Race For New Mayor Of Hialeah Heats Up Before Municipal Election
HIALEAH (CBSMiami) -- The choice in the municipal election for Hialeah's next mayor is between five candidates - Juan Santana, Esteban Bovo, Fernando Godo, Julio Martinez and Isis Garcia-Martinez.
Juan Santana is a familiar face to the race for Mayor of Hialeah, as this is his third time running after failed runs in 2013 and 2017.
His goal this time if elected is tackling infrastructure issues.
"Our streets have been abandoned for over 58 years and another thing i want to do is eliminate the recycling bin to save you 20 dollars on your garbage bill six times a year," says Santana.
Candidate Esteban Bovo is a former county commissioner who lost the race for Miami-Dade County Mayor to Daniella Levine Cava in 2020.
He says the next Hialeah mayor needs to reflect the values of folks who call the city home.
"They ask about streets they ask about police, quality of life issues, our parks have been neglected for a long time," says Bovo.
Candidate Fernando Godo is an activist in Hialeah hoping to be a continued advocate for the area.
"We have a city now with people with no income and high prices," says Godo.
Candidate Julio Martinez is a former Hialeah mayor who wants his old job back.
He held the mayor title in the early' 90's.
"The city of Hialeah needs to be put back to where it i met it 30 years ago, it's in sad shape now," says Martinez. "Today we have 100 less police, 100 less fire."
Candidate Isis Garcia-Martinez is a former member of Hialeah's city council.
A bedrock of her campaign is to get more businesses to open up in Hialeah in a way to create more jobs.
"The way we can do that is specifically to get the companies out of Florida to incorporate themselves here and to give them a break without any taxes," says Garcia-Martinez.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis clashed with outgoing Mayor Carlos Hernandez through the pandemic.
Isis Garcia-Martinez says the governor was disrespectful to the mayor in the past and Julio Martinez says that he completely supports DeSantis nd would not clash with the governor as mayor.
