Spelling Out the Priorities in the 7th District City Council Race : We cannot afford four more years of deteriorating and unsafe neighborhoods, along with a lack of jobs and city services.

We are hurting out here in the Valley.

It’s as stark and simple as that. Our neighborhoods are declining, our community is unsafe and restless, and City Hall ignores our concerns and security.

The result, as we who live here know too well, is that the 7th District and northeast San Fernando Valley need an infusion of new leadership in order to help provide more jobs, public safety and city services.

Fortunately, we can do something together to stop this slide. If elected to the Los Angeles City Council on June 8, I will put my lifetime of leadership and determination to work, fighting for what we need--and deserve--in our community and the Valley.

For 31 years, as a captain in the Los Angeles City Fire Department and a reserve police officer, I saved lives and protected the homes and neighborhoods in the northeast Valley. I was proud to put my life on the line for the men, women and children of the community, proud to represent working people as president of the Firefighters Union and proud to have served my city.

Contrast this with the “record” of my opponent: While I was out on the streets, fighting fires and crime, he was making political deals and maintaining the status quo, which has been largely responsible for the deterioration of our community and our quality of life. He has been part of the problem; I pledge to lead the fight for solutions.

I have a specific agenda for action for the City Council, goals which will help us all. Consider these examples:

* Graffiti is ruining our community and blighting the quality of our neighborhoods. I will fight the crime of graffiti by forcing vandals and their parents to clean up the mess and by imposing stiff fines on both parents and their kids who deface our neighborhoods.

* The district and northeast Valley have been shortchanged with respect to public safety personnel. We lack adequate police, fire and paramedic protection. City Hall has not been sufficiently pressured to give us more police. With my public-safety background, I understand law enforcement. I will bring in more police by hiring reserve officers and putting civilians into desk jobs, thus freeing up more uniformed officers for our streets.

* The northeast Valley is suffering because of the recession and a lack of jobs. People who want to work deserve decent jobs at decent wages. We must have the political and personal leadership and determination to bring in new businesses, jobs and training. It is time that working men and women of the 7th District have a voice on the City Council; I will be that voice.

I will demand that the city allot a fair share of its services and jobs to the 7th District. I will also work to reopen the deserted Van Nuys GM plant and again make it a source of jobs, revenue and hope. Further, I will work to streamline the permitting process, so that small business, the backbone of the Valley, can open, grow and hire local people.

* The Los Angeles Unified School District is an educational nightmare and a bureaucratic monster. My opponent thinks it serves our children just fine; that is why he opposes breaking it up. I support creating a Valley School District that will represent our children’s educational and career goals, as well as our community values. I also support school-based management and more parental control over their children’s education.

* Los Angeles is drowning in a sea of red ink. I reject the business-as-usual attitude of the old and tired thinking which got us into this fiscal mess in the first place. I will lead the fight to cut the “fat” which bloats the city budget and wastes millions of your tax dollars. We do not need two city departments for street lighting. We do not need business as usual.

What we do need is fresh thinking and strong, determined leadership. That is what I offer you, along with a commitment to fight for our agenda and priorities on the City Council. We cannot afford four more years of deteriorating and unsafe neighborhoods, along with a lack of jobs and city services like street repairs, lighting and safe parks. My opponent has been the “official” City Hall representative in the Valley for the past four years. Look around. Are you better off? I do not think he deserves a “promotion” to the City Council.

Do you?