Noteworthy Actions

Accomplishments as Mayor and Councilmember

Accountability

I have never missed a city council meeting since being first elected in November of 2007. As Mayor, I led the effort and delivered the first-ever city elected and appointed official "Code of Ethics" ordinance. I was also responsible for crafting the first-ever Code of Ethics Resolution for our city shortly after I was first elected to council in 2007.

Fiscal Responsibility

I have run for public office twice. I have been elected both times, and I have run my campaigns free of debt in both 2006 and 2010. This has allowed me to give back to the community in a variety of ways. Since being elected in 2006, the City of Corona has delivered a balanced budget every year.

Dedicated to Public Safety

As a 31-year law enforcement veteran and retired Police Chief, I know how important public safety is to our region. Since being elected, I’m proud of these advancements accomplished by all of our public safety professionals:

• Corona currently ranks as the 6th safest city in Southern California with populations of 100,000-200,000 residents.
• In 2011, a comprehensive upgrade of the city's Emergency Notification System was completed, dramatically enhancing the ability of Police and Fire services to inform the community of emergency preparedness recommendations and what to do in the event of an actual emergency something we can do in just minutes.
• Proud to help deliver the new City Police Department Headquarters on time and under budget.

As A Regional Partner

I established the "Quad Cities Mayors" meeting program in 2011 (Corona, Norco, Eastvale, and Jurupa Valley) to help bring a greater understanding of neighboring community & city goals and programs. This has made our “regional voice” stronger and our shared needs clearer as we seek updated and additional infrastructure and roadway improvements for our area.

I also am proud to have co-hosted a bi-annual Corona-Riverside Mayors & City Managers summit, making our opportunity to work much more effectively with our neighboring community.

As a member of the "Western Riverside County Council of Governments" (WRCOG), I have led the development of education and economic development subcommittees (of which I chair each). This brings our educators and business community together—directly improving the ways we work together to plan for and prepare our next generation to build our local industries and recreate a stronger economic region.

More Accessible Government

In 2011, as Mayor, I presented for the first time in our city's history a completely cost-free "State of the City" event. Also held in the evening to help those who for many years could not attend during daytime/business hours, this State of the City program hosted its largest live audience and was broadcast live on the Internet via streaming video—yet another first.

I also helped lead the effort to online, paperless and an IT-based notification and meeting platform. My first meeting as Mayor was also the first fully electronic/online city council agenda and reports. Since then, all meetings in my tenure as Mayor have been available online, as have all agendas, meetings minutes and more immediately accessible video archives of the city council meetings. This has helped the community and region become more informed and more part of the process of governing.

As my term as Mayor began in December of 2010, I immediately convened a City Services Focus Group whose members identified the most important and highest priorities to include in our strategic planning. In response to this feedback, I also called for a first-ever fully online survey of these core recommendations, with surveys being sent to over 55,000 community newsletter and social media subscribers.

Parks for our Families

Since being elected, 5 new parks have been added to our parks system, which now provides nearly 400 acres of recreation and sports use space, serving over 12,800 children in youth sports. I was also proud to vote to make city parks in Corona tobacco-free areas.

By working with so many fantastic groups in the community, Corona was selected in October of 2011 as one of the “100 Best Communities for Children” as determined by America’s Promise Alliance. Knowing that so many programs and facilities are enjoyed by members throughout our region, this makes the recognition of our commitment to all of our children that much more meaningful.

Improving Transportation

Since being elected, the Corona traffic management system (“TMS”; Phases I and II) has been completed, and is a model for local roadway traffic management. This system includes traffic advisory marquees, traffic condition monitoring and automated signaling technologies, and several intersection and roadway upgrades, and significantly enhances and improves traffic management for many of our shared major routes throughout the region.

As a member of the City Council, I also worked to deliver one of the first and highly important multi-modal transportation centers in Riverside County. The North Main Station brings together Metrolink (rail), RTA (regional bus lines), Corona Cruiser (local bus lines), and Park and Ride/Carpool parking facilities at a central location.

A True Business Advocate

As mayor I have introduced the "Mayor's Business Breakfast Series" which monthly brings small groups of diverse industry leaders for updates on city activities and learn ways to support the goals of our business community. This has helped preserved local jobs while generating new synergy and opportunity as business leaders find new ways to create joint ventures.

I have led the effort to change and update local business zones to allow businesses to add new services and operations. This has included our first-ever factory tour facility at the Fender Guitar facilities that opened in the fall of 2011.

At a time when new businesses need fewer hurdles and more time and resources to develop, I worked to help reduce the business licensing regulations so that our newest entrepreneurs could focus on creating their companies.