Issues · Residents First
Residents first.
City Hall should answer to the people who live here, not the people who profit from building here. That idea sits under everything David is running on.
← All issuesWhat you already know
You find out after it's decided. A project shows up on an agenda, the room fills with people who object, and the vote goes the other way. David has spent years at that podium himself, speaking for projects and against them. He knows what it's like to not be heard.
You're paying more, and nobody has shown you the receipt. In April 2025 the sales tax in Moreno Valley went from 7.75 to 8.75 percent. That one cent brings in about $30 million a year. It's a general tax, which means the council can spend it on anything. The budget lists what it might pay for: "up to" 18 more deputies, "up to" 24 more firefighter-paramedics. "Up to" is not a promise.
It took two tries to get that tax right. Voters approved the same one-cent tax in 2021. The state refused to collect it because of how the measure was written, and it had to go back on the ballot in 2024.
The city owns an electric utility, and the council sets its rates. Moreno Valley Utility serves the city's newer neighborhoods. Its policy is to charge about what Edison charges. It also offers discounted rates to large employers. Residents get the bill.
What David will do
Your voice
Tell neighbors early.
When a major project is proposed, the people who live nearby should hear about it when the application comes in, not days before the vote.
Explain every vote, and stay reachable.
David will hold regular district meetings, answer his own phone, and say in plain language why he voted the way he did.
Your money
Show the receipt.
A public report every year on the new sales tax: every dollar in, every dollar out, in plain English. Voters were promised disclosure. David will hold City Hall to it.
Turn "up to" into a commitment.
Deputies and firefighters first, with numbers and dates, before the money goes anywhere else.
Read the budget like a contractor reads a bid.
Line by line, looking for what residents are paying for and not getting.
Your bills
Put residents first at the city utility.
Look for every way to lower what families pay before another discount goes to a large user, and publish a yearly comparison of what Moreno Valley Utility customers pay next to Edison customers.
No data centers until existing customers are protected.
Data centers use enormous amounts of power. Before one is approved, the city should prove that the families already on the system won't pay for it.
Why David
David has been a contractor and small business owner for decades. He knows what a budget is, what a change order costs, and what happens when the plan is wrong. He serves on the Planning Commission, so he knows how these decisions get made. And he has stood on the other side of the dais, as a resident asking to be heard.
"Residents deserve leaders who listen, who care, and who act."