Ives, 54, a 1971 Tracy High graduate, has been on the City Council as either councilman

or mayor since 1992, and he was on the Planning Commission and Parks and

Recreation Commission before that. He works half-time as a materials manager at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories and has a consulting business on the side.

In 2006, Ives won the mayor’s post after

the retirement of longtime political ally Dan Bilbrey.

“I’ve always had my heart in Tracy,” Ives told a gathering

of supporters Thursday evening at the Great Plate restaurant in downtown Tracy. “When I started,

there were things to do, and there are still things to do.”

Ives won the mayor’s seat with 52 percent of the vote,

beating his chief challenger, slow-growth activist Celeste Garamendi, who won

44 percent of the ballots.

Ives seemed to make a veiled reference to Garamendi and

other critics of the council in a talk to supporters.

“We cannot let the naysayers chart the course of this city,”

Ives said. “That’s not what will make this city great … We have people out

there who would take over this city. Never have you seen a leader of a business

or a city be a pessimist.”

He touted the opening of the Grand Theatre Center for the Arts and a planned

wetlands the city and county will build on land Tracy owns north of town as among his

accomplishments, and his continuing work to build a youth sports park as a goal for

the future.

Garamendi has taken out papers to make another run at the

mayor’s seat, and Councilwoman Evelyn Tolbert has said she’s considering a run,

but she has yet to make up her mind.

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