MEET THE CANDIDATES FOR CITY OF DORAL COUNCIL SEAT 1
Seat 1 is the most coveted position in the City of Doral ballot this November, with six candidates competing for it.
Sandra Sabatella, @sandrasabatella
In our last edition, Doral Family Journal introduced you to the different point of views of the candidates for Mayor of the City of Doral. Thanks to the good reviews we received for this article, we decided to also interview those aspiring for City Council seats 1 and 3.
The main goal of these candidates is their social commitment to the city and its residents, and together with the Mayor, they look forward to exercise their leadership to benefit the present and future of Doral.
City of Doral Seat 1 is the most coveted seat in the race, as Jackeline Alers, Jackelin Guiza, Claudia Mariaca, Enza Mongiovi Vera, Adriana Moyano and Carlos Pereira, aspire to win it. All of them assure to be prepared for the position and they express their will to improve the quality of life in the city.
We contacted each of these candidates to ask about certain issues that concern our community, so that the residents and voters have the opportunity to compare proposals and get to know them better.
On our next issue, we will present the answers of the candidates for Seat 3.
Candidates’ responses below are presented in strict alphabetical order, based on their last name:
What would be your goals as a City of Doral Councilmember?
JACKELINE ALERS: “As a longtime citizen, my goals would include; but not be limited to strategy, planning and execution of proactive solutions truly making Doral the premier city to live, work, play and learn.
-Propose innovative proven solutions utilized in major cities to address traffic challenges.
-Support and promote local businesses as they are the cornerstone of our business community.
-Develop unique facilities through public/private partnerships for our seniors and adolescence to provide ground-breaking opportunities through social, educational and physical activities.
-Develop clear communications with our residents to promote greater citizen participation in all areas.
-Grow our cultural diversity in every nationality that resides within our city”.
JACKELIN GUIZA: “I will address my goals with five interrelated strategies: Access to Job, Smart Logistics, Connected Visitors, Connected Citizens and Sustainable Transportation”.
CLAUDIA MARIACA: “As a longtime resident of Doral, I have developed strong roots in our community and have volunteered on multiple boards. I am driven to serve our community and now seek to represent the residents on the City Council. My professional career has included working in corporate marketing and product development. My real world experience gives me a refreshing perspective compared to career minded politicians. I will focus on working with the community to continue to develop Doral in a more responsible manner, bring integrity and honesty back to local government and be a voice for the hard working residents of Doral”.
ENZA MONGIOVI VERA: “As a resident of Doral for over a decade, I know the needs of our community and the importance of Bold Leadership. As your next Councilwoman, I pledge to Find innovative solutions to reduce traffic and congestion, Advocate for responsible development, Insure public safety and Improve our quality of life”.
ADRIANA MOYANO: “I would like to help make sure that the residents of the City of Doral feel proud of their hometown by contributing in maintaining our quality of life and government fundamentals. I believe that I can bring people together, even when we disagree. I believe that the city is in need of growing its relationship with its residents and in turn by creating this, much needed, communication with Doral residents we can better represent their true needs and not those of special interests”.
CARLOS PEREIRA: “Ethics and transparency in government is probably the most critical issue in Doral. Currently, we have a Mayor who profits from development in Doral. How can we not think of conflicts of interests? How can we be sure that decisions are made with the best interest of our City and not tainted by profiteering? I do not have any connection to development, or building associations. I don’t have that conflict of interest and believe that I will monitor our city to ensure fairness and honesty and ethics for everyone to benefit the City of Doral”.
What do you believe are the most pressing challenges facing the City of Doral and what are the specific initiatives that you would propose to address them?
JACKELINE ALERS: “The most pressing issues are similar to many other growing cities; traffic, controlled growth, safety, quality education and maintaining a family friendly environment. I would review the previously developed master plan to see if it does reflect a positive outcome for our community consisting of residential, industrial and business sectors and amend accordingly. I also believe we need to be fiscally responsible and direct funding to the areas of most importance in order to achieve the four main areas we as a community seem to agree are important; live, work, play and learn; each of which have challenges and opportunities for great advancement”.
