San Marino High School’s Neher Auditorium welcomed a significant turnout of citizens on Tuesday night for the City Council Candidate’s Forum with seven candidates taking the stage in the crowded race for three council seats to be vacated in November.
Candidates Calvin Lo, Susan Jakubowski, Scott Kwong, Ken Ude, Gretchen Shepherd Romey, Eugene Sun and Dr. Hai-Sou Chen took turns answering questions that were posed by Tribune Editor Mitch Lehman, who served as moderator for the 2-hour event that was presented by the San Marino City Club.
Lo, a real estate broker, San Marino Rotarian and former president of the Chinese Club, gave an opening statement stressing his desire to keep San Marino strong aesthetically.
“I believe every great community has a story,” Lo said. “There’s beautiful homes, trees and people that make our town special and I am running to serve and preserve, to plan for the future wisely and to preserve and protect values.”
Jakubowski, a City Club member and former San Marino Schools Foundation trustee, referred to her past experience as a citizen appointed to serve on the Ad Hoc committee to review City Hall and public works operations.
“I have a proven track record…I’ve been to countless Design Review Committee and Planning Commission meetings and I’ve had to make some tough decisions,” Jakubowski said. “It’s my time to step up and take our city to the next level.”
Kwong, a small business owner, focused on his educational experience in the San Marino Unified School District, and his success as a business owner and volunteer.
“I want to give back to the community while focusing on three main points: Public safety, transparency and community involvement,” he said.
Ude, a businessman and longtime San Marino resident, explained he’s running out of “concern for our city and frustration over decisions being made,” and referred to his 40 years of business operating experience.
“I want to focus on public safety and security, protecting the unique fabric of San Marino, saving money and two major issues: the unfunded pension liability and aging infrastructure,” said Ude.
Shepherd Romey, an attorney, highlighted her 20-year involvement in the school district and volunteering for various organizations and said she wants to “reverse the recent rise in crime, introduce a 5-year plan for aging infrastructure, focus on historical preservation and a closer relationship with schools, community members and organizations.”
Sun, a previous San Marino city councilmember and two-time mayor, said the city is at a crossroads: “Our city is facing unprecedented challenges with a new city manager, administrative director and all three incumbent city councilmembers not seeking reelection,” he said. “I have the vision, experience and track record to lead the city to the next level.”
Dr. Chen, a dentist and former chairman of the Design Review Committee, said his focus is to “preserve our wonderful San Marino way of life by reducing crime, balancing the budget and keeping the classic appearance of San Marino.”
Each candidate agreed that the Stoneman Elementary School acquired several years ago by the city needs to be utilized beneficially, giving suggestions ranging from renovation, to rental to sale of the property.
“Stoneman screams at why we need a long-term plan,” Ude said. “What’s the use, the purpose of it? We need to open our eyes.”
All candidates also took seriously the increase in burglaries occurring throughout San Marino. Kwong suggested monthly informational meetings led by police as well as utilizing online applications like “Nextdoor” to save money while providing citizens with an outlet to air their concerns.
“Envision this: a White [Dodge] Charger sitting outside your house, you take a picture and send it to the police. The information will also be available online for your neighbor who might not be home… so it facilitates communication while saving the city money.”
Shepherd Romey said this issue is one of the most important being faced by the city and suggested reducing the number of vacant homes, registering them and making sure the community is being made aware through the neighborhood watch program. She also felt increasing visible police presence on the street will contribute to lowering the burglary rate.
Another critical topic that surfaced during the forum was the city’s unfunded pension liability, with candidates differing slightly in their approach to the issue.
Jakubowski made her concern plain: “If we aren’t scared about [California’s Pension Employee Retirement], we should be … though San Marino can buy out of CalPers for a mere $109 million.”
Sun said the sale of the Stoneman property at his calculations of $5 to $6 million would go toward paring down the pension liability.
And Ude made it clear: “we can’t let city employees run the city [without strong oversight]. There needs to be more creative solutions, we need to study them and make a plan.”
Since Kwong’s 2015 bid for one of the two city council seats nabbed by Council Members Steve Talt and Dr. Steven Huang, he said he’s served various organizations, joined city committees and met residents to hone in on the issues he is now running to address.
Dr. Chen weighed in on the continued Verizon cell tower controversy, stating the towers are “important for emergency and disaster in our city, so we can’t get rid of them. I will form a committee with the city and schools to solve this problem and persuade the cell phone company to reduce the height of these structures.”
Nearly all candidates agreed that funding to bridge the school district’s financial gap should be supported individually, not through the city, citing the responsibility of utilizing taxpayer’s dollars responsibly.
Shepherd Romey said with her experience as a PTA president and a member of Huntington Middle School’s executive board, she was familiar with the difficulty of education funding.
“I know we are always fundraising at the school level to make up that gap…I would encourage the city to work with the school district and [San Marino Schools Foundation] to promote and increase funding so more of that comes, and there’s not a strain of constant fundraising among our parents and our student body,” she said.
Shepherd Romey also expressed her intent to identify corporate sponsors and to develop an endowment fund.
Lo said as a trustee, parent and school supporter, “my responsibility is to watch taxpayers’ dollars. We need to evaluate this and I will personally work to fund schools and encourage everyone to.”
The question and answer portion of the forum wrapped up with all candidates agreeing the development of mixed use housing doesn’t conform to the residential community and standard of living San Marino residents expect, with Ude also expressing his intent to fight accessory dwellings from being built, before candidates concluded with closing statements.
