THE ELECTION GUIDE

Round Three — Lansing City Council 2nd Ward

Jeremy Garza vs. Oprah Revish

Posted

Garza
Garza
Garza, 45, was elected to represent the city’s southern Second Ward in 2017. Born and raised in Lansing, Garza identifies himself as a plumber rather than a politician and has since accumulated a mountain of support from local labor unions. He said his job is to give a voice in city government to “everyday working families” who are far too often overlooked in local politics.

Revish
Revish
Revish, 34, has worked in education since 2009 and serves LGBTQ students at Michigan State University and Lansing’s LGBTQ community as one of the co-directors for the Salus Center, a gathering space, information hub and advocacy space for LGBTQ culture.

Garza is running for his second term on the familiar “I’m not a typical politician” platform. But in addition to being a union plumber, he’s also the state political lead for the Michigan Pipes Trades Association and carries a hefty list of endorsements from career politicians in Lansing.

Garza is usually in lockstep with Schor’s agenda and often advocates for local unions to be involved in the construction of new development projects — something Schor would do anyway. When asked about his most significant accomplishments over the last four years, he cited a “strong track record helping my constituents and providing the service they deserve.”

“When it comes to broader city issues, I have been focused on addressing south Lansing’s priorities, such as fixing our roads, keeping our neighborhoods safe, improving our parks and helping local workers and small businesses recover from the pandemic,” Garza explained.

If elected to another term, the next four years will have a major South Lansing focus, he said. Those priorities include hiring more cops and training them on racial biases and nonviolent conflict resolution, as well as fixing roads and supporting local businesses after the pandemic. As a Latino man, Garza said that he’s acutely aware of racial injustices in the legal system and also wants to find ways to bolster diversity among police and hire more trained social workers.

“To do all this, we cannot slash police funding or defund the police. Instead, we will need to spend more money on public safety, so we can invest in much-needed training, as well as offer higher wages to job recruits so we can attract more talented and qualified officers,” he said.

Revish — the third member of Dunbar’s “crew” alongside Duckett-Freeman — is proudly running on a campaign that seeks to disrupt the status quo at City Hall. She said she differs from Garza in that she’s a “voice for everyone,” not just the interests of local labor unions.

“His slogan is ‘Working for Regular People.’ And when you say regular people, that means there are some irregular people who you aren’t working for,” she said on “Merica 20 to Life.”

Revish’s top priorities include substantially reducing funding to the Police Department, bringing a community center to southeast Lansing and building more relationships with nonprofit groups. She also wants to keep a laser focus on streets, sidewalks and parks in the Second Ward.

“Divesting from the police and investing back into our community is vital if we are going to make sustainable change toward racial equity,” she said. “I will call for government wide professional development workshops on race, privilege and power. We need a common language and understanding of these issues if we are going to address them. We need to expand our definition of public safety and focus on proactive services that provide resources for residents.”

If elected, Revish wants the Council to have more direct conversations about race and the over-policing of Black, brown and indigenous people. She also wants to explore the city’s role in possibly expunging all cannabis-related criminal offenses and releasing inmates from prison.

“We have to unlearn bias and stereotypes so we can truly humanize people different from us and I am ready for these hard conversations. I am not interested in keeping things the way they are. We need to get serious about addressing the needs of our most marginalized residents,” she said. “We have to do things we have never done before to support our houseless population, be proactive about gun violence, and feed Lansing residents experiencing food insecurity. Voters should vote for me in November because I am ready to work for the change.”

Support City Pulse  -  Donate Today!

Comments

No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here




Connect with us