JACKELIN GUIZA: “Issues: – Traffic,Transportations, Security and Sustainability implement one of the most successful technology platforms in the world for the City of Doral to become a “smart city”. – Uncontrolled Construction proposes an urban policy establishing ordinances to regulate the abusive sprawl of new developments. – Bullying, institute an educational advisory committee with experts educators, parents and community leaders on Human Rights for the implementation of the Resolution of Conflicts”.
CLAUDIA MARIACA: “I believe that the most pressing challenges facing the City of Doral are Smart Growth, Government Accountability, Traffic Solutions, and Public Safety. This has been a recurring topic while speaking to voters. Unfortunately, given the established constraints for our responses (“each answer should not exceed 100 words”) I cannot properly address the detailed specifics of the initiatives I propose, which include redirecting our budget, communication with Miami Dade and developers, and continuing to develop our police force. Feel free to contact me for more details on all the work that must be done. www.mariaca2016.com”
ENZA MONGIOVI VERA: “The most pressing challenges facing our City and the entire county is Traffic. As your Councilwoman, I will work closely with the MPO and the County’s Transportation committee to insure mass transit reaches west that can connect to our trolley system”.
ADRIANA MOYANO: “Some of the most pressing challenges facing Doral are, 1) Create effective and modern solutions to relieve the traffic in our city. I believe that we need to be selective and responsible when approving new construction projects and prioritize new public facilities based on the needs of our growing population. 2) Boost economic prosperity and jobs for all residents and making Doral not just a great place to live and work but also a safe city for our families to enjoy. We need to look at some of the root causes that keep some of our citizens from working in our city causing them to look elsewhere for employment. 3) To make sure that third party interests are kept out of the negotiating table when dealing with our county government which we must do regardless”.
CARLOS PEREIRA: “The number one complaint by the residents of the City of Doral is traffic delays. The lack of leadership from the previous and current Mayors, the lack of foresight in long term planning, the overdevelopment and poor communication with the County and State authorities have led to the daily traffic disaster we all experience. The most urgent goal in Doral is an increased focus on future planning, obviously, and to include addressing the rising sea level crisis. I believe that we also need to look at limiting development to match with avoidance of the congestion that overdevelopment is bringing to us”.
If you are elected, what do you think the relationship between government (the public sector) and business (the private sector) should be?
JACKELINE ALERS: “It is of paramount importance that we align the goals of our public and private sectors in order to achieve the most for our community in areas where we partner such as transportation, education, economic development etc.
My experience through civic volunteer positions and also senior level executive positions for local, state, national and international nonprofit organizations has given me years of proficiency on how to properly partner with the public and private sectors. We need to collaborate with senior public officials and diverse community leaders, to secure public-private strategic partnerships to effectively mobilize constituents in our community to surpass expected results”.
JACKELIN GUIZA: “The public and private organization that has to work closely especially at the Smart City Challenge, the relationship between them are five, Policy, Regulator, Developers, Owners, and Operator”.
CLAUDIA MARIACA: “We are lucky to live in a Free Enterprise environment where the relationship of the Government with Businesses, while extremely important, must be limited. As such, Government should have two main functions when it comes to the Private Sector: 1. Establish rules that protect individual freedom and private property rights, and that uphold and encourage competition; and 2. Enforce those rules vehemently and with equality. Nevertheless, the City should also serve as a connection between residents and businesses. After all, residents and business owners are the City’s most important clients”.
ENZA MONGIOVI VERA: “Once elected, the Public and Private Partnerships would be improved and our City would be thriving. We need to give businesses incentives and tax credits to bring their business to our city. Bringing businesses to Doral would create more jobs and increase the cities revenue. I am the only candidate with the knowledge and bold leadership to make this happen”.
