Milpitas Planning Commissioner Dipak Awasthi is running for City Council, adding his name to a race that includes Bill Chuan, Seema Kanani, Jennie Ha Phan, and Garry Barbadillo, who is running for re-election.
Awasthi has spent years serving the Milpitas community. Before joining the Planning Commission, he served on the Sister Cities Commission and the Economic Development Commission.
“More and more people want to see more active council members. And I tell them that I can do a better job than anyone else in the community,” Awasthi said in an interview with The Beat.
Awasthi, a retired small business owner, points to his experience keeping a convenience store running through the pandemic as proof of his strong work ethic…
“I took care of my employees and had to go and get the store filled up. It was hard work. It’s really about rising to the occasion,” Awasthi said.
If elected, he says his priorities would include reassessing the city’s housing, retail, and business needs, and cutting what he calls wasteful spending. He also wants to see more restaurants brought into Milpitas in order to improve economic development.
“You have to be a proactive councilmember,” Awasthi said.
On permitting, Awasthi says he’s heard from residents frustrated by a slow process. He aired the possibility of bringing in AI tools to speed things up and make the process more transparent. He compared the permitting process to his own past dealings with the California State Lottery, which he said reactivated his terminated retailer account even after he’d retired and proceeded to bill him wrongfully.
“That’s the same problem I faced with the lottery — they weren’t transparent,” Awasthi said. “And when a government isn’t transparent, corruption seeps through.”
Public safety is another focus; Awasthi says patrolling in Milpitas has declined over time.
“We have to be very tough on crime. We need more patrolling. We need more people. We need to make sure the police are always funded,” he explained.
He also wants to make it very clear where he stands in terms of accepting donations:
“I’m the only candidate who has said I’ll not accept corporate and corporate PAC money as well as contributions from political nonprofits. I’m accountable to all Milpitas residents, not to special interests,” he said.
Above all, Awasthi wants voters to know he won’t stay quiet.
“At any level of the government, we need to make ourselves heard,” he said. “Somebody has to ask. Some people just keep quiet. But I can’t keep quiet. I will make all the noise.”
More information on Dipak Awasthi’s campaign is available on his website.
