Margaret Peggy Corrales This is Me

Education

 Web References

1. 1. The Pinnacle News - ELECTION 2002

   www.pinnaclenews.com/2002-octo - [Cached]

   Published on: 10/17/2002   Last Visited: 10/17/2002

   Margaret "Peggy" Corrales Councilwoman Peggy Corrales moved to San Benito County in 1960. Raised in a migrant worker family, Corrales was born in the Imperial Valley and is a graduate of Gavilan College and San Jose State University. A widow, Corrales has one grown son. Her first job was a lab technician at Gilroy Foods. She worked for Headstart for five years, did two years with Growth and Opportunity, which is a day-care type facility and at the migrant worker camp in Gilroy. She now is a senior pysch technician at Agnews State Mental Hospital. She was elected to the Hollister Council four years ago.
   
   District 2
   
   The city never has been in worse shape. There's a state-mandated, indefinite building moratorium that bans even new job-creating industry, a faulty sewage system and a controversial plan for replacing it on the table, the council can't get along, staff seems to dictate council decisions rather than the other way around, the city manager is leaving, etc. For the challenger: Why are you the right person to solve these problems? Or for incumbent: In light of all of this, why should voters reelect you and how will you address these problems?
   ...
   Corrales: First of all, some of the issues as far as the housing and the amount of housing were already there when Pauline and I got elected.
   ...
   Corrales: I think I represent my district. A high percentage of them have worked in the fields and continue to work in the fields. They feel comfortable coming to me in regards to a lot of things. These past four years I've learned a lot. Of all the council members who have been there previously, I belong to more than half of any regional kind of agency. I belong to the League of Cities, of the Monterey district. I was a treasurer for two years and currently am their vice chair.
   ...
   Corrales: I think I just answered it, because I've been involved in all the other agencies.
   
   Monterey and Santa Cruz Counties, as well as San Benito County and the county Water District, are angry that they were not consulted before Hollister's proposed sewage treatment plan was designed, yet the plant will have wide-ranging environmental impacts. It was created and approved without input from the countywide Groundwater Management Plan. Some agencies think that Hollister is trying to solve its problems with a quick, short-term fix without planning for the future.
   
   For the challenger: Please say whether you think the current plan is adequate and how it can be improved.
   
   ...
   Corrales: I don't really know how to answer those questions because I'm not on the water committee. I know that they've had some input. I find it very, very hard to believe that some of their input was not taken into consideration. But it could be true, I mean I couldn't say, because I don't go to those meetings.
   
   For incumbent: You are a part of a divisive city council that has put the city in a position in which all construction and economic development is at a state-mandated standstill indefinitely. As the ultimate supervisors of the city workforce, you have neglected to foresee the problems that now exist.
   ...
   Corrales: What do you mean by divisive? You know, I'm not even going to answer that question.
   ...
   Corrales: New business does bring revenue into town, that is a fact. But we cannot issue permits, not even for homes and businesses and that's where we're at. We have to take care of the No. 1 priority right now and that is the sewage.
   
   Please give us an example of an instance in which you have used good common sense in your life to solve a problem.
   
   ...
   Corrales: When we discovered that my husband was very ill and had a short period of time to live we were faced with quite a few problems at that time. One of them was whether we should purchase a newer home or stay where we were at. I was also offered a better position at Agnew and because of his illness and because of personal things I had to chose not to take that promotion. And I don't feel any regret, because I was offered it again and again and I turned it down.
   
   If elected, what are your priorities?
   
   ...
   Corrales: No. 1, seek a completion of a sewage plant in the stages of the phases without having to get penalized. The other one, and it's really a sad thing because we really don't know how we're going to do this, is this city really needs a new fire department. You're supposed to have a five minute range by the time the alarm gets set and the fire engine get to wherever the fire incident is happening.
   
   Employees at the Wal-Mart in Gilroy have been telling customers from Hollister that a Wal-Mart is coming to Hollister. Many see the arrival of a Wal-Mart in a small town as a deathblow to local businesses and the end of downtown as we know it. If Wal-Mart were to come before the city council to seek approval to build in Hollister would you support it?
   ...
   Corrales: I couldn't answer that, because I've never heard of it.
   
   The City of Hollister is a decade behind in its efforts to provide adequate parkland and open space for current and future residents. Do you think recreation facilities are part of an adequate infrastructure?
   
   ...
   Corrales: Oh yeah. People want larger parks where they can go and have football and baseball, and all the other parks we've put in do not accommodate those sports.
   
   Who backs your campaign?
   
   ...
   Corrales: Who backs it? Myself.
   
   District 3
   
   The city never has been in worse shape. There's a state-mandated, indefinite building moratorium that bans even new job-creating industry, a faulty sewage system and a controversial plan for replacing it on the table, the council can't get along, staff seems to dictate council decisions rather than the other way around, the city manager is leaving, etc.
   
   For the challenger: Why are you the right person to solve these problems?