A Final Look: The Mayor’s Race

Voters will choose Pasadena’s Mayor today. Incumbent Terry Tornek, District 5 Councilman Victor Gordo, former Commissioner Jason Hardin and newcomer Major Williams are fight for the seat in one of Pasadena’s most important elections in years.

The city faces housing challenges within the city limits and without, Skyrocketing rents across the region, and state, have impacted homelessness local schools and zoning laws.

Elected officials in Sacramento continue to attempt to pass more housing laws that could override zoning laws and lessen public input on developments.

Other challenges could include immigration, oversight of local policing, local hiring and diversity.

In order to win the election, a candidate must receive more than 50 percent of the vote. If no candidate reaches that threshold, the candidates will face off in a November runoff. Here’s a final look at the candidates.

 

Incumbent
Mayor Terry Tornek
First elected: Tornek defeated Jacque Robinson in the Mayor’s race in 2015. Voters in District 7 elected him as their City Councilman in 2009.
Tornek was Pasadena’s Planning Director for 3 years

Over the past five years, I think that I’ve lived up to making progress on all the elements I campaigned on last time in terms of making the city financially strong, supporting the PUSD, preserving the neighborhoods while accommodating appropriate growth, protecting the environment and developing new parks and the Arroyo.

But there’s a lot that remains to be done. I’ve been walking for nine months. I’ve been listening to what people have to say, some of the concerns are the same in terms of wanting to support the public schools and in terms of dealing with the homelessness and building affordable housing while still protecting the neighborhood.

So I have a vision that’s based on what I’ve heard from the people that says that Pasadena can maintain itself as a diverse community. Diverse in terms of housing, diverse in terms of lifestyle, diverse in terms of population, but at the same time can accommodate the kind of growth that we need to support while still preserving the essence of what makes Pasadena a terrific place. I’m asking for people’s support, to give me a chance to continue to work on all of these issues.

 

Victor Gordo
District 5 City Councilman
Voters in First elected Gordo in 2001. He was last re-elected with 64 percent of the vote in 2017. Gordo previously served as Councilman Bill Crowfoot’s field rep

I believe the job of the mayor of Pasadena is to have his or her finger on the pulse of every part of this city and then work with members of the City Council and city staff to solve neighborhood issues and complex city-wide issues. I don’t see that happening from the mayor’s office today.

We need to get back to working together, to address issues of homelessness, overdevelopment, traffic and public safety. I’m very concerned about the overdevelopment in the traffic in our city and I have been for quite some time. It feels like developers have the upper hand over regular, everyday Pasadena residents and that’s wrong.

I commit to the people of Pasadena and to my colleagues on the City Council that we will get back to working together as a city to address important issues in our neighborhoods. I believe I’m best positioned to do that. I’ve worked with people in East Pasadena, West Pasadena, Southwest Pasadena, Northwest Pasadena, and I’m humbled by the expression of trust and support that I received in this campaign. And I submit to all residents that I will work hard to have my finger on the pulse of their neighborhood and work to address–to work to ensure the city listens and is responsive to the needs of every resident and every neighborhood in history.

 

Jason Hardin
Previously served on the Pasadena Senior Commission from 2015-2016

I’m running for the people of Pasadena. I’m not running to represent the city of Pasadena. I believe that is the City Attorney’s job and the City Manager represents the city as an entity and as a corporation, but it’s our job to represent the best interest of the people of Pasadena. I think there is a disconnect between leadership and the common folks here in our city. So I come to represent the people of Pasadena.

 

 

 

Major Williams
Williams is a newcomer to local politics, he is calling for fresh leadership.

As I have campaigned for over a year listening to my community, I am more driven to deliver real value and economic empowerment to our citizens. Running against an incumbent and a 19-year councilmember who claim to be knowledgeable on the issues versus providing practical solutions for them continues to affirm why I am running for mayor.

During my first 100 days, I will introduce financial literacy, wealth creation, and credit repair programs at the Robinson Recreation Center to show support for our economically underserved community. I will present an amendment to Measure I & J, which would repurpose $21M generated annually and allocate $1M dollars from those funds per year for the next four years. Those funds will be used for specific economic hardships within our communities and our families in need.

I will present a real-time digital dashboard that will display the city budget and the allocation of funds. So, for the first time in history, Pasadena officials can champion real transparency or continue to kick the can down the road, so to speak, as if what I am proposing isn’t possible. Lastly, I will introduce a transportation plan that would consist of an innovative way of traveling around our city. I plan to develop motorized walkway paths throughout Pasadena. It will get people out of their cars, reduce pedestrian and bike accidents and fatalities, all while decreasing the toxic emissions in our environment.

Accountability will be the theme of my Mayoral administration. My legacy as Mayor will be that my administration focused heavily on affordable housing versus luxury apartments and for the first time in Pasadena’s history, there will be a leader in the Mayor’s office who relates to Districts 1 through 7.

I am the only candidate that has a track record of empowering people from a socioeconomic perspective, and moving forward, that’s the brand of leadership our city deserves versus holding onto the status quo officials who seemingly will never pass the torch in support of the next generation. “It is time to think major about our future.”