Manuel Escamilla
Manuel Escamilla (also known as Manny) ran for election to the Santa Ana City Council to represent Ward 6 in California. He lost in the general election on November 8, 2022.
Escamilla completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Manuel Escamilla was born in Long Beach, California. He received his bachelor's degree in history from UC Berkeley in 2008 and his master's degrees from UCLA in library and information science in 2014 and in urban and regional planning in 2018. Escamilla's professional experience includes working as a librarian and archivist and as an urban planner. He has been associated with the Makara Center for the Arts, the Mexican-American Cultural Center of OC, and the Directors Circle for the Grand Central Art Center.[1]
Elections
2022
See also: City elections in Santa Ana, California (2022)
General election
General election for Santa Ana City Council Ward 6
Incumbent David Penaloza defeated Manuel Escamilla in the general election for Santa Ana City Council Ward 6 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | David Penaloza (Nonpartisan) | 54.8 | 2,863 |
 | Manuel Escamilla (Nonpartisan)  | 45.2 | 2,364 | |
| Total votes: 5,227 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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2019
See also: City elections in Santa Ana, California (2019)
General election
Special general election for Santa Ana City Council Ward 4
The following candidates ran in the special general election for Santa Ana City Council Ward 4 on November 5, 2019.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Phil Bacerra (Nonpartisan) | 27.4 | 3,815 |
| Manuel Escamilla (Nonpartisan) | 26.4 | 3,666 | |
 | Beatriz Mendoza (Nonpartisan) | 23.9 | 3,324 | |
| Gale Oliver Jr. (Nonpartisan) | 10.2 | 1,424 | ||
 | Jennifer Oliva (Nonpartisan) | 8.3 | 1,154 | |
| Brandon Sisco (Nonpartisan) | 3.8 | 525 | ||
| Total votes: 13,908 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Campaign themes
2022
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Manuel Escamilla completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Escamilla's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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While attending Santa Ana Community College, Manny worked at the Santa Ana Public Library and as a machinist at ADAPT Automation with his father. Through hard work and perseverance, Manny transferred and earned a BA in History from UC Berkeley. He continued his studies and completed a Master's of Library & Information Science from UCLA in 2014.
Manny worked his way through school and spent his career preserving the city’s history and working with community members to improve its future. In 2015, he was recognized by the Library Journal for his work with the Teen Community Historian program for collecting, preserving, and sharing Santa Ana's history - a passion he continues to share on social media today. He was then recruited to work for the planning department and pursued a Master's of Urban & Regional Planning from UCLA in 2018, while continuing to work full time for the City of Santa Ana.
In 2019, Manny left employment with the city to focus on addressing the policy issues that were impacting Santa Ana residents. He used his knowledge and skill to help researchers study the sources of lead pollution, provided continuing support to local artists, and supported policy initiatives that help improve the quality of life for all residents in the City.- Homelessness is connected to public safety, public health, and the overall well-being of the City. We must address the issue through a comprehensive strategy focused on delivering cost-effective results by: Partnering with new State programs for a humane medically focused conservatorship program for individuals facing addiction and mental health crises; Protecting renters and low-income residents from being displaced due to rising housing costs; Evaluating and expanding social service responders to homelessness calls; Replacing the shelter system with vouchers and permanent supportive housing; Reopen the Costa Mesa mental health facility; Stopping the systematic transportation of homeless individuals from other parts of the County.
- Rising housing costs are the single biggest economic issue in our community. I am committed to bold and comprehensive action to make sure that everyone has access to high-quality housing by: Establishing a legal defense fund for renters; Building locally owned social housing; Protecting local rent stabilization; Creating low interest loans to build locally owned ADUs; Expanding home ownership opportunities; Revising code standards to allow for high quality townhouses; Allowing single room occupancy units in the appropriate locations; Converting blighted hotels to affordable housing.
- Santa Ana residents deserve to live in a safe and welcoming community. We need to make sure that our public safety strategy delivers real results for our community members by: Prioritizing homicide and violent crime investigations; Diverting non-violent calls to civilian staff that can respond faster; Eliminating the rape kit backlog; Creating afterschool recreational activities for youth; Investing in robust social programs for Ward 6 residents; Designing slower speed streets in residential neighborhoods; Establishing a Public Safety Oversight Board to review effectiveness of public safety efforts.
There's a significant amount of funding that has come into these spaces over the past few years, but there is much less oversight and analysis as to whether any of these programs are effective. As many in my generation, I have personally been limited in my housing options by the ever increasing costs and last of housing options in the city I grew up in.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
2019
Video for Ballotpedia
| Video submitted to Ballotpedia Released August 27, 2019 |
Manuel Escamilla completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2019. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Escamilla's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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- Working with residents for long term solutions to the homelessness crisis through supportive housing, job placement, and evidence based responses.
- Investing in our youth through investments in parks, libraries, and after school programs.
- Making City Hall work for residents and small businesses instead of
We can reduce the number of individuals suffering from temporary economic homelessness by providing work placement services within existing shelters. I would aggressively push the State and County to reopen the Fairview Development Center to serve as a mental health facility for homeless individuals in need of supportive housing. I will also work with staff to develop alternative evidence-based procedures for 911 calls regarding homeless individuals.
SAFER NEIGHBORHOODS
Together we can create a safer city by investing in preventative diversionary programs in high risk neighborhoods. The City of Santa Ana should once again become a national leader in community policing practices. We must use public infrastructure dollars to invest in safer street design to prevent pedestrian fatalities caused by speeding vehicles.
HELPING SMALL BUSINESSES
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
See also
2022 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on October 15, 2019
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