San Fernando- City Updates Its Specific Plan

Nury, please begin by in forming our readers on the development opportunities and political challenges you face as an elected councilperson in the City of San Fernando.

One of the beautiful things about this city is the fact we have such a vibrant opportunity in San Fernando for redevelopment, if we do it correctly. We are building on the fact that we uniquely are surrounded completely by the city of Los Angeles, we have a very young and vibrant city council, and we have a very efficient and progressive staff at the administrative level, who have been thinking outside the box in trying to attract the development into our city. We've spent an enormous amount of time trying to come up with a specific plan that addresses planning issues within our four major corridors. In doing that, we've put something on the table for developers to recognize how the city of San Fernando is creating a business environment that both is prosperous and serves the needs of our community. The specific plan is due to come before the city council in the next couple of months and already we are seeing a lot of interest being generated among the development community.

In terms of challenges, there's still that challenge of attracting your big chain movie theaters, Trader Joes, bookstores, and so on. I think we need to do a better job of marketing ourselves to these bigger chains to recognize that San Fernando is worth the investment. We have the market for a Barnes & Noble and we are a community that wants to shop at Trader Joes. Yet, to access these retail stores, our residents have to travel outside of the city. This is the biggest challenge we face, trying to lure these types of retail outlets to our city.

Elaborate on some of the elements, the enticements, in the City of San Fernando's specific plan that you and the council will be considering to advance this marketplace vision?

In developing the specific plan, we deliberately took it to the community and they have been involved with the process every step of the way. We've held a number of community meetings in which our residents, our small business owners, and the people who do business within the city were able to convene and give their input. One of the most attractive things about this specific plan is that fact that we're making this a walkable community. We're going to address some of the more congested areas. We're going try to implement traffic calming measures, in which people will have an incentive to get out of their car and walk around San Fernando. It's such a small town that we actually can do that. Our major corridors are going to be much more pedestrian friendly.

In addition to the traffic calming measures, we're seeking to beautify the area by bringing in different types of architecture. We seek to involve our local business owners to have them be part of the planning aspect of the specific plan. The aim is to gather input on the development of architectural guidelines to reinforce what makes San Fernando unique. Our architecture varies from colonial to craftsman style bungalows. This is what makes our city unique, and we hope to incorporate those specific architectural techniques into the storefronts of our major corridors.

So, the creation of a walkable city and the enforcement of consistent design guidelines for development will act as incentives to lure new investment into San Fernando-or at least we hope so.

San Fernando, unlike the City of Los Angeles, is governed by a part-time council and city manager. What are the strengths and weaknesses of this local governance arrangement?

For one, our city manager, Jose Pulido, has done an extraordinary job of assembling a team that not only knows the community-because Jose Felido actually grew up in San Fernando-but also they are vested and really love what they do. This team has come up with an incredible way of marketing our city. As a result, we have been able to acquire the necessary funds to build our aquatic center, to build some of the pocket parks that hopefully are going to get built within the next couple of years. The results they have achieved requires a lot of creativity and Jose has been able to assemble the state funding necessary make things happen. That's the beauty of having an administrator who is pro-active, knowledgeable, and who comes from an economic development background.

One of the challenges of course is that councilmember is a part time position. It's difficult to spend a whole lot of time making theses types of decisions. While taking direction from the city council, the staff usually puts together a plan and then brings it before council for approval. As a result, a talented and professional staff makes our job as councilmembers that much easier. It's a nice working environment.

The City of San Fernando is just one of the 26 cities that are part of the behemoth Los Angeles Unified School District. How collaborative is the relationship between LAUSD and the city of San Fernando, especially re the building of new schools for residents of San Fernando?

I've actually had an experience working with the school district both on the city council and as district director for State Senator Richard Alarcon. I'm very happy with the fact that they came to us on the council before they started moving on any type of architectural plans to build a school in San Fernando. There was an acquisition of land on their behalf. They saw to it that they worke d with the city in partnership with the council and the residents to make sure that everyone was on board, which is the beauty of our partnership with LAUSD.

I've also been very critical in the past about how the district has approached the community while trying to build these schools. I've been a strong advocate of increasing community involvement in school development within the district. And so, in my involvement with the council, I have seen them put that plan in place. They have come to the community and asked for their participation every step of the way. And I certainly appreciate that. I'm very pleased with the current relationship and how the district has kept their promises with the community.

Nury, one of your state representatives, Assemblywoman Montanez, has been advancing a bill to make it easier to tap into the state school bond's joint-use funds for parks and health centers and other community uses-so the new schools are built as mixed-use, neighborhood-centered learning environments. Are you supportive?

Absolutely, San Fernando has been talking about mixed-use projects throughout the development of the specific plan. Because we are such a small city and we are landlocked, every opportunity to partner with a nonprofit, with a community clinic, with a school, is an opportunity that we should all be very grateful for.

These new schools cannot be built the way they were when I went to high school years ago when each school had a gymnasium and a huge football field. We just no longer have the capacity to build these types of schools. We need to be more creative. For example, if we're going to build a school next to a church that has an existing ball field, then why not create that partnership where the students who are attending the school during the day can get some use out of that facility. Or, if the school is going to be built next to a hospital or a clinic, then why not create that partnership so that the kids can also get screened for any illnesses or get a physical. I applaud Assemblywoman Montanez for her thinking about all of these possibilities, and I just hope that she can get the bill passed through the Legislature and signed by the Governor.

Councilwoman, with your having council responsibilities for the city's budget and finances, you must watch with great interest how the state government grapples with its deficits. Given the state typically reaches into local government to balance the state's budget, what reforms, if any, do you believe we should make to the state/local fiscal relationship?

We're very fortunate that at the state level we have an excellent relationship with both Cindy Montanez, who was a former mayor of the city of San Fernando, and Senator Alarcon. We talk to these representatives on a regular basis, making sure they know the needs of our city. I've been very critical of this Governor's budget proposal for attempting to balance the budget on the backs of our working poor and our communities.

On the flip side, I've been extremely satisfied with Jose Pulido's ability to keep the city spending within our budget. If the last thing we want to see is services being cut, then throughout the budget process we need to make sure that council is being responsible. We need to make sure that we have a healthy reserve so that we won't have to end up, like a lot of cities around the county, in situations where we have to cut vital services such as police and fire. In San Fernando, I'm very proud to say that we are constantly trying to make sure that we don't get to that point. But of course, anything that the state does affects our small city, so it's a constant struggle.

Let's close with you sharing your hopes for the City of San Fernando.

One of my biggest passions in city council is making sure that everybody has a dignified quality of life. It concerns me that we're no longer attracting good paying jobs. So, I hope not only have these beautiful developments be created in San Fernando, but also that our own residents have good paying jobs to keep up with their mortgage, have a home to live in, and be able to raise their kids in a nice community. We didn't come from wealth, but people from San Fernando pride themselves on being homeowners. It's a full circle. If people are working and have good paying jobs with benefits, they will reinvest in our community, they will purchase a house in our community, they will shop in our community, and their kids will go to local schools- everything comes full circle. So, I hope we can create a community of working people that opts to stay in our community.