Council candidate Susan Wolfson says she’d bring fiscal responsibility to City Hall
Susan Wolfson has lived in Glendale’s Rossmoyne neighborhood for 10 years, but it wasn’t until recently she felt compelled to seek public office, throwing her name in the hat with nine other candidates running for Glendale City Council in an election on Tuesday.
The first-time candidate attributes the recent initiative to the urging of several neighbors, as well as being inspired by working as an account clerk for the city of La Cañada Flintridge and seeing an efficiently run city up close.
“It’s been a wonderful experience,” Wolfson said of her time at La Cañada City Hall. “Because the city is small, I get to interact with everyone who works there in every department. It’s made a huge impact on me and how I see things.”
Join the conversation on Facebook >>
Though she initially pursued a music degree at Claremont College, later majoring in anthropology at UCLA and earning a master’s degree from the University of Texas School of Public Health in Houston, Wolfson has spent the bulk of her professional life working in the field of accounting.
In addition to providing accounting services for a number of clients on a consulting basis, she’s held positions at Touche Ross & Co. (now Deloitte), California Federal Bank and KPMG.
Wolfson, a certified public accountant, said she will bring a sense of fiscal responsibility and sustainability to the Glendale City Council. If elected, she wants to be a point person who can explain complicated budget matters to the general public.
“I’m good at communicating financial information,” she said.
“When you’re deeply involved with it, you forget how arcane it is,” Wolfson added. “You assume people understand it, but they might not.”
Wolfson said her expertise would also aid Glendale’s ongoing discussions about its pension liabilities, which she feels have been made to look worse than they actually are.
“That’s something I bring my CPA hat to,” she said, adding that pension debt “is a challenge, absolutely. We need to work on it, steadily and without giving up and without giving in to the temptation to slack off.”
With 10 contenders vying for a council seat — her competitors are all male, some of whom have raised tens of thousands in donations, compared to the $1,700 she’s amassed from supporters — she acknowledges she may seem an underdog candidate, but assures voters her intentions are serious.
“With most of these guys, it’s big business here in Glendale,” she said. “But I think I’m a serious candidate because I have a good grip on the issues and have a good mind for solving problems. That’s what should really matter.”
Locally, Wolfson is a longtime member of the Glendale Historical Society and an active member of Rossmoyne Mountain Homeowners Assn. She also served for a year as treasurer of the Glendale Educational Foundation.
For its part in the region, Wolfson said Glendale does need to build affordable housing, “but I don’t think the projects that have been approved are solving that need.”
She suggested stopping the city’s approval process for new development “long enough for us to figure out how we absorb what’s coming in the pipeline” and, considering how development affects the city’s infrastructure and public safety needs, “financially if we can make it.”
Wolfson said she’s also bringing some environmental awareness with her candidacy. She pointed to a need for better solid-waste disposal than using the Scholl Canyon landfill. She also pointed to some residents’ frustration that a “minimal” environmental impact report was completed on some recent projects.
“That’s something that should be revisited,” Wolfson said.
Whether she wins or loses, Wolfson said she’s learned so much and is eager to continue engaging with community groups she’s met on the campaign trail. Her ultimate goal is to be able to bring more of the transparency and customer service she sees at La Cañada Flintridge City Hall to her hometown.
“When people come into City Hall, there’s an attitude of ‘Let us help you,’” she said. “I think that’s terrific — and I think it can be like that anywhere.”
Twitter: @SaraCardine
Twitter: @BradleyZint
