Heritage Lake resident Moreno announces run for City Council

The next Menifee City Council election is a year away, but one local resident has already thrown his hat into the ring.

Daniel Moreno, a resident of the Heritage Lake community, announced this week his intention to run for the District 4 council seat that will be vacated next November by John Denver, who can't run again because of term limits. Moreno is the first announced candidate for that district. Candidates can't pull application papers with the City until next July.

Moreno announced on his Facebook page that he has decided to run for the council seat and submitted at City Hall a Form 501, which is required before a candidate can begin any fundraising efforts. Most candidates don't announce until after the first of the year for November elections, with the official application period during the summer.

Moreno said he was prompted to announce his decision now as he began hearing discussion in the community about possible candidates. Heritage Lake has a very active private Facebook page with daily discussion about events in what Moreno describes as a "tight-knit" community in northeast Menifee.

"I’ve been thinking about it since the last election," said Moreno, 40, who has lived in Menifee for seven years and owns his own photography and marketing business. "I thought about running the last time around, but it wasn’t quite the right time for me. I started hearing some talk about it already, so I decided I’m going to put it out there now."

There have been very few candidates for City Council seats in recent elections. A year ago, Greg August in District 1 and Lesa Sobek in District 3 ran unopposed. Each have three years remaining on their terms. Districts 2 and 4 terms last came up for election in 2014. That year, Matt Liesemeyer defeated Tom Fuhrman in District 2 and Denver defeated Gloria Sanchez, a resident of the Oasis senior community, in District 4.

The mayor is elected as a separate council position. In that race a year ago, Neil Winter defeated incumbent Scott Mann.

Heritage Lake has never had a resident on the City Council. The community, which includes many young families in fairly new housing developments, has its own lake, recreation center and other amenities, but no shopping center nearby and more housing being built around its eastern edges, where an open field now separates it from Winchester and Homeland.

And no City Council representation.

Is that a big deal? Moreno thinks so. Whether anyone else in Heritage Lake applies is anyone's guess. Of course, other communities are in that district as well. District 4 stretches from just above Newport Road on the south all the way north to Mapes Road, and from the 215 Freeway on the west to Briggs Road on the east. Thus, it includes the Romoland community surrounding Highway 74 to the north as well as the Oasis and other neighborhoods between Newport Road and the hills just to the north of it (see map below).

"I think it would help to have someone that’s more kind of family oriented," Moreno said. "Not that the current representation isn’t doing a decent job. We’re a big area of families. I’m a resident of Heritage Lake, and we have our own concerns, including infrastructure, economic development and public safety.

"I’ve always tried to live my life with the theme that you have to be the change you want to see, and I haven’t really seen a lot of what I think would be good for our community and what neighbors and friends have told me they’d like to see. I thought it was time to step up and be that change."

Moreno acknowledged that crime is a problem "everywhere", but noted that it is perhaps a more discussed topic in Heritage Lake because of the frequent conversation between young families on social media. According to those conversations, some residents feel they are more exposed to crime because of the large open space between their eastern border and Hemet, where crime has been a major problem. At the same time, residents enjoy having that open space and don't necessarily want it built out with more homes.

How those sentiments would play out in a City Council seat remains to be seen.

"Crime is a big concern in our neighborhood," Moreno said. "I think possibly we see it more or at least we're much more aware of it. We are a very close-knit community and we have a lot of communication in the neighborhood. We talk among ourselves more.

"As for development ... obviously, we can’t stop economic growth, nor do I think we should. But I do think we should do it smartly. There has been talk about plans to build apartments and things like that around our neighborhood. That's a big negative for people who moved here to keep that country kind of living. We’re out here by ourselves and a lot of people like that. They don’t want to see housing come so close to us."

Moreno runs The Real Estate Photographer, a business in which he produces photos and video for real estate agencies to showcase and market commercial and residential real estate. Like Winter during his successful run for mayor, Moreno admits he has no city government experience. He relies on his business experience as his strength in becoming a candidate.

"The city needs to be run as a business," Moreno said. "Even though I don’t have city business experience, I have run a successful business. I would take some of those things I've learned to promote smart growth. I would apply them to my position as a council member."

Moreno created a Neighborhood Watch program in Heritage Lake and has volunteered for several organizations, including Operation Silver Star for military veterans and the Big Brothers / Big Sisters organization. He and his wife Stephanie have four children.