Candidate Profile: Lopez wants to keep serving the community

Last in a series profiling candidates for the Shafter City Council election in November. Other candidates' stories can be found on TheShafterPress.com.

With two seats up for grabs on the Shafter City Council this November, current member Cesar Lopez is looking to extend his tenure for another four years.

Lopez said that he has enjoyed his time on the council and looks forward to another four years of serving the city.

"I've been a public servant for our great City of Shafter since 2016, first as a board member for Shafter Parks and Recreation, and have had the pleasure to represent our city as a council member since 2018."

Lopez said that in the past four years he has learned so much.

"I have made tough decisions and made my share of mistakes, in which I admit to and learned from. I've served our community all while continuing my career with the California Department of Corrections as a peace officer for the last 15 years. I also have been coaching girls competitive fast pitch softball, where I am the president and head coach of Shafter Brawlers softball, which consists of three teams and almost 40 players."

Lopez commented that he believes that the youth of the community have always been a focal point of his because education and physical activities create success for the future of youth and the community as a whole.

"My greatest accomplishments have been to be able to help expand our Learning Center and the acquisition of our Shafter Library, which is a great addition and partnership for consistent and higher educational learning."

Lopez also said that he is overjoyed with the progress of the future North Shafter Community Park, Veterans Park, new basketball courts, soccer fields, lighting, walk path lighting, the Aquatics Center restoration and skate park improvement, that are already in the works.

"But there is much more work to be done in order to give our youth safe, suitable places to exercise and conduct physical activities. All of this has been done without having to spend valuable general fund resources that can be used for core projects within our city and for the continuing of a high level of public safety."

Lope said that all of this work cannot be done by one person. "It has taken community input from our residents, amazing city staff and council members in order to achieve it. Let's continue to make Shafter an amazing, safe and prosperous city that we all come to love to live in," he said.