Your Vote, Your Future: Hollister growth a point of contention in race for city mayor

HOLLISTER, Calif. (KION-TV) - Voters in Hollister have a choice this election cycle to either keep Ignacio Velazquez as city mayor or replace him with a new challenger, Mia Casey.

Mayor Velazquez has been at the helm of the city for ten years while Casey came to Hollister in the 90s and lived in the city until 2004 before coming back in 2016.

Casey's background includes working in the legal field helping with contract negotiations before working in the public sector at Foothill College in support of the college president.

The point of contention between the two candidates is the type of development coming into a city that has grown quickly over the last few years.

From the 2010 Census to 2020, the population has grown from around 34,000 to more than 40,000 people.

Mayor Velazquez said he's kept his campaign similar to ones before, calling for more business growth in the city while addressing specific housing needs instead of massive projects.

"It creates traffic jams for us and it pushes our own residents out of town," said Velazquez.

He also argues that developers trying to bring projects to Hollister have mostly not focused on creating more affordable housing in the city.

Casey argues that stopping or slowing the housing growth in Hollister has not had any results over the last ten years.

“I don’t feel the same way as the mayor that all developers are evil and they’re out to get us," said Casey "They’re businesses and as a council member you need to hold them accountable when you’re negotiating. That’s what you do.”

Velazquez and Casey are familiar with each other, too. There was a confrontation between the two during a council meeting this year about a development project Casey was concerned about.

Casey voiced said the project's environmental review was being rushed and it led to a council member making comments she believed were directed toward her.

The comment suggested she was "working for developers" and were made by councilmember Rolan Resendiz.

Casey then attended another meeting remotely to address this comment, but when doing so was interrupted by Mayor Velazquez, who said he didn't want her making accusations against council members because it would lead to a long-winded argument during meetings.

The following exchange was transcribed from the council meeting on February 22, 2022:

Mia: You both violated code section 2.04…conduct of elected officials with-

Ignacio: This is what-

Mia: You violated the code of conduct i have the right to bring that to council.

Ignacio: This is what I’m talking about happening in the past. People make accusations, claim something was wrong make it seem like really was wrong but in reality it’s something else.

Mia: You will honor the code of conduct then. that’s not what a part of what you discuss or you don’t care about it? Is that what you’re saying?

Ignacio: Again this is not what the issue is so if you have something else I’ll be happy to hear it. Do you have another issue?

Mia: Not if i’m not allowed to speak about this… 

KION asked Mayor Velazquez about the exchange as this story was being put together. He said "City council meetings are not meant to come and spread lies and campaign. That's just wrong. We're there doing city business and need facts. Not rumors or smearing campaigns."

Casey continued to argue she was well within her right to bring up the concerns to council during the public meeting.

"You can't stop people from speaking on any subject that's of interest to the community," Casey said. "People don't want to be involved in local government because they don't know how they're gonna get treated."

Casey also brought up the in-fighting among council members in recent years. One incident led to the censure of a council member back in 2020.

She adds that the San Benito County District Attorney was notified about the confrontation between her and Velazquez. KION reached out to the district attorney's multiple times leading up to this story's publishing for comment about their findings and they have yet to respond.

Despite prior issues between each other, both candidates said they're interested in keeping the identity of Hollister intact.

This includes preserving the nearby fields for the farmworking community to still have jobs.

"Let's not forget who we are or who we were," said Velazquez. "[Hollister] is a beautiful place but we can't afford to lose it. Because once we build on our ag-land, there's no getting it back."

It also includes building up the downtown area to keep it vibrant and packed on weekends.

“When businesses come to look to see if they’ll locate here they look at your downtown to see what’s going on. Is it vibrant does it have a lot of people?" said Casey.

Both candidates were also asked about a measure this election that could bring back the annual Hollister Bike Rally.

Mia Casey said she will support the rally if security measures are planned prior to the event and coordinated with law enforcement.

Mayor Velazquez said security measures are always kept in mind when or if the bike rally comes to town and he wants to see it come back.