ELECTIONS / SAN FERNANDO : City Council Candidates Rely on Personal Touch to Woo Voters

San Fernando is the sort of town where candidates for city office have come to rely on friends and relatives rather than paid consultants to carry their campaign messages.

“Grandmothers and little kids go house to house passing out flyers and talking about their candidates,” said Councilman Jose Hernandez, who won his seat in such a fashion during the 1990 election. “People run campaigns from their garage.”

Hernandez, chairman of the urban studies department at Cal State Northridge, said the city’s small size--2.4 square miles, with about 6,000 registered voters--allows candidates and their workers to reach nearly all households there.

The city’s voters will decide April 14 among three candidates for two seats on the City Council. The candidates are Salvador Ponce, 54, who was appointed to the council in 1990; Rosa Chacon, 42, a planning commissioner, and Raymond Ojeda, 53, a former planning commissioner.

All three are depending on old-fashioned, face-to-face campaigning with the help of friends and family members in their bid for public office.

As a result of the door-to-door service, San Fernando voters usually turn out in higher percentages during municipal elections than their counterparts in other cities, such as Los Angeles.

“I won my election by 33 votes, so people know their vote counts,” Hernandez said.

Getting one-fourth of San Fernando’s registered voters to the polls, as in past elections, is even more of a feat considering that residents have few complaints with city services. Streets are clean, police respond to calls quickly and most walls around town are surprisingly graffiti-free.

“We’re a small town, easy to manage,” Finance Director Michael Moon said.

Shoppers from surrounding communities, who flock to the stores in the city’s pedestrian-friendly downtown, have helped keep sales tax revenues from dipping dramatically. That contrasts with other small cities facing cutbacks because of the recession.

A pair of warehouse-type stores and several fast-food restaurants that opened recently on the city’s east side are also helping keep revenue losses to only about 4% to 5% below what the city expected to earn when it prepared its present budget, Moon said.

Since its incorporation in 1911, San Fernando has had a sizable Latino population. But in the past decade, the population shift has been dramatic, with a 35% drop in the Anglo population and a 53% increase among Latinos, according to 1990 U. S. census data.

Latinos now account for about 83% of the city’s 22,680 residents, living on both sides of the railroad tracks that once divided San Fernando residents.

As a result, the five-member City Council had its first Latino majority in 1986.

The city is not without its troubles. After a mother and her three children were injured by gunfire between rival gangs, the City Council in the fall outlawed gang members at Las Palmas Park.

The city ordinance, which calls for maximum fines of $250 on “any active member of a criminal street gang” using the park, has drawn national attention, as well as a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union challenging the law on grounds that it violates the right to free assembly guaranteed by the First Amendment.

All three candidates cite gangs as the city’s major problem, but--like officials in other cities--they cannot guarantee that they can stop kids from joining them.

“Parents, churches, community groups--we must join forces and gain control over the kids,” Ojeda said.

Ponce, superintendent at a landscaping firm, is a 30-year resident of the city and earned his U. S. citizenship in 1966. Councilman Doude Wysbeek, although he supports another candidate, said Ponce is “an honest family man, a good team player who goes along on issues of common sense.”

Ponce was appointed to the council in 1990 to complete the term of former Councilman Jess Margarito, who left the council to head the city’s Parks and Recreation Department.

“I am the only candidate with council experience,” said Ponce, who earned a degree in art and sculpture at a school in Mexico.

Chacon, a member of the Planning Commission since 1990, works as an interviewer at a local office of the Social Security Administration.

Chacon, who was born in Mexico, became a naturalized U. S. citizen when she was 15.

She said she was persuaded to apply for citizenship by her mother, who “said I one day might want to have a federal job or run for office.”

Chacon said much of her campaign work is being done by her two teen-age children, both students at San Fernando High School.

“They can run a campaign themselves,” Chacon said. “They answer phones, type letters, set up appointments, maintain rosters.”

Ojeda is a former member of the Planning Commission and owns a business installing window covers, such as draperies and blinds.

Ojeda said he decided to run for office after learning that there were only two candidates for the two seats on the council.

“I felt we needed a choice in San Fernando,” said Ojeda, who is receiving volunteer help on his campaign from his five brothers and sisters.

Councilman James B. Hansen is not seeking reelection. Hansen was first appointed to the council in 1986 to fill the unexpired term of former Councilman Patrick Modugno. Hansen won election to a four-year term in 1988.

City Treasurer Elvira Orozco is running unopposed for her sixth consecutive four-year term.

City Council members earn $379 a month, plus $60 a month to serve on the Redevelopment Agency. They also receive $100 a month for expenses.