Efren Guttierrez wants to bring his focus on social justice to City Hall. The 54-year-old real estate broker and community activist is running for a seat on the Sacramento City Council.

The Sacramento Press is interviewing City Council candidates in advance of the June election.

Guttierrez is running in District 1, now represented by Ray Tretheway. The district includes North and South Natomas and Alkali Flat.

Guttierrez has worked in real estate for 28 years and is co-owner of New West Realtors in Natomas. He noted that his career pays the bills, but activism is his passion.

“My love has always been social justice advocacy,” he said.

Guttierrez was born in Stockton and has lived in Sacramento for 49 years. He graduated from California State University, Sacramento, in 1981.

He said he wants to help low-income residents who are struggling in the dismal economy. Many residents are just barely paying their electricity bills, Guttierrez said.

“The business people and everybody else is taking care of themselves. Now, we need to take care of those at the bottom end. If we don’t, what are we about?”

As a councilman, Guttierrez said he would address the needs of the Latino community, which “has been needing representation for a least a decade now.”

He said he promotes public transportation and likes the idea of bringing small buses to Sacramento.

Guttierrez also noted that poor residents do not have access to healthy foods. He said he is working with the Justice Reform Coalition and other groups to create more community gardens. He added that more farmers markets should be located near poor communities.

He said he wants to examine how people can do their jobs more efficiently. He suggested the idea of businesses gaining tax credits for hiring people who live near their job sites. That would cut down on local youth working at minimum-wage jobs outside of the city, Guttierrez said. “It would mean local people working at local businesses.”

Guttierrez is helping to organize the 10th annual César Chávez March in Sacramento on March 27. He was among those who protested former CNN broadcaster Lou Dobbs’s comments about Latino immigrants.

Guttierrez has raised the least amount of money of the three District 1 candidates. He said he has about $2,000 in campaign funds. Tretheway raised $79,278 in 2009, according to campaign statements.

Angelique Ashby, who is also running for the District 1 seat, raised $26,452 last year. Ashby is a partner in a consulting firm that contracts with businesses and government agencies.

Guttierrez said that he would break “the same old status quo” that supports Tretheway, who he said is supported by big business, developers and corporations.

While Guttierrez is accurate in saying that Tretheway’s supporters include developers — Angelo Tsakopoulos Real Estate Investments and CFY Developers are contributors — Tretheway also has received significant contributions from local unions. Plumbers & Steamfitters Local No. 467 and the California State Pipe Trades Council Political Action Committee are two of Tretheway’s union contributors, according to campaign statements.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.