Ready to serve
Newly elected Lodi councilman Mikey Hothi optimistic as he embarks on first term
Mikey Hothi, one of the two newest faces that will serve the Lodi City Council the next four years, is looking at trying to hit the ground running when he is sworn in on Dec. 16.
The Lodi native and Tokay High School alum said he has already met with city manager Steve Schwabauer and public library director Anwan Baker, and has other meetings with various city department heads scheduled for this week.
The district director for Assemblyman Jim Cooper, D-Elk Grove, Hothi said while he is new to the council, he is optimistic about being able to work with the incumbents.
“I have great a relationship with the council,” he said. “I sit with Lodi mayor Doug) Kuehne on the Lodi Chamber’s government relations committee. Working with Assemblyman Cooper, I’m his point person for all things Lodi, and so I’ve had a long standing relationship with a lot of these folks here.”
Hothi’s interest in politics began long before his campaign for council, as well as before his career with Cooper in 2014.
He ran for class treasurer in the fifth grade and lost, was elected sixth grade vice president a year later, and served as class president during his time at Tokay High.
After graduating high school, he attended the University of California, Los Angeles and earned a degree in political science.
He met Cooper when the assemblyman was still an Elk Grove City Council member, and volunteered with Cooper’s campaign for the 9th District. Cooper then asked Hothi to join his staff as district director.
“Mikey is smart and knows the issues well,” Cooper said in an e-mail. “I’m not surprised that he got elected because he’s already done a lot for Lodi and I’m expecting many great things from him in the coming years.”
As district director, Hothi handles constituent outreach, assists with event organization, as well as speech writing.
Constituent outreach is something Hothi has already experienced while campaigning for his District 5 seat on the Lodi City Council.
“I’ve already been dealing with a couple of cases where the residents from my district have texted me about code complaints or other issues they’re seeing in their neighborhood,” he said. “I’ve gotten pretty good at quickly trying to get results. The other day a guy down the street from me ... I guess a stop sign was stolen from his street and I was able to call the city and resolve that.”
Residents in his district — which encompasses eastern Lodi between Cherokee Lane, Kettleman Lane, Curry Avenue and Pine Street, as well as southern Lodi between Kettleman, Highway 99, Hogan Lane, Mills Avenue, Century Boulevard and Church Street — have already come to him with ideas for improvement in their neighborhoods.
One of those is a “white cloth” restaurant near Reynolds Ranch to which residents in the city’s newer development can walk back and forth, he said.
“A few years ago I actually tried to get bikeshare/scootershare for the city, and I think some folks on the council were lukewarm to the idea,” he said. “But I think we’ve got lots of younger families in my district, and literally every person I talk to in the district about having something like that in downtown is really excited about the idea.”
Some of the issues Hothi would like to address when he takes his seat on the dais is the city’s homelessness crisis, as well as looking at ways to keep small businesses open during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
He’d also like to create more outdoor activities for recreation, not just for Lodi’s youth, but for all residents during the pandemic who might need to get out and be active.
“I would like to see better leveraging of funds to bring about positive outcomes for our residents,” he said. “There are tons of state revenues that I think we can actively seek out. The governor allocated $1 billion to address homelessness statewide. I’d like to see Lodi pursuing more of those dollars to address the issue here in our city. The same goes for everything I’ve campaigned on.”
As a resident, Hothi sits on the Lodi Fire Foundation board of directors, and was a commissioner on the City of Lodi Measure L Sales Tax Oversight Committee.
While city council members represent Lodi on a variety of boards and commissions at both the county and state levels, Hothi said he doesn’t know if he’ll be serving on as many as JoAnne Mounce did during her 16-year tenure.
Mounce, who lost her reelection bid for District 4 in November, served on the League of California Cities, the Lodi Improvement Committee, the San Joaquin Partnership Board of Directors, the San Joaquin Mayors and City Managers group and the San Joaquin Valley Special Cities Selection Committee, as well as the Lodi 2X2 Committee and the Greater Lodi Area Youth Commission, among others.
“Joanne set a great model for what to do in terms of bringing resources back to Lodi,” Hothi said. “She was just an excellent networker and constantly advocating for Lodi at the state level. Hopefully I’m able to follow in those footsteps and leverage my already statewide relationship because of my work with Assemblyman Cooper not only to broaden Lodi beyond the city limits, but to also to get some investments in our community.”