Candidates Split Over the Future of Downtown

The four candidates in the City Council election March 6 are divided into two camps--one favoring a bustling downtown with nationally known retailers and the other preferring to keep the small-town feel of the city’s commercial area.

Two incumbents and two political newcomers are running for two open seats on the five-member council and, as in years past, the big issue is economic development of this predominantly Latino city of 25,000 in the northeast San Fernando Valley.

Incumbent Jose Hernandez and newcomer Maribel De La Torre favor keeping a small-town atmosphere and preserving the city’s Latino flavor, while Mayor Silverio Robledo and Maria Elena Tostado would like to see more mainstream retailers.

“We already have mom-and-pop shops,” said Robledo, who is seeking a second term on the council. “We need to bring national retailers in there.”

Hernandez, who has twice served as mayor, would like to see developments that help the city preserve its Mexican roots.

“We have to take advantage of our historical culture,” he said. “We need a balance between economic development and the community’s needs.”

Hernandez, who was first elected to the council in 1997, said he envisions an open downtown plaza, similar to those found in Latin American countries, with restaurants, small shops and entertainment.

The longtime Cal State Northridge Chicano studies professor, who is married and has two grown daughters, is a 30-year San Fernando resident with strong ties to the community.

His campaign fund, by far the largest of the four candidates, contains more than $14,000 in donations from numerous local businesses, labor leaders and the Valley chapter of Mexican American Political Assn.

While the Greater San Fernando Chamber of Commerce doesn’t endorse candidates, the chairwoman of its board, Martha Diaz-Aszkenazy, personally supports Hernandez and has donated $1,000 to his campaign, according to the latest available campaign finance disclosure statements filed with the city.

Diaz-Aszkenazy is also the president of Pueblo Contracting, which in 1999 lost a contract bid to develop a multiplex complex in San Fernando’s downtown area, despite Hernandez’s support.

The city instead accepted new bids and last September signed an exclusive agreement with Zelman Cos., a Los Angeles developer, to create a 12-acre downtown shopping center at Truman and Lazard streets.

Robledo, an engineer and financial consultant with degrees from CSUN and UCLA, said he wants to see restaurants and discount clothing stores included in the city’s retail mix.

The 37-year-old single father, who has financed most of his campaign with a $2,500 personal loan, has been a driving force behind the city’s effort to attract nationally known retailers. The first to sign on was Starbucks, which is due to open within a few months in the Mission Plaza on Truman Avenue.

He also was instrumental in helping the city acquire $1 million in state funds to improve ailing Las Palmas Park.

“We’re a growing community economically and for the first time we’re marketing ourselves outside our area,” Robledo said. “For instance, we’re going to trade shows. We’ve never done things like that before.”

The two other candidates, Tostado and De La Torre, are community activists with no previous political experience.

Tostado, an administrator with the Los Angeles Unified School District, is running a grass-roots campaign with no fund-raising and all volunteer help. She is endorsed by Robledo.

De La Torre, an independent mortgage broker, is endorsed by Hernandez--not surprising since Robledo and Hernandez have strongly disagreed on many issues in recent years.

Tostado, 60, is a former nun, a 30-year veteran teacher and administrator in LAUSD. A graduate of the University of Notre Dame, she served as interim principal at Morningside Elementary School in San Fernando five years ago. Currently, she is director of career education for the district.

The divorced mother of two said she would like to establish a technology information center where residents could learn computer skills, as well as a cultural arts center and a bookstore, which the city lacks.

“I like to shop where I live and often I have to leave the city,” Tostado said.

De La Torre, 30, is the sister of Councilwoman Cindy Montanez. If elected, De La Torre and Montanez would be the first siblings in city history to serve on the same council. The Berkeley graduate grew up in San Fernando in a family of activists.

In 1999, several members of the Montanez family chained themselves to trees along San Fernando Road in an unsuccessful effort to stop the city from cutting them down. In 1993, Cindy Montanez and another sister, Norma, participated in a 14-day hunger strike to bolster the Chicano studies program at UCLA, where Cindy was a student.

“Our whole family has always been involved in the community,” said De La Torre, who lives down the street from City Hall with her husband and two sons. “Our mom and dad always taught us to take care of the area we live in.”

For De La Torre, that means preserving San Fernando’s small-town feel.

Like her sister, Cindy, De La Torre also wants the city to have a performing arts center.

De La Torre’s campaign has raised only $350, according to her latest financial statement.