ADRIANA MOYANO: “It is a reality that local government receives less economic help from our federal and state governments therefore the need to better relationships between the public and private sectors is a must in order to offset the lack of economic help that would have, in the past, come from federal and state government programs”.
CARLOS PEREIRA: “Most everyone realizes there are differences between the economies of the public and private sectors. However, there are more differences than similarities precisely because the functions are totally different. When choices are made about what responsibilities and functions to assign to the government, a crucial consideration should be the relative competencies of the private vs. the public sectors. The goals are totally different, but a government cannot survive without protecting and encouraging the private sector to develop new technologies and services for the people. Still, the private sector’s motivation is driven by profit and the government is driven by cost reduction while providing for services and administration of the public sector. Still, governments help businesses by providing contracts for work in just about all areas of the economy. At the same time, governments tax businesses, not just individuals. The relationship turns out to be symbiotic with clear differences in specialized functions”.
Where do you see the City of Doral in the next ten years? As a Councilmember, how will you contribute to its achievements?
JACKELINE ALERS: “This is a very important time for Doral. Every decision made will affect those in the future. If our elected officials, including myself; are transparent, communicate effectively with our community, act in a proactive rather than reactive manner to address our current pressing issues, are fiscally responsible, are inclusive of our multi-cultural community and truly listen and act on their collective behalf, we can clearly make Doral the premier place to live, work, play and learn. I am dedicated, motivated, and driven for the right reasons. I’m confident together we can create a City that other cities will aspire to emulate”.
JACKELIN GUIZA: “I see like a Mayor and the future partner to outline this platform for the next 20 years because we have a tremendous opportunity to put in place an ambitious plan to make Doral a digital city that is expected to create jobs and increase GDP over the next 10 years. Through initiatives aimed at encouraging and incentivizing entrepreneurs, increasing efficiencies through smart cities, Doral could become a global technology powerhouse”.
CLAUDIA MARIACA: “I believe we are at a crucial moment in the life of our city that will define and shape its future. As residents, we must decide if we are happy and satisfied with the current direction lead by this administration, or if change is necessary to progress into a brighter future. This election will be crucial for the future of our city. As a Councilmember I want to make sure our City has both a strong economic base and the necessary infrastructure to make sure our 10 year journey is smooth, and our destination a great City to live in”.
ENZA MONGIOVI VERA: “Doral and the area has become the economic engine of Miami-Dade County. It is an area that produces jobs, destination for shopping and tax revenue for the county and City. Increasingly Doral serves as a pass through for those trying to avoid tolls, shopping and dining, as well as a place to live. The population in our City most likely doubles during the course of the day due to traffic. A few approaches that I would support and encourage:1-Doral has a good trolley system that should be further expanded to serve more areas and residents; 2-We should work closely with the MPO and the County’s Transportation committee to insure mass transit reaches west that can connect to our trolley system; 3-We need to encourage and require responsible development in the future that includes a Transportation component that helps, for example shopping centers and destinations could include a system that picks up patrons; 4-Invest more in technology that allows us to move people more efficiently”.
ADRIANA MOYANO: “My achievements will be the accomplishments of our Doral residents. Only by truly listening to the needs of our residents is that an elected official can contribute because all elected officials should represent the people, all though in government that is not always the case. One of my main concerns is to make sure that our taxpayer dollars are not misspent and that the City of Doral residents always have a voice in city issues. I see Doral as a top example for others to follow of what a city should be but in order to do this we must elect people who have the work ethic and the vision to reach this goal”.
CARLOS PEREIRA: “I envision continued beauty, low crime and prosperity for Doral. Ethnic and cultural diversity on top of the beauty is a magnet for ongoing growth of our immigrant population. Cultural diversity has problems of its own. As a councilmember I will work against creating pockets of divisions of our residents. We are ONE MULTICULTURAL COMMUNITY. I will be “WORKING HARD FOR YOU!”