Hyattsville’s 2021 election season is here, and with 20 candidates running for five ward seats and the mayor’s office, it may be the biggest election the city has ever seen. All week long, Route 1 Reporter will be introducing you to as many of the candidates as possible in a series of video interviews. Over the past week, Route1Reporter has interviewed 15 of the 20 candidates running. Today, we start to unveil this interviews, focusing on the race for the mayor’s office, which has three candidates competing for votes in incumbent interim Mayor and Ward 1 City Councilor Kevin Ward, Ward 4 City Councilor Joseph Solomon, and city politics newcomer Austin Martinez. One of those three will secure enough votes to serve out the last two years of the term of former Mayor Candace Hollingsworth, who resigned last year.
Route 1 Reporter’s interview with Martinez is below.
In these interviews, each candidate was asked the same six questions. The questions were not shared with the candidates beforehand. The questions are also fairly broad, providing candidates an opportunity to introduce themselves and describe their approach to local government policymaking.
Hyattsville’s election season concludes May 11, 2021.
Theis:
Hello. My name is Michael Theis, editor and publisher of Route1Reporter.com. I’m here todoay with Austin Martinez, one of three candidates running to fill the last two years of the term of former mayor, Candace Hollingsworth, who resigned last year in all, Hyattsville has 20 candidates running for five ward seats and the mayor’s office. This interview and others are intended to be a broad introduction to the candidates and their approach to local government policy and policy making. Let’s begin, Austin, how are you doing today? Oh, Austin. I believe you’re muted.
Martinez:
Okay. I’m pretty fine. Thank you for having me, Michael.
Theis:
Excellent. And no worries there. It’s it’s the reality of our age with Zoom. Um, first question, tell me a little bit about yourself. What do you do and how did you come to live in Hyattsville?
Martinez:
Well, Michael, thank you for, well, that’s an interesting question. Thank you for saying. Well, I have been living in a Hyattsville for roughly, well, going on 17 years. Um, I’m on native to highsville, I’m a community activist educating my community on monetary policy and as well as educating my community on exercising their constitution or go to to educating my community on their constitutional rights. Um, my recent occupation was working for the DC board of election here in DC. And right now it’s a moment I am unemployed and just focusing my, you know, giving all my time, devoting towards my community.
Theis:
Okay. Second question. Why are you running for Hyattsville city council?
Martinez:
Well, I saw a void in leadership and, you know, from a very young age from volunteering with the police department and food drives volunteering with the fire department and just volunteering in my community. I said that there was a leadership board that needed to be filled, you know, and oftentimes when, you know, from speaking to, you know, some of our residents, I want to be able to promote public trust and safety. I want to be able to provide economic opportunities to our youth and make sure that everybody’s voice is heard in the city of Hyattsville. I think that us as elected officials should be held accountable if you are not fulfilling the roles of our duties.
Theis:
Third question. What is the most pressing issue facing Hyattsville right now and what policies would you pursue to address it?
Martinez:
So, and that’s a good question. Thank you for bringing it up. I would say affordable housing and as well as the crime rate. So in and around the city of Hyattsville, you know, the crime rate has been significantly rising, you know, from 2016 to 2021. And, and this is very critical because, you know, oftentimes when I speak to some of the police officers, I tell them not everybody’s stop is going to be a criminal for those individuals that you, you know, you do stop. We need a psychologist that works for the city. That’s able to determine whether or not that individual may suffer from mental health issues and whether or not we may need to transport that individual to a hospital. So, you know, being able to, once again, being able to promote a healthy police department and make sure that, you know, our, our crime rates are reduced that way, to combat crime with an effective agenda and as well as tackle, you know, affordable housing, these issues are very concerning to me. And if elected, I will address these issues in a very discreet manner.
Theis:
Okay. My fourth question, what is a unique skill or perspective you would bring to this job? If elected,
Martinez:
I would say, you know, my energy skill and leadership skill. You know, oftentimes as I stated before, I feel that with the current administration, they lack in leadership skill. Um, you know, I, within the two weeks I knocked on over 400 residents doors in the city of Hyattsville. And, you know, sometimes some of them don’t even know that there’s a local government until they see my face knocking on the door. And, you know, when I speak to them, I often tell them that, you know, my, my priority would be, you know, safety and public trust. We need to be able to, you know, send out the proper information to our senior citizens, to our youth and make sure that they have a voice within the local government. You know, we’re a big community here. And, you know, in this time and age of disinformation, we need unification. We need to, we need everybody’s voice in the table and we need to make sure that we create an effective agenda, not just that, you know, reflects the local government, but the community values as well.
Theis:
Okay. Then a fifth question, almost all of the city council races this year are competitive, including the mayor’s race. Why should people vote for you in particular?
Martinez:
Thank you. I would say that because, you know, oftentimes when people come up to me and say that, you know, Austin, you know, I have an issue, you know, regarding whether it’s an economic or social issue. Now I tell them that even though, you know, I might not have the answer there, you know, I will get back to you within 24 hours. No project is too smart, too big for me. You know, I’ve been, you know, a native of the city of Hyattsville for over 16 years. And I have seen some of the foundation and, you know, that have been voted by the local government. And, you know, if elected occupation agenda that we can invest a lot of our time and money into our economic development in, towards creating a sustainable environment and towards making sure that we use the money that’s generated in our fiscal revenue that it’s used effectively. Because what we want to do is that we want to be able to keep the money inside the city. We want to create economic opportunities for you. We want to create social programs and promote culture cultural identities. So if elected, I will demonstrate a new era, a new kind of leadership, and we’ll create an agenda that would affect the citizens of Hyattsville Okay.
Theis:
And my last question tonight, many hot button issues in our national political discourse are at their heart local issues. These are issues such as policing education policy, or debates over renaming landmarks and parks. How do you identify politically in a national context, such as democratic or Republican, progressive conservative, or any other term under the sun, and how do those political values inform the policies you would pursue here in Hyattsville. And you’re muted again It seems.
Martinez:
Okay. Well, these are all good questions and we need to be able to come in to organize, you know, the community and bring them together and unification. You know, whether that’s combating, you know crime and bringing the police force, you know, together to elect the a chief that’s well skilled and, um, well well-versed within that field. And, you know, when it comes to renaming Magruder Park, we, we have to, you know, it’s, I – I actually saw some of the lists, there was about five names and they’re all good names. I’m not discouraging not one of them. Um, but once again, we can’t just sing a lot, you know, one race, we have to come together and bring together, you know to community because in this time a lot of people, you know, feel as if their voice doesn’t matter. And it shouldn’t be that way, you know, whether you’re 18 years old or whether you’re a senior citizens, we all need to come together and, you know face some of these challenges. I understand within the political spectrum, that it’s a sensitive topic to speak on who, if we don’t address these issues you know, we’re not going to accomplish nothing.
Theis:
Okay. Then, and I’m sorry, let me I guess try to get you to answer the central question there, you know, what, how would you describe yourself politically, nationally, and how does that influence your local politics?
Martinez:
Yup. I would describe myself. Um, I would describe myself very, very, um, I’m always eager to come up with new challenges and face some of these challenges, you know, when it comes to the political spectrum you know, it’s oftentimes, you know, we hear, you know, individuals, are you a far right? Or you’re far left. Um, we need to bring a variety of skills, you know, and, and come to a bipartisan view, you know, to my understanding, you know, the council, the local government in the city of Hyattsville has been having difficult times coming up with resolutions. And and that shouldn’t be the case. We need to work together, um, create an effective agenda and expedite that to the community. I think that we need to add, you know, as elected officials, we represent their voice in the local government, and if we’re not fulfilling our duties, then we need to be held accountable for it.
Theis:
Excellent. Um, well, Austin, those are all the questions I have for you tonight. I would like to thank you very much for taking the time to speak with me to everyone who’s watching along on Route1reporter.com. Thank you for paying attention. And if you live in Hyattsville, get out there and vote on May 11th. have a good day, everyone.
Martinez:
Thank you.