Name: Daniel Torres
Year: 2nd
Major: History of Public Policy
Hometown: San Diego, CA
Hobbies: I’m a huge nerd so I like reading the news and listening to podcasts. Outside of politics, I’m also really big on health and fitness so I go on runs and hikes around places in Santa Barbara and Goleta.
Favorite place to study on/off campus?
If I studied enough to have a study spot, it’d be in AS Main, since that’s where my office hours are this fall. 12:30 to 3:30PM Fridays, come through.
Favorite place to eat in IV?
Super Cucas, hands down. Best burrito place in IV. Even better than Freebirds. Fight me!
What made you want to get politically involved on campus and in IV?
Well, being the son of two undocumented immigrants, it’s pretty difficult not to get involved when your whole life is very politicized. Moreover, once you learn more about the history of IV and what’s going on in the UC system today, it’s hard not to want to solve the issues we’re facing here. Just to give you an example, the way IV is set-up we have houses about to fall off the cliff face on DP. Students and families alike are facing problems with landlords, with there being 20+ cases of families getting evicted from their homes in the past few years. Tuition might be going up since the tuition freeze ends next year. Food and housing insecurity is really damn high at the moment, and mental health services on campus are stretched very thin. This is just a few issues, I could go on and on. There’s a lot of things wrong at the moment, and I want to fix them. That’s why I’m here!
Tell me more about Campus Democrats.
The purpose of Campus Democrats is to get young people motivated to vote and to get democrats elected at every level, like myself. We have candidates for public office like Congressional and Senate hopefuls that come and speak to us, and also hold discussions on topics that are important to us. We’re also the annoying people tabling and canvassing at your door trying to get you to vote.
What position are you running for?
I’m running for the Isla Vista Recreation and Parks District Board of Directors. It’s a fancy sounding name for someone who oversees the parks. It’s not quite what Leslie Knope does, but something similar. If you’ve ever seen the small white signs on grass fields around campus that say “This area uses recycled water,” we don’t have any of that in IV, which my running mate Carlos Lopez and I want to have in the parks. We also want to support local talent by partnering with artists and musicians.
What are measures E&F and why are they important?
If you’ve heard of the noise ordinance change that was proposed early in the summer, that’s an example of an outside group trying to solve problems in IV without involving IV. Measures E and F are meant to give Isla Vistans a way to make Isla Vista better themselves. Through the new local government, we’re going to have a tenant mediation service, where a tenant can have a third party negotiate a solution to a problem with your landlord with a legally binding agreement, parking reform, and a new community policing program, to have community members go to parties and issue warnings instead of police officers going to parties and issuing tickets. This would all be paid for by a small utilities tax on your bill every month.
Where do you see yourself 5 years from now?
Since the Parks Board position is a four year term, I’d be leaving Isla Vista to go somewhere else. Maybe to San Diego to run for City Council, or to Sacramento to work on state-level stuff. Maybe DC, who knows!
Anything else you would like HerCampus readers to know about you?
Everything I wrote about is an abridged version since I don’t want to bore you all with details. If you want to know more feel free to contact me on Facebook or at torres.daniel@outlook.com.