Keith Eich promises a new perspective if elected to LCF City Council
Keith Eich is a newcomer to local politics, having moved to La Cañada from Sherman Oaks in 2014 with wife Lisa. Today, the 37-year-old father of three believes he could bring a fresh perspective to the City Council and serve as a voice for young families. In addition to working as vice president of product development for legal tech company LegalZoom, Eich’s past experience includes a director position at NBCUniversal. He is also an adjunct professor at his alma mater, Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Mellon University.
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Valley Sun: What do you consider to be the single most unaddressed issue facing the city today?
Eich: We need to improve La Cañada Flintridge vehicle and pedestrian traffic, including congestion, safety, pollution and noise. Our Town Center and the area around it are not set up to handle the current volume of cars and pedestrians. Nine trash trucks weave through our residential streets, creating wear and tear, noise and pollution. If the Big Dig happens at the Hahamongna Watershed Park, we will have over 400 diesel trucks removing sediment from our neighborhood for three years next to our high school. Insufficient sidewalks and unenforced street parking around our schools cause dangerous situations when our children walk down the middle of a busy, narrow street. The overall congestion distracts us from noticing and reporting potential crimes or suspicious behavior. We need to diligently work on these issues to improve our local quality of life.
City officials have indicated a new City Hall would take up about half of the 27,881-square-foot former Sport Chalet headquarters building being purchased for $11.23 million. What would you prefer to do with the rest of the property, including the adjacent Montessori school?
This is a great time to survey the residents for new ideas on what to do with the extra space. City staff should not expand to fill the additional space, creating a bigger government. The city supports some wonderful community organizations with cash subsidies. We may be able to do more for them, while saving the city money by offering reduced rent or space in the property in lieu of cash. Additionally, the space is primed for entrepreneurs and budding small businesses. We could rent office space to incubate new businesses here in our town, thus creating jobs and tax revenues. The Montessori school already has a long-term lease. Education is a priority for our town and having a preschool as well as options for daycare is meaningful for our families.
Last year, the city confronted Southern California Edison about frequent power outages and were promised 9,000 feet of new underground cables and significant upgrades. The city is also considering seeking service from another utility provider. What course seems most promising to you, and what would you say to residents for whom outages are a recurring problem?
We need a higher-quality service, and I will work tirelessly until we see improvement. Quality of service, specifically customer service, is critical to anyone servicing our residents and businesses. Nine thousand feet of underground cables is not enough. Our city and Southern California Edison have a good relationship, but we need to carefully track metrics against items like response time, customers impacted and time to resolution. These metrics will provide us with data to engage in what we need from our partner and to potentially compare alternatives. I value our relationship with Southern California Edison, but I am not against looking at another provider willing to invest in our city if we cannot agree on a plan to materially improve service.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is expected to release its response to public comments on the environmental impact of the 710 Freeway Extension project, along with a potential preferred alternative from among five proposals. How should La Cañada respond if the preference is not in alignment with what city officials have advocated for?
There is a real transportation problem here in Southern California. We need a holistic approach to solving this problem. Reducing congestion is not always solved by more miles of roads, but requires consideration for reducing the number of cars and trucks on the road. The proposed 710 tunnel, running 4 to 5 miles, 150 feet underground without exits, is not the answer. Long tunnels are not the answer in an area that is prone to seismic activity. Ideally, the 460 homes owned by our government should be sold and returned to private ownership. There are solid alternatives that I support, such as light rail between East Los Angeles, Alhambra and Pasadena. We need to get creative to solve this problem and we need to consider setting policy to reduce, not increase, vehicles on the road.
Elected and public safety officers have said for years they are working together to prevent residential burglaries by increasing patrols and educating the public about taking precautions to secure their property. What additional measures might the city take?
The rise in burglaries in our town is a real cause for concern. Additional patrols can be effective during the holidays when burglaries are at elevated levels (which we should plan for!), but would likely be expensive and have limited impact at other times of the year. We need security measures that create long-term value with minimal ongoing costs that make our residents feel safe. We should invest in better data collection to understand actual events and suspicious activities, including response time. We cannot improve what we cannot measure. More education on prevention of break-ins will help too. Lastly, the city could partner with a few companies and provide access to newer technology such as modern security systems or smart doorbells to alert homeowners to motion via their smartphone. Many neighborhood associations already get discounted rates for their members.
If elected, you would be new to city government — what is your argument for why a newcomer’s perspective would be of value to the La Cañada Flintridge City Council?
The best results in decision-making come when you have a diversity in vantage points. I think that I bring a different view to the current City Council. Young families with children in our public schools are a key demographic of our city. Currently this is not represented in our local government. I can be an advocate for young families because my own children are entering our schools. I bring experiences from many other places where I’ve lived before settling here as my home. I have lived in both small towns and big cities. I believe that local government should focus on its customers — the residents and businesses in our community. We need to enable the city staff to be more efficient while saving and respecting taxpayer money. The technology shouldn’t just increase efficiency for the staff but also should improve effectiveness for its customers. I am an engineer and not afraid to roll up my sleeves to get stuff done. I am not afraid of complex problems and believe there are usually creative ways to solve them.
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Sara Cardine, sara.cardine@latimes.com
Twitter: @SaraCardine
