The main concerns of residents of El Paso’s City Council District 7 seem simple enough to candidates on the Nov. 5 ballot who want to represent that area: restore public trust and address high taxes and street maintenance.
The contenders are Fabiola Campos-Lopez, chair of the El Paso Neighborhood Coalition; Chris Hernandez, political consultant and Ysleta Independent School District trustee; Lily Limón, retired educator and former District 7 representative; and Alan Serna, a businessman and environmentalist.
Because of term limits, incumbent Henry Rivera could not run for reelection. He will complete his time in office in January.
City representatives, who can serve up to two four-year terms, set the direction of city government, including establishing a property tax rate and budget each year. Their annual salaries are $63,038. District 7, which is shaped like a piece of a jigsaw puzzle, covers most of the Lower Valley and parts of the Eastside and has about 55,000 registered voters.
District 7 resident Ines Enciso, 91, is still studying the candidates. She has lived in her home near the intersection of Vista Del Sol and George Dieter drives for 25 years. She said she had no complaints and no suggestions for the next city representative.
“We’ve had potholes, but they get fixed,” she said matter-of-factly. “I think sometimes complaints are exaggerated. I have no gripes. I’m satisfied. I like my streets. I like my neighbors. My little world is very comfortable.”
While taxes and streets are key concerns, the candidates shared that residents also are interested in climate change, public safety, affordable housing, commercial development, community revitalization and quality of life issues such as parks and amenities.
The candidates spoke with El Paso Matters about some of their main issues and why they believe they are the best person for the job.
Fabiola Campos-Lopez
Political newcomer Campos-Lopez said that one of her goals, if elected, is to earn back community trust in public service.
Campos-Lopez, 62, said that her five years as leader of the El Paso Neighborhood Coalition, a nonprofit network of city-registered neighborhood associations, have allowed her to build a record of leadership and integrity, and to connect with scores of residents throughout the city.
“They know me as someone who deals in facts,” she said during a conversation at Yucca Park off Yarbrough Drive. “I’m someone they can trust. They know I am dedicated to the common good.”
Among her accomplishments was leading the effort to bring the Neighborhood USA Conference to El Paso in May 2023. The event attracted more than 650 neighborhood and community leaders from around the country as well as Japan and the Bahamas. It had an economic impact of $650,000.
Campos-Lopez, who has lived in District 7 for 35 years, was born in El Paso and raised in Ciudad Juárez. Her parents were an electrician dad and a homemaker mom. She returned to El Paso to attend Lydia Patterson Institute before she earned her bachelor’s degree in business administration with a minor in marketing from the University of Texas at El Paso.
She worked for the Texas Department of Human Services for eight years, where she assisted people in financial need. The married mother of three grown children and grandmother of two started to volunteer at her children’s schools to include PTA. Around 2016, she got involved in a rezoning case that would have negatively affected the area’s rural culture through the addition of denser multi-family dwellings. Her success in that case led to additional community advocacy.
Campos-Lopez continues to serve on numerous boards and committees. Among them are the El Paso Electric Texas Customer Advisory Partnership Board and the Community en Acción Young Achievers Forum Committee.
As chair of the neighborhood coalition, she has dealt with many if not all city departments. She said those connections will help her efforts to create safer, stronger, healthier and more affordable neighborhoods.
Campos-Lopez plans to support police initiatives, invest in small businesses, promote public/private partnerships, expand affordable health care efforts such as mobile health clinics, strategize residential infill development, and increase the property tax homestead exemption for fixed-income households.
She hoped that her experience and track record of community involvement would earn people’s votes. Eleven of 13 neighborhood associations in District 7 support her campaign, she said.
“I want to make a positive difference in (District 7’s) quality of life,” Campos-Lopez said.
Chris Hernandez
Hernandez said former U.S. President Bill Clinton got him interested in politics when he was in third grade. In his teens, friends teased him because “Meet the Press” was his must-see TV show.
As a UTEP student, he focused on history and political science courses because he wanted to be a lawyer, but his higher education circles got him involved in political campaigns at the local level. What started as a volunteer job with the Barack Obama 2012 presidential campaign became a paid position. He said he found his calling.
Hernandez, 40, became an independent political consultant and community organizer, as well as a technology entrepreneur. He won his first campaign in 2023 for a seat on the YISD Board of Trustees. He said he decided to run because he thought the board did not have enough discussion on agenda items, which denied the community a voice.
The native El Pasoan’s parents divorced when he was young, so he divided his time with his mom, a mental health therapist, in Central El Paso, and his dad, a trucker, in the Lower Valley. Hernandez, his wife, and three young daughters have lived in District 7 for 10 years.
The candidate said he chose to run for council to restore public faith in the body. He said that residents have told him that tax dollars could be spent better, especially when it comes to streets.
“We need a new direction,” Hernandez said during an interview at a District 7 restaurant. He said, if elected, he would respond to residents’ issues and look for answers with their help.
He supports community policing, and promoted the $413 million public safety bond in 2019 and the $257 million Community Progress Bond in 2022 that called for street infrastructure, parks and recreation facilities and a climate action plan. He supports enhancing the mission trails and adding to open spaces. He continues to refine a concept to revitalize a property near the Speaking Rock Entertainment Center.
Hernandez is confident that he is ready to be a city representative in part because of his training as a part-time high school baseball umpire.
He said politicians, like umpires, sometimes have to make tough, controversial calls. Constituents may not understand why he voted a certain way, and may be upset with the decision, but he pledged to be as transparent and as communicative as possible in those situations.
“Everybody knows that if you are going to be a politician … you have to have thick skin,” he said. “I’m built for it.”
Lily Limón
Limón speaks confidently about her plans to help residents of her district and her city if elected. Her priorities are tax relief, especially for the elderly and people with disabilities; better and safer streets to include light synchronization; and enhanced public safety.
Limón said she is the best qualified candidate to tackle these issues because of her experience, which includes four years as District 7 representative from 2013-2017, and the work she has done since then to serve the community.
“I’ve stayed on top of topics,” she said recently before another day of block walking around her community of the past 47 years. “I’m no stranger to what’s going on in the city. I’ve stayed active in the community and know its issues.”
Limón, 74, is an El Paso native whose parents owned and operated a grocery store in Central El Paso. She graduated from Austin High School and earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from UTEP. She worked 29 years as an educator and administrator with Ysleta ISD.
The married mother of two adult daughters has served as a member or leader of numerous cultural, political, academic, religious and social organizations. Limón is on leave from her role as a political consultant with Sun Circle Strategic Group, but she continues to serve on the Diocese of El Paso Commission on Migration.
She talked about the election from a bench along the Independence Hike and Bike Trail across from the William W. Cowan Swimming Pool. She had a hand in the trail’s creation and is proud of it because of how it enhances the community’s quality of life.
Limón mentioned that she was a full-time city representative who resolved more than 1,800 constituent concerns during her initial term in office. She said she would be just as diligent if elected again.
She acknowledged that some residents may remember her for conflicts with fellow council members and an alleged violation of the Texas Open Meeting Act in 2017. The district attorney declined to press charges the next year.
Rivera defeated her by a 2-to-1 ratio when she sought re-election in 2017.
Limón said that the council members at that time were deeply polarized and not as focused on finding solutions. Her community efforts during the past eight years made her realize that she could have done a better job to work toward solutions instead of rigidly defending her position.
“I’ve learned a lot from that,” Limón said. “I know I am a better listener and a better communicator after eight years.”
Alan Serna
Serna wants to see the city – and District 7 – become as safe, as green and as successful as possible. To accomplish that, the city needs to maintain its streets, address climate issues and build tourism.
“I’m willing to work 16 hour days,” said the El Paso native who owns and operates several landscape-oriented businesses, including a tree farm. “I’m ready to roll up my sleeves and get my hands dirty.”
His main goal for the district, if elected, is to fix or repave as many streets as possible, replace or erect as many street signs and street lights as necessary, and set up speed humps where needed to deter street racers.
Serna’s main tourism idea is a Downtown tourist mall anchored by an ice-skating rink surrounded by eateries, souvenir shops, an arcade and bars for adults.
To achieve his goals, Serna, 54, said he would need to generate revenue and, in the case of the tourist mall, pass a bond issue with a public-private partnership.
For street maintenance, he would propose an additional tax on diesel fuel because the heavy trucks that use the fuel generate more pollution and do the most damage to streets. He plans to hire an executive assistant/grant writer who would apply for federal and state funds for street projects. Additionally, he believes the city could find more revenue for streets after independent auditors review each city department.
“It creates efficiency,” Serna said while seated in his front yard alongside election materials he planned to distribute during his daily block walking.
The businessman, who ran unsuccessfully for the same office in 2003 and 2005, has lived in the district for more than 30 years. He said he decided to run again because residents need a responsive representative.
The married father of two adult sons and a teenage daughter became interested in politics and the environment as a teenager. He grew up in Texas and Southern California with his father, a foreman for Phelps Dodge Refining Corp., and his mother, a handwriting analyst. He earned a master’s degree in political science with a focus on urban economics in 2015 from UTEP.
Serna has been a member of several environmental civic groups, including the West Texas Urban Forestry Council. Through the years, he has studied how the correct placement of the right species of trees can lower temperatures and prolong the life of streets. He planned to suggest an ordinance to plant more trees because they look good and are good for the environment.
“I love El Paso,” he said. “I love everything about it.”
Early voting will take place from Oct. 21 through Nov. 1. If no candidate earns 50% plus one vote, the top two finishers will participate in a Dec. 14 runoff.
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