Azusa Mayoral Race in 2005!

[Bill]

I spoke with Diane Chagnon for about an hour yesterday about Vulcan Materials, general issues, and the 2005 mayoral election - she is an excellent asset to this community and very intelligent....also, the great news is that she is running for Mayor of Azusa in 2005!!!!! Way to go Diane! I think she would be a great Mayor and totally support her 100%. Thoughts? Comments? Interested to hear whether people in Mountain Cove even know of her great work or need to hear more before supporting her in 2005, etc.

[Lester]

Yes! That is great news. I have a lot of respect for Diane Chagnon. I can't wait to vote for her. Now that we know who our next mayor will be, we need to make sure that Diane's seat on the council is filled. Come on Barbara, we need to start putting your campaign together as well.

Barbara needs a little encouragement. She lives in the Cove and would make a wonderful, professional and caring city council member.
Our new city council is going to be professional and caring without the ridiculous games. It will be a first for Azusa and it is about time.

[Azusa]

Ms. Chagnon is a great lady but you also have to think about who really wants to be Mayor to help the community not just in for the money or publicity...
Mr. Macias is giving away his Mayoral wage and not keeping anything for himself just to donate it to non-profit organizations.... I personaly think this man is great for that position... I was driving northbound on Azusa Ave on friday and noticed 3 Macias Volunteers holding up signs applauding for Macias to be elected for Mayor at the corner on Foothill Blv. while it was raining. Mr. Macias and all of his personnel are really trying hard to get this Mayoral position...I really think this man is great...

[Vested]

While I have nothing against Mr. Macias, it is clear to me that Ms. Chagnon is the best qualified candidate for the position of Mayor of Azusa. Ms. Chagnon has years of invaluable experience and knows the intricacies of the City of Azusa intimately. She understands the issues and knows the players. There seems to be a lot of misinformation out there that I would like to help clear up. First, the money Diane received from Vulcan was not in fact from the company but instead it was donated by the employees. She has not found it necessary to defend this contribution because there is nothing to defend. Accepting campaign contributions in no way means that Diane is going to attempt to grant special favors or feel indebted to those who contributed versus those who did not. I gave money as a private citizen because I felt that she is exceptionally qualified and a consummate professional. I expect no return on my investment except that she do what is in the best interest of all citizens and stakeholders in the city. All professionals in her position raise money in an effort to better educate the public about their qualifications, etc. There is NO wrong doing associated with this practice-- it's standard business....Furthermore, Diane did vote in favor of rezoning the gun club. The final vote was unanimous 7-0 She abstained on the vote dealing with the map issue as did Mayor Madrid due to a possible vested interest in property located in the general area at issue. Moreover, a lot has been said about the lack of progress during Diane's tenure but let's not forget that Diane's desire to redevelop the downtown area and stimulate the local economy by bringing in new businesses and new developments has been met with resistence from the current Mayor and other council members. Diane was supportive of the Mountain Cove Development and the Monrovia Nursery project. Supporting these forward thinking projects wasn't easy for her due to the aforementioned resistence and traditional local governemental bureaucracy; however, through her persistence and strength of conviction she has managed to make progress in Azusa even in the face of adversity. Finally, Mr. Macias is clearly very ambitious, intellegent and eager to please; however, Diane is without a doubt more qualified for this position based upon her experience and political know how. She relates to all residents of Azusa regardles of race, religion or socioeconomic status and has the ability to be available to residents on a full time basis. I do believe that Mr. Macias will be ready to serve in this capacity in a few years, perhaps after he has served as a council member. But at present, the citizens of Azusa deserve a seasoned veteran that will work dilligently to bring the "most improved city" to fruition. We have come too far to entrust our city's future to a trainee.

