Indio City Council: Business owner Jonathan Becerra to run for District 3 seat

Indio resident and small business owner Jonathan Becerra on Friday will announce his campaign for the city council's District 3 seat, currently held by Elaine Holmes.

Three seats on the council — Districts 2, 3 and 4 — will be up for grabs in the Nov. 8 election.

Becerra, 32, was born and raised in Indio, and grew up in the district he hopes to represent, "off of Miles Avenue and Monroe," he told The Desert Sun.

District 3 covers northeast Indio. The District 3 boundaries extend east to Dillon Road from Jackson Street and from near Avenue 43, at the Terra Lago Golf Club, down to Avenue 48, near South Jackson Park.

Becerra currently owns Palma City Productions, a small event production company, and has sat on the board of Desert Recreation District for the last two years, where he said his involvement with policy has grown.

But he is no stranger to getting involved in policy and politics: While he attended Indio High School, he was part of the city's Youth Advisory Council, made up of students that participate in community events as well as in local government. The YAC attends council meetings and reports to the council regularly.

Becerra continues to attend council meetings often, to make public comments on local projects and issues.

"A lot of it's just passion instilled. ...Very early, I got exposed to the fact that you can make a difference in your community, and that's grown. So every time I go to council and give public comment, it's really with that first idea in mind, that it matters to give your opinion to council, put it on record, and let them kind of hold account of what their decision making is after that. It's important," Becerra said.

He has been vocal about his concerns about housing, economic development and overall community engagement in the city, things he said will be a big part of his upcoming campaign.

Becerra said he thinks more needs to be done to balance housing development in the city, versus focusing on high-income developments, including for residents with young families or locals that may be going to schools in other cities, but wish to return and settle down in Indio.

"That's probably my most front of mind. The rest is economic development. (Indio) is the largest city in the valley and has the most potential, the most opportunity, with some of the finest workers and staff involved in it, so it's going to grow. But how are we making sure the residents grow with it?" he said.

Along with other Indio residents, Becerra also provided input on the City of Indio's redistricting process in February, in which many residents were left dissatisfied with the final outcome because their preferred map was not chosen.

"I think the redistricting effort was definitely a highlight as to why we need change in the office. You definitely want to your council to be able to answer why they changed whole neighborhoods into districts and that was something they couldn't even do. That's definitely where I had my eyes opened to really needing someone else in there at this point, because if we can't get answers, even if we disagree with them, it just shows the lack of transparency," he said.

Becerra also helped run Oscar Ortiz's campaign for a council seat in 2018 and said Ortiz, the current mayor pro tem, is endorsing him.

Holmes, who currently represents District 3, has had a seat on council since 2010. District 2 is currently represented by Waymond Fermon, who's currently serving as mayor. Ortiz currently represents District 4.

Eliana Perez covers the eastern Coachella Valley. Reach her at eliana.perez@desertsun.com or on Twitter @ElianaPress.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Indio City Council: Jonathan Becerra to run in District 3