Dr. Aakash Ahuja announced Sunday that he is running for a seat in the 2022 Santa Clarita City Council election.
Ahuja, a psychiatrist for the California State Prison System, and a seven-year resident of Santa Clarita is running for a seat during the 2022 City Council.
“We moved to the Santa Clarita Valley in 2014, and the City has given our family a lot,” Ahuja said.
Ahuja and his wife have two children, who are currently enrolled in elementary school here in the community.
“The City is our family and I want to be able to give back,” Ahuja said.
Ahuja’s has four pillars for his 2022 campaign; keep our City safe, make our City more prosperous, improve the City’s health system and make improvements to education.
Keep The City Safe:
“I believe your main job as a parent is to provide and keep your family safe,” Ahuja said. “As a City Council leader your first job is to keep the City safe.”
If elected, Ahuja plans to work hand-in-hand with Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station to help keep crime low, and to do what he can to keep drugs out of the community.
Make Our City More Prosperous:
As the City has begun to reopen after a year-and-a-half of being forced to close due to the coronavirus pandemic, Ahuja wants to work to help bring momentum back to the businesses that survived, and bring new employment opportunities to the City.
“It is the responsibility for us to jump-start the economy and help our existing businesses stay sustainable, and make sure new small and medium businesses can flourish,” Ahuja said.
Some of the ways Ahuja plans to help new businesses coming to Santa Clarita are to find ways to get faster internet speeds and better cellphone coverage throughout the community.
That way it can be more appealing for job seekers to look for work in the Santa Clarita Valley, he said.
“Our City is going to grow. There are lots of housing developments that are coming in,” Ahuja said. “We might have 100,000 people moving here in three to four years. We need to be prepared, we need to not act when things get worse but right now to have a smooth transition for when we become a larger City.”
Improve The City’s Health System
Another plan that Ahuja wants to tackle is upgrading Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital.
Currently, Henry Mayo has about 350 beds available, however, Ahuja wants to double that number and have about 300 more beds ready as the City continues to grow.
With Santa Clarita also being a family-oriented place, the candidate wants to make the hospital more available for children.
“We do not have any pediatric inpatient beds in our City and that would be one of my goals to achieve,” Ahuja said.
Ahuja also would like to see more mental health resources available, not only for adults, but for youth as well.
By providing more mental health resources to the residents of Santa Clarita, Ahuja feels this could help reduce the homeless population in the valley.
Make Improvements To Education:
Ahuja’s last pillar of his campaign is improving the education system.
One of the reasons why Ahuja, as well as so many others, have moved to Santa Clarita is because of the school districts throughout the Valley, however, the candidate feels there is always room for improvement.
“We need to encourage our kids to be entrepreneurs,” Ahuja said.
He also wants to push to have more Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, (STEM) classes available to students.
“I think this will make our young citizens be better prepared as they face their goals tomorrow,” Ahuja said.
This is Ahuja’s second time running for City Council.
He ran for a seat in the 2020 election, however, he did not receive enough votes.
Ahuja’s supporters encouraged him to rerun again this year, due to his success last year without any political backing, he said.
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