FOCUS: Orange County Focus is dedicated on Monday to analysis of community news, a look at what’s ahead and the voices of local people. : IN PERSON : He Couldn’t Fight City Hall, Even <i> From </i> City Hall : Jeff Vasquez Says He Found That in Sleepy San Juan Capistrano, Staff Sets the Agenda

Five years ago, City Council candidate Jeff Vasquez charged through San Juan Capistrano, a man on a mission.

He walked the city’s historic streets with a vengeance, a door-to-door effort that swept him into office as the top finisher in a field of 14. By his own account, he was fired up, a political newcomer who became the first Latino ever to serve on the City Council despite the city’s rich Mexican heritage.

Today, Vasquez is off the five-member council and has--for the moment at least--left local politics. After four years often spent on the losing end of 4-1 votes, he has moved on, dedicating his time to his family and business.

But the lessons and frustrations from his experience linger.

Perhaps surprisingly, Vasquez places much of the blame for the shortcomings of local government not on elected officials, but on the paid members of city staffs. They tend to be too large in numbers, overpaid, and often look out for their own good at the expense of the city, Vasquez said.

“Elected officials, at least at the city level, are like one-arm paper hangers: They are not in control,” said Vasquez, 39, the father of three children who lives in San Juan Capistrano’s historic Los Rios neighborhood downtown. “Cities generally are run by the staff people.”

Particularly in small cities such as San Juan Capistrano, council members tend to be amateurs who are in over their heads when it comes to making serious decisions, Vasquez said. Staff reports often are their only background on complicated matters.

“The issues a council member sitting up there in that chair faces can be very complex, things like investment funding, employee relations, compensation packages, and legal decisions,” Vasquez said. “Council members have to rely so heavily on their staff opinions. They are limited by the scope of their own educations, their experience and their willingness to find the truth in order to make the best decisions.”

An educated decision really requires a council member to study an issue beyond what is given in a staff report, which can become a daunting and extremely time-consuming prospect, Vasquez said.

“It’s always easiest just to go along with the staff’s suggestions. It would be very easy to go four years and just agree with the staff. But it takes energy to study the issues and make your own decisions. You have to understand it as well or better than the staff does, then maybe offer an alternative,” he said.

*

No issue during Vasquez’s time on the council was hotter than the San Joaquin Hills Transportation Corridor, the 17-mile toll road now under construction that will link San Juan Capistrano and Newport Beach. The prospect of building a huge interchange tying the toll road into Interstate 5 at the north end of the city sparked an uproar.

It also provided a learning experience in how local government really operates, Vasquez recalled. The powerful political interests in the county, backed by the massive toll road staff, ramrodded the project through the council over the objections of residents who contended it would undermine the quality of life in their neighborhoods, he believes.

“The experience with the corridor really opened my eyes up to how local government and regional county government exist to facilitate property development,” Vasquez said.

“Yes, it’s part of urbanization and it’s the way things work, but these roads and things like sewer and water systems are really there to provide development potential for raw land. So much of the county government is controlled by those needs, that it’s hard for officials to take a step back and look at other alternatives.”

*

Vasquez became the lone voice on the council opposing the toll road. He still considers it a battle lost.

“The city had a tremendous opportunity. If we or any city in the South County had said no, the issue would probably still be in the courts and the bulldozers wouldn’t be out there working. We were the key to the south end of the road.”

But losing battles and “being frustrated is also part of the process. You have your opinions and your ideas that you think are good and you throw them at the system,” Vasquez said.

What government needs in these times of shrinking revenue, according to Vasquez, is perhaps not a new system but better qualified people becoming involved in the existing system. More people who can challenge the recommendations of city staffs, who understand finance or small business or the law, for example, must take it upon themselves to provide public service, he said.

“The easy way out is to just sit there and be angry and bitter at government. Rather than doing that, people should get involved, run for office, get appointed to a commission or find some way to get plugged into the system. If you don’t participate, you can’t effect change.

“It’s all about good people getting involved to make things better.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Profile:

Jeff Vasquez

Age: 39

Residence: San Juan Capistrano, since 1978

Family: Wife, Pam; and two sons and one daughter, ages 7, 5 and 18 months

Current position: Owner of Vasquez Studios, a photography and filmmaking venture

Background: Son of Mexican immigrants; born in Connecticut, but moved to Dana Point when he was 11; graduate of Dana Hills High School and UC San Diego

On local government: “Council members are limited by the scope of their own educations, their experiences and their willingness to find the truth in order to make the best decisions. . . . It’s all about good people getting involved to make things better.”

Source: Jeff Vasquez; Researched by LEN HALL / Los Angeles Times