Nascimento, Esquer will make principled decisions for Turlock

Two significant issues roiled Turlock’s City Council this year. Steven Nascimento was on the right side of both.

Amy Bublak wasn’t.

Both Nascimento and Bublak won their seats on the City Council when all were filled by “at-large” votes. But now, Turlock elects council members by district, making this election crucial.

Bublak only recently moved into District 4 – apparently with the specific purpose of challenging Nascimento. Only one can return to the council, and we hope District 4 voters make certain that’s Nascimento.

He stood tall when a for-profit farmers market tried to push aside a homegrown nonprofit market from a prime downtown location. The rest of the council – including Bublak – opted to support a for-profit market backed by one of Turlock’s most prominent families and largest political donors.

That was politically expedient, but a bad move.

After some disingenuous attempts to work out a compromise, the nonprofit Turlock Certified Farmers Market decided to move its Saturday operation to the county fairgrounds. Its customers went with it, and the market remained as popular as ever.

The for-profit market took the downtown location, but faltered and stopped operating by late summer – hurting downtown merchants, who enjoyed the foot traffic the original market generated.

Nascimento – who carried this fight alone in the early stages – was right all along.

He was also right in his efforts to establish TIN CUP (Time Is Now, Clean Up Politics) rules to keep council members from voting on issues affecting large donors. After acrimonious meetings, in which Bublak expressed outrage that anyone would believe council members could be influenced by donations, the council settled on a pledge that guaranteed absolutely nothing. Signing it was an empty gesture. Nascimento didn’t win, but he was right.

Donald Babadalir, a third candidate, first ran two years ago. He’s a strident free-market advocate, which has little bearing on the day-to-day workings of city government.

District 2 – The best thing about district elections is that they encourage people like Gil Esquer and Jaime Franco to run for office, then give them a real political voice.

Esquer is a careful man, inclined to look for solutions rather than confrontation – which will be important in what could be a sharply divided council. He feels he can “work with anybody … if they’re willing to get the job done.”

He was right to refuse to sign the council’s phony ethics pledge. “I thought it was haphazard. It was put together in two weeks. … The other plan (TIN CUP) was much more viable. If elected, I look forward to bringing it back to the table. But I don’t have to sign a form to do what’s right.”

Franco says he’s not accepting any contributions, saying his votes “are not for sale.” That’s admirable, but campaigns can become expensive for people of modest means, and we’d hate to see anyone eliminated for not having accepted contributions – within reasonable limits.

Both candidates have similar priorities – more street lighting, better pavement, real sidewalks, more public safety staffing in their neighborhoods. And both support Measure L, the half-percent sales tax increase to fix and build better roads in all of the county’s communities.

Of the two, we believe Esquer can be more effective more quickly, though we appreciate Franco’s drive.

Over the next four years, difficult decisions on downtown and development await the Turlock City Council. We will be a lot more comfortable if people like Steven Nascimento and Gil Esquer are making those decisions. Both, we believe, can be counted on to do what’s right.

This story was originally published October 31, 2016 at 11:13 AM with the headline "Nascimento, Esquer will make principled decisions for Turlock."