Mayoral Candidate J. Raul Cedillo sees a brighter future for Long Beach

Long Beach will hold elections, including for the seat of mayor, in 2022, and candidate J. Raul Cedillo wants to bring big changes to the city. 

Cedillo is a first-generation American born in Tampico, Mexico. He moved to the United States at a young age and witnessed his family’s hard work ethic when he grew up in Coachella Valley. After starting a family of his own in Long Beach and working with various nonprofits for the last 5 years, Cedillo feels that he could make a significant impact as mayor. 

“I’ve been working in nonprofits for a very very long time but I’ve always felt like I could help more people,I could touch more lives. I want to leave this earth better than I found it and I think the best way to do that would be in serving the public,” said Cedillo. 

Cedillo hopes to reallocate funds from the Long Beach Police Department in order to finance youth leadership programs. He expects that investing in programs for local communities will decrease crime in Long Beach. 

“One of the things that ties to crime is the lack of opportunities, I think that one way to combat crime is investing in our communities, we are going to invest in our people,” said Cedillo. 

The youth leadership program would provide opportunities for Long Beach high school students to become involved in local government as well as receive scholarships and letters of recommendation from the mayor.  The main goal is to inspire the youth of Long Beach to participate in the voting process and even run for office in the future. 

Cedillo also plans to invest in renewable energy resources to address the pollution and climate change issues Long Beach is facing. 

“Long Beach was one of the worst cities in California in terms of our air quality and that’s scary. I have a family, I’m raising kids here, and my biggest fear is my girls developing asthma or another illness. There needs to be a plan that really involves using green energies that are efficient and that are not adding any more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere,” said Cedillo.

Cedillo’s ‘Make Long Beach Start-up Friendly’ initiative which would provide classes in marketing, accounting, and financing to community members. This would be geared towards benefiting small businesses throughout the city. 

“I myself had my own business, I know that a typical business won’t turn a profit the first two years, maybe even three. I think it would help local businesses to not have to worry about the startup costs If we could forgo taking that fee, helping them get registered, and just guide them through that whole process,” said Cedillo.

The election for mayor, and several other positions, will take place on June 7, 2022. Voters can register to vote or check their registration status at longbeach.gov

By,

Morgan Trivitt