NEWARK – A former deputy mayor is returning to the Newark City Council to switch recently resigned Councilman Mike Bucci.
Ana Apodaca, who last served as deputy mayor in 2014 before deciding to not run for re-election, was appointed to town council on Monday.
Bucci resigned on June 27 because he could not afford his hometown. He desired to buy a house in Newark, but said he couldn’t afford the $60,000 down payment or the high cost of living within the East Bay.
The self-proclaimed “most handsome city councilman with an eyepatch ever” said his salary at a San Leandro-based construction company, in addition to the roughly $13,000 he earned annually as a city councilman, were nowhere near enough to purchase a house in town.
After playing the lottery twice per week, his luck didn't change and he decided to maneuver together with his family to Oxnard, where his grandmother lives in a condo owned by the family, he said in an interview.
Apodaca joined the Newark City Council in 2006 and in addition worked for years within the California Legislature and as a government relations manager. In 2011, she lost a bid for Newark mayor to current City Councilman Alan Nagy.
In her interview with council members this week, she said her top priorities for the rest of this 12 months's term could be to strengthen community education, support police and public safety, and address town's reasonably priced housing needs.
“I think for anyone who lives in this city, in the Bay Area, affordable housing is the most pressing issue,” Apodaca said. “We need to make sure that people like me who grew up in Newark can afford to live in Newark if they want to.”
Apodaca said she wouldn’t run for election in November but would give the seat to whomever voters select. Of the eight people vying to temporarily replace Bucci, only Apodaca and one other candidate said they’d not run for the seat in the autumn.
Hannon's motion to appoint Apodaca was seconded by Deputy Mayor Luis Freitas and passed unanimously by the council.
“I believe it's in my DNA to really give back to my community,” Apodaca said. “To give back to the city of Newark again would be an absolute honor. It was an honor to serve for these nine years and it would be an honor to serve with you again.”
Other applicants for Bucci's seat included: Phil Bloxom, a pc engineer; Daniel Cardenas, a former economic development commissioner in Fremont and founding father of a pediatric cancer research organization; Lucia Gutierrez, who formerly served on the Newark Unified School District Board; Eve Little, a parks and recreation professor at Cal State East Bay; Raju Mathew, a consultant and former manager of the Alameda County Environmental Health Department; Jason Matthew Miguel, a representative of the Santa Clara Valley Water District; and Fatima Shaikh, a freelancer and former member of Ohlone College's student government.
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