[MCresident]

Dear Vested, I found your posting most interesting. I can't see how you would consider Diane Chagnon more qualified to be mayor than Uriel Macias. Uriel has displayed exemplary qualifications and character. He has stated that he will receive no pay to serve as our mayor. He also states that he would never accept any special interest political donations. Can Chagnon make this claim? Let's look at a few things during Chagnon's tenure as councilperson.
1) In 2003 while seeking re-election to the city councill she promised the residents a major chain supermarket. So far, she has not delivered.
2) Our police officers became so frustrated during the last contract negotiation, and had to resort to walking the picket line.
3) Our city budget is currently running in the red, and we will be faced with cutting even more services to our community.
4) She has failed to bring major retail businesses to our city to fill our city coffers (i.e. Car Dealerships, Fry's, Best Buy, etc.)
5) She is now campaigning in the city door to door handing out her campaign literature, along with literature for councilman Joe Rocha, implying they are running as a slate. Mr. Rocha has not endorsed either mayoral candidate.
6) For the last 11 years we have received mostly lip service from her, and very few results.
7) To fill the city coffer she voted for establishing mello-roos districts to tax the citizens because she has failed to bring retail stores to Azusa.
8) I would rather have someone with integrity than someone who has none.

[ProfessorM]

1) In 2003 while seeking re-election to the city council she promised the residents a major chain supermarket. So far, she has not delivered.

That is not really true. There are plans to put an Albertsons at the Foothill shopping center. I would think that an Albertsons coming in would be considered a major supermarket. This plan has taken longer than originally thought because of the negotiations necessary with the land owner, developer, and current long term lease holders on the related property.

2) Our police officers became so frustrated during the last contract negotiation, and had to resort to walking the picket line.

Negotiations are not always easy. The city's budget is very tight and the city council needed to make some tough decisions. However, they did manage to work out the problem with the police officers. The police officers should have gotten clarification of the situation before deciding to picket.

3) Our city budget is currently running in the red, and we will be faced with cutting even more services to our community.

Diane, as well as the other Council Members work very hard to make sure that the city works within its budget. They would only cut services if it was absolutely necessary.

4) She has failed to bring major retail businesses to our city to fill our city coffers (i.e. Car Dealerships, Fry's, Best Buy, etc.)

I don't see any current locations in Azusa at this time that would allow for such businesses unless you want to tear down blocks of homes near the freeway. Get real, you can only work with what resources you have. If you do not have the land available to do such a thing, then it is not possible. However, the Kincade pit that will probably be filled soon would be a good location in the future. Does that mean that large businesses will be in within the next two years? I doubt it; it will probably take at least that long to fill it in.

5) She is now campaigning in the city door to door handing out her campaign literature, along with literature for Councilman Joe Rocha, implying they are running as a slate. Mr. Rocha has not endorsed either mayoral candidate.

To me, just because Joe Rocha has decided not to endorse any candidate, does not mean that Diane cannot endorse Rocha if she would like to. Rocha has had health problems recently and has not had a lot of opportunities to campaign. So I think that if Diane is helping him, that is very nice of her.

6) For the last 11 years we have received mostly lip service from her, and very few results.

I disagree. I have lived in this valley my entire life. Azusa has changed a lot in the last 11 years. 11 years ago, I would not have ever considered moving to Azusa. Today, I live here. They had to make a lot of changes for me to even consider doing such a thing. It still needs a lot more changes, but I see the process of change continuing for this city. That is why I gave the ok to move here.


7) To fill the city coffer she voted for establishing mello-roos districts to tax the citizens because she has failed to bring retail stores to Azusa.

First of all, is it one city council member’s job to bring retail stores into Azusa? I think that more than one person is responsible for that. In fact, more than one group is responsible for that, including the Chamber of Commerce and the Planning and Redevelopment Department. More retail has come into Azusa. Of course, not any where near at a level that we would like. But it does seem that will change very soon as the Foothill Shopping Center and downtown progresses. We have 5 new businesses coming in the old Sav-on Furniture store, as well as a sit down restaurant in the brick building in the downtown. The city has been very successful at recently bringing in over a million square feet of commercial/light industrial businesses into this city.

8) I would rather have someone with integrity than someone who has none.

Diane does have integrity. She would make a great Mayor. And I wish her, whether she becomes Mayor or not, and this city much success in the future.

[MCresident]

Dear Professor M,
I enjoyed reading your response to my posting. Even though we disagree on the subjects I respect your opinion. As a retired insurance salesman, I have a lot of free time on my hands now. I hate to go golfing in the rain. Back to the subject at hand, Mrs. Chagnon, I still feel she is not quite ready to be our mayor. I've seen her in action at the city council meetings that I have watched on TV. I do not agree with accusing our current mayor Christina Madrid of treason in a public forum. Each city council meeting allows time for a closed door session. I feel this would be the most appropriate time to air your differences with your fellow council members.
It is my understanding that the city of Azusa had the opportunity of bringing a car dealership to a location near the Azusa Ave. exit off the 210 Freeway, where the Enterprise Rent-A-Car site is today. Somehow the city council floundered this deal. As I read a lot of these postings on this particular site, it seems to me that the only qualification Diane Chagnon has to be mayor is 11 years on the council. Why did she wait so long to seek the office of Mayor? It is well known in our city that she cannot stand our current mayor. I remember two years ago that Diane along with Dave Hardison and Dick Stanford endorsed a 21 year old college student named Todd Afstar for mayor. I find it very hypocritical on Diane's part to say her opponent Mr. Macias does not have the experience to be mayor, but she felt comfortable with the experience of a 21 year old student to lead our city with no experience whatsoever.
I have spoken to Christina Madrid on numerous occasions and I find her a very pleasant person. I don't always agree with her stand on the issues concerning our city. I must admit if the election were today and the choice was between Madrid or Chagnon, I would vote for Chagnon. Now that Uriel Macias has entered the race for mayor with his impressive resume', it is quite clear who is the more qualified person. This is the same opinions I have been receiving from my friends whether sitting around having a drink after golfing, or at our weekly poker games. I look forward to your response.

[ProfessorM]

Hello MCresident,

I personally think that Chagnon and Macias are very good candidates. I also feel that they agree on most of the issues. At the first forum, I think that Macias actually did a better job. At the second forum, I think that Diane did a better job. But overall, I think that Diane would be better as Mayor. She already fully understands the issues while Macias is still learning about them. For example, I remember one question about wireless internet in the second forum where Macias said it was a nice idea that we should look into and Chagnon said that it was a great idea that the city has been working on for the last 9 months. That is where the 11 years experience on the city council comes in handy. I would like to see Macias get some kind of experience as a city councilperson before he leads the city council. Diane has been on the city council for so long that she understands the issues of the city inside and out, which will result in preventing unnecessary errors for the city. There is less of a learning curve with Chagnon.

Honestly, I think that they could both make good mayors. But I think that Chagnon has an edge that cannot be ignored. If I was a human resource manager and looking to hire, I would hire Chagnon over Macias. To me it is not a popularity contest. It is a choice of who I think is the best qualified to lead the city council.

[PROWLER]

MACIAS 4 MAYOR

I know Mr. Macias will be a great Mayor due to the fact of knowing how to handle money. Ms. Chagnon might have 10yrs of council experience but look people the city looks the same. In order to rebuild downtowns, shopping ctrs, etc... it takes someone who not only plans it but knows how far economically they can go without going into serious debts... Ms. Chagnon has many wonderfull plans but she can cause the city to go into serious money issues.. Without money theirs no new downtowns, shopping ctrs etc... Good budgeting equals new results...

[JAFO]

MACIAS NOW MORE THAN EVER

After reading this morning's Tribune, I can see where Diane Chagnon's 11 years experience on the council has gotten the city into hot water again. She has failed again to listen to city staff by not accepting competitive bids for the new Starbucks at Foothill and Azusa. It seems Diane and the other two council members who voted on this project are taking on a new role in the city as The Three Stooges. On March 8th we will lose Curley, but we still be stuck with Moe and Larry. Thanks again Diane for getting the city of Azusa's ass in a sling one more time.

[RG]

Mt. Cove Residents,

If you are supporting Mr. Macias for Mayor and would like a "Yard Sign" you can call Headquarters at 626-812-7770 or visit Headquarters at the corner of Six St. and Azusa Ave.