Ron DeSantis, Jeanette Nuñez and Manny Diaz Jr. met with Doral Residents.
By: María Alejandra Pulgar
@marialepulgar – NAHJ #37172
On September 28th the Federated Republican Women of North Dade organized a meet and greet event for Doral residents with Florida gubernatorial candidate Ron DeSantis and his running mate Representative Jeanette Nuñez.
State Senator Rene Garcia was in attendance, along with Representative Manny Díaz Jr. candidate to State Senate for District 36, and Doral Vice Mayor Ana Maria Rodriguez who is running for State Representative for District 105. All of them made introductory remarks before Mr. DeSantis addressed the residents present.
Before the event Diaz, DeSantis and Nuñez talked to the press regarding local issues like immigration, infrastructure, resources for schools, traffic, and safety.
Manny Diaz Jr. “More resources for coming back to Doral”
Diaz has represented District 103rd at the State Legislature since 2012. This district covers from Hialeah Gardens to Miramar. As a member of the Education Committee, K-12 Subcommittee and Education Appropriation Subcommittee he has worked on bringing needed resources to Miami-Dade Schools. He has strong ties with the Doral community as he serves as COO at Doral College.
“I understand the issues that Doral faces, especially overcrowding at our traditional public schools. I know that the Doral community is very demanding with their public schools and they should be. That demand I think produces better schools and better results for students in Doral.”
Diaz also interacts with the School District to help provide needed funds from the State for school infrastructure and for improving the income for teachers. “Part of that mission has been in the House to be able to provide $1200 bonuses for teachers who were highly effective to help them stay in the classroom and the district’s cost differential formula” which includes the cost of living increase in the calculations so that schools in Miami Dade would receive more funds.
Regarding traffic safety, Diaz considers that red light traffic cameras “should not be a source of revenue for anyone” but can be useful if “a study is done of the intersection to determine what is causing the accidents”, police presence is provided to make sure people are more careful and there are documented issues on the intersection that justify the use of the device. Therefore he wants to push legislation including those requirements to make sure the cameras are used properly statewide.
Working together with the community is of utmost importance for Diaz and has been the focus of his work as Representative for the last six years “bringing funds for projects in the community” such as the stabilization of canals, street drainage, etc. “Taxpayers in Doral pay a lot of money in taxes and you know to have someone who knows how to fight in Tallahassee for the funds for the local projects.”
The seat he seeks in the Senate provides a voice for Doral residents in Tallahassee. “I look forward to continuing working with [local authorities] to meet the needs of the community. It is very important for Doral to have strong representation, to be part of the majority, to be able to work with the leadership both in the House and the Senate, to make sure that Doral priorities are a priority in the State.”
Ron DeSantis and Jeanette Nuñez: “We will be working on maintaining safe communities”
“In Florida, we get to be a refuge for people who are seeking freedom and understand the dangers of socialism and dictatorial rule” commented DeSantis regarding his position on assisting legal immigrants looking to start a new life in Florida. “When you look at South Florida, whether is the Cuban American community and now obviously Venezuelans in the recent years, they have added a lot of vitality to our state because they understand the value of freedom, and I think they are really great building blocks to make Florida more prosperous.”
DeSantis background as prosecutor and military officer gives him a prevention approach towards safety in the State. “I have worked for hand in hand with law enforcement to have safe communities. We will be working on maintaining safe communities.” He promotes the detention and prosecution of those with threatening and criminal offenses to prevent escalation of events, like what happened in Parkland “You cannot put our head in the sand, you got to deal with it and take action. Having those folks off the street would be the most effective way, hold them accountable. That would be the most effective way; you cannot let them commit crimes and hope they don’t do anything more dangerous later.”
De Santis’ vision for Florida is based on “principles of freedom and liberty” and looks forward to putting his leadership to service once more as Governor. And for Nuñez “Florida is a great place to live, grow, raise a family and advance; our policies will continue moving Florida forward” to provide opportunities for the future generations.