Editor’s Note: This is the second segment of the Faces in the Race series.
Ozzy Angulo has been a bus boy, a bartender and a manager at Taco Bell.
This March, he’s hoping to add another job to that list.
Angulo, 29, is running for Gainesville mayor, and as the election nears, he is looking beyond his opponents.
“I’m not in it to beat someone else,” he said. “I’m in it to raise awareness in the community, and nothing can be fixed unless the community and government work together.”
If elected, Angulo said he plans to tackle the climbing crime rate and public transportation policy, specifically for Santa Fe College students.
But for the New York native who accompanied his girlfriend to Gainesville in July 2008, there is another issue at the foundation of his political platform.
Currently, the city limits the number of meals the homeless can receive from churches and the St. Francis House soup kitchen.
“It appears the city is trying to alleviate the pressures of the homeless population by limiting their ability to eat,” Angulo said. “But all it’s really doing is limiting their ability to live.”
He volunteered at St. Francis House Saturday, encouraging residents of the shelter to register to vote.
James Bryant, 58, a St. Francis House resident, worked alongside Angulo, promising the candidate a vote in the upcoming election.
“It’s good to see someone come in,” he said. “It’s good to see people get involved. Anytime a man steps up like that — I like that. Here, we wash each other’s hands.”
At St. Francis House, residents like Bryant are looking for someone to be their voice.
Lugging a water cooler out into the cafeteria for the dining homeless and hungry, the candidate related the issue to his former career in the U.S. Marine Corps.
“When you get put in a position where you lose your resources, you go into survivor mode,” he said. “… I’ve been in survival training.”
But in terms of the brewing mayoral race, he is hardly surviving.
Angulo knows this, just like he knows the likelihood of victory isn’t likely.
According to the latest campaign finance report, Angulo has raised no money.
“I think of defeat every single day,” he said. “I feel like Rocky Balboa in ‘Rocky’ I.”
And although Angulo has accepted his position in the race, he has not accepted the current state of local politics, especially in regard to the homelessness regulations.
“I know I am the obvious underdog,” he said. “But I’m not trying to divide people further. I’m trying to unite a community.”
