Lynwood council members to just two terms.
“To see that undermined in the city that I was born in and raised in and still live in, it’s just heartbreaking,” Munoz said.
If Measure R is approved, Solache will be the first eligible to run for a third term come November — though at this point, he says he has no intention of spending another 12 years in office.
“It’s important to keep stability in a community like Lynwood, because it takes time to build relationships with our city officials and our county officials,” he said.
Santana added that the measure isn’t to keep any one person in office.
“The stability is not about me, it’s not about Solache, it’s not about any of the elected officials. This is about keeping stability (in) the city,” she said.
Regardless of the limits in place, they stressed that it’s up to voters to decide every four years who they want leading this city.