TUSTIN : New Mayor Vows to Help Improve Southwest Area

Newly selected Mayor Jim Potts is vowing to “fight blight” during his one-year term as the city’s top elected official by aggressively pursuing redevelopment, stepping up code enforcement, and expanding recreational opportunities for youth at risk.

Potts was chosen as mayor Monday at the annual reorganization meeting of the five-member City Council. Potts, who served as mayor pro tem for the past year, was first elected to the council in 1990. He previously served as mayor from 1993 to 1994.

Tracy Worley, now entering her second year on the council, was chosen as mayor pro tem.

The council vote was 4 to 1 in favor of the mayor and mayor pro tem selections, with Councilman Jeffery M. Thomas dissenting.

Potts, a sergeant with the Irvine Police Department, said that one of his top priorities will be targeting absentee landlords who are not taking proper care of their apartment buildings in the southwest area of Tustin.

He also wants the city to work more closely with the Tustin Unified School District on issues of mutual concern, address local traffic congestion problems and expand the regional system of recreational trails.

The county-operated Tustin Branch Library is another concern of Potts, who would like to see the facility expanded with a computer room and other improvements.

“We just don’t have the library facilities that other cities have,” Potts said.