Q & A With Kris Parisi

By Kristin Parisi

Community Involvement, Qualifications, Business Promotion, Budget and District Elections

There is more than one way to involve yourself in your community. One way is to be a "joiner" of the established clubs and organizations. Other ways include being involved at the "grassroots", or working quietly behind the scenes to help individuals and families in need or in support of a cause. My involvement has spanned all three. I have participated in and boosted local organizations including the PTA and many school activities; the Yellow Ribbon Committee Banner Program; the Glendora Historical Society, Glendora Preservation Foundation, Glendora Community Conservancy; and efforts to Save the South Hills. I also support regional and national organizations that address poverty, homelessness and justice. Locally, many "grassroots" issues have attracted my efforts: evaluating environmental impacts of major projects as well as our city's overall growth plan; alerting the community to the proposed Foothill/Country Club land swap; publishing letters to the editor and other reports on local government issues. I have always promoted good government, open government and accountability. My family and I support local businesses and fully understand how important it is to do so. The real heart of a community lies, in my opinion, in the people who "neighbor" and look after those around them, stay informed on local issues, participate in our democracy, and do their good deeds without expecting anything in return.

2. Why do you feel you are best qualified to be a Councilperson?

First, my Masters degree and years of experience in public sector agencies have prepared me to understand and process the issues confronting the city council. Secondly, my experience at the grassroots of our city have taught me many valuable lessons. I'm not an "insider". I'm not "connected" as some other candidates may be. My husband and I are hard-working members of the middle-class who chose Glendora as the place we wanted to raise our children 23 years ago. I have poured my energies and my intellect into many local projects and issues and have promoted inclusion, open government, fairness, and accountability. While Glendora is a great community, we can do even better. With councilmembers who really listen, and value and promote inclusion in the decision process, we open a whole range of possibilities for our future. I am a person who listens, who does her homework, and values input from a variety of sources. I will be looking for and listening to ideas and suggestions from people all across our community.

3. For many years Glendora businesses have asked how can we increase the day time population with new businesses, to use our current businesses more. Would you have supported the changes that have taken place in the last several years and what are your ideas to help continue supporting our current business?

I do support efforts to boost day-time population with a plan that is fairly administered, open to the public, and consistent with community values. By this I mean not favoring or promoting one business district over others with assistance, incentives, or promotions. A classic example of this is giving the Diamond Ridge developer a freeway sign on public land FOR FREE! What other businesses get handed such free advertising? Another recent example is mailing, at public expense, a Holiday Shopping promotion card to all Glendorans that promoted only Marketplace and Diamond Ridge businesses. Yet another example, putting parking restrictions in front of Village businesses that irritate and cause them to lose customers, because our City failed to plan adequately for Village parking.

All of our local businesses should receive some real benefit from our Chamber of Commerce. Each business district has something unique to offer and we should capitalize on that and recognize the value of our "moms & pops" and encourage them through assistance, incentives, and promotions. We should try to help small businesses with signage, landscaping and parking issues.

4. In light of the current economic downturn, how can we as a city maintain a balanced budget and keep the community services that are provided to the citizens today?

These really are tough times. They could last for a while and we need to spend wisely. As your Councilmember, I will look closely for expenses that can be safely cut + travel, subscriptions, memberships, advertising, consultants, and legal fees. I think our Council should review our purchasing and bidding procedures to make sure we follow all laws and get the advantages of competitive bids. And this includes our trash contract, which I believe should be competitively bid. As the situation dictates, we may need to consider salary and hiring freezes or selectively cut services. And, we need to increase grant activity.

I don't support balancing the budget on the backs of our already strapped residents with excessive fees or fines. In fact, I support rolling-back of some fees that seem to be excessive.

We face a huge problem with retirement obligations promised by the current council, and this needs to be thoughtfully addressed. As the City Manager's budget message for the '09 budget states: "The less than good news is that the City has absorbed enormous cost increases for retirement contributions on behalf of our employees...We have responded by committing ourselves to investigating the process of issuing pension obligation bonds (POBs)...to meet unfunded obligations at reduced cost." (Page 8)

I still believe "living within our means" is a value worth living by, and we should not unnecessarily burden future generations.

5. Should the next council initiate a vote of the people or a vote to divide our community into council districts? If you support explain how that does not put neighborhood against neighborhood in your view? If you oppose be specific, why not?

At-large and district elections are both allowed in California and both types are common across the country in cities, towns and villages of all sizes. The important thing is that all elections be fair under the letter and spirit of our laws. A community has the option of choosing one type over the other, and sometimes the courts get involved as it has done recently in Madera, CA and rule that a particular form of election is needed in a particular place. It is a big decision, and I see absolutely nothing wrong with the voters making these types of big decisions.