City of Soledad City Council Council Member Fernando Cabrera

Fernando Cabrera won election to the Soledad City Council in the November 2022 general election and started his four-year term in December.

Born in Guanajuato, Cabrera emigrated with his family to Soledad in 1986. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at San Jose State University and is completing his doctoral thesis in the Education Leadership Doctoral Program at California State University, Stanislaus.

Cabrera works in the tax industry, preparing tax returns, teaching in-person and virtual federal and state tax law classes. He has 17 years of teaching experience at the community college level and also has experience working for nonprofit organizations in adult education and training. His training experience focused on transformational change and conflict resolution.

The main issue facing Soledad is housing, says Cabrera. According to Monterey County Weekly, Cabrera has concerns about the lack of affordable housing in the first phase of the Miramonte project, a development that will increase the city’s population by 50 percent.

Notable quote: “Our city location creates a barrier to land expansion, and the only way to build now is up. I want to establish partnerships with developers with the courage and vision to build mixed-housing units that can target low to moderate-income residents.” (Source: Monterey County Weekly)