People head to La Fiesta Bakery looking for a donut or an empanada… But now that pastry comes with a side of politics.
“What I’m asking people,” Ortega said. “The reason I’m obviously running is because I believe the city needs a change. What we need to do is make sure everyone gets out there and votes, that’s the only way for change to happen.”
Gina Montoya Ortega owns La Fiesta Bakery with her husband Ray, and now she is taking a stab at public office, running for Mayor of Las Cruces.
“I don’t consider myself a politician,” Montoya Ortega said. “I don’t want to be a politician. I want to be a public servant, I would like to go in there and hear what people have to say. Because we do have a lot of intelligent people here in Las Cruces, and they have a lot of good ideas. We have to listen to them. We can’t have 7 people that make the decisions that effect the rest of the 100,000 of us.”
She says for years people have come into her bakery and complained about problems they see in the city, and she felt it was time to do something about it.
“It’s kind of like bullies,” Montoya Ortega said. “If you don’t stand up they keep doing what they do to you. I felt like it was time to either step up or step out, and that’s why I decided it was time to run. It’s not something I woke up now and decided it’s time to run for Mayor; it’s something I’ve thought about for 12-20 years. My older two especially remember me saying, “My mom’s going to be the Mayor, My mom’s going to be the Mayor.”
Her three kids are adults now, and it’s something her oldest daughter Vanessa Holguin clearly remembers. She is now very supportive of her mother’s run for office.
“She’s not a politician,” Holguin said. “And she has some good ideas about helping the youth and I’m all about that as well. I think her ideas are great, and I think the city could use some new ideas and some change.”
Montoya Ortega says as both a mother and a grandmother she would like to see more activities for children and teenagers to make Las Cruces a more family friendly city.
“I think we need to invest in our youth,” Montoya Ortega said. “I think that’s a big thing that we need to focus on. Especially because they are our future, and if we don’t take care of them now we are going to have to be responsible for them when they become Juvenile Delinquents. I would rather invest in them when they are young and give them a chance, then wait until we have to deal with a problem.”
She says she also understands the struggles of small business owners, and doesn’t think the city is business friendly. She said before they opened the bakery doors almost 10 years ago, it took 2 years to get all of the permits cleared at the city.
“Making our city more business friendly,” Montoya Ortega said. “So when these businesses do want to come, they don’t have two years to waste. And I think that right there will open the door for more businesses to come into Las Cruces.”
Her sister Rachael Gonzalez is helping at the bakery during the campaign, she says as a native Las Crucen her sister has always been involved and cared about the city.
“She’s familiar with a lot of the needs of the people,” Gonzalez said. “And that’s where her concern is. She wants to make sure that she listens to what the people want, us the people. And I think that’s the most important thing.”
Montoya Ortega said if elected, she wants to look into moving some city meetings to the evening, to make sure people have a chance to make their voices heard.
“The biggest problem I think we have now with our current city government or management is they are not listening to what the people have to say. To me a city is not a place it’s people. If you don’t listen to what the people have to say then you don’t know what problems we have. And I would first of all, like to give people back their voice.”
She says she also wants to improve the infrastructure, quality of life, and provide more support for public safety. For now, Gina Montoya Ortega is listening to peoples concerns inside her bakery and